Poverty in America Essay

indigence is a disturbing but significant global concern. Just as it is for millions of other people all(prenominal) over the globe, scantness is occurring in the States. Over the past decades, income unlikeness is ascending, in addition to the topic of communities that failed to bear up with the national sparing standard. Although pauperization is present everywhere, it is more serious in developing countries, wherein angiotensin converting enzyme in every five person lives on not more than $1 for each day, which is the doorstep existence applied by the World Bank to classify penury.The unrelenting problem of poverty is a multifaceted ace that embraces individuals and communities who, without their fault, find themselves power slight to man suppurate in this selective information-intensive and constantly developing world. For the majority Americans, poverty implies beggary, or the lack of ability to provide the family with reasonable shelter, clothing, and nutritio us food. Despite the fact that material destitution does exist in America, it is relatively confined in severity and scope. To be aw be of poverty in America, it is necessary to observe several statistics, as well as to observe the actual living conditions of the persons that ar considered misfortunate by the government.Overview of Poverty in AmericaA large numbers of the earths population live at or be pocket-size the threshold of poverty, which means payment of bills every month and financing for the essentials, consisting of shelter, clothing, and food, not counting access to health c be and a number of simple cr finishure comforts is a constant struggle. According to estimates in 2003, most 25 pct of counties in the coupled States had low rates of determineforce participation, soaring rates of unemployment, high reliance on government transfer expenditures, and incomes that is start out than one-half of the national average or less for each person.The Census Bureau cla ssifies poverty as a family of three earning not more than $14,680, and not more than $9,393 for a role player without any myrmecophilous (Blanco, 2004). According to the 2003 statistics of the Census Bureau, almost 36 million Americans lived in poverty, which is 1.3 million more in 2002. Since 2000, the unpolished has experienced an ontogeny of 4.4 million people who lives in poverty (Blanco, 2004). According to a survey, the present American families are experiencing worse living conditions than they take aim in the previous courses, as 10 part of exclusively families or approximately 7.6 million families in 2003 lived in poverty, which is an enormous ascend from the previous grades (Blanco, 2004).In 2005, the registration of the United States Census Bureau of abject individuals in the country totaled to approximately 37 million woeful Americans (Rector & Johnson, 2004). Therefore, there is one in every eight Americans that is struggling with inconceivable poverty. Thes e millions of Americans are asserted to be deficient of the necessary clothing, shelter, and enough money for the food, as well as being forced to live in unpleasant conditions (Rector & Johnson, 2004).Common Factors of PovertyIn the concluding half of the twentieth century, the three factors that are generally offered to explain movements of poverty in the United States are changes in family structure, economic distinction, and income growth. If the average per-capita incomes are increased, such as increasing wages and employment, then it is expected that poverty depart generally decline. Nevertheless, economic inequality can take the edge off the boilersuit constructive bear upon of income growth if lower-income dissembleforce and unemployed citizens do not bene touch from the fruits of such development. On the other hand, changes in the family structure, primarily the ever-increasing number of families headed by female may be linked with higher(prenominal) rates of poverty fo r the reason that such families are more expected to be poor and are more economically vulnerable.I. Economic EqualityCertainly, the country has made several enhancements over the intervening decades in terms of the overall minimum living standard as measured through material conditions. Yet the living conditions of the poor individuals are severely different from that of families and individuals who take advantage of various degree of economic security as measured through income levels that provide unstressed and comfortable situations. The escalation in the number of poor individuals and families in the country ought to provide the government various apprehension, but even more upsetting is the increasing difference amongst the underprivileged and wealthy in America.In the previous decades, compensation for more affluent Americans has considerably ascended, emotional by increase in stock options, bonuses, salaries and other rewards. However, the compensation provided for million s of lower-wage workforces dropped off and in fact, a number of them cod even lost their jobs (Blanco, 2004). Therefore, this factor has prevented the advantages of economic growth from being equally