Five Facts Everyone Should Know About Poverty

We see poverty every day on the street, we work with poverty every day as we care for patients in our clinics. But how often do we really stop and think about what it means to live in poverty?

The California Budget Project (an independent, non-profit agency which aims to improve budgetary concerns of low- and middle-class Californians) recently published a great article shedding light on a few key points about poverty that we should all keep in mind.

Things that struck me the most:
*Without Social Security, 45% of California's seniors would be living in poverty

*The Federal Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit kept 1.3 million Californians (and 629,000 children) out of poverty between 2010 and 2012

*Poverty is largely a condition of the employed: too few high-paying jobs, and wages generally too low to support the high cost of living in this state. Even with the raised minimum wage of $9, a full-time minimum wage worker makes only $18,720, which is below the poverty line for a family of three. The pending raise to $10 is unlikely to raise many people out of poverty.

*More than half of US adults aged 18 to 60 spend at least one year living below 150% of the poverty line.

*Unstable and part-time job expansions with poor benefits mean that more people cycle in and out of poverty than in the past.

*State assistance programs are being cut on a yearly basis: CalWORKs, In-Home Supportive Services, subsidized childcare/preschool have all been the victims of steep budgetary reductions.

*More than one in five Californian children lived in poverty in 2012, and one in 10 lived in deep poverty. Moreover, children who are born into poverty are five times more likely to remain there for half of their young adulthood, than are children who are not in poverty. This likely relates to a decreased ability to secure good schools, safe housing without overcrowding, and adequate healthy foods. The stress of growing up and living in poverty may have neurodevelopmental effects as well.

*Studies show that public assistance and tax credit programs can help children achieve gainful employment as young adults and avoid needing to take advantage of such programs themselves.

http://cbp.org/FiveFactsAboutPoverty.htm