New Report Says 1 in 5 PA Families Live in Poverty

Overlooked and Undercounted: Struggling to Make Ends Meet in Pennsylvania, a new report funded by the PA Department of Labor and Industry, says that 1 in 5 families in our state live in poverty. I sent this statistic to a friend who has been studying poverty in the region for years, and he wrote back, "Surprises me that the figure is as low as it is, especially given the crisis." That said, it looks like there could be some useful information here. From the Executive Summary:
 

 
Today, both America and Pennsylvania face the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression. Very much like the years that preceded that Depression, there is again a trend towards rising economic inequality, in which the rich have become richer, the poor poorer and the middle class smaller. Yet even as an increasing number of families’ budgets are stretched to the breaking point, the percent of families officially designated as poorby the federal government has remained steady in the first decade of the twenty-first century. At the same time, because many federal and state programs provide support only to those with incomes below the official Federal Poverty Level (FPL), a large and diverse group of families experiencing economic distress are routinely overlooked and undercounted.
 

This report reveals the overlooked and undercountedof Pennsylvania, describing which families are struggling to make ends meet. What emerges is a new picture of those in Pennsylvania who lack enough to meet their needs, including where they live and the characteristics of their households. While less than 1 in 10 Pennsylvania households are considered pooraccording to the Federal Poverty Level, Overlooked and Undercounted shows that 1 in 5 households earn less than they need to make ends meet. Families living below self-sufficiency live in all parts of the state, from our biggest cities to our least populous rural counties. They represent diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds as well as varying degrees of education. Because needs vary by a family' work status and educational background, as well as by location, the new study shows the number of families living below self-sufficiency based on a variety of topics:
 

• In terms of race and ethnicity, 67 percent of households in Pennsylvania with inadequate income are White, nine percent are Latino, 19 percent are Black and three percent are Asian/Pacific Islander.
 

• About 85 percent of Pennsylvania households with inadequate income have at least one worker. In more than half of these households, there is at least one full-time year-round worker. 15 percent of Pennsylvania households with insufficient income have no workers, and 29 percent have two or more workers.