United Way report highlights dire financial situation of some Hudson Valley families

The new jobs report shows first-time jobless claims fell below 1 million for the first time since March, but a new report by the United Way highlights just how financially strapped Hudson Valley families are.

News 12 Staff

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Aug 13, 2020, 9:27 PM

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Updated 1,615 days ago

The new jobs report shows first-time jobless claims fell below 1 million for the first time since March, but a new report by the United Way highlights just how financially strapped Hudson Valley families are.

The report doesn't look at the number of people living in poverty, it looks at what they call ALICE: the asset limited, income constrained, employed.

Charlene is a single mom who is considered a part of ALICE, or what has been called in the past the working poor. In New York, 31% of households are in the ALICE group.

A presentation Thursday looked at the five counties in the area - Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Putnam and Dutchess - and found the region is a little better at 28%, but the number is going up.

Are you an ALICE family? The report says two parents with two kids in child care, have to make $50 an hour just to survive.

Over the past few years, the number of families under the poverty line has gone down but the number of ALICE families - those just struggling to get by - have gone up. And that was before COVID.

There's a lot of concern that it will be even worse when the study is done again in two years.