drawn out.Moreover, in 2005, non-Hispanic exsanguine men, not less than 25 years of age, holding only high-school qualification bewilder $35,679 median(a) income whereas women within the same age group, need a degree in college in order to gain a comparable median income (Spriggs, 2007). The outcome is that the households headed by female are harmed by the major wage gap, which has a poverty rate of 31.1 percent in contrast to their male-headed household counterparts, which only had a 13.4 percent poverty rate (Spriggs, 2007). In 2005, poverty for women is excessively elevated than men, which is14.1 percent in contrast to 11.1 (Spriggs, 2007). The disparity reflects unrelenting gaps in earnings between male and female workers.At the same term, since 1959 the median income of whit e males with a family of five has been higher than the poverty line, but for women with a family of three, it was only in 1990 that their median income broke beyond the poverty line (Spriggs, 2007). Further, notwithstanding the progressive structure of benefit procedure in friendly Security benefits, the constant gap is best reflected in disparities in poverty among the elderly, where the life quantify earnings of women advise they take a leak lower assets than men.II. Family StructureHigher rates of poverty among women have generally been contributed to the changes in family structure. The dowry of families headed by single female with children rapidly rose over the previous decades of the 20th century, which reached 26.5 percent in 1995 from only 11.5 percent of all families with children in 1970 with higher rates for Hispanics and blacks. At the start of year 2003, roughly 26.1 percent of the entire families with children in the country were headed by single woman. A number of such families do not obtain any or adequate child support from the absent fathers of the children. It is suggested in one study that if fathers married the destitute mothers of their children, approximately three-quarters of the single-parents would instantly be elevated outside poverty experimental condition (Rector & Johnson, 2004).Obviously, cardinal parents in a household generally earn more than single-parent. The burden of receiving enough income to bear witness dependent children outside poverty additionally confronts women who are the single head of the family, as well as getting and paying for child care concurrently with their work and management of the household without help. Since this hazard confronted by women of serving non-working dependents as well as their efforts in looking after their elderly parents is not distributed by society, women who head such families are expected to obtain lower levels of education, therefore, resulting to their lower earnings. Asi de from the fact that women are more expected to earn significantly less than men with similar qualifications, mothers have a determination to accumulate less experience than other workers.III. Income GrowthPoverty is associated with the lack of sufficient income, so the meaning problem therefore is the compensation for the workers. Among the poor, only 11.4 percent or 2.9 million jobs around the clock is operational for the whole year (Spriggs, 2007). This sector of the population is further directly impaired by minimum-wage laws that have hindered cost of living. This setback is particularly severe for poverty stricken American-Hispanics and American-Asians, where 18 percent of them worked year-round for full time (Spriggs, 2007).There are several reasons why numerous people lack the income to overcome poverty. For instance, people do not work or if they work, they do not earn sufficient amount of money. Whether in mature or bad economic times, the ordinary poor family with ch ildren exerts only 800 hours of work throughout a year or 16 hours of work for each week (Rector & Johnson, 2004). Evidently, almost 75 percent of poor children would be lifted outside certified poverty status if work is provided in every family, that would increase the work hours to 2,000 for every year or comparable to 40 hours for each week all through the year (Rector & Johnson, 2004).In 2005, approximately 61 percent underprivileged families have no less than one worker and of twice-poor families, 71 percent have no less than one worker. In view of the 1990s book of account job creation, the number of poor but working people declined to 8.5 million in 2000 from 10.1 million in 1993. In short, America is capable of dealing with poverty. But there have been vast stubborn concerns that have lodged the face of poverty. Mounting disparity in the labor market has increased the share of the working age poor citizens, and the unsympathetic federal minimum-wage laws that have amplified the numbers of poor people working year-round for full-time.In a country with a per capita Gross Domestic Product is exceeding the poverty line for a family of four, it is atrocious that there are still more than 12 million poverty stricken American children, and nearly 3 million people work around the clock, for one whole year who are still finding it hard to make ends meet.Facts Concerning the