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The Working Poor. By Penny Ward. The poverty line. In America more than 46 million people live below the poverty line, which includes 16 million children. According to the U.S. Census Bureau poverty level is when you make less that $11,945 if you are single and $23,283 for a family of four.
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The Working Poor By Penny Ward
The poverty line • In America more than 46 million people live below the poverty line, which includes 16 million children. • According to the U.S. Census Bureau poverty level is when you make less that $11,945 if you are single and $23,283 for a family of four.
The working poor • More than a quarter of the people that are living in poverty have jobs but their income is so low they don’t have enough money to cover basic needs such as affordable housing and food. • In 1980 less than 30% of the jobs in the United States were considered low paying jobs. Today more than 40% of jobs are low income jobs.
Americans turn to the government for help buying food • People in the United States have turned to food stamps to help feed their families because they just don’t make enough to put food on the table. • The number of people in the U.S. on food stamps was 17 million in 2000 which has now increased to over 47 million today. • The Federal government spends nearly a trillion dollars a year on welfare and over the next decade is expected to increase by another 80%.
Jobs are disappearing • Companies in the U.S. are shipping a lot of jobs overseas because the cost of having labor done outside of the United States is cheap. This has left millions of Americans scrambling to find whatever jobs are available. • According to The Working Families Project there are many educated Americans working low paying jobs. • About one forth of adults working low wage jobs were waiters, drivers, health care workers, cooks, cashiers, janitors, maids, retail stores, or drivers. • Most of these people have the skills to do much more but are no longer given the opportunity.
What is the solution ? • There is no easy answer to this question, jobs are disappearing every day. • The economy needs to start producing more good paying jobs. • Big corporations need to stop shipping jobs overseas and keep the jobs here in the United States.
works cited • http://www.infowars.com/35-statistics-about-the-working-poor-in-america-that-will-blow-your-mind/