Poverty in the United States

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Poverty in the United StatesFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Homeless American

Povertyis defined as the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material

possessions.[1]

According to theU.S. Census Bureaudata released Tuesday September 13th, 2011, the

nation's poverty rate rose to 15.1% (46.2 million) in 2010,[2]up from 14.3% (approximately 43.6 million) in

2009 and to its highest level since 1993. In 2008, 13.2% (39.8 million) Americans lived in relative poverty .[3]

The government's definition of poverty is not tied to an absolute value of how much an individual or family

can afford, but is tied to arelative levelbased on total income received. For example, the poverty level for

2011 was set at $22,350 (total yearly income) (RM5,600 per month salary) for a family of four.[4]Most

Americans (58.5%) will spend at least one year below the poverty line at some point between ages 25 and

75.[5]

There remains some controversy over whether the official poverty threshold over- or understates

poverty.

The most common measure of poverty in theUnited Statesis the "poverty threshold" set by theU.S.

government. This measure recognizes poverty as a lack of those goods and services commonly taken for

granted by members of mainstream society.[6]

The official threshold is adjusted forinflationusing

theconsumer price index.

Relative povertydescribes how income relates to themedian income, and does not imply that the person is

lacking anything. In general the United States has some of the highest relative povertyrates among

industrialized countries.[7]

According to a 2008 report released bythe Carsey Instituteat theUniversity of

New Hampshire, on average, rates of poverty are persistently higher in rural and inner city parts of the

country as compared to suburban areas.[8][9]The number of people in the U.S. who are in poverty is

increasing to record levels with the ranks of working-age poor approaching 1960s levels that led to the

nationalwar on poverty.[10]

Contents

1 Measures of poverty

1.1 Two official measures of poverty 1.2 Recent poverty rate and guidelines
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rtyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States#cite_note-9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_povertyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States#cite_note-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States#cite_note-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Hampshirehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Hampshirehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carsey_Institutehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States#cite_note-Bradley_et_al.-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_povertyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_household_incomehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_povertyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_price_indexhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States#cite_note-Schwartz-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_government_of_the_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_government_of_the_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_thresholds_(United_States_Census_Bureau)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States#cite_note-Hacker-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States#cite_note-2011_HHS-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_povertyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States#cite_note-2009_Poverty_Rate_Reuters-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States#cite_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census_Bureauhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States#cite_note-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty


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1.3 Numbers in other countries

1.4 Relative measures of poverty

1.5 The income distribution and relative poverty

2 Poverty and demographics 2.1 Poverty and family status

2.1.1 By race/ethnicity and family status

2.2 Poverty and race

2.3 Poverty and age

3 Food security

4 Factors in poverty

4.1 Concerns regarding accuracy

4.2 Understating poverty

4.3 Overstating poverty

5 Fighting poverty

6 See also

7 References

8 Further reading

9 External links

Measures of poverty

Measures of poverty can be either absolute or relative.

Two official measures of poverty

Percent and number below the poverty threshold.[11]
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The poverty rate for selected age groups. Those under the age of 18 are most likely to fall below

There are two basic versions of the federal poverty measure: the poverty thresholds (which are the primary

version) and the poverty guidelines. TheCensus Bureauissues thepoverty thresholds, which are generally

used for statistical purposesfor example, to estimate the number of people in poverty nationwide each

year and classify them by type of residence, race, and other social, economic, and demographic

characteristics. TheDepartment of Health and Human Servicesissues the poverty guidelines for

administrative purposesfor instance, to determine whether a person or family is eligible for assistance

through various federal programs.[12]

Since the 1960s, the United States Government has defined poverty in absolute terms. When

theJohnsonadministration declared "war on poverty" in 1964, it chose an absolute measure. The "absolute

poverty line" is the threshold below which families or individuals are considered to be lacking the resources

to meet the basic needs for healthy living; having insufficient income to provide the food, shelter and

clothing needed to preserve health.

The "Orshansky Poverty Thresholds" form the basis for the current measure of poverty in the U.S.Mollie

Orshanskywas an economist working for theSocial Security Administration(SSA). Her work appeared at

an opportune moment. Orshansky's article was published later in the same year that Johnson declared war

on poverty. Since her measure was absolute (i.e., did not depend on other events), it made it possible to

objectively answer whether the U.S. government was "winning" this war. The newly formedUnited States

Office of Economic Opportunityadopted the lower of the Orshansky poverty thresholds for statistical,

planning, and budgetary purposes in May 1965.

