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 housing costs have risen sharply (he cited a 152% increase since February 2008) and that child‑care costs rose about 33% between 2020 and 2024 while wages in retail rose roughly 22% in the same period.

McGough described how Work Systems uses the standard in practice: to target services to people who are not meeting the standard, to align training with industries that offer pathways to self‑sufficiency and to embed the standard in an online career and budgeting tool called the Prosperity Planner used by partner organizations. He said the regional public workforce system coordinated by Work Systems serves more than 25,000 people through 40+ education and community partners and that the group has helped raise more than $60 million in competitive statewide workforce resources with adjacent workforce boards in Southwest Washington and Clackamas County.

On job quality, McGough said Work Systems has launched a regional “quality jobs” initiative that sets expectations for wages, benefits, predictable schedules, worker safety and advancement opportunities, and that the organization is embedding quality metrics into contracts and employer partnerships. “The best social program is a good job,” he said, adding a qualification: “the best social program is a good job.”

Committee members asked about local implications and possible municipal responses. Councilor Carmen Rubio (chair, speaking for the committee at opening and closing) and Councilor Susheela (first names not provided in the transcript) were present; Councilor Dan Ryan (transcript uses last names differently) — (Note: only councilors who spoke during Q&A are identified in the speakers list below). Councilor Gonzalez‑Green (transcript labeled Green) and Councilor Dunphy asked about East Portland specifically and about opportunities for the city to prioritize hiring, change HR practices and coordinate with school districts on career pathways. McGough suggested the city could give residents priority access to public‑sector jobs, revise minimum credential requirements for city positions to expand entry opportunities and coordinate investments across federal, state and local funding streams.

Councilor Green told the committee he tested the online tool and gave specific examples from the calculator: a single adult with two teenagers in Multnomah County would need about $29 per hour to be self‑sufficient, while adding preschool‑age children raises the required hourly wage to roughly $54, a change driven largely by child‑care costs. McGough and councilors discussed using public hiring, apprenticeships and CTE (career and technical education) pathways to increase local residents’ access to higher paying, stable jobs.

McGough warned of funding pressures: about half of Work Systems’ funding comes from federal sources that flow through the U.S. Department of Labor; the organization took a roughly 16% cut in federal resources this year and competitive grant opportunities are shrinking, he said. He described two federal proposals that could affect funding: (1) a White House‑era proposal sometimes called “Make America Skilled Again” that would consolidate multiple workforce programs into a state grant and reduce funding (as McGough described it), and (2) other legislative proposals shifting more discretion to states on distribution of workforce funds.

The committee did not take formal action on the presentation. Councilors expressed interest in further coordination with Work Systems on hiring practices, pre‑apprenticeship programs registered with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI), and deeper use of the self‑sufficiency data by council offices and regional partners. The committee's next meeting was announced for Aug. 14 at noon.

The presentation and Q&A focused on data and programmatic responses; no votes or ordinance actions were recorded in the transcript of this meeting.

Ending note: materials and the full 2024 self‑sufficiency report are publicly available on the Work Systems website, and McGough offered to follow up with additional district‑level data on request.