A Profile of the Working Poor from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
The BLS produces an annual report on the working poor.
The working poor are defined as persons who, during the year,
spent 27 weeks or more in the labor force (working or looking
for work), but whose incomes still fell below the official
poverty level.
Frequency and Timespan: Annual with reports from 1996 to
the present
The “working poor” are people who spend 27 weeks or more in a
year in the labor force either working or looking for work but
whose incomes fall below the poverty
level. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
about 9.5 million of people who spent at least 27 weeks in the
labor force were poor. That year, the working poor comprised 6.3
percent of all individuals in the labor force.
The Census Bureau reports poverty rates by work experience for
people ages 18 to 64. In 2014, the overall poverty rate for
people ages 18 to 64 was 14%.
