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• Welfare, Work, and Poverty Status of Female-Headed Families with Children: 1987-2013 [November 21, 2014]

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  "Eighteen years have passed since repeal of what was the nation's major cash welfare program assisting low-income families with children, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, and its replacement with a block grant of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). This report focuses on trends in the economic well-being of female-headed families with children, the principal group affected by the replacement of AFDC with TANF. Female-headed families and their children are especially at risk of poverty, and children in such families account for well over half of all poor children in the United States. For these reasons, single female-headed families continue to be of particular concern to policymakers. The report details trends in income and poverty status of these families, prior and subsequent to enactment of the 1996 welfare reform law and other policy changes. The report focuses especially on welfare dependency and work engagement among single mothers, a major dynamic that welfare reform and accompanying policy changes have attempted to affect. It also examines the role of programs other than TANF in providing support to single female-headed families with children."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Gabe, Thomas

  2014-11-21
• Health Insurance Premium Credits in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) [July 31, 2013]

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  "New federal tax credits were authorized in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA, P.L. 111-148, as amended), to help certain individuals pay for health insurance coverage, beginning in 2014. The tax credits will go toward covering premiums for health insurance offered through exchanges--marketplaces offering private health plans. ACA also establishes subsidies to reduce cost-sharing expenses. ACA requires exchanges to be established in every state by January 1, 2014, either by the state itself or by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Exchanges will not be insurers, but will provide eligible individuals and small businesses with access to private health insurance plans. Generally, the plans offered through the exchanges will provide comprehensive coverage and meet all ACA market reforms, as applicable. The new premium credits established under ACA will be advanceable and refundable, meaning taxpayers need not wait until the end of the tax year in order to benefit from the credit, and may claim the full credit amount even if they have little or no federal income tax liability. Although the premium credits will not be available until 2014, the examples provided in this report estimate premium credit amounts by income levels and age, if the credits were available in 2013. Under ACA, the amount received in premium credits is based on income tax returns. These amounts are reconciled in the next year and can result in overpayment of premium credits if income increases, which must be repaid to the federal government. ACA limited the amount of required repayments. Since the enactment of ACA, these limits have been amended twice, under P.L. 111-309 and P.L. 112-9."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Fernandez, Bernadette; Gabe, Thomas

  2013-07-31
• Federal Minimum Wage, Tax-Transfer Earnings Supplements, and Poverty [February 28, 2014]

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  "An increase in the federal minimum wage has been one of several alternative policy proposals that have been offered to address poverty. Pending before the 113th Congress is legislation, S. 1737 (Senator Harkin) and H.R. 1010 (Representative Miller), that would raise the federal minimum wage from its current law $7.25 to, in three steps, $10.10 per hour. If these bills were enacted in 2014, the minimum wage would rise to $10.10 per hour sometime in 2016. The minimum wage would be adjusted for inflation thereafter. An expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is an often-mentioned alternative to raising the minimum wage. The EITC currently supplements the wages of low-wage workers, mostly low-wage parents with children. Low-wage workers with children may receive additional income supplements through the child tax credit, and might qualify for certain need-tested government benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps). If Congress sought to pursue an increase in incomes for low-wage earners, there is a debate over whether increases in the minimum wage or expansions of government aid through the tax system or benefit programs are more effective in helping low-income families and addressing poverty. The minimum wage affects workers regardless of their family status; the federal tax system and government benefit programs take into account family circumstances in determining tax liabilities and benefits. Therefore, minimum wage and earnings supplement policies have differing impacts, depending on a worker's family type."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Falk, Gene; Gabe, Thomas; Bradley, David H.

  2014-02-28
• Antipoverty Effects of Unemployment Insurance [October 4, 2012]

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  "A period of unemployment greatly increases the odds that a worker and members of the worker's family will be counted among the nation's poor. For example, among persons between the ages of 16 and 64 who were unemployed in March 2012, about one in four (27.6%) were poor based on their families' incomes in 2011; among those who were employed, 6.9% were poor. A variety of social insurance benefits may be available for unemployed workers. The benefits analyzed in this report can be generically grouped into the category of Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits. UI benefits provide a cash supplement to replace a portion of lost wages to qualified unemployed individuals. Two main objectives of the joint federal-state unemployment insurance program are to provide temporary and partial wage replacement to involuntarily unemployed workers and to stabilize the economy during recessions. As a temporary, partial replacement of lost earnings due to job loss, the benefits workers receive may help to prevent them and their family members from reaching poverty, an ancillary but important role of the program. Unemployment benefits are an individual worker's entitlement (as long as that worker meets the criteria for the benefit) and are not means tested. In this regard, the UI program, while not a poverty program per se, can play an important role in reducing poverty associated with job loss. In addition, as a countercyclical program UI has a macroeconomic effect in reducing poverty. By injecting dollars into the economy directed toward those who have experienced job loss, UI helps to partially mitigate income loss among a group directly affected by economic downturn. UI temporarily augments the ability of unemployed workers to meet basic needs, which further stimulates the economy. In this regard, the macroeconomic effect of UI helps dampen the tendency for poverty to increase during periods of economic downturn."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Whittaker, Julie M.; Gabe, Thomas

