Poverty

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. Read more »

Not in my backyard.

We all know it’s easier to brush off problems that happen to other people, in other places. You might be frustrated about the injustices happening out there, but at least you can go to bed imagining things are okay right here.

NWLC just crunched some more state-by-state poverty data that the U.S. Census Bureau released yesterday, and I can tell you this: Things are not okay right here, wherever you may be.  

The national poverty data released on Tuesday showed that national poverty rates didn’t improve in 2012 and women and children continued to be disproportionately affected by poverty.   Some of the facts in the state-by-state poverty data will also make you cringe: Read more »

Census Bureau data released yesterday show that women continue to experience high rates of poverty and a nasty wage gap.

In 2012, the poverty rate for women was 14.5 percent, substantially higher than men’s rate of 11 percent. Nearly 17.8 million women lived in poverty last year.

Poverty rates were particularly high for families headed by single mothers – more than four in ten (40.9 percent) were poor. More than half (56.1 percent) of poor children lived in female-headed families in 2012.

The poverty rates for other vulnerable groups of women were also high: black women (25.1 percent), Hispanic women (24.8 percent), and women 65 and older living alone (18.9 percent).

The wage gap figures also paint a bleak picture for many women.

The cold hard facts are that women working full time, year round continue to be paid only 77 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts, and the numbers are far worse for women of color, at 64 cents for black women and 54 cents for Hispanic women.

With women as primary breadwinners in over 40% of families today, women and their families simply cannot afford to make do with less.

Read more »

In 2012, 46.5 million people, including nearly 17.8 million women and 16 million children, were living in poverty, according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau yesterday. Numbers that big are often difficult to comprehend, but the message is clear: we have a long way to go to end poverty in America.

Although these new data confirm that the poverty rate remains stubbornly high, it is also important to note that without key safety net programs, the statistics would be far worse. What we know for sure is that programs like Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps (SNAP), and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), lift millions of people out of poverty and reduce hardship for millions more.

SNAP benefits are not counted as income in Census Bureau’s official poverty numbers—but we know they make a real difference to struggling families. For example, the Census Bureau reported today that if SNAP benefits had been counted as income, the 2012 poverty rate would be 1.3 percentage points lower—and four million more people would be above the poverty line.

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.

Tighten our belts? You have to be kidding.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is expected to introduce a bill that could come to a vote this week, which would cut SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps) benefits for 4 to 6 million struggling Americans. SNAP provides critical assistance to millions of people, mostly women and children, to stave off hunger. In 2011, SNAP lifted the incomes of almost 3.9 million people above the poverty line (including 1.1 million women and 1.7 million children). And in a nation where nearly 50 million Americans suffer from food insecurity annually – including 15.8 million children – SNAP benefits are tangible, direct, and life-saving. But they’re already modest, averaging less than $1.40 per person per meal.

And now they’re on the chopping block. Read more »

This week, the Census Bureau will release new data on poverty, income, and health insurance in the U.S. in 2012. As we get ready to crunch numbers, we thought it would be helpful to take a deeper look at what these numbers tell us – and don’t tell us – about poverty. Here are a few FAQs on poverty and the Census Bureau data.

What does the poverty rate measure?

The poverty rate measures the percentage of the U.S. population with income below the federal poverty threshold, often referred to as the “poverty line,” for their family size (e.g., $23,283 in 2012 for a family of four with two kids). Income is calculated before taxes and includes only cash income such as earnings, pension/retirement income, Social Security, unemployment benefits, and child support payments. Read more »

We all know it can be hard to come back to work after a long weekend. For those of you fighting for women’s equality, here are 10 reasons to roll up your sleeves on the Tuesday after Labor Day: Read more »

This week the U.S. House Committee on the Budget held a hearing on the progress of the War on Poverty. While poverty remains painfully high as the United States struggles to recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression, social insurance and safety net programs are lifting millions out of poverty. And the nation’s most effective anti-poverty program is Social Security. Without Social Security, a staggering 25 million more Americans – and half of women 65 and older would fall below the poverty line.

Despite the critical importance of Social Security to Americans’ economic security, lawmakers are considering cutting Social Security benefits by switching to the chained consumer price index (CPI) to calculate the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security and other programs. But the chained CPI would actually lower the cost-of-living adjustments and the cuts would get deeper every year.  Read more »

News on the minimum wage just keeps coming this week, and today’s update is from New York. Earlier this month, Governor Cuomo released his budget for 2013-14, which proposes raising the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.75 per hour and raising the minimum cash wage for tipped food service workers from $5.00 to $6.03 per hour, effective July 1, 2013. And now a new report from the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) and the National Employment Law Project (NELP) shows that the majority of New York workers who would get a raise under Governor Cuomo’s proposal are women — 845,700 women to be exact.

Today, minimum wage workers in New York earn just $14,500 per year — more than $3,600 below the poverty line for a mom with two kids, and far less than a family needs to be economically secure in a state with a notoriously high cost of living. If Governor Cuomo’s proposal becomes law, women earning the minimum wage would see their annual pay rise by $3,000. Tipped food service workers like restaurant servers — who are about 70 percent women nationwide — could get an extra $2,060 per year. Read more »