On Monday, Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California released a report that has detailed the state-by-state cost to taxpayers of low wages in the United States for the first time.

According to a new report, more than half of all state and federal spending on public assistance programs now goes to working families.

Ken Jacobs, chair of the labor center and co-author of the new report said, "When companies pay too little for workers to provide for their families, workers rely on public assistance programs to meet their basic needs. This creates significant cost to the states".

People, such as a home health care worker in Durham, North Carolina; a McDonald's cashier in Chicago; a bank teller in New York; an adjunct professor in Mayfield, Illinois, are strong indicators of an improving economy.

However, same people also are on public assistance as they are dependent on food stamps, Medicaid which helps them to cover basic expenses when their paychecks come up short.

Therefore, poor people are not only being supported by taxpayers, they are also being helped by huge subsidy for employers of low-wage workers, from giants like McDonald's and Wal-Mart to all, independent, family-owned businesses.

Jacobs said that taxpayers pick up the difference between what employers pay and what is required to cover essential living costs.

The report estimated that state and federal governments spend more than $150 billion a year on four key anti-poverty programs used by working families. These programs include Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, food stamps and the earned-income tax credit, specifically aimed at working families.

The researchers said that that raising wages would result in significant savings to state and federal governments.