By Altheria Gaston

CNN Money recently featured the story of Safiyyah Cotton to shed light on the economic strain experienced by individuals who work low-wage jobs and the resulting burden on the federal government. Safiyyah is a 22-year-old single mother of a one-year-old son living in Philadelphia. She is employed part-time at McDonald’s, earning an hourly wage of $7.50. Her son’s father is incarcerated. In order to support herself and her son, she receives government assistance in the form of a housing supplement, food stamps, medical assistance, and child care assistance. Working an average of 20 hours a week, her annual salary is $6,240. The 2014 poverty threshold for a single parent and one child is $16,317, more than twice what she earns by working.

Marjorie Valbrun for Washington Post - Black women are among the lowest paid workers in the United States. In many professions they’re near the bottom of the pay scale. They earn less than white men – on average just 64 cents for every dollar paid to white men – and less than women overall, who earn on average 77 cents for every dollar earned by white men. And despite far outnumbering black men in the labor market, black women also earn less than their low-wage male counterparts.