The Bureau of the Budget (now theOffice of Management and Budget) adopted Orshansky's definition for

statistical use in all Executive departments. The measure gave a range of income cutoffs, or thresholds,

adjusted for factors such as family size, sex of the family head, number of children under 18 years old, and

farm or non-farm residence. The economy food plan (the least costly of four nutritionally adequate food

plans designed by theDepartment of Agriculture) was at the core of this definition of poverty.[13]

The Department of Agriculture found that families of three or more persons spent about one third of their

after-tax income on food. For these families, poverty thresholds were set at three times the cost of the
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economy food plan. Different procedures were used for calculating poverty thresholds for two-person

households and persons living alone. Annual updates of the SSA poverty thresholds were based on price

changes in the economy food plan.

Two changes were made to the poverty definition in 1969. Thresholds for non-farm families were tied toannual changes in theConsumer Price Index(CPI) rather than changes in the cost of the economy food

plan. Farm thresholds were raised from 70 to 85% of the non-farm levels.

In 1981, further changes were made to the poverty definition. Separate thresholds for "farm" and "female-

householder" families were eliminated. The largest family size category became "nine persons or more."[13]

Apart from these changes, the U.S. government's approach to measuring poverty has remained static for

the past forty years.

Recent poverty rate and guidelines

United States Department of Health and Human Services(HHS) figures for poverty in 2011[4]

Persons in

Family Unit

48 Contiguous States

and D.C.Alaska Hawaii

1 $10,890 $13,600 $12,544

2 $14,710 $18,380 $16,930

3 $18,530 $23,160 $21,320

4 $22,350 $27,940 $25,710

5 $26,170 $32,720 $30,100

6 $29,990 $37,500 $34,490

7 $33,810 $42,280 $38,880

8 $37,630 $47,060 $43,270

Each additional

person adds $3,820 $4,780 $4,390
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The poverty guideline figures are NOT the figures the Census Bureau uses to calculate the number of poor

persons. The figures that the Census Bureau uses are the poverty thresholds. The Census Bureau

provides an explanation of the difference between poverty thresholds and guidelines .[14]The Census

Bureau uses a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to determine who

is in poverty.[13]The 2010 figure for a family of 4 with no children under 18 years of age is $22,541, while

the figure for a family of 4 with 2 children under 18 is $22,162 .[15]For comparison, the 2011 HHS poverty

guideline for a family of 4 is $22,350. As of 2011-02-03, data for 2010 is only available as an XLS file

(Microsoft Excelformat), but data for earlier years is available as HTML web pages.[16]

Numbers in other countries

The official number of poor in the United States in 2008 is about 39.1 million people, greater in number but

not percentage than the officially poor inIndonesia, which has a far lowerHuman Development Indexand

the next largest population after the United States.[17][18]The poverty level in the United States, with 12.65%

(39.1 million people in poverty, of a total of 309 million) is comparable to the one in France, where 14% of

the population live with less than 880 euros per month.[19][20]

Number of poor are hard to compare across countries.Absolute incomemay be used but does not reflect

the actual number of poor, which depend on relative income and cost of living in each country. Among

developed countries, each country then has its own definition and threshold of what it means to be poor,

but this is not adjusted for cost of living and social benefits. For instance, despite the fact that France and

US have about the same threshold in terms of dollars amount for poverty, cost of living and health benefits

may differ (with universal health insurance coverage for poor people in France). In general, it might be

better to use theHuman Poverty Index(HPI),Human Development Index(HDI) or other global measure to

compare quality of living in different countries.

Relative measures of poverty

Another way of looking at poverty is in relativeterms. "Relative poverty" can be defined as having

significantly less access to income and wealth than other members of society. Therefore, the relative

poverty rate is a measure of income inequality. When the standard of living among those in more financially

advantageous positions rises while that of those considered poor stagnates, the relative poverty rate will

reflect such growing income inequality and increase. Conversely, the poverty rate can decrease, with low

income people coming to have less wealth and income if wealthier people's wealth is reduced by a larger

percentage than theirs. In 1959, a family at the poverty line had an income that was 42.64% of the median

income[citation needed]. If the poverty line in 1999 was less than 42.64% of the median income, then relative

poverty would have increased.