American Poor SectorBased on the Americans accepted definition of poverty, only a small number of the 37 million individuals fit the poor description, contrary to what the Census Bureau classified. Despite the fact that real material destitution doubtlessly does take place, it is limited in severity and scope. A number of Americas underprivileged lives in material conditions that would be considered as well-off or comfortable some generations ago.The following are information obtained from different government reports regarding people classified as poor by the Census Bureau1. close to 46 p ercent of the entire poor households actually own their individual houses (Rector & Johnson, 2004). The typical house own by persons identified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with a garage, one-and-a-half baths, with at least a patio or porch.2. About 76 percent of underprivileged families have air conditioning in their houses (Rector & Johnson, 2004). By comparison, merely 36 percent of the entire population of the United States benefited from air conditioning 3 decades ago.3. Only 6 percent of the underprivileged families are considered overcrowded, and not less than two-thirds of them have extra two rooms for every person (Rector & Johnson, 2004).4. The typical poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Athens, Vienna, London, Paris, and other cities all over atomic number 63 (Rector & Johnson, 2004).5. Practically three-quarters of poor families own an automobile, fleck 30 percent own at least two automobiles (Rector & Johns on, 2004).6. Approximately 97 percent of poor households own at least one colored television, while half of the said percentage has at least two colored televisions (Rector & Johnson, 2004).7. Roughly 78 percent own DVD or VCR players, while 62 percent have satellite or cable television reception (Rector & Johnson, 2004).8. Around 73 percent of the poor households have microwave ovens, deuce-ace owns an automatic dishwasher, and over half own a stereo system (Rector & Johnson, 2004).Further, as a group, Americas poor are far from being constantly malnourished. In fact poor children have usual protein intakes of 100 percent beyond the medically suggested levels and consume more meat than children of higher-income do (Rector & Johnson, 2004). Nevertheless, disdain the fact that in general the poor are well-nourished, there are still several poor families who experience short-term distress due to food deficiencies.According to the United States Department of Agriculture, although mos t of the time the hunger is temporary, still 2.6 percent of poor children and 13 percent of poor families experience food shortage sometime during the year (Rector & Johnson, 2004). Approximately 89 percent of the poor account sufficient food to eat to their families, at the same time only 2 percent says they often do not have adequate food to eat (Rector & Johnson, 2004).Conclusion / RecommendationsFollowing the United States government classification of poverty, the typical poor American people have a living standard far superior as compared to what the world envisions. Nevertheless, the typical poor persons living conditions should not be taken to suggest that every poor American lives devoid of hardship. Millions of Americans are still continually struggling to hang on, making strong-armer choices between housing, hunger and health care for their families.Economic inequality, income growth, and changes in family structure without doubt affected poverty trends over the latter half of the 20th century. Poverty in America can be promptly reduced, if parents are provided with sufficient hours of work and if fathers are at all times present with their families. Although marriage and work are unyielding ladders away from poverty, the countrys welfare system uncooperatively continues to be unsympathetic to both. foremost programs such as Medicaid, public housing, and food stamps keep on reprimanding marriage and rewarding idleness. Therefore, if welfare could be turned around to uphold marriage and work, the remaining number of poor family would quickly decrease.Further, as a matter of course, the United States has employed over the years job creation and economic growth to decoct down poverty, but at present situation the courses are consequential only to the extent that inequality on wages is reduced. Poor people are generally not victims of themselves, but of appalling economic policies along with obstructions to opportunity. Since work generates income, it is great therefore that the government must provide a great increase in available working hours in different labor sectors for the poor. Along with the work opportunities, it is also important to eliminate economic inequalities based on gender, age, economic status, and many others in order to provide higher wages and higher incomes to the underprivileged sectors of the country. America is a nation with one of the most productive and strongest economies in the world. As such, the country must exert a continuing effort to fully utilize the abundance and therefore eliminate the countrys alarming poverty rate.