The SPM accounts for family income after taxes and transfers, and as such, it shows the antipoverty effects of some of the largest federal support programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps/SNAP) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). It also takes into account critical out-of-pocket expenses for food, clothing, housing, and utilities, and is adjusted by geography as well as housing tenure (whether you are a homeowner, mortgage-holder, or renter). Poverty indicators are always estimates, however, the SPM is the measure of choice by researchers.
According to the SPM, a four-person household with an income of $30,000 is not poor because they fall above the designated threshold. Instead, the population living between 100-199% of the poverty threshold is sometimes defined as “low-income.” While not technically categorized as poor, they are living just one emergency, traffic violation or health care crisis away from being poor and most likely will fall under that poverty threshold – and into poverty – over the course of the year. The distinction between those who fall below the threshold and those who fall above it is arbitrary for those who are living in economic insecurity.
According to the SPM from 2017, 43.5% or 140 million people are poor or low-income in the US today. This breaks down into the following demographics:
- 52.1% or 38.5 million children (below 18)
- 42.0% or 21 million elders (above 64)
- 41.6% or 65.8 million men
- 45% or 74.2 million women
- 59.7% or 23.7 million Black, non-Hispanic people
- 64.1% or 38 million Latinx people
- 40.8 or 8 million Asian people
- 58.9% or 2.14 million Native/Indigenous people
- 33.5% or 65.6 million White, non-Hispanic people
No comments:
Post a Comment