Source: The Working Poor Families Project

Earlier this fall, the Census Bureau released its annual report on poverty in the United States. In 2010, 15.1 percent of Americans, or 46.2 million persons, lived below the poverty level, which was $22,050 for a family of four. Among children the poverty rate was 22.0 percent, while for seniors, it was 9.0 percent. In Oklahoma, the poverty rate overall was 16.9 percent, with just under one in four children living in poverty (see our Oklahoma Poverty Profile fact sheet and this blog post).

As a measure of a household’s financial situation, the official poverty measure is deeply flawed. As we noted a year ago:

 Census Bureau numbers [are]  based on a measure that looks strictly at a household’s cash income and that is pegged to the cost of a 1950′s basic food diet, adjusted for inflation.  The measure has long been criticized as inadequate: among other limitations, it fails to reflect the real costs families face in meeting basic needs; it fails to adjust for regional differences in the cost of living; and it excludes non-cash income and benefits received by low-income families.

This year, the Census Bureau took a major step toward addressing some of the flaws with the official poverty measure by releasing the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). Unlike the traditional poverty measure, the SPM determines poverty status by comparing a more expansive definition of family’s income with a more meaningful threshold designed to reflect the cost of meeting basic needs, like food, clothing, and shelter. The SPM counts tax credits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and Making Work Pay credit, and non-cash benefits, such as food assistance and housing vouchers, as income that help families afford basic needs. It also acknowledges the burden of work expenses, like child care, and out-of-pocket health expenses for many Americans. The Poverty and Policy blog provides a clear summary of the new measure’s assumptions and methodology. Read the rest of this entry »

Next week, the U.S. Census Bureau will release its annual report on poverty in the United States. The report will tell us how many Americans had income in 2009 below the federal poverty level, which is $18,310 for a family of three. It is widely expected that the 2009 numbers, reflecting the worst of the Great Recession, will show historic increases in the number of  Americans falling below the poverty line.

As it has since the 1960′s, the 2010 Census Bureau numbers will be based on a measure that looks strictly at a household’s cash income and that is pegged to the cost of a 1950s basic food diet, adjusted for inflation.  The measure has long been criticized as inadequate: among other limitations, it fails to reflect the real costs families face in meeting basic needs; it fails to adjust for regional differences in the cost of living; and it excludes non-cash income and benefits received by low-income families. Over the years, a number of researchers and policy groups have developed alternate measures of poverty and economic security, including the Self-Sufficiency Standards that were developed for Oklahoma and other states.  Back in 1995, the National Academy of Science issued a report called Measuring Poverty that provided recommendations for modernizing the poverty measure. The NAS recommendations were adopted by Mayor Bloomberg in New York, among others, as a basis for formulating anti-poverty policies. but were ignored, for various reasons, by the Clinton and Bush administrations. Read the rest of this entry »

How much does an Oklahoma family have to earn to meet its basic needs? What are the major costs of a family budget, and how do these vary for different family types and in different parts of the state? How much of an impact can work  support programs like food stamps and SoonerCare have in bridging the gap between what families earn and what they need to get by?

The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Oklahoma [3 MB PDF], released last week, provides new data that can help answer these questions and many others. The Standard was developed by Dr. Diana Pearce of the Center for Women’s Welfare at the University of Washington for the Oklahoma Asset Building Coalition. The new report updates the original Oklahoma Self-Sufficiency Standard released in 2002. Over the years, the Standard has been used for a wide range of purposes, including career counseling, workforce development, grant-writing, research, and advocacy. Read the rest of this entry »