By Debbie Kelley | The Gazette
A new report being released Wednesday from United Way Colorado and Ent Credit Union shows 37% of residents statewide and 34% in El Paso County are not earning enough to cover basic expenses such as housing, health care, transportation, food, child care and a rudimentary smartphone plan.
Nearly 870,000 households out of about 2.4 million statewide were studied, more than two-thirds of which contain wage earners working in retail, food service, grocery, education, health care, law enforcement, firefighting, lodging, cleaning and other sectors.
A national research organization and grassroots movement that United Way of Northern New Jersey started as United for ALICE, which is an acronym for “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed,” developed the report: “ALICE in Colorado: A Study of Financial Hardship.”