Work Systems: About one‑third of Portland‑area households fall below 2024 self‑sufficiency standard, report says

Work Systems Inc. Executive Director Andrew McGough presented the organization's 2024 self‑sufficiency standard to the Portland Labor and Workforce Development Committee on July 24, saying the updated measure shows roughly one‑third of Portland‑area households do not earn enough to meet basic needs without assistance.

The self‑sufficiency standard, developed in partnership with the University of Washington Center for the Study of Women and updated every two years, calculates the local cost of meeting basic needs for 700 family types and is intended to capture expenses not reflected by the official federal poverty measure, McGough told the committee.

McGough said the standard varies by family composition and place: an adult with a preschooler in Multnomah County faces a self‑sufficiency threshold he identified around $38.66 per hour, while single‑parent and child‑care needs raise required wages substantially. He summarized county and neighborhood differences, saying about 21% of households in Multnomah County are below the standard and that in some eastern Portland neighborhoods the share rises to about 47% (about 17,000 households in that part of the city, McGough said).

“Today, we know that things like rent and child care typically take up more than a half of the average family's budget in Multnomah County,” McGough said. He added that…