America
Most of America's poor are not jobless, shows study
Washington, June 26
A study that may shape
poverty debate in presidential election in the US reveals that the
majority of the poor in US are not jobless.
The results dispel the notion that most impoverished Americans do not work so they can rely on government handouts.
The
study by sociologists suggests about 10 percent of working households
are poor and households led by women, minorities or individuals with low
education are more likely to be poor, but employed.
The study
will have a big impact on the the upcoming presidential election as
candidates often make loud claims to help the working poor move out of
poverty.
"The toxic idea is if we clump all those people together
and treat them as the same people, then we do not solve the real
problem that the majority of people in poverty are working, trying to
improve their lives and we treat them all as deadbeats," said co-author
S.R. Sanders from Brigham Young University.
Working poor is the term used to describe individuals or families who hold jobs but cannot break out of poverty.
This study compared 126 different measures of working poverty using 2013 population data.
The
authors found the most useful representation is determined when a head
of household works at least half time and the household income is below
125 percent of the official poverty line.
"Having a unifying line
saying we are all measuring working poverty the same way is important
before we can see how any changes or improvements are made," the study
said.
The study estimates that between 6.4 million and 8 million
heads of families are classified as working poor, which is actually less
than the US Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2011 estimate of 10.6 million.
"But we have millions of Americans working, playing by the rules and they are still trapped in poverty," Sanders said.
The study appeared in the journal Work and Occupations.