  2012-10-04
• Poverty in the United States: 2009 [October 4, 2010]

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  "In 2009, 43.6 million people were counted as poor in the United States--an increase of 3.7 million persons from 2008, and the largest number of persons counted as poor in the measure's 50-year recorded history. The poverty rate, or percent of the population considered poor under the official definition, was reported at 14.3% in 2009, amounting to one of every seven persons in the U.S. being counted as poor. [...] A congressionally commissioned study conducted by a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel of experts recommended, some 15 years ago, that a new U.S. poverty measure be developed, offering a number of specific recommendations. Bills introduced in the 111th Congress (H.R. 2909 and S. 1625) would instruct the Census Bureau to develop a new 'modern' poverty measure, following NAS recommendations. More recently, under the Obama Administration, an initiative is underway for the Census Bureau to develop a Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) that would reflect many of the NAS panel's recommendations and be informed by research conducted on those recommendations over the past 15 years. This initiative aligns with many of the provisions in H.R. 2909 and S. 1625. Statistics based on the SPM, which has yet to be developed, are to accompany the Census Bureau's fall 2011 scheduled release of 2010 income and poverty statistics under the 'official' measure. The new poverty measure is to be considered an 'experimental' measure, to supplement the 'official' poverty measure. The 'official' statistical poverty measure would continue to be used by programs that use it as the basis for allocating funds under formula and matching grant programs. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would continue to issue poverty income guidelines derived from 'official' Census Bureau poverty thresholds. HHS poverty guidelines are used in determining individual and family income eligibility under a number of federal and state programs. This CRS report will be updated on an annual basis, following release of U.S. Census Bureau annual income and poverty estimates."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Gabe, Thomas

  2010-10-14
• Poverty in the United States: 2011 [September 27, 2012]

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  "In 2011, 46.2 million people were counted as poor in the United States, the same number as in 2010 and the largest number of persons counted as poor in the measure's 53-year recorded history. The poverty rate, or percent of the population considered poor under the official definition, was reported at 15.0% in 2011, statistically unchanged from 2010. The 2011 poverty rate of 15.0% is well above its most recent pre-recession low of 12.3% in 2006, and has reached the highest level seen in the past 18 years (1993). The increase in poverty over the past four years reflects the effects of the economic recession that began in December 2007. Some analysts expect poverty to remain above pre-recessionary levels for as long as a decade, and perhaps longer, given the depth of the recession and slow pace of economic recovery. The pre-recession poverty rate of 12.3% in 2006 was well above the 11.3% rate at the beginning of the decade, in 2000, which marked a historical low previously attained in 1973 (11.1%, a rate statistically tied with the 2000 poverty rate). The incidence of poverty varies widely across the population according to age, education, labor force attachment, family living arrangements, and area of residence, among other factors. Under the official poverty definition, an average family of four was considered poor in 2011 if its pretax cash income for the year was below $23,021."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Gabe, Thomas

  2012-09-27
• Poverty in the United States: 2011 [September 13, 2012]

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  "In 2011, 46.2 million people were counted as poor in the United States, the same number as in 2010 and the largest number of persons counted as poor in the measure's 53-year recorded history. The 'poverty rate,' or percent of the population considered poor under the official definition, was reported at 15.0% in 2011, statistically unchanged from 2010. The 2011 poverty rate of 15.0% is well above its most recent pre-recession low of 12.3% in 2006, and has reached the highest level seen in the past 18 years (1993). The increase in poverty over the past four years reflects the effects of the economic recession that began in December 2007. Some analysts expect poverty to remain above pre-recessionary levels for as long as a decade, and perhaps longer, given the depth of the recession and slow pace of economic recovery. The pre-recession poverty rate of 12.3% in 2006 was well above the 11.3% rate at the beginning of the decade, in 2000, which marked a historical low previously attained in 1973 (11.1%, a rate statistically tied with the 2000 poverty rate). The incidence of poverty varies widely across the population according to age, education, labor force attachment, family living arrangements, and area of residence, among other factors. Under the official poverty definition, an average family of four was considered poor in 2011 if its pretax cash income for the year was below $23,021."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Gabe, Thomas

