Poverty in America

1. Chapter 5. Poverty in America

2. Learning Objectives
 Poverty statistics
 Why poverty affects different demographics in the US
 Historical approaches to combat poverty
 How quasi-financial and financial institutions in the US are
increasing the financial burden on the poor

3. Who is Poor?
 Talkpoverty.org
2019 - 10.9% of the U.S. population fell below poverty line
 (14.8% - 2014)
 10.9% = 34 million people
 Poverty line is the minimum level of resources that are adequate
to meet basic needs

4. Who is Poor?
Poverty Threshold – “Poverty line”
Used for statistical purposes
Includes only cash income (wages, SS, public assistance, interest from
accounts… income before taxes)
Does not account for in-kind benefits (medical care, food stamps, school lunches,
public housing)
Does not account cost-of-living, expenses of the family, health issues, childcare
costs, current cost of housing

5. Who is Poor?
Poverty Guidelines–
Used to determine who qualifies for certain federally supported public
assistance programs
Released by DHHS
Same for the 48 contiguous states; higher for Alaska and Hawaii

6. Who is Poor?
Supplemental Poverty Measure –
Considers new factors in modern expenses like high cost of medical
care, child care, housing, utilities, and in-kind benefits
Adjusts for geographical locations
Would increase the number of those determined to be poor in the U.S.

7. Who is Poor? (2019)
 Total U.S. population in 2019: 328.2 million
 Talkpoverty.org
 Native Americans: 23.0% (600K)
 Black/AA: 18.8% (8.1 million)
 Hispanics: 15.7% (9.5 million)
 White: 7.3% (14.2 million)
 Children: 14.4% (10.5 million)
 Women: 11.5% (19 million)
 Disabled: 22.5% (3.3 million)

8. Who is
Poor?
(2019) –
By age
& gender

9. Who is Poor?
 By State (2019)
 Go to Census.gov
for a clickable
image

10. Who is Poor? (2017) – Education
25.9
12.7
8.4
4.4
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
NO HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA
HIGH SCHOOL, NO COLLEGE
SOME COLLEGE
BACHELOR, MASTERS, PHD
Census.gov
Percentage of Population

11. Families & Poverty
 Household headed by a single woman were poorest
Children from single mother HH were:
More likely to have learning disability and ADHD
2x as likely to miss school for lengthy periods due to
injury or illness
Need ER care more often and have unmet dental needs

12. 0
10
20
30
40
50
30.2
38.8 40.8
29.9
42.6 41.5
Poverty Rates for Single Mothers Families with
Children, 2016
Data from National Women Law Center & U.S. Census

13. Child Support Enforcement
Title IV of Social Security Act amended to include Part D - Provide
Federal matching funds for CS collection and establishing
paternity
Rationale: putting pressure for parents to support their kids
would lead to less families on public assistance
State agencies keep a portion of the CS collected to offset cost of
the family’s public assistance

14. Child Support Enforcement
PRWORA toughen CSE laws:
Order genetic testing without a court order
Garnish wages
Lead investigations to track down the non-paying parent

15. The Working Poor
“Working Poor” - Individuals who are in the workforce full time
or part time but who are still at or below the poverty line
7 million of the workforce in 2018 (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Underemployed – those who have skills far exceed those required by the
position or are working part-time when they wish to be employed full-
time

16. Wages and Poverty
Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 – increased federal minimum
wage to its current state of $7.25 (2009)
$13,920 a year
Social Wage – value gained by using welfare benefits to
supplement income
Life at $7.25 an hour (video)

17. Wages and Poverty
Living Wage Movement – local level attempts to raise minimum
wage to a wage that allows worker to afford a living without the
need for a social wage
Living Wage in Dallas County (Video)

18. Theories of Poverty
 Culture of Poverty - Poverty and poverty traits are transferred
through generations in perpetuity
Regardless of geographical location – show similarity in family
structure, interpersonal relations, time orientation, value system and
patterns of spending
The poor possess their own set of values that are passed through
generations - “Generational Poverty”

19. Theories of Poverty
 Culture of Poverty
Present day criticism – values of COP have spread to the
middle class: high divorce rates, single motherhood,
cohabitation vs. marriage and acceptable sexual behavior
Also, are the poor are poor because of their doing or
because of systemic racism and other issues

20. Theories of Poverty
 Generational Poverty
At least two generations
Can surface sooner than two generations if living with others in
generational poverty
Realities of Gen Poverty include: periods of homelessness, crowded
housing, incarceration, welfare services, violence,
addiction/substance abuse, food insecurity

21. Approaches to Combat Poverty
Curative Approach – ends poverty by helping poor become self-
supporting through changes in personal lives and in their environment
Alleviative Approach – public assistance programs created to
alleviate the suffering of the poor instead of attacking the causes of
poverty
Preventative Approach – requires the poor to use social insurance
programs to insure against the costs of accidents, sickness, death, old
age, unemployment and disability