Both qualitative and quantitative studies on migration and poverty suggest that migration is selective with respect to income and earning capacity. Fitchen (1995) and Lichter et al. (2010) examined the role that migration plays in the relationship between poor people and poor places. Fitchen’s (1995) study described an eastern New York town experiencing increasing welfare caseloads and urban exodus. Vacated buildings and storefronts in the downtown were bought up by out-of-town investors, subdivided into multi-dwelling apartment buildings, and leased to low-income residents. Fitchen further described a trend of progressive movement, where people were displaced to less urban areas, resulting in a process of migration to rural areas that …show more content…
Unemployment rates, for example, do not capture potentially discouraged or underemployed workers and often mask out-migration. Because there are differences in opportunities for men and women, and thus differential participation in the labor force, employment and population ratios for men and women may measure labor market tightness better than overall unemployment rates. Job growth rates may better capture opportunities for low-income people than unemployment rates, although new jobs in a locality are often filled by migrants and in-commuters (Bartik, 1991; Raphael, 1998; Renkow, 2003). Moreover, Bartik (1996) suggested that job growth may be less endogenous than local unemployment rates. The labor market is, of course, not the only contextual influence on poverty. Such things as a lack of affordable childcare (Davis & Weber, 2001) and a lack of public transportation options in sparsely settled places (Duncan, Whitener, & Weber, 2002) may impose barriers to labor force participation and employment for low-income adults. This is often more constraining in rural areas in compassion with urban areas (Weber, …show more content…
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that though poverty is usually associated with unemployment, a significant portion of the poor are actually employed (see also DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, & Smith, 2009). Due to their low wages, the working poor face countless obstacles that make it difficult to find and keep a job, cover basic expenses, and obtain a sense of security (Cross, 2010; Kalleberg, 2011; Lohmann, 2009). The official working poverty rate in the U.S. has been stable over the past four decades (Hoynes, 2005). However, some scholars disagree with this stability, and feel that the official definition is set too low as the share of workers facing financial hardship has increased over the years (Bordoff et al., 2007; Sandoval, 2009; Wicks-Lim, 2010). Others argue that changes in the economy (i.e., the shift from a manufacturing-based to service-based economy) have resulted in the polarization of the labor market (Autor, Katz, & Kearney, 2006; Satya, 2011). This means that while there are more jobs in both extremities of the income spectrum, there are fewer jobs in the middle (Kalleberg,
Federman, M. et al. What Does it Mean to be Poor in America? 1996 (2009). Pp. 296-310
The small river that divides the Washington Heights and Harlem from the South Bronx area, makes up "one of the largest racially segregated concentrations of poor people in our nation" (Kozol 3). This segregation increases the inequality problems by overpopulating the inner-cities that do not offer as many employment opportunities. As a result of the inequalities in this district, the children are not allowed as many opportunities as other fortunate individuals may receive growing up in a separate society. Kozol seems to think that the odds of these South Bronx children obtaining wealth and moving out of the area are ...
Poverty in America is a very complex issue that can be looked at from many directions. There are a plethora of statistics and theories about poverty in America that can be confusing and at times contradicting. It is important to objectively view statistics to gain a better understanding of poverty and to wade through the stereotypes and the haze of cultural views that can misrepresent the situation.The official poverty line in America begins with a person making at or below $12,060. To calculate the poverty line for a family, an additional $4,180 is added to the base of $12,060 for each additional member(“Federal Poverty Level Guidelines”). According to the last U.S. census, over 45 million or 14.5% of Americans are at or below the poverty line(Worstall). At this level, the U.S. poverty level has not changed much from the 1970s when the government began a “War on Poverty.” However,
Zuberi, Dan. Differences that Matter: Social Policy and the Working Poor in the United. New York: Cornell University Press, 2006.
Undisputedly poverty has been one of the major persistent social problems in the United States for hundreds of years. Poverty does not discriminate against Caucasians, African-Americans, Hispanics, Jews, homosexuals, heterosexuals, age, gender, or persons with disabilities. Poverty can strike any population, community, ethnic group, and family. According to the U.S Census Bureau, 43.6 million people were in poverty in 2009 which was an increase from 2008. (Insert citation for website). There are multiple causes of why a family or individual can fall into poverty, which includes but not limited to, disability, unemployment, age, and recessions, as for which we have seen through the 2008 recession and the Great Depression. Throughout this paper I will address poverty as a social problem and its causes. I will also focus on how children and family households headed by single mothers are effected by poverty, and how Temporary Assistance for Needy Families came about to help children and families in poverty.
The concept of the "working poor" has gained prominence in the post-welfare reform era. As welfare rolls shrunk, the focus shifted from the dependent poor to the working poor. It was obvious that without substantial outside support, even families with full-time low-wage workers were still earning less than the official poverty line. And while American society purports that anyone can prosper if they work hard enough, it became apparent that with inadequate opportunity or bad luck, a growing number of families could not attain the American dream, or even break the cycle of poverty. The new challenge for American social policy is to help the working poor lift themselves out of poverty. That's why progressives who supported ending welfare as we know it have set a new goal -- the government should "make work pay" so that no one who works full time is poor.
In America, you are considered to be in poverty if you have to grow your own food, or you have a job making minimum wage, or live on government assistance. The U.S. Census uses the same poverty thresholds throughout the U.S. without deference for geographic location, but they are updated for inflation using Consumer Price Index (Commerce). Wage increases have not kept up with the increases in the cost of living, Americans 65 and older had the largest increases in poverty under the revised formula, from 9.1 percent to 14.8 percent, mostly because of medical expenses such as increases in Medicare supplement premiums. Statistical evidence about poverty is a topic that tends to come up in discussions about economic hardship, yet the issue has all but disappeared from the legislative agenda as lawmakers focus on deficit reduction.