  2012-09-13
• Hurricane Katrina: Social-Demographic Characteristics of Impacted Areas [November 4, 2005]

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  "On the morning of August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast between the major cities of New Orleans, Louisiana, to the west, and Mobile, Alabama, to the east. Along the Gulf Coast and inland in the swath of the storm, Hurricane Katrina hundreds of thousands of families in three states (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama) and contributed to the deaths of more than 1,000 people. While CRS estimates that 5.8 million people in three states may have experienced hurricane-force winds, the majority rode out the storm safely. Property damage, loss of life, and sizeable displacement of the population appear to have been largely concentrated along the Gulf Coast within a 100-mile radius of where the storm made landfall [...] This estimate is based on geographical analysis of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood and damage assessments and year 2000 Census data [...] The analysis shows that the Louisiana parishes of Orleans and St. Bernard were especially hard hit by flooding, with an estimated 77% of Orleans population affected, and nearly all residents of St. Bernard. In Mississippi, 55% of Hancock County's population is estimated to have been affected by flooding and/or structural damage, and in the more populous Harrison County, about 19% of its population. In Louisiana, an estimated 645,000 people may have been displaced by the hurricane (based on 2000 Census data), and in Mississippi, 66,000 [...] Due to the city's social and economic composition, the storm impacted heavily on the poor and African Americans--elderly people, families, and children were also affected. CRS estimates that one-fifth of those displaced by the storm were likely to have been poor, and 30% had incomes that were below 1 times the poverty line."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Falk, Gene; McCarty, Maggie; Gabe, Thomas

  2005-11-04
• Poverty in the United States: 2013 [September 25, 2014]

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  "In 2013, 45.3 million people were counted as poor in the United States under the official poverty measure--a number statistically unchanged from the 46.5 million people estimated as poor in 2012. The poverty rate, or percent of the population considered poor under the official definition, was reported at 14.5% in 2013, a statistically significant drop from the estimated 15.0% in 2012. Poverty in the United States increased markedly over the 2007-2010 period, in tandem with the economic recession (officially marked as running from December 2007 to June 2009), and remained unchanged at a post-recession high for three years (15.1% in 2010, and 15.0% in both 2011 and 2012). The 2013 poverty rate of 14.5% remains above a 2006 pre-recession low of 12.3%, and well above an historic low rate of 11.3% attained in 2000 (a rate statistically tied with a previous low of 11.1% in 1973). […] Under the official poverty definition, an average family of four was considered poor in 2013 if its pretax cash income for the year was below $23,834. The measure of poverty currently in use was developed some 50 years ago, and was adopted as the 'official' U.S. statistical measure of poverty in 1969. Except for minor technical changes, and adjustments for price changes in the economy, the 'poverty line' (i.e., the income thresholds by which families or individuals with incomes that fall below are deemed to be poor) is the same as that developed nearly a half century ago, reflecting a notion of economic need based on living standards that prevailed in the mid-1950s."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Gabe, Thomas

  2014-09-25
• Poverty in the United States: 2013 [October 20, 2014]

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  "In 2013, 45.3 million people were counted as poor in the United States under the official poverty measure--a number statistically unchanged from the 46.5 million people estimated as poor in 2012. The 'poverty rate', or percent of the population considered poor under the official definition, was reported at 14.5% in 2013, a statistically significant drop from the estimated 15.0% in 2012. Poverty in the United States increased markedly over the 2007-2010 period, in tandem with the economic recession (officially marked as running from December 2007 to June 2009), and remained unchanged at a post-recession high for three years (15.1% in 2010, and 15.0% in both 2011 and 2012). The 2013 poverty rate of 14.5% remains above a 2006 pre-recession low of 12.3%, and well above an historic low rate of 11.3% attained in 2000 (a rate statistically tied with a previous low of 11.1% in 1973). The incidence of poverty varies widely across the population according to age, education, labor force attachment, family living arrangements, and area of residence, among other factors. Under the official poverty definition, an average family of four was considered poor in 2013 if its pretax cash income for the year was below $23,834. The measure of poverty currently in use was developed some 50 years ago, and was adopted as the 'official' U.S. statistical measure of poverty in 1969. Except for minor technical changes, and adjustments for price changes in the economy, the 'poverty line' (i.e., the income thresholds by which families or individuals with incomes that fall below are deemed to be poor) is the same as that developed nearly a half century ago, reflecting a notion of economic need based on living standards that prevailed in the mid-1950s."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Gabe, Thomas

  2014-10-20
• Poverty in the United States: 2013 [January 29, 2015]

