04 01 2014 Poverty in the United States Overview Defining poverty in the United States Facts about poverty in the United States Defining Poverty Absolute poverty standard by which a minimum level of subsistence is established Relative poverty standard by which people are defined as poor in comparison to others Metric of Deprivation Income value of money Wealth value of assets Material hardships housing bills food security and hunger Social exclusion degree to which excluded from mainstream institutions The Official U S Definition Official U S poverty measure is absolute income based and defined at the family level Poverty thresholds vary depending on o Size of the family o Number of children The poverty thresholds originally were based on an economy food plan o Thresholds are pegged to inflation CPI Thresholds do not adjust for o Geographic differences in cost of living o Non cash transfer payments Work and Poverty Work attachment greatly reduces odds of being poor But most poor adults do work The majority of working age poor are employed Often question of adequacy of wages hours skill level etc Time in Poverty Often hear about deep intergenerational poverty but overall poverty population is very dynamic Most poverty occurs in spells of less than 1 year A small minority 10 of the poor remain in poverty for 5 consecutive years Race and Poverty Poverty has disproportionate impact on racial ethnic minorities o In 2011 White 9 9 19 6 million Black 27 4 10 7 million Hispanic 26 6 13 2 million But no race ethnic group are a majority of the poor Family Structure and Poverty Poverty has disproportionate impact on single female headed families o In 2011 poor families Welfare and Poverty Married couple families 6 2 3 7 million Single female families 31 2 4 9 million But overall single female families account for just about half of all Most poor people do not receive cash welfare o Wage and salary income constitutes the majority of income o Even among those who are eligible most no longer receive among the poor those benefits o Most welfare now geared towards being work supports Geography and Poverty Do have high and concentrated poverty in many of our inner cities But poverty isn t only an urban problem o Most of the poor live outside the inner city o Poverty rates are consistently higher in rural areas In Sum Poverty is a key dimension of social class stratification Various ways in which it can be conceptualized and measured More nuanced than people often recognize