what was the poverty line in 2012 course hero

Absolute and Relative Poverty

Relative poverty refers to the degree that some groups lack resources compared to others; absolute poverty refers to a lack of resources that is life threatening.

Measures of Poverty in the United States

The U.S. federal government uses federal poverty guidelines to determine eligibility for programs and federal poverty thresholds to calculate numbers of people living in poverty.

Poverty and Intersectionality

Poverty is linked to factors such as race, gender, age, and class, and responses to poverty are connected to social and cultural views about why poverty occurs.

Who issues the 2012 poverty guidelines?

They are issued each year in the Federal Register by the Department of Health and Human Services ( HHS). The guidelines are a simplification of the poverty thresholds for use for administrative purposes for instance, determining financial eligibility for certain federal programs. The Federal Register notice of the 2012 poverty guidelines is ...

What are the two versions of the poverty measure?

There are two slightly different versions of the federal poverty measure: The poverty thresholds, and. The poverty guidelines. The poverty thresholds are the original version of the federal poverty measure. They are updated each year by the Census Bureau (although they were originally developed by Mollie Orshansky of the Social Security ...

Why are poverty thresholds used?

The thresholds are used mainly for statistical purposes for instance, preparing estimates of the number of Americans in poverty each year. (In other words, all official poverty population figures are calculated using the poverty thresholds, not the guidelines.)

What programs use poverty guidelines?

Note that in general, cash public assistance programs (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Supplemental Security Income) do NOT use the poverty guidelines in determining eligibility. The Earned Income Tax Credit program also does NOT use the poverty guidelines to determine eligibility. For a more detailed list of programs that do and don’t use the guidelines, see the Frequently Asked Questions > (FAQs).

When did Alaska and Hawaii have separate poverty guidelines?

The separate poverty guidelines for Alaska and Hawaii reflect Office of Economic Opportunity administrative practice beginning in the 1966-1970 period. Note that the poverty thresholds the original version of the poverty measure have never had separate figures for Alaska and Hawaii.

Which countries do not have poverty guidelines?

The poverty guidelines are not defined for Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau.

Does poverty apply to aged and non-aged?

The poverty guidelines apply to both aged and non-aged units. The guidelines have never had an aged/non-aged distinction; only the Census Bureau (statistical) poverty thresholds have separate figures for aged and non-aged one-person and two-person units.

When did the poverty line become the standard measure of poverty in America?

In 1963 , Mollie’s poverty line calculation became the standard measure of poverty in America.

How to calculate poverty line?

So, to calculate a poverty line, Mollie simply multiplied a low-income household’s food budget by three, figuring that if a family was tightening its belt, it would proportionally cut all its expenses.

What did Mollie know about poverty?

Mollie knew poverty. She grew up poor, one of seven daughters of a Jewish immigrant family in the south Bronx. She remembered the Depression, waiting in food lines with her mother, and how her family had to choose between clothes and shoes for their daughters or rent.

Why were Mollie's 1963 calculations increased?

Mollie’s 1963 calculations have simply been increased to keep pace with inflation.

Who was the Social Security reporter who was assigned to report on poverty as it affects children?

In 1963, while working for the Social Security Administration, Mollie Orshansky was assigned to report on “poverty as it affects children”. There was no measure of poverty so Mollie and her team made their own.

What does Mollie's threshold mean?

Mollie said her threshold, based on this budget, should only be used to measure when a family had “inadequate” funds, not adequate funds – it wasn’t meant to define a way of life – it should never be more than temporary.