The Impact of a $15 Minimum Wage on Hunger

The Great Recession has had an immense toll on the ability of Americans to feed themselves. Today, 14.0 percent of American households—about one in seven—suffer from food insecurity, which means they do not have the resources to provide enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members.1 The level of food insecurity is now significantly higher than it was before the recession—11.1 percent of U.S. households in 2007—which means that the nation’s economic recovery has done little to reverse the recent surge in hunger. In fact, during the recovery, the portion of Americans facing food insecurity has only fallen by 0.4 percentage points since its peak in 2011. In effect, the Great Recession has boosted the number of households facing food insecurity from 13.0 million in 2007 to 17.4 million in 2014—an astounding 33.4 percent increase.

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