Number of Americans Living in Poverty Increases

Social workers agree that policies must fulfill basic needs

Washington— The number of Americans living in poverty has increased by nearly 3 million people since 2000 to 34.6 million, according to a new report released by the Census Bureau.  Approximately 12.1 percent of Americans are living in extreme poverty.  Many of those Americans are children, with 16.7 percent of children likely to be poor today, up from 16.3 percent in 2001. 

“People continue to lose jobs in the sluggish economy, state budgets are being crushed, and the federal government is spending less on issues here at home,” says Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).  “It’s not a surprise that poverty is increasing nationwide,” she adds.

“While the current poverty measure provides information on a population below a specific income level, it does not begin to show the inequality of income distribution in the United States with nearly half the country’s income going to the highest income households today,” Clark says. 

According to the Census Bureau, poverty is defined as less than $14,494 for a parent and two children.  Children in poverty suffer a variety of disadvantages that lead them to become poor adults.  Social workers have been foremost in developing early intervention programs that focus on alleviating poverty.

“To reduce the number of families and children in poverty, better education, training, and access to resources such as child care and transportation is necessary,” says Clark. 

She adds, “The combination of the loss of blue-collar jobs, decreased wages among low-skilled workers, and the rising unemployment rate have all contributed to an increased poverty level here in the United States—NASW hopes Congress and the Bush administration will act to protect these vulnerable families.”

For more information on NASW’s legislative agenda and social work’s role in promoting sound social policies, please go to https://www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/default.asp

To read more about social work and poverty, go to https://www.socialworkers.org/pressroom/features/issue/poverty.asp

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), in Washington, DC, is the largest membership organization of professional social workers with 150,000 members.  It promotes, develops and protects the practice of social work and social workers.  NASW also seeks to enhance the well being of individuals, families and communities through its advocacy.