Light Lab Live
Time Poverty: The Hidden Cost of Low Wages Isn’t Just Money
Light Lab Live is the Institute for Family’s monthly lunch and learn series where we dive into timely topics that shape the lives of families and the professionals who support them across sectors.
Low wages don’t only leave families short on cash. They can also leave families short on time. Part 2 in the Light Lab Live Series using AI assisted synthesis explores how work schedules, long commutes, lack of childcare, and uneven access to services can quietly consume the hours families need to rest, connect, and care for children.
This session pulls together three key data sources along with other child development research:
- BLS American Time Use Survey — how working adults actually spend their hours
- U.S. Census commute data — time lost to getting to and from work
- NC childcare desert mapping — where families spend extra time patching together care
Why Time Poverty Matters…
Individually, these datasets tell partial stories. Read together, they reveal how time poverty functions as a system and how time scarcity can show up across schools, health care, and family support systems. Consider this…
When One Job Isn’t Enough
The ALICE Report documents that 15 of North Carolina’s top 20 occupations by employment volume pay below $20 per hour. For workers in these jobs like retail, food service, healthcare support, building maintenance, childcare… one full-time position frequently does not generate enough income to cover the ALICE Threshold. The result is often a second job and lost time.
Who Should Attend
Educators, district leaders, policymakers, researchers, and advocates committed to advancing equitable outcomes for all students.