Poverty rates can cloak the harsher problem of deep poverty
By Stateline.org, adapted by Newsela staff
10.01.14
WASHINGTON — Mississippi has the highest poverty rate and the lowest income in the country. Other states, such as Hawaii, Maryland and Massachusetts, often are at the opposite end of the scale, with much lower percentages of low-income residents.
However, some of these wealthier states also had some of the highest percentages of low-income residents living in deep poverty, according to a new study by the Stateline news organization.The federal poverty line in 2013 was $23,550 for a family of four, while deep poverty was defined as living on less than $12,000 per year for a family of four.
Stateline discovered this while analyzing poverty data releasedlast weekby the U.S. Census Bureau, the government agency that collects data on Americans and the economy.
The persistence of deep poverty in rich states that have reduced their overall poverty rates is a huge problem, economists and anti-poverty advocates say.
Pockets Of Poverty
Maryland highlights the problem. In 2013, 20.6 percent of Americans were at, below, or just above the federal poverty line, and lived on roughly $23,000 to $30,000 a year. In Maryland, the poverty rate was just 13.3 percent, the third-lowest percentage among all the states and the District of Columbia.
However, nearly 38 percent of Maryland’s low-income residents were living in deep poverty. Among the states, Maryland had the highest rate of residents in deep poverty in the country, though it was still lower than Washington, D.C.
Experts see several possible explanations for the difference. Some point to pockets of poverty in rural western Maryland, which are far from jobs and anti-poverty programs. Others think it is because of the large numbers of extremely poor people concentrated in certain areas of Baltimore. A recent Brookings Institution study found more than 1 in 10 of the city’s poor residents live in areas where the overall poverty rate tops 40 percent.
The situation is familiar to Bill McCarthy, executive director of Catholic Charities of Baltimore. He described areas of Baltimore where poverty rates top 90 percent and many residents are homeless. In some parts of the city, more than 70 percent of the residents are unemployed. Many of them have criminal records that make it difficult for them to get hired. In those cases, he said, the traditional programs for getting people out of poverty don't work as well.
“They address certain symptoms for short brief periods but don’t bring what I’ll call real change to people," McCarthy said.
In response, Catholic Charities has changed the way it provides services. It has begun to provide job training, health care, help in finding housing and other services in a single place. The approach recognizes that for some people, traditional anti-poverty programs — programs that give poor people food and money — simply aren’t enough. For one thing, some of the poorest people in Baltimore are homeless and don’t have an address where they can receive unemployment checks.
Living In Deep Poverty
Other states are experiencing the same problem. The percentage of Hawaii residents living around the poverty line is 14.5 percent, the fifth lowest in the country. But Hawaii has the sixth-highest share of its low-income residents in deep poverty, almost 37 percent. The state’s extraordinarily high cost of living, including food and housing expenses, makes the problem worse for many who live there.
Massachusetts is another example. A total of 15.3 percent of its residents live around the poverty line, which puts it at 43rd overall. But 36 percent of Massachusetts' low-income residents are living in deep poverty, which is the 10th highest in the nation.
Nationally, the share of low-income residents in deep poverty is 34 percent. Vermont has the lowest rate, at 26.3 percent.
Half of the Americans stuck in deep poverty are younger than 25 years old, a report from the Urban Institute found. More than a third of those are younger than 17. To help poor children, the government and organizations provide free or reduced-price lunches in schools, health care and extra food for their families.
Reaching adults in deep poverty can be more difficult. Many safety-net programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, commonly called “welfare,” are tied to work, or are limited to parents. Just 4 percent of deeply poor people older than 16 worked full time for the full year period analyzed in the Urban Institutestudy. Three-quarters of the deeply poor hadn’t worked at all.
“Most people in poverty are working,” said Elizabeth Lower-Basch of the Center for Law and Social Policy, a low-income research group. People in deep poverty, though, tend to be out of work or don't work steadily, she said.
Hard To Climb Out Of It
Many of the deeply poor are struggling with problems that make it difficult to find work, including family violence and mental illness. It is an especially significant problem in Washington, D.C., where nearly 45 percent of low-income residents live in deep poverty.
There isn't always support for people who are struggling with these problems, said Jenny Reed of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute.
“It’s really hard to get a job if you don’t have a place to go at night,” she said. “It’s sort of a circular problem. It’s very difficult for people who are in deep poverty to start to climb out.”
Yet some say that any help for poor people that doesn’t emphasize work and being self-sufficient is doomed to fail. Many conservatives argue that job training and work are the keys to reducing poverty. They believe that people should get government benefits and help only if they are in programs to learn jobs skills or are working at least part time.
“We have this huge welfare system, and yet the rate of self-sufficiency of Americans has not really improved,” said Rachel Sheffield of the conservative Heritage Foundation.
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