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  "In 2013, 45.3 million people were counted as poor in the United States under the official poverty measure--a number statistically unchanged from the 46.5 million people estimated as poor in 2012. The poverty rate, or percent of the population considered poor under the official definition, was reported at 14.5% in 2013, a statistically significant drop from the estimated 15.0% in 2012. Poverty in the United States increased markedly over the 2007-2010 period, in tandem with the economic recession (officially marked as running from December 2007 to June 2009), and remained unchanged at a post-recession high for three years (15.1% in 2010, and 15.0% in both 2011 and 2012). […] The Census Bureau, in partnership with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), has developed a Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) designed to implement many of the NAS panel recommendations. The SPM is to be considered a 'research' measure, to supplement the 'official' poverty measure. Guided by new research, the Census Bureau and BLS intend to improve the SPM over time. The 'official' statistical poverty measure will continue to be used by programs that use it as the basis for allocating funds under formula and matching grant programs. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will continue to issue poverty income guidelines derived from 'official' Census Bureau poverty thresholds. HHS poverty guidelines are used in determining individual and family income eligibility under a number of federal and state programs. Estimates from the SPM differ from the 'official' poverty measure and are presented in a final section of this report."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Gabe, Thomas

  2015-01-29
• Poverty in the United States: 2012 [November 13, 2013]

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  "In 2012, 46.5 million people were counted as poor in the United States--the number, statistically unchanged over the past three years, is the largest recorded in the measure's 54-year history. The 'poverty rate', or percent of the population considered poor under the official definition, was reported at 15.0% in 2012, a level statistically unchanged from the two previous years. The 2012 poverty rate of 15.0% is well above its most recent pre-recession low of 12.3% (2006) and remains at a level not last seen since 1993. Poverty in the United States increased markedly from 2007 through 2010, in tandem with the economic recession (officially marked as running from December 2007 to June 2009). Little if any improvement in the level of 'official' U.S. poverty has been seen since the recession's official end, with the poverty rate remaining at about 15% for the past three years. Some analysts expect U.S. poverty to remain above pre-recession levels through much, if not most, of the remainder of the decade, given the slow pace of economic recovery. The pre-recession poverty rate of 12.3% in 2006 was well above the 2000 rate of 11.3%, which marked an historical low (a rate statistically tied with the previous historical low of 11.1% in 1973). The incidence of poverty varies widely across the population according to age, education, labor force attachment, family living arrangements, and area of residence, among other factors. Under the official poverty definition, an average family of four was considered poor in 2012 if its pretax cash income for the year was below $23,492."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Gabe, Thomas

  2013-11-13
• Poverty in the United States: 2008 [October 6, 2009]

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  "In 2008, 39.8 million people were counted as poor in the United States--an increase of 2.6 million persons from 2007, and nearly the largest number of persons counted as poor since 1960. The 'poverty rate', or percent of the population considered poor under the official definition, was reported at 13.2%; up from 12.5% in 2007, and the highest rate since 1997. The recent increase in poverty reflects the worsened economic conditions since the onset of the economic recession in December 2007. Many expect poverty to rise further next year, and it will likely remain comparatively high even after the economy begins to recover. The incidence of poverty varies widely across the population according to age, education, labor force attachment, family living arrangements, and area of residence, among other factors. Under the official poverty definition, an average family of four was considered poor in 2008 if its pre-tax cash income for the year was below $22,025. This report will be updated on an annual basis, following release of U.S. Census Bureau annual income and poverty estimates."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Gabe, Thomas

  2009-10-06
• Disconnected Youth: A Look at 16- to 24-Year Olds Who Are Not Working or in School [April 22, 2009]

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  From the Summary: "This Congressional Research Service (CRS) analysis expands the existing research on disconnected youth. The analysis uses Current Population Survey (CPS) data to construct a definition of 'disconnected.' This definition includes noninstitutionalized youth ages 16 through 24 who did not work or attend school anytime during a previous year and are presently not working or in school (usually sometime in the first quarter of the current year). The definition is narrower than those used by other studies because it captures youth who are unemployed and not in school for a longer period of time. […] Like the existing research, the CRS analysis finds that a greater share of female and minority youth are disconnected. However, the analysis evaluates some other characteristics that have not been widely studied in the existing research. […] The analysis further finds that the parents of disconnected youth are more likely than their counterparts to be unemployed and to have lower educational attainment. Given the state of the current economy and its projected course over the next year or two, rates of disconnection may climb. Policymakers may consider interventions to reconnect youth to work and/or school. Interventions can target children and youth at a particular stage of their early lives. Interventions can also focus on particular institutions or systems, such as the family, community, and schools."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Gabe, Thomas; Fernandes, Adrienne L.

  2009-04-22