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What is poverty? Think beyond the official number
Volunteers sort through donated clothing at a shelter in Tuscalosa, Ala. Even if technically living above the poverty line, it can be hard for many Americans to make ends meet.
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Tamara Johnson, 41, visits the Sunrise Church’s relief mission in Rialto, Calif., with her daughter, looking for donated clothes.
Jeremy Hobson: This week we are launching our new Wealth and Poverty Desk, and we'll start with the numbers. The poverty line is a little more than $22,000 a year for a family of four. More than 15 percent of Americans fall below that line.
Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman takes a look behind those numbers.
Mitchell Hartman: Here’s one of the sounds of poverty in America: A family shopping trip.
Tamara Johnson: You like any of those shirts?
To the relief mission at the local church.
Johnson: No? Just look at them and see if you like them first.
Tamara Johnson’s 41, from Rialto, Calif. She lives with the 6-year-old daughter she’s trying to interest in one of those free T-shirts, or maybe a warm coat. Johnson’s also getting a box of donated food -- rice, beans, canned vegetables.
Johnson: It’s a struggle, just a little bit.
Hartman: And are you working right now?
Johnson: Yes, I am a program manager at Pomona Alcohol and Drug Recovery Center.
Hartman: So you’re a supervisor?
Johnson: I’m making really good money. But still it’s not enough in today’s economy.
And that "good money"? Johnson told me she makes around $3,000 a month, which would put her a little above two times the official poverty rate. Even so, with rent, utilities, and transportation, she said she still couldn’t make it from paycheck to paycheck.
Economist Randy Albelda at UMass Boston offers another definition of poverty: one that better suits people like Johnson.
Randy Albelda: You’re poor when you can’t buy what you need. When you cannot afford to pay for your rent, you can’t afford to buy food, you can’t afford clothing.
Many Americans cycle through poverty at some point without staying there -- when they’re in school, or out of work for a spell.
The bigger problem, says Albelda, is those who are stuck long term with an income at the poverty line.
Albelda: A single mom, who also has a lot of relatives who are also low-wage or low-income, especially if she works and she’s got young children, $24,000 may not even come close to the sets of costs she would face, even being as frugal as she possibly could be.
Albelda says that working mother courts disaster every time she goes to work.
Albelda: A car breaking down can have enormous consequences -- like losing your job.
This is what life is like for more and more Americans after the recession: they’re just one unlucky step from taking an economic fall.
I’m Mitchell Hartman for Marketplace.
Hobson: Tomorrow our Wealth and Poverty launch continues with a look at the middle class.
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1.) It costs alot to move. 2.) Will she have a job after she moves? So maybe she feels stuck in an expensive place and is doing the best she can. But let's not blame her - let's blame the author of the article for not finding someone that fits the definition of 'poverty' for a story on poverty.
And he says "this is what life is like for more and more Americans after the recession" -- yes, many more. But don't think for a minute that there weren't MANY living paycheck to paycheck BEFORE the recession. The last 20 years as prices have soared and wages stagnated, there's a whole class of people making under $35,000. who scrimp and buy clothes at consignment shops so their kids can participate in sports, etc. They have not given up their $4.00 lattes -they never bought them! This is not the middle class, nor are they in poverty. There's a new class in America- the struggling, being squeezed by banks and insurance companies, etc, while their stingy employers want them to be grateful for a 40 cent/hour raise while the execs rake in big bonuses.
I too created an account to comment. I was making $52K a little more than 5yrs ago. And we were living pay check to pay check. I had a new truck, new 1,500sqft home (which I had the common sense to not purchase beyond my means), credit cards and other bills. My wife and I realized we needed to get ourselves out of this hole we had created. We sold the truck, purchased a cash car and payed off all our bills and cut the credit cards. And we payed off our home in 5 yrs. Those 4yrs weren't easy but it was a sacrifice we had too do for our future. So don't cry me a river when you are a bad manager of money. You have to get fed up with yourself and not with life. This is America, stand up and take action!
jillmiller clearly you need a bit of one on one. $3,000 per month with the typical 23.5% taken leaves $2,295. Minus $800 in rent (if you are lucky), have you filled up a tank anytime in the past 2 years?, minus food, and childcare, doesn't leave this big surplus that would deem someone a poor planner if they were barely making ends meat.
The Department of Health and Human Services, using 201o data, calculated that the poverty level for a single individual was $30,000. Please go online to Wider Opportunities for Women/Health and Human Services to see one worker with one infant needs $46,000 a year to live as a human being in a first world country. This is a free country and people live where they choose, not where they are relegated. The problem is clearly the failure to raise wages and social safety net income to the current cost - of- living levels. It is a disgrace and a sign that our country is heading in the wrong direction.
Okay, I felt compelled to open an account and post because of this article. If someone is making $36k a year and needs to take advantage of food banks, they are a poor planner and trying to live above their means. Or maybe they live in an area they cannot afford. Not everyone can afford California and NYC. Americans need to realize they don't always get the life they want and try to make things work with what they have. I am a single parent raising two kids on $15k a year without child support. We had to move to a smaller town where property is cheaper. We don't have cable, we eat on $150 a month, we keep the house at 65 degrees. I am not saying we are perfect, but I'd venture to guess the woman featured in this article buys a lot of unnecessary stuff (as I see many so-called poor colleagues do) and turns around and takes free stuff that could benefit those truly in need! People have no shame anymore about handouts and we have a completely inflated lifestyle that is now considered normal.
