The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) just sent out a snapshot comparing different definitions of poverty. The fact that our current way of calculating "official" poverty is out of date has been well documented. Using a more comprehensive poverty calculation, EPI estimated that poverty rate for the United States is actually 17.7% instead of 12.3% - shifting the number of people in poverty from 36.5 million people to well over 50 million.
Coincidentally, the current poverty rate for Illinois is 12.3%. If we were to apply this more comprehensive measurement to Illinois, our poverty rate may or may not be 17.7% - a lot of different factors would be taken into account. That being said, if we continued to mirror the nation as a whole, Illinois would have 700,000 more people - over 2.2 million in total - defined as living in poverty if the rate was shifted to 17.7%.
Of course, these are not new people. They are right here, right now, suffering hardships regardless of what definition is applied to their income. The problem is, the current formal definition of poverty hides the severity and breadth of the problem, as well as the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of different interventions on the lives of those experiences poverty. For this reason, we move away from relying solely on the formal definition of poverty in the Commission of the Elimination of Poverty Act and speak to a broad range of issues and a comprehensive way of tracking improvements.
At the end of the day, how we measure poverty does not really matter. What matters is how we ensure everyone lives a life a with dignity and respect. Fulfilling that right will not be driven by definitions, but by will.
Additional Resources on Poverty Measurement:
Measuring Poverty in the United States - the National Center for Children in Poverty
Spotlight on Poverty & Opportunity: Poverty Measurement Resource Page
2 comments:
Excellent points. The "official" definition of poverty is both out of date and a fairly arbitrary distinction. Changing the poverty line doesn't change who is having difficulty making ends meet on limited resources. I have a very hard time imaging a single parent with two kids and an income of $6,000/year ($178 over the Illinois TANF limit) saying to themselves, "Man, this is hard. But at least we're not 'officially' impoverished." The difficulties they face are not based on this classification, but rather on the resources that are available to them and the difficulty they have in attaining a healthy, sustainable way of life.
An official poverty line distinguishes who is eligible for aid from the government and who is not, but it doesn't show who is in need of assistance. The steps we take in trying to address issues of limited resources, which are a lot more real than the official classification of being impoverished, must take a lot more into account than just income.
Wow. Interesting information.
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