Poverty Not Dented
A friend sent us a link to an article at Marketwatch, which bemoans that in spite of an improved labor market, “poverty has been barely dented in the US”. Of course, people living in some third world hell-hole would be quite surprised what kind of incomes are considered to constitute poverty in the US, but from a developed world perspective these thresholds do seem to make sense to us:
“The U.S. poverty rate was unchanged at 14.8% in 2014, according to a release today from the Census Bureau. This was the fourth consecutive year that the poverty rate was not statistically different from the previous year.
The lack of change shows that the progress in the U.S. job market–in 2014 the economy added 2.6 million jobs, the most in more than a decade–have remained insufficient to lift the fortunes of the nearly 47 million people living in poverty.
The official definition of poverty varies depending on the size, age and composition of the family. For a couple with no children under age 65, the threshold for income below which they are considered in poverty is $15,853. For a couple with two children, the threshold is $24,008.
A near record number of people remain in poverty according to the official definition – click to enlarge.
Our friend sent along the suggestion that perhaps this dichotomy between an improving labor market and a “sticky” poverty rate might be explained by
“…the fact that a majority of the new jobs created are in the “working poor” category”.
To this we replied in similar Twitteresque staccato style that
“…we could always ditch socialism and give the free market a chance. Might help.”
What isn’t going to help is whatever decision the central economic planning committee bestows upon us on Thursday, since it seems highly unlikely that it will announce its imminent disbandment.
Could the Free Market Really Improve on This?
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