In theEUand for theOECD, "relative poverty" is defined as an income below 60% of the

nationalmedianequalizeddisposable incomeafter social transfers for a comparable household. In
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Germany, for example, the official relative poverty line for a single adult person in 2003 was 938 euros per

month (11,256 euros/year, $12,382 PPP. West Germany 974 euros/month, 11,688 euros/year, $12,857

PPP). For a family of four with two children below 14 years the poverty line was 1969.8 euros per month

($2,167 PPP) or 23,640 euros ($26,004 PPP) per year. According toEurostatthe percentage of people in

Germany living at risk of poverty (relative poverty) in 2004 was 16% (official national rate 13.5% in 2003).

Additional definitions for poverty in Germany are "poverty" (50% median) and "strict poverty" (40% median,

national rate 1.9% in 2003). Generally the percentage for "relative poverty" is much higher than the quota

for "strict poverty". The U.S concept is best comparable to "strict poverty". By European standards the

official (relative) poverty rate in the United States would be significantly higher than it is by the U.S.

measure. A research paper from theOECDcalculates the relative poverty rate for the United States at 16%

for 50% median of disposable income and nearly 24% for 60% of median disposable income[21](OECD

average: 11% for 50% median, 16% for 60% median).

Relying on income disparity to determine who is impoverished can be misleading. The Bureau of Labor

Statistics data suggests that consumer spending varies much less than income. In 2008, the poorest one

fifth of Americans households spent on average $12,955 per person for goods and services (other than

taxes), the second quintile spent $14,168, the third $16,255, the fourth $19,695, while the richest fifth

spent $26,644. The disparity of expenditures is much less than the disparity of income.[22]

The income distribution and relative poverty

Although the relative approach theoretically differs largely from the Orshansky definition, crucial variables

of both poverty definitions are more similar than often thought. First, the so-called standardization of

income in both approaches is very similar. To make incomes comparable among households of different

sizes,equivalence scalesare used to standardize household income to the level of a single person

household. In Europe, the modifiedOECDequivalence scale is used, which takes the combined value of 1

for the head of household, 0.5 for each additional household member older than 14 years and 0.3 for

children. When compared to the US Census poverty lines, which is based on a defined basket of goods, for

the most prevalent household types both standardization methods show to be very similar.

Furthermore, the poverty threshold in Western-European countries is not always higher than the Orshansky

threshold for a single person family. The actual Orchinsky poverty line for single person households in the

US ($9645 in 2004) is very comparable to the relative poverty line in many Western-European countries

(Belgium 2004: 9315), while price levels are also similar.[citation needed] The reason why relative poverty

measurement causes high poverty levels in the US, as demonstrated by Frster,[21]

is caused by

distributional effects rather than real differences in well-being among EU-countries and the USA.

The median household income is much higher in the US than in Europe due to the wealth of the middle

classes in the US, from which the poverty line is derived. Although the paradigm of relative poverty is most

valuable, this comparison of poverty lines show that the higher prevalence of relative poverty levels in the
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US are not an indicator of a more severe poverty problem but an indicator of larger inequalities between

rich middle classes and the low-income households. It is therefore not correct to state that the US income

distribution is characterized by a large proportion of households in poverty; it is characterized by relatively

large income inequality but also high levels of prosperity of the middle classes. The 2007 poverty threshold

for a three member family is 17,070.

Poverty and demographics

Camden, New Jerseyis one of the poorest cities in theUnited States.

Poverty inChester, Pennsylvania.

In addition to family status, race/ethnicity and age also correlate with high poverty rates in the United

States. Although data regarding race and poverty are more extensively published and cross tabulated the

family status correlation is by far the strongest.

Poverty and family status

According to the US Census, in 2007 5.8% of all people in married families lived in poverty,[23]as did 26.6%

of all persons in single parent households[23]

and 19.1% of all persons living alone.[23]

By race/ethnicity and family status

Among married families: 5.8% lived in poverty.[23]This number varied by ethnicity with

5.4% of white persons,[24]

8.3% of black persons,

[25]

and14.9% of Hispanic persons (of any nationality)[26]living in poverty.
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Among single parent families: 26.6% lived in poverty.[23]

This number varied by ethnicity with

30% of white persons,[24]

40% of black persons,[25]and

30% of Hispanic persons (of any nationality)[26]living in poverty.

