The Massachusetts Economic Independence Index (Mass. Index) measures costs at the state and county levels and for the city of Boston, capturing local markets and prices for basics including housing, child care, healthcare, food, transportation, personal and essential household items, and taxes. Mass. Index budgets are specific to family composition, presenting values for 420 family types. On average in Massachusetts, a single-parent family with one preschooler and one school-age child needs an income of $65,880 a year to meet its day-to-day essential expenses without public assistance. 

RCAP Solutions is a member of Crittenton Women’s Union’s  Workers’ Pathways to Education & Jobs Coalition which brings together community, business, and civic leaders, educators, and advocates across Massachusetts who work to expand access to education and training leading to a skilled workforce that can command livable wages in Massachusetts.  The Coalition focuses on legislative and budget advocacy efforts to provide low-income working and unemployed adults access to the education and training needed to secure a sustaining wage and to develop an educated workforce necessary to remain globally competitive.

Download the report by clicking the following link:  http://www.liveworkthrive.org/site/assets/docs/MASS%20INDEX%20FINALWEB.pdf

From Crittenton Women’s Union, whose mission is to transforms the course of low-income women’s lives so that they can attain economic independence and create better futures for themselves and their families.

See original blog post here:  http://www.liveworkthrive.org/research_and_tools/reports_and_publications/Massachusetts_Economic_Independence_Index_2013