As labor markets tightened in the last half of the nineties, economic development and community leaders sought to identify more locally available workers than were indicated by published statistics. Using results from commissioned surveys, they pointed to large numbers of part-time workers who desired full-time work, and to full-time workers who were qualified for better jobs. These statistics were often used to negate low official unemployment rates that deterred firms, concerned by the ostensible shortage of workers, from locating in their counties. We have conducted a larger, statewide, survey of underemployment and linked it to the detailed demographic and labor force data from the 2000 Census. We used the results to identify variations in the number and type of underemployed persons around the state, with emphasis on the differences between urbanized and rural areas. Over a quarter of full-time workers reported underemployment, including a third of workers in exurban counties. However, forty to fifty percent of underemployment is reportedly by choice, with the highest rates in the small urban and exurban regions. Of those that are not underemployed by choice, over ninety percent of respondents in some regions cited lack of job opportunities. We find that between fourteen and forty percent of part-time workers prefer full-time work, with the highest rates in rural Appalachian counties. We provide some of the reasons underemployed people cite as constraints to better employment. Also, we used the survey results and the recent Census information to predict the number and type of underemployed persons in each county. The model can be used to update predictions as new local demographic and labor force estimates are released annually from the Census Bureau’s forthcoming American Community Surveys.
Poverty
Measuring the economic status of low-income individuals and families is a central focus of poverty scholars and is at the fore of much public policy debate. The stakes are substantial as changes in poverty (and poverty thresholds) influence the scale and scope of redistributive tax and transfer programs at all levels of government.
UKCPR Director James Ziliak chaired a recent National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine panel of experts that recommended that the current Official Poverty Measure used by the U.S. Census Bureau be replaced by a new measure called the Principal Poverty Measure, which is a revision to the alternative Supplemental Poverty Measure annually produced by Census. Among other changes, the panel recommended that the new measure incorporate health insurance and child care as a basic need, and revise how housing is valued as a need. Balancing those changes to the poverty thresholds, the panel recommended that subsidies for health insurance and child care provided by employers and the government be included as a household resource, as well as the implicit rental income derived from owner-occupied housing. The full report is available for free download at the National Academies, with a summary published in a 2024 issue of The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
2003
Obesity and the development of complications across the life span: Is there a relationship between obesity and poverty?
The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship between the development of obesity in children ages five to ten years, and poverty (the socio-economic status of the family). Because of the associated complications of obesity such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and hypertension, this research aimed to determine if obesity, a precursor of these diseases, was related to poverty. The rate of the development of hypertension and diabetes in children and young adults has been steadily increasing over the past ten years (Hines, Fishman, Green, 1999). Therefore, there is an urgent need for continued investigation exploring the multiple variables associated with the development of this major health hazard. The goal of this research was to examine the following objectives: Investigate the relationship between poverty and obesity in children age 5 to 10 years, determine the genetic risk for subjects meeting the criteria for obesity, and communicate findings of this research via referred publications and presentations. The methods used in this research involved collection of secondary and primary data. Secondary data collection involved retrieving information on subjects assigned to the free lunch program, based on household income. Primary data collection included weight, height and Body Mass Index (BMI) of the subjects. Height, weight and BMI were recorded and compared with normal values for age and height, thus determining obesity status. The results of obesity status were correlated with household income. Thirty three subjects (N=33) were studied. The results of the study showed no significant relationship between obesity and poverty. However, the incidence of obesity in the sample according to body mass index was a finding that warrants further investigation. The results showed a higher level of obesity among the subjects who were not from households meeting the definition of poverty.
Poverty and macroeconomic performance across space, race, and family structure
Understanding the link between poverty and economic growth is of long-standing interest, but heretofore it has not received much attention within the context of the dramatic changes in recent business-cycle conditions and social policies. In this paper we use state-level panel data from the 1981–2000 waves of the Current Population Survey to examine the impacts of the macroeconomy and welfare reform on family poverty. We estimate models of before-tax and after-tax poverty rates and squared poverty gaps for all families, by family structure, and by race. Our results indicate that a strong macroeconomy at both the state and national levels reduces not only the number of families below poverty, but also the severity of poverty. The magnitude and source of these antipoverty effects, however, are not uniform across family structures and racial groups or necessarily over time. While the gains in poverty eradication are tempered by rising wage inequality, the extent of this offset also varies across demographic groups. We find limited evidence that (after-tax) poverty is lower among female-headed families and black families after the implementation of state-specific welfare reforms, both before and after passage of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. An auxiliary time series analysis suggests that the expansions in the federal Earned Income Tax Credit of the 1990s accounts for upwards of 50 percent of the reduction in after-tax income deprivation. Simulations indicate that female-headed families and families headed by a black person made substantial gains in the ‘War on Poverty’ in the 1990s due in large part to the growth in median wages.