“Merit America is trying to address a ‘market failure,’ Diemand-Yauman says, by serving the millions of working adults with the skills and talents to succeed but have been stuck in low-wage work by a system stacked against them. How stacked? According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, just over one million workers make at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
‘Our goal is to get them on the first rung of an upwardly mobile career ladder where they can continue working their way up over time,’ Staehelin says. ‘And we’re really excited that the data validates that’s exactly what’s happening.’”