Poor Ethnic Groups

According to “Poverty in the U.S. and the Supplemental Poverty Measure” in 2011, the 46.2 million persons in the United States had income below the poverty line. The statistics in the poverty rate did not differ from the prior year. This is evidence that relieving poverty in the United States should be the priority. In addition, differences between government operations in various countries can affect the efforts to reduce poverty on a global level, as Thomas states, “The

The three best predictors of poverty in the U.S are race-ethnicity, education, and sex of the head of household.Race-ethnicity is one of the strongest predictors of poverty, with Native Americans having the highest poverty rates at twenty-seven percent.There are more poorer whites than any other race, but that is only due to the larger population of whites in the U.S.The second predictor of poverty is education.The more education someone has the less chance they have of reaching poverty, but race-ethnicity can still increase someone's chances of reaching poverty no matter what their education level is.The third predictor of poverty is head of household.If a woman is the head of household the chances of poverty are much higher than if a man

The U.S. is among the richest countries in the world today, yet millions of people in America still live below the poverty level. The number of Americans living in poverty is increasing day by day as well as the number of children. Poverty in America has become a great threat to children’s wellbeing as they are affected emotionally, socially, and even in their school performance (Wood 720). Poverty in America is mainly caused by lack of jobs. Many people who live in poverty in the United States is due to lack of jobs and getting jobs with minimum wage. Another cause of poverty is due to the rise in the cost of living. Poverty exists in America despite the fact that is among the richest nations in the world.

As of the 2016 census, approximately 323.1 million people reside in the United States of America. 14.5% of those Americans living in poverty, meaning that 45.3 million Americans are affected by poverty, an immense increase from 8 million in 2008. 97.3 million people who occupy the U.S are considered low income and 41 million people struggle with hunger in the United States. 1 in every 2 people are considered poor or receive low income. Poverty is not equal among various demographics, for instance, in 2015, 12% of men lived in poverty in the USA, and 14.8% of women lived in poverty and among non-citizens the poverty rate is 22.8%.

The issue of poverty in the United States seems to lie on the grounds of race education and family structure. As expected I found that educational levels paralleled poverty levels. Unexpected , research was found to prove that race did in fact play a substantial role in poverty. Family structure along with other influential factors either locked an individual into poverty or provided a means for escape from the continuing cycle. Other factors contributing to poverty was the location of homes or neighborhoods and the accessibility to better paying jobs.

The poverty status in the last 12 months for all families, White alone is 8.3%, Black alone is 30.4%, American Indian and Alaska Native alone is 37.8%, Asian alone is 16.5%, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone is 30.8%, some other race alone is 35.9%, and two or more races alone is 32.0% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017). (ADD NEW STUFF FROM CQ ALMANAC FOR VOTING AND CONSTIUENTS)

Poverty is a big problem in the United States. According to Charles Zastrow, “in 2012 over forty-six million people, about fifteen percent of our population was living below the poverty line” (p. 117). In other words, there were a great amount of people living below the poverty line the poverty line. The poverty line is the minimum level of income needed for secured needs of life according to the government. Poverty causes malnutrition, homelessness, School dropout’s drug abuse, and much more.

Poverty is not only an individual problem, but a societal problem. Harrell R. Rodgers wrote an article, “Why are People Poor in America?” Rodgers gives two categories of theories that are used when cultural /behavioral or structural/economic. Behavior/culture theorists look at the behavior, culture and values of the poor as the reason for poverty. While structural /ecIn western culture statistics are an excessively used tool in describing social issues. Numbers help explain a situation, but in excesses, can dehumanize a population. A serious social issue that suffers from desensitization is poverty. Poverty, as it is defined by Webster, is the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of supporting; the condition of being poor. The condition of poverty plagues many American families. According to the Census bureau, 15.1 percent of the United States population falls below the poverty threshold. 15.1 percent does not draw the same effect as the actual 46.6 million individuals living in those circumstances. In the United States, poverty has become a growing problem. There are 15 million more people living in poverty today than in the year 2000 (U.S. Bureau of the Census 2013). The poverty threshold, developed by Molly Orshansky, is a tool used to help indicate how many Americans are in poverty. According to the census, 46.6 million of America’s total population makes less than the poverty threshold for a family of four. The condition of being

As African-American youths, poverty is one of the challenges they struggle to overcome in their everyday life. This is a major issue that has held a great deal of them back from achieving many goals they would have loved to achieve. Their parents’ inability to provide all their needs has discouraged them from taking a few strides in the right direction.

In 2008, African Americans were hit the hardest by the recession in terms of economic status. They are more likely to have a lower household income than white families and are less likely to see little to none economic improvement. In terms of education it is seen that white children are most likely to move up the educational ladder while African American children are more likelydescend down the ladder, which leads to high number of high school dropouts among the African American population which also effects the incarceration rate within the community as well. The American dream that is known for hope, prosperity, and happiness and the land of opportunity where parents seek to better the social and economic status for the benefit of their children leaves a foul taste in most African American’s mouth. To them it is not a dream but a nightmare that they cannot seem to wake up from and is forever haunting them whenever they are made to face

As the son of impoverished Mexican immigrants, I never experienced the luxuries and everyday joys of other children my age. For instance, while other children worried about missing their favorite television shows, I spent a majority of my time concerned about whether my parents would be home in time to say goodnight, or if we would have enough money to buy groceries. With that being said, although my childhood was not ideal, I am contempt because those experiences are responsible for molding me into the person I am today. Somewhere along the road, witnessing my parents make endless sacrifices and watching those around me suffer through hard times, I was instilled with an undying urge to help others.

The United States defines poverty for a family of four as being less than $16,036 per year, or $4,009 per person (Leone 12). People find themselves under this line for an innumerable amount of reasons. Some of these causes are under one's control and others are greater factors beyond an individual's power. Each family or individual person has unique and separate reasons for living in a state poverty. There is no way to try and define them all. Focusing in, three main topics arise that encompass the most predominant reasons for a person to fall into poverty. Education, family life and influence, along with the business cycle may work individually or together to cause poverty. These three leading

Race and ethnicity is key factor to poverty in the U.S. since an African-American is three times more likely to be in poverty than a non-Hispanic white. People with different ethnic backgrounds may experience alienation, or discrimination as a result of their differences with the people around them. Blaming the victim is a common explanation for poverty, but it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny since there are countless factors

In 2010, about 46.2 million people were considered poor. The nation’s poverty rate rose to 15.1 percent, whereas in 2009, 14.3 percent of people in America were living in poverty (Censky, 2011). That is an increase of 2.6 million people in 2010. In the United States, the federal poverty line – an absolute measure of annual income – is frequently used to determine who is categorized as poor (Ferris & Stein, 2008, 2010). Currently the government defines the poverty line as an income of $11,139 for an individual and $22,314 for a family of four (Censky, 2011). In sociology, poverty can be defined using two terms – relative deprivation and absolute deprivation. Relative deprivation is a comparison between people and social class. With

With that said, the United States Census Bureau published the official poverty level report of 2014 in which 46.7 million people are living below quality standard. This alarming fact of recorded data, has the number of poor people or people living in poverty ranked as one of the largest since the start of publishing poverty statistics. In 2014 the poverty rate was 14.8%, which was down from 15.1% recorded in 2010. Household cash income for families was “less than half of the poverty line, or about $10,000 a year for a family of four” (World Hunger Education Service, 2016). It represented 6.6% of all people and 44.6% of those in poverty.