Among unrelated individuals living alone: 19.1% lived in poverty.[23]

This number varied by ethnicity with

18% of white persons[27]

27.9% of black persons[26]and

27% of Hispanic persons (of any nationality)[28]

living in poverty

Poverty and race

The US Census declared that in 2010 15.1% of the general population lived in poverty :[29]

9.9% of all non-Hispanic white persons

12.1% of all Asian persons

26.6% of all Hispanic persons (of any nationality)

27.4% of all black persons.

About half of those living in poverty are non-Hispanic white (19.6 million in 2010) ,[29]but poverty rates are

much higher for blacks and Hispanics. Non-Hispanic white children comprised 57% of all poor rural

children.[30]

Poverty and age

The US Census declared that in 2010 15.1% of the general population lived in poverty:

22% of all people under age 18

13.7% of all people 19-64, and

9% of all people ages 65 and older[29]

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) uses a different measure for

poverty and declared in 2008 that child poverty in the US is 20% and poverty among the elderly is

23%.[31]Thenon-profitadvocacy groupFeeding Americahas released a study (May 2009) based on 2005-

2007 data from theU.S. Census Bureauand theAgriculture Department, which claims that 3.5 million

children under the age of 5 are at risk of hunger in theUnited States. The study claims that in 11

states,Louisiana, which has the highest rate, followed byNorth Carolina,Ohio,Kentucky,Texas,New

Mexico,Kansas,South Carolina,Tennessee,IdahoandArkansas, more than 20 percent of children under

5 are allegedly at risk of going hungry.The study was paid by ConAgra Foods, a large food company .[32]
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Food security

Eighty-nine percent of the American households were food secure throughout the entire year of 2002,

meaning that they had access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all of the household

members. The remaining households were food insecure at least some time during that year. The

prevalence of food insecurity rose from 10.7% in 2001 to 11.1% in 2002, and the prevalence of food

insecurity with hunger rose from 3.3% to 3.5%.[33]

In 2008, eighty-five percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year.[34]

Factors in poverty

There are numerous factors related to poverty in the United States.

Income has a high correlation with educational levels. In 2007, the median earnings of household

headed by individuals with less than a 9th grade education was $20,805 while households headed by

high school graduates received $40,456, households headed holders of bachelors degree e arned

$77,605, and families headed by individuals with professional degrees earned $100,000.[35]

In many cases poverty is caused by job loss. In 2007, the poverty rate was 21.5% for individuals who

were unemployed, but only 2.5% for individuals who were employed full time.[35]

In 1991, 8.3% of children in two-parent families were likely to live in poverty; 19.6% of children lived

with father in single parent family; and 47.1% in single parent family headed by mother.[36]

Income levels vary with age. For example, the median 2009 income for households headed by

individuals age 15-24 was only $30,750, but increased to $50,188 for household headed by individuals

age 25-34 and $61,083 for household headed by individuals 35-44.[37]Although the reasons are

unclear, work experience and additional education may be factors.

Income levels vary along racial/ethnic lines: 21% of all children in the United Stateslive in poverty,

about 46% of black children and 40% ofLatinochildren live in poverty.[38]

The poverty rate is 9.9% for

black married couples and only 30% of black children are born to married couples (see Marriage

below). In 2007,11% of black women aged 3044 without a high school diploma had a working

spouse.[39][copyright violation?] The poverty rate for native born and naturalized whites is identical (9.6%). On

the other hand, the poverty rate for naturalized blacks is 11.8% compared to 25.1% for native born

blacks suggesting race alone does not explain income disparity. Not all minorities have low incomes.

Asian families have higher incomes than all other ethnic groups. For example, the 2005 median

income of Asian families was $68,957 compared to the median income of white families of

$59,124.[40]Asians, however, report discrimination occurrences more frequently than blacks.

