Use the table to answer the question.
Items Cost
food and groceries $821.33
medical $751.33
housing $1,324.17
transportation $1,251.00
monthly taxes $882.58
other necessities $745.67
The table shows the monthly basic needs budget for a 2-child family with 1 working adult in Fort Worth, Texas.
Determine what hourly wage, working full-time, is required to meet the family’s basic needs. Round to the nearest hundredth.
To determine the hourly wage required to meet the family's basic needs, we need to calculate the total monthly cost of all the items and then divide it by the number of hours worked in a month.
The total monthly cost of all the items is:
$821.33 (food and groceries) + $751.33 (medical) + $1,324.17 (housing) + $1,251.00 (transportation) + $882.58 (monthly taxes) + $745.67 (other necessities) = $5,776.08
Assuming a full-time working month consists of 160 hours (40 hours per week for 4 weeks), the hourly wage required would be:
$5,776.08 / 160 = $36.10
Therefore, the hourly wage, working full-time, required to meet the family's basic needs is approximately $36.10.