Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security

Joan Entmacher

Joan Entmacher is Vice President for Family Economic Security at the National Women's Law Center, where she leads a team working to improve policies important to the economic security of low-income women and their families, including tax and budget, child care, child support, unemployment insurance, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, and Social Security. Ms. Entmacher is a leading expert on issues affecting low-income women. She has been invited to testify before Congress on several occasions, written numerous analyses and reports on income support policies and their impact on poor women, and spoken frequently at conferences, briefings, and to the media. Prior to joining the National Women's Law Center, Ms. Entmacher served as Director of Legal and Public Policy at the National Partnership for Women & Families, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College, Chief of the Civil Rights Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, and attorney in the U.S. Department of Labor Solicitor's Office. Ms. Entmacher is a graduate of Yale Law School and Wellesley College.

Expert in: Tax Credits Outreach, Federal Budget, Family Support Programs, Federal Tax Policy, Family Tax Credits, Data on Poverty & Income, Unemployment, Social Security & Retirement, Tax & Budget
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My Take

Extreme Poverty Increased for Older Americans

Posted by Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security | Posted on: September 23, 2013 at 01:35 pm

Many of the stories about the Census data released last week reported that poverty rates flatlined last year – and it’s true that there were few statistically significant changes. Indeed, the Census didn’t report statistically significant improvements in poverty rates for any demographic groups nationally. But there was one group that that saw statistically significant increases in extreme poverty: Americans 65 and older.

What’s extreme poverty? An income below 50 percent of the federal poverty threshold. That’s just $5,505 for a single person 65 and older.

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Tags: Census Bureau and Census Data, Poverty, Data on Poverty & Income, Poverty & Income Support | Add new comment

Stop Tax Haven Abuse—Another Way to Fight Poverty and Inequality

Posted by Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security | Posted on: September 19, 2013 at 04:34 pm

It’s been a roller coaster week, and it’s not over yet. Disappointing news from the Census Bureau that we didn’t make progress reducing poverty or the wage gap last year. Exciting news from the Department of Labor about a new rule that brings home care workers one giant step closer to fair pay. The threat that the House will vote later today to slash vital SNAP (Food Stamp) benefits for millions of Americans and vote tomorrow to extend the sequester for several more months. The sequester vote will include yet another effort to defund the Affordable Care Act.

But even in Congress, there are some encouraging developments. Yesterday, several Members of Congress turned out for a special game of Chutes and Ladders (with hula hoops!) to show their support for investing in early learning. And today, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) and cosponsors Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Mark Begich (D-AK) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) introduced the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act to close offshore tax loopholes.

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Tags: Census Bureau and Census Data, Child Care & Early Learning, Congress, Early Learning, Family Support Programs, Head Start, Home Care Work, Sequester, SNAP (Food Stamps), Tax Breaks & Tax Loopholes, Data on Poverty & Income, Tax Gap & Loopholes, Poverty & Income Support, Tax & Budget | Add new comment

Being a Woman Means You’re More Likely to Be Poor – and 3 Other Things You Should Know about Women and Poverty

Posted by Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security | Posted on: September 17, 2013 at 01:10 pm

More than 1 in 7 women live in poverty.

The Census Bureau just released new data on poverty in the U.S. in 2012. We’re continuing to crunch the numbers (we’ll have other blog posts and analyses), but here’s a first look at the numbers for women and families:

  • More than one in seven women, nearly 17.8 million, lived in poverty. The poverty rate among women was 14.5 percent in 2012, statistically unchanged from 2011, and the highest rate in two decades. 
  • The poverty rate for men in 2012, 11.0 percent, was lower than for women, and also was statistically unchanged from 2011. Although men’s poverty rate in 2012 was higher than in 2007, before the start of the recession, it was lower than women’s poverty rate in 2007—and lower than women’s record-low poverty rate (11.5 percent in 2000).
  • Poverty rates were particularly high for women who head families (40.9 percent), black women (25.1 percent), Hispanic women (24.8 percent), and women 65 and older living alone (18.9 percent).
  • More than one in five children, 21.8 percent, lived in poverty. More than half (56.1 percent) of poor children lived in female-headed families.

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Tags: Census Bureau and Census Data, Family Support Programs, Family Support Programs, Poverty, Data on Poverty & Income, Poverty & Income Support | 1 comment

Last Week, Chained CPI—This Week, Raising the Retirement Age and More

Posted by Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security | Posted on: August 14, 2013 at 10:47 am

It’s August in Washington, DC and Congress is out of town—but the House Ways and Means Committee wants to know what you think about additional ways to cut Social Security benefits.

Through last week, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) invited comments on adopting the chained CPI: a proposal that would reduce annual cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security and cut the value of benefits more and more every year. Seven thousand of you joined us to tell the Committee that the chained CPI is especially harmful to women. Now the Committee is asking for comments by August 29 on other proposed benefit cuts, including raising the retirement age and changing the benefit formula to reduce benefits.

Raising the retirement age is really just another way to cut benefits. It reduces benefits no matter when an individual claims benefits. Increasing the retirement age from 67 (the current retirement age for people born in 1960 or later) to 69 would reduce benefits by about 13 percent, whether an individual claims benefits at 65, 67, 69—or even 70.

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Tags: Chained CPI, House of Representatives, Social Security, Social Security, Social Security & Retirement | 1 comment

Trustees’ Report Shows that Social Security Isn’t Broke, Will Be There When We Need It

Posted by Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security | Posted on: May 31, 2013 at 01:50 pm

The Social Security Trustees released their annual report on Social Security’s finances today. Though you wouldn’t know it from reading some of the media coverage, the hard facts show that we can count on Social Security—whatever our ages. Here are five things you should know about Social Security’s finances:

  1. Social Security can pay 100 percent of promised benefits for the next 20 years – until 2033 – even if Congress takes no action.
  2. Social Security can continue to pay 77 percent of promised benefits after 2033 from payroll taxes, even if Congress takes no action. There is a long-term shortfall that needs to be closed—but Social Security isn’t going broke.
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Tags: Social Security, Social Security, Social Security & Retirement | Add new comment