Specifically, 31% of Asians reported employment discrimination compared to 26% of blacks in 2005.[41]

The relationship between tax rates and poverty is disputed. A study comparing high tax Scandinaviancountries with the U. S. suggests high tax rates are inversely correlated with poverty rates .[42]The
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poverty rate, however, is low in some low tax countries such as Switzerland. A comparison of poverty

rates between states reveals that some low tax states have low poverty rates. For example, New

Hampshire has the lowest poverty rate of any state in the U. S., and has very low taxes (46th among

all states).It is true however that in those instances, both Switzerland and New Hampshire have a very

high household income and other measures to levy or offset the lack of taxation. For example,

Switzerland has Universal Healthcare and a free system of education for children as young as four

years old.[43]New Hampshire has no state income tax or sales tax, but does have the nation's highest

property taxes.[44]

The conservativeHeritage Foundationspeculates that illegal immigration increases job competition

among low wage earners, both native and foreign born. Additionally many first generation immigrants,

namely those without a high school diploma, are also living in poverty themselves.[45]

Much of the debate about poverty focuses on statistical measures of poverty and the clash between

advocates and opponents ofwelfareprograms and government regulation of thefree market. Since

measures can be either absolute or relative, it is possible that advocates for the different sides of this

debate are basing their arguments on different ways of measuring poverty. It is often claimed that poverty

is understated, yet there are some who also believe it is overstated; thus the accuracy of the current

poverty threshold guidelines is subject to debate and considerable concern.

Concerns regarding accuracy

In recent years, there have been a number of concerns raised about the official U.S. poverty measure. In

1995, theNational Research Council's Committee on National Statistics convened a panel on measuring

poverty. The findings of the panel were that "the official poverty measure in the United States is flawed and

does not adequately inform policy-makers or the public about who is poor and who is not poor."

The panel was chaired by Robert Michael, former Dean of the Harris School of theUniversity of Chicago.

According to Michael, the official U.S. poverty measure "has not kept pace with far-reaching changes in

society and the economy." The panel proposed a model based ondisposable income:

According to the panel's recommended measure, income would include, in addition to moneyreceived, the value of non-cash benefits such as food stamps, school lunches and public housingthat can be used to satisfy basic needs. The new measure also would subtract from gross incomecertain expenses that cannot be used for these basic needs, such as income taxes, child-supportpayments, medical costs, health-insurance premiums and work-related expenses, including childcare.[46]
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Understating poverty

Many sociologists and government officials have argued that poverty in theUnited Statesis understated,

meaning that there are morehouseholdsliving in actual poverty than there are households below the

poverty threshold.

[47]

A recentNPRreport states that as much as 30% of Americans have trouble makingends meet and other advocates have made supporting claims that the rate of actual poverty in the US is far

higher than that calculated by using the poverty threshold.[47]While the poverty threshold is updated for

inflation every year, the basket of goods used to determine what constitutes being deprived of a socially

acceptable miniumum standard of living has not been updated since 1955. As a result, the current poverty

line only takes goods into account that were common more than 50 years ago, updating their cost using the

Consumer Price Index. Mollie Orshansky, who devised the original goods basket and methodology to

measure poverty, used by the U.S. government, in 1963-65, updated the goods basket in 2000, finding that

the actual poverty threshold, i.e. the point where a person is excluded from the nation's prevailing

consumption patterns, is at roughly 170% of the official poverty threshold.[6]

According to John Schwarzt, a

political scientist at the University of Arizona:

The official poverty line today is essentially what it takes in today's dollars, adjusted for inflation,to purchase the same poverty-line level of living that was appropriate to a half century ago, in1955, for that year furnished the basic data for the formula for the very first poverty measure.Updated thereafter only for inflation, the poverty line lost all connection over time with currentconsumption patterns of the average family. Quite a few families then didn't have their ownprivate telephone, or a car, or even a mixer in their kitchen... The official poverty line has thusbeen allowed to fall substantially below a socially decent minimum, even though its intention wasto measure such a minimum.

The issue of understating poverty is especially pressing in states with both a high cost of livingand a high

poverty rate such asCaliforniawhere themedian home pricein May 2006 was determined to be

$564,430.[48]With half of all homes being priced above the half million dollar mark and prices in urban

areas such asSan Francisco,San JoseorLos Angelesbeing higher than the state average, it is almost

impossible for not just the poor but alsolower middle classworker to afford decent housing[citation needed], and

no possibility of home ownership. In theMonterey area, where the low-pay industry of agriculture is the

largest sector in the economy and the majority of the population lacks a college education the median

home price was determined to be $723,790, requiring anupper middle class incomewhich only roughly

20% of all households in the county boast.[48][49]

Such fluctuations in local markets are however not considered in the Federal poverty threshold and thus

leave many who live in poverty-like conditions out of the total number of households classified as poor.
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Overstating poverty

Impoverished area near 125th Street inHarlem,New York, which was subsequently demolished for new commercial development.