Education can be somewhat helpful to people headed toward poverty or homelessness. However, new research is showing that education is needed but alone it is simply not enough to help people get jobs and help their situation. Along with their education, the poor need job training in the area of work they are looking towards (Bernstein 1). The training along with the mandatory education helps people excel in something they are good at and improve their job chances. The people who do get their education and job training then run into another roadblock. In the U.S. economy, typically low-wage jobs are more abundant. In fact, the low-wage sector of the economy is the part that is projected to grow the most. In the next ten years, thirty new low-wages jobs are expected to be added to the work force. Of those thirty, half of the new jobs will require very little training (Bernstein 3). This results in a lower quality of work and less pay. Many people on the verge of poverty occupy these low paying job...
The most often cited cause of the decline of the middle class in the United States is stagnant wages. Between 1955 and 1970, real wages adjusted and inflation rose by an average of 2.5 percent per year. Between 1971 and 1994, the average growth of real wages was 0.3 percent a year. The stagnation of wages has been especially noticeable to middle-class people, who rely very much on the money they make at their jobs. Recessions seem to hit higher income households much harder, which sends them down to the middle class. Middle-income households may or may not be more likely than higher-income households to qualify for unemployment compensation when jobs are scarce. But those who do are more likely than high-income households to receive benefits that replace a greater share of their regular wages, which helps them maintai...
Ehrenreich’s use of statistical information also proves to her audience that she in fact has done her research on this topic. She admits that poverty is a social topic that she frequently talks about. She researched that in 1998 the National Coalition for the Homeless reported that nationwide on average it would take about a wage of $8.89 to afford a one bedroom apartment and that the odds of common welfare recipients landing a job that pays such a “living wage” were about 97 to 1. Ehrenreich experiences this statistic in first person when she set out job hunting in Key West, Florida when she applied to 20 different jobs, ranging from wait tables to housekeeping, and of those applications, zero were responded to.
For a long time, illegal immigrants have been entering the United States, and it has been a big issue concerning the world today. Hispanics today form the fastest growing ethnic minority in the United States. An example of how many illegal immigrants migrate to the U.S. is found in the book Voyages by Cathy Small; she explains that many Tongan immigrants migrated in the year 1976. Out of 1,993 Tongan’s, Olunga had grown approximately 2%, so by all means that at least 40% of its population had migrated between the years 1956 and 1976. By 1970 the inhabitants’ population growth was already dropping. This means that there were 200 people less than the past years.
In discussions of Gentrification, one controversial issue has been with displacement. Gentrification is the process of renovating and repairing a house or district so that it complies to wealthier residents (Biro, 2007, p. 42). Displacement is a result of gentrification, and is a major issue for lower income families. Gentrification is causing lower-income residents to move out of their apartments because they’re being displaced by upper class residents who can afford high rent prices and more successful businesses. Throughout out the essay, I will discuss how gentrification affects lower income residents and how it results in displacement. Then I will follow on by discussing some positive and negative effects that take place because of Gentrification.
In the report A New Form of Social Dislocation in the Inner-City Ghetto, William Julius Wilson analyzes three research studies conducted in Chicago between 1986 and 1993. In these studies, Wilson identifies a new type of poverty, which he coins jobless poverty. Jobless poverty represents the growing number communities that are compromised of a high percentage of unemployed individuals. These communities have the same recurrent themes of isolation in inner-city ghettos where the surrounding area is abandon, desolate or deserted of economic opportunities and community benefits. In contrast to living in employed poverty or unemployed poverty in neighborhoods of high employment, jobless poverty causes negative effects that lead to individuals and their families becoming stuck in a continuous cycle of jobless poverty. As a result of these negative effects, it is important to consider policy solutions that would address this growing problem and provide opportunities for individuals to escape the cycle of jobless poverty. The most affective solutions to jobless poverty are more mixed-use developments and a larger public transportation networks.
The problems of race and urban poverty remain pressing challenges which the United States has yet to address. Changes in the global economy, technology, and race relations during the last 30 years have necessitated new and innovative analyses and policy responses. A common thread which weaves throughout many of the studies reviewed here is the dynamics of migration. In When Work Disappears, immigrants provide comparative data with which to highlight the problems of ghetto poverty affecting blacks. In No Shame in My Game, Puerto Rican and Dominican immigrants are part of the changing demographics in Harlem. In Canarsie, the possible migration of blacks into a working/middle-class neighborhood prompts conservative backlash from a traditionally liberal community. In Streetwise, the migration of yuppies as a result of gentrification, and the movement of nearby-ghetto blacks into these urban renewal sites also invoke fear of crime and neighborhood devaluation among the gentrifying community. Not only is migration a common thread, but the persistence of poverty, despite the current economic boom, is the cornerstone of all these works. Poverty, complicated by the dynamics of race in America, call for universalistic policy strategies, some of which are articulated in Poor Support and The War Against the Poor.
What is poverty? The World Bank Organization takes a unique way of looking into the question of what is poverty. “Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time.” With that being said, according to the United States Census Bureau in 2013 the nation’s poverty rate fell to 14.5%, down from 15% a year earlier. This drop of a half percent is the first significant drop since 2006 when it was 12.6%. If one were to do the math a whopping 45.3 million Americanss fall under the line of poverty. Unfortunately of those 45.3 million living in poverty,