Criminal justice
Dominica
Week4Poverty.pptxPoverty
Poverty Statistics/facts
Social safety net – Poverty policies
Minimum Wage
Living in poverty
Rethinking American poverty
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Poverty Statistics/facts
12.7% of people in the US live “in poverty” – 40.6 million people
1.5 million households (including 3 million children) live on cash incomes of $2 or less a day so are severely impoverished
Income deficit – amount that a family’s income has fallen below the poverty line Average income deficits have increased in recent years, indicating that families’ incomes are dropping further and further below the poverty line
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Social safety net – Poverty policies
Social safety net – non-contributory assistance to improve lives of vulnerable families and individuals experiencing poverty; includes various welfare programs, old-age and disability incomes, health care programs (Medicare for seniors; Medicaid for those with low-incomes), and unemployment assistance
Compared to similar countries, the US invests significantly less money in its social safety net.
“Submerged state” – benefits (and/or obtaining them) are not as visible to recipients/public, so
people are less likely to identify themselves/others as participating social safety net
The programs we are least likely to recognize as government support are among those the middle and upper classes are most likely to be using.
Poverty line
The government defines poverty and uses this definition to determine who is eligible for government benefits.
How the poverty line is defined is problematic
It’s based on a formula devised in the 1960s, when household expenses/costs were different than now.
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Minimum Wage – part of the Fair Labor Standard Act (1938)
Increasing the minimum wage:
has little to no negative effect on employment levels of minimum wage workers.
sharply reduces employee turnover, decreasing hiring and training costs.
raises demand for goods/services, increasing job growth in these areas.
by 10% decreases poverty levels by 2.5%.
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Hourly wage needed to afford two-bedroom housing
Living in Poverty
“Hidden Costs”
For transportation, includes time lost, maintenance and repairs
For health, deferred care means more expensive to address later on.
Eating unhealthy foods increases health costs and decreases work/living ability.
Work-related costs (like clothing) might make taking a job prohibitive.
“Taxes” for being poor include more expensive food options, overdraft fees from banks, and being arrested for not being able to pay a parking ticket.
Rethinking American Poverty
We need to make some fundamental shifts in how we conceptualize poverty to proactively address poverty.
Poverty affects us all
Poverty largely results from failings at economic and political levels not from
individual failings.
3. Poverty is a moral problem.
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