The Poverty Line

Examples of The Poverty Line in the following topics:

• The Lower Class

  • The lower class in the United States refers to individuals who are at, or near, the lower end of the socioeconomic hierarchy.
  • The poverty line is defined as the income level at which an individual becomes eligible for public assistance.
  • While only about 12% of households fall below the poverty threshold at one point in time, the total percentage of households that will, at some point during the course of a single year, fall below the poverty line, is much higher.
  • Many such households waver above and below the line throughout a single year.
  • Lower class households are at the greatest risk of falling below this poverty line, particularly if a job holder becomes unemployed.

• Poverty

  • Poverty is the condition of not having access to material resources, income, or wealth.
  • The United States officially defines poverty using the poverty line.
  • The poverty line is set at an income level that is three times the approximate cost of a subsistence level food budget.
  • "Near poverty" is the term for an income level that is just above the poverty line; it refers to incomes that are no more than 25% above the poverty line.
  • In the United States, minorities and women are more likely to be living in poverty.

• Measurement Problems

  • Taking into account the problems with the Gini ratio, a concept like the poverty line does an effective job in offsetting this variability.
  • A poverty line is the determination of a specific income level in which it is considered the absolute minimum amount of capital required for an individual or family to live (and have all necessities) over the course of one year.
  • Looking at the , one can see that measuring the percentages of individuals under the poverty line from country to country demonstrates what appears to be a graphic for comparison.
  • However, due to the fact that poverty lines are different in different countries (because there is no standard way in which to enforce setting and measuring the poverty line) it is not relative.
  • This graph illustrates the different percentiles of individuals under the poverty line across the world.

• Defining and Measuring Poverty

  • The United Nations defines poverty as the inability to obtain choices and opportunities.
  • When conceptually approaching the idea of a poverty line, it is useful to frame it within the context of generating an amount of income that is appropriate to ensure a reasonable standard of living for an individual.
  • Someone below a nationally set poverty line lacks the purchasing power to fulfill their needs and capture opportunities.
  • The United States, for example, has most recently (2012) set the poverty line at $23,050 (annually) with a total of 16% of the population falling under this level (according to the U.S.
  • In observing poverty over time, the rates of poverty alongside the advances in economic production, demonstrates the value in technological and economic progress.

• The Working Poor

  • The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line.
  • The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line.
  • Census Bureau's official definition of poverty, 8.8 million US families were below the poverty line (11.1% of all families).
  • Within the United States, since the start of the War on Poverty in the 1960s, scholars and policymakers on both ends of the political spectrum have paid an increasing amount of attention to the working poor.
  • Conservative scholars and policymakers often attribute the prevalence of inequality and working poverty to overregulation and overtaxation, which they claim constricts job growth.

• Assessing the Great Society

  • The poverty rate is defined as the percentage of Americans living below the ‘absolute poverty line. ' The absolute poverty line is defined by the Office of Health and Human Services as the threshold at which families can afford the basic necessities of food, shelter and clothing.
  • For exmaple, the 2011 poverty line was a yearly income of $22,350 for a family of four.
  • The War on Poverty coincided with a reduction in poverty rates.
  • Califano, Jr., has countered that "from 1963 when Lyndon Johnson took office until 1970 as the impact of his Great Society programs were felt, the portion of Americans living below the poverty line dropped from 22.2 percent to 12.6 percent, the most dramatic decline over such a brief period in this century. "
  • Observers debate the impact of the Great Society and War on Poverty on poverty rates and the economy.

• Poverty

  • Poverty is the condition of not having access to material resources, income, or wealth.
  • The U.S. officially defines poverty using the poverty line, which is the official measure of those whose incomes are less than three times the approximate cost of a subsistence level food budget.
  • Near poverty is when one earns up to 25% above the poverty line; put otherwise, a person near poverty has an income below 125% of the current poverty line.
  • It enables comparisons between the relative wealth and poverty of countries — the higher a country's GNI PPP is, the better off the average person in that country is.
  • Globally, Africa has the highest level of poverty, with the average person earning less than 10% of what the average US citizen earns.

• "The War on Poverty"

  • The War on Poverty continued the plan of the Kennedy administration, with the goal of eliminating hunger and deprivation from American life.
  • The most ambitious and controversial part of the Great Society was its initiative to end poverty.
  • The impact of the War on Poverty is debated.
  • The ‘absolute poverty line' is the threshold below which families or individuals are considered to be lacking the resources needed for healthy living, that is having insufficient income to provide the food, shelter and clothing.
  • The popularity of the War on Poverty waned after the 1960s.

• The Great Society

  • The poverty rate is defined as the percentage of Americans living below the "absolute poverty line," which is defined by the Office of Health and Human Services as the threshold at which families can afford the basic necessities of food, shelter, and clothing.
  • For example, the 2011 poverty line was a yearly income of $22,350 for a family of four.
  • The War on Poverty coincided with a reduction in poverty rates.
  • The poverty rate declined further after the implementation of the War on Poverty, hitting a low point of 11.1% in 1973.
  • Even noting the decline in poverty rates, there is still disagreement about the effects of the War on Poverty and the Great Society.

• The Dynamics of Poverty

  • Poverty operates in a dynamic cycle, with the effects of poverty increasing the likelihood that it will be transferred between generations.
  • This perpetuation of deprivation is the cycle of poverty.
  • The basic premise of the poverty cycle the idea that poverty is a dynamic process—its effects may also be its causes.
  • Finally, poverty increases the risk of homelessness.
  • People who are homeless or live in slums have low access to neighborhood resources, high status social contacts, or basic services such as a phone line.