Some critics assert that the official U.S. poverty definition is inconsistent with how it is defined by its own

citizens and the rest of the world, because the U.S. government considers many citizens statisticallyimpoverished despite their ability to sufficiently meet their basic needs. According to a 2011 paper by

poverty expertRobert Rector, of the 43.6 million Americans deemed to be below the poverty level by

theU.S. Census Bureauin 2009, the majority had adequate shelter, food, clothing and medical care. In

addition, the paper stated that those assessed to be below the poverty line in 2011 have a much higher

quality of living than those who were identified by the census 40 years ago as being in poverty .[50]

The federal poverty line also excludes income other than cash income, especially welfare benefits. Thus,

iffood stampsandpublic housingwere successfully raising the standard of living for poverty stricken

individuals, then the poverty line figures would not shift since they do not consider the income equivalentsof such entitlements.[51]

A 1993 study of low income single mothers titled Making Ends Meet, by Kathryn Edin, a sociologist at

theUniversity of Pennsylvania, showed that the mothers spent more than their reported incomes because

they could not "make ends meet" without such expenditures. According to Edin, they made up the

difference through contributions from family members, absent boyfriends, off-the-book jobs, and church

charity.

According to Edin: "No one avoided the unnecessary expenditures, such as the occasional trip to the Dairy

Queen, or a pair of stylish newsneakersfor the son who might otherwise sell drugs to get them, or the

Cable TV subscription for the kids home alone and you are afraid they will be out on the street if they are

not watching TV."[52]

Moreover,SwedishLibertarianthink tankTimbropoints out that lower-income households in the U.S. tend

to own more appliances and larger houses than many middle-income Western Europeans.[53]

Some experts don't believe poverty can be accurately measured.

"There is no exactway of measuring poverty. The measures are contingent on how we conceive of and

define poverty," saidWilliam "Sandy" Darity, a professor of public policy and economics at Duke University.
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"Efforts to develop more refined measures have been dominated by researchers who intentionally want to

provide estimates that reduce the magnitude of poverty."

Fighting poverty

See also:War on povertyandWelfare's effect on poverty

There have been many governmental andnongovernmentalefforts to reduce poverty and its effects. These

range in scope from neighborhood efforts to campaigns with a national focus. They target specific groups

affected by poverty such as children, people who are autistic, immigrants, or people who are homeless.

Efforts to alleviate poverty use a disparate set of methods, such as advocacy,education,social

work,legislation, direct service orcharity, andcommunity organizing.

Recent debates have centered on the need for policies that focus on both "income poverty" and "asset

poverty." Advocates for the approach argue that traditional governmental poverty policies focus solely on

supplementing the income of the poor, through programs such asAid to Families with Dependent

Children(AFDC) and Food Stamps.

Additionally, theEarned Income Tax Credit(EITC or EIC) is a credit for people who earn low-to-moderate

incomes. This credit can reduce the taxes of working families and individuals, allowing them to keep more

of what they earn. TheEarned Income Tax Creditis viewed as the largest poverty reduction program in the

United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_povertyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_povertyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_povertyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare%27s_effect_on_povertyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare%27s_effect_on_povertyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare%27s_effect_on_povertyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advocacyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advocacyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_workhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_workhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_workhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_workhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charitable_organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charitable_organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charitable_organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_organizinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_organizinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_organizinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aid_to_Families_with_Dependent_Childrenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aid_to_Families_with_Dependent_Childrenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aid_to_Families_with_Dependent_Childrenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aid_to_Families_with_Dependent_Childrenhttp://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96406,00.htmlhttp://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96406,00.htmlhttp://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96406,00.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earned_Income_Tax_Credithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earned_Income_Tax_Credithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earned_Income_Tax_Credithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earned_Income_Tax_Credithttp://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96406,00.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aid_to_Families_with_Dependent_Childrenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aid_to_Families_with_Dependent_Childrenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_organizinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charitable_organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_workhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_workhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advocacyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare%27s_effect_on_povertyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_poverty

Documents

Poverty in the United States