The Louisiana Association of United Way has just released a report that shows 40% of Louisiana households aren't making enough money to make ends meet. The report includes people who have jobs, and people who work 40 hours a week or more.

The report focuses heavily on a portion of the population referred to as ALICE, which is an acronym that stands for "asset limited, income constrained and employed".

Louisiana’s ALICE households are families that have reported income above the federal poverty level, set at $11,490 for a single person and $23,550 for a family of four, but still don't have enough to make ends meet.

Theadvocate.com reports that a family of four in Iberia Parish needs to earn a minimum of $35,000 per year to be able to provide a roof over their heads and basic necessities.

For Lafayette, the numbers show that 32% of families are not making the money they need to in able to provide a place to live and day to day necessities.

The report finds that in Duson, more than half of the 686 households are below the poverty or ALICE levels.

It shows that black residents make up a disproportionate percentage of those not making enough money to get by: Duson is a majority-black municipality. On the other end of Lafayette Parish, mostly white and affluent Youngsville has 3,139 households. Of those, just 4 percent live below the poverty line, and 5 percent are within the ALICE parameters.

The report also shows that Louisiana ALICE households have little or no money on hand to pay for quickly arising problems, such as a broken refrigerator or air conditioner.

To read more on this report, head over to theadvocate.com.

 

More From 97.3 The Dawg