Assignment #2: Poverty Rates

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The Census Bureau reports that the poverty rate for the state of Kentucky is 18.6%. The Census Bureau reports that the rate for Montgomery County is 25.4%. I decided to take my research a step further and look up Mount Sterling and I learned that the poverty rate is 29.3%. After learning the rates I believe my county and city are doing worse than the state of Kentucky is. The poverty rates for Montgomery and Mount Sterling were higher than the state alone.

The textbook gives a few meanings of the term poverty. The book breaks down poverty into two different types. The first type is absolute poverty and the book defines this as a poverty that is based on a fixed level of resources or “threshold”. In simple terms, this is the level of poverty for people who don’t have enough resources to care for their household so they must rely on TANF, EBT or food stamps. Absolute poverty could explain the reason why the rates are high for both Montgomery County and Mount Sterling over the state of Kentucky.

The textbook also discusses relative poverty and that is defined as a poverty being based on comparison. The text explains that relative poverty is an individual whose situation is disadvantaged to someone else’s. An example of this poverty would be Maria being classified as poor compared to a group of wealthy women but due to Maria’s job and family support she is more advantaged than someone who is on TANF or food stamps. This could also explain the discrepancy in the poverty rates because there are people who live in the county who are classified as being in poverty because of comparison.

In the United States, we tend to attribute poverty to individual flaws such as laziness, intemperance or inability to defer gratification. (B...

... middle of paper ...

...ant. I recall a student returning to college to get her nursing degree because they were not making enough money to support the family.

The bottom line is that I don’t believe there is one big reason for the poverty rates. I don’t believe that poverty rates are high because people are lazy and don’t want to work. That reason could play a role but it’s not the main reason. There are people who injure themselves at work and have to rely on disability and food stamps. There are people who have jobs but they don’t pay enough so they still need assistance from TANF, WIC & food stamps. I also know that the job market has not been friendly to some people in the last few years alone. Employers are being laid off from jobs because companies can’t pay them. In my opinion, there are a few reasons that could explain the reason for the poverty rates being the way they are.

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