Poverty

Colorado should raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to at least $6.85 an hour, and we should adjust the minimum wage to inflation every year thereafter. This will increase the incomes of the lowest-paid workers by $1.70 an hour, or $3,500 per year, and help them keep up with the rising costs of necessities such as food, health care, gas and housing.

DENVER, CO???.More than one in five working families in Colorado struggle to get by in jobs that do not enable them to meet their basic needs, according to a new report released today by the nonprofit Bell Policy Center. Yet Colorado does not invest enough in programs that help working adults gain the necessary skills and education to escape poverty and contribute more to the state's economy.

If Colorado voters pass Amendment 42, which will increase the state's minimum wage, about 7 percent of the state's workers will get a raise. A new issue brief from the Bell Policy Center, "Raising Colorado's minimum wage: Who benefits?" confirms that most of these workers are adults, and many are the sole income earners in their household with kids to support.

DENVER ??? A new study by The Bell Policy Center has found that more than 150,000 active duty members of the armed forces, including an estimated 3,640 in Colorado, are eligible for tax relief through the Earned Income Tax Credit program.

Provides an overview of the EITC in Colorado, compares Colorado's EITC with the federal tax credit and shows the number of EITC recipients in Colorado by region.

Table listing number of people and percent of population in Colorado in poverty, with high housing costs, without health insurance and without a pension account.

Glossary and endnotes for 2005 update to the "Opportunity Lost" report.