In the 50 years since Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson declared “an
unconditional war on poverty,” the United States has gained
ground in some areas of the fight and lost in others. Income
disparity between rich and poor Americans has increased, while
programs like food stamps and unemployment insurance have made a
huge difference in reducing poverty rates.
One of the initiatives signed by Johnson during his presidency is
the School Breakfast Program. While it isn’t responsible for
decreases in poverty, it has successfully fed hungry children and
increased learning in poor areas of America. Joining us with an
evaluation of the School Breakfast Program is Assistant Professor
in the Department of Economics at the University of Iowa David
Frisvold, who is speaking at a UC Davis “War on Poverty”
conference Thursday.
During the tail end of the recession and its aftermath, nearly a
third of Americans suffered bouts of poverty lasting two months
or more, the U.S. Census Bureau found in a newly released report.
“The fact that someone comes out of poverty for a few months
should not lead us to conclude that poverty is not chronic,” said
Ann Stevens, director of the UC Davis Center for Poverty
Research. Though only 3.5% of Americans were poor throughout the
entire period from 2009 to 2011, Stevens said, other research
suggests many more bobbed in and out of poverty.
50 years ago today, then-President Lyndon B. Johnson announced
the war on poverty. This “war” was meant to help the nearly 1 in
5 Americans who were poor.
Half a century later, after the country’s great recession, the
number of people living below the line hasn’t gone down by much.
That reality is also reflected here, where Californians tend to
struggle more than the rest of the country.
For more we’re joined by Ann Huff Stevens, director of the Center
for Poverty Research at UC-Davis.
On Dec. 28, right between Christmas and New Year’s, federal
emergency unemployment compensation will expire, taking away the
last form of jobless aid available to more than 3,000 long-term
unemployed workers here in Maine. By the middle of next year, an
additional 9,000 Mainers and their families will be left without
any form of jobless assistance.
The Center for Poverty Research found that since 2009,
unemployment insurance has been responsible for a 25 percent
reduction in poverty among children with an unemployed parent.
Three days after Christmas, 1.3 million Americans will lose their
unemployment insurance benefits after Republicans in Congress
choose not to extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation
program, which provides jobless benefits beyond the traditional
26 weeks.
Additionally, “a recent study by the Center for Poverty Research
found that since 2009, unemployment insurance has been
responsible for a 25 percent reduction in poverty among children
who have had an unemployed parent.” Now children in similar
circumstances will have to endure life below the poverty line.
An alternative method of measuring poverty revealed that
California is the most impoverished state in the country, with
nearly a quarter of its residents living below the poverty line
due mostly to housing costs.
Under the study, a household of two adults and two children
earning less than about $35,000 would be considered below the
poverty line, said Ann Stevens, director for the Center for
Poverty Research at UC Davis. That number was increased from just
over $23,000 used in the official poverty measure in 2012.
“It is almost entirely the cost of housing that is used to make
the adjustment,” Stevens said. “It draws attention to the
combination of the resources that Californians have and the costs
that they face.”
A new way of measuring poverty reveals California has by far the
biggest share of people in economic despair, eclipsing states
such as Mississippi and Louisiana, when housing and other costs
are factored.
The alternative yardstick, known as the supplemental poverty
measure, found nearly 2.8 million more people are struggling
across the country than the traditional benchmark shows.
“Anyone who has moved to California from somewhere else knows the
dramatic increase of the cost of living,” said Ann Stevens,
director for the Center for Poverty Research at UC Davis. “It’s
not more surprising that California looks more impoverished. It
is really driven by the cost of housing. California is a very
expensive place to live.”
“Even if the economy was rebounding, I don’t think the official
poverty statistics show it that much,” said Ann Stevens, an
economics professor who directs the UC Davis Center for Poverty
Research.
Unemployment insurance gives many down-on-their-luck Americans
enough income to stay above the poverty line, but Stevens said
the official poverty measurements don’t count food stamps,
housing assistance and other programs that help people survive
but don’t give them cash income.
“They’re likely to be used to say, look, the war on poverty isn’t
working,” Stevens said of the latest numbers. “We know these
programs do have benefits, they just don’t show up in these basic
statistics.”
