Single mothers need $58k to make it in Mass.

To make ends meet, a single mother of two children in Boston needs to earn $27.53 an hour, or nearly four times more than the current Massachusetts minimum wage of $7.50 an hour, a new report said today.

In other words, a single mother of two needs to earn $58,133 a year if she doesn't receive some form of public or private assistance, according to a report issued by Crittenton Women's Union, a Boston nonprofit organization dedicated to changing the course of low-income women's lives.

The report noted that 47 percent of Boston families with children under 18 are headed by single mothers.

The high cost of living in Massachusetts, particularly the high cost of housing, is a major challenge for state employers seeking to lure and keep young workers.

To be economically self sufficient, a single Boston woman with two children needs to earn 13 percent more than the $51,284 she did in 2003, the date of the group's previous report, with escalating healthcare costs a big factor in the increase, the new Crittenton report said.

Since 2003, child care costs have risen almost 18 percent for families with two children, and healthcare costs have risen nearly 35 percent, Crittenton Women's Union said.

The median income for Massachusetts single mothers with children is $33,097, the report noted.

"If we want to make sure that women and their families actually do move up and out of poverty, we need to make investments in education and training so that more Massachusetts residents can work toward the all-important goal of economic independence," Elisabeth D. (Beth) Babcock, president and chief executive of Crittenton Women's Union, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

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