Shifting the Paradigm: Measuring Economic Security
Economic security can be hard to define. It means more than affording life’s most basic necessities, more than being able to pay your bills and make–ends–meet from week to week or month to month. It means being able to cover the cost of living without making unconscionable tradeoffs, not having to choose between paying the light bill or buying meat at the grocery store, between buying back–to–school supplies and paying your car insurance on time. It means having everything you need to live today, while also having the financial breathing room to save for emergencies, plan for retirement, and invest in your family’s future. It also means having the ability to utilize debt as a tool and the ability to make debt payments.
What is economic security?
Why does economic security matter?
Economic security gives households the agency and freedom to make decisions about their lives and to fully participate in society. Households who have economic security aren’t completely insulated from personal financial hardships and the ups and downs of the economy, but they are better able to withstand them. They have the ability to provide for their families while living without the continual stress of daily, heartbreaking choices about which needs to fulfill. They can also afford enriching activities for their children, whether it be the cost of playing sports, the cost of tutoring, or admission to a museum.
Why should we measure economic security?
As a nation desirous of ensuring opportunity for all, we need to know what American families need not just to get by but to get ahead and stay ahead. Existing government measures, such as the Official Poverty Measure, focus only on acute material deprivation. By focusing narrowly on what’s “enough,” such measures leave us – the public and policymakers – with an incomplete picture of how American households are faring. We need a new framework, a paradigm shift in measuring economic well being.
This is why the National True Cost of Living Coalition is calling for a new measure that calculates what it truly costs to live with economic security in the United States. We cannot solve what we do not measure, and quantifying how much it costs to live with economic security will be a powerful tool to advance economic opportunity for all Americans.
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