Working Poor Person
A Working Poor Person is a poor person who is a working person.
- Example(s):
- a U.S. Working Poor, such as: Vanessa, 33 (Desmond, 2018).
- …
- Counter-Example(s):
- See: Homeless Person, Systemic Poverty, Welfare State, Poverty Line, Secondary Sector of The Economy, Anti-Poverty, Nickel and Dimed (Book).
References
2018
- (Wikipedia, 2018) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_poor Retrieved:2018-9-12.
- The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line due to lack of work hours and/or low wages.
Largely because they are earning such low wages, the working poor face numerous obstacles that make it difficult for many of them to find and keep a job, save up money, and maintain a sense of self-worth.
The official working poverty rate in the US has remained relatively static over the past four decades, but many social scientists argue that the official rate is set too low, and that the proportion of workers facing significant financial hardship has instead increased over the years. Changes in the economy, especially the shift from a
manufacturing-based to a service-based economy, have resulted in the polarization of the labor market. This means that there are more jobs at the top and the bottom of the income spectrum, but fewer jobs in the middle.
There are a wide range of anti-poverty policies that have been shown to improve the situation of the working poor. Research suggests that increasing welfare state generosity is the most effective way to reduce poverty and working poverty. Other tools available to governments are increasing minimum wages across a nation, and absorbing educational and health care costs for children of the working poor.
- The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line due to lack of work hours and/or low wages.
2018b
- (Desmond, 2018) ⇒ Matthew Desmond. (2018). “Americans Want to Believe Jobs Are the Solution to Poverty. They’re Not." In: NYT, 2018-09-11
- QUOTE: U.S. unemployment is down and jobs are going unfilled. But for people without much education, the real question is: Do those jobs pay enough to live on? ...
... The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines a “working poor” person as someone below the poverty line who spent at least half the year either working or looking for employment. In 2016, there were roughly 7.6 million Americans who fell into this category. Most working poor people are over 35, ...
... If the working poor are doing better than the nonworking poor, which is the case, it’s not so much because of their jobs per se, but because their employment status provides them access to desperately needed government help.
- QUOTE: U.S. unemployment is down and jobs are going unfilled. But for people without much education, the real question is: Do those jobs pay enough to live on? ...
2015
- https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/working-poor/2015/home.htm
- QUOTE: ... In 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 43.1 million people, or 13.5 percent of the nation’s population, lived below the official poverty level.1 (See the technical notes section for examples of poverty levels.) Although the poor were primarily children and adults who had not participated in the labor force during the year, 8.6 million individuals were among the “working poor” in 2015, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics; the 8.6 million figure was down from 9.5 million in 2014. The working poor are people who spent at least 27 weeks in the labor force (that is, working or looking for work) but whose incomes still fell below the official poverty level. In 2015, the working-poor rate—the ratio of the working poor to all individuals in the labor force for at least 27 weeks — was 5.6 percent, 0.7 percentage point lower than the previous year’s figure. ...
1999
- (Newman, 1999) ⇒ Katherine S. Newman. (1999). “No Shame in My Game: The working poor in the inner city." Vintage. ISBN:0375402543
1962
- (Harrington, 1962) ⇒ Michael Harrington. (1962). “The Other America.” ISBN: 1451688768