Current Standard Fails to Accurately Assess Poverty
Current Standard Fails to Accurately Assess Poverty |
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New framework would better reflect decent living standards and economic security needs in the USFor Immediate Release:April 27, 2010Contact: Alan Barber, (202) 293-5380 x115 Washington, D.C. - A new study released today from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) proposes a new framework for measuring poverty and basic economic security in the United States. “For years, the minimum amount needed by the typical family to ‘get along’ at a basic level has grown larger and larger compared to the current official poverty measure,” said Shawn Fremstad author of the study and Director of the Bridging the Gaps program at CEPR. “It is imperative that Congress act to adopt a balanced approach that accurately and succinctly measures poverty in America.” The report, “A Modern Framework for measuring poverty and basic Economic Security,” details how the dominant framework for defining poverty has been defined down over time, analyzes the Obama administration’s Proposed improvements to the current poverty measures, and then recommends a new framework more reflective of contemporary mainstream living standards. For years, polls have shown that the average American’s idea of what it takes to get by and make ends meet has grown considerably. Meanwhile, the current standard, conceptualizing poverty solely in terms of an extremely low level of income and tied to inflation, has become more conservative, with a poverty threshold that is too low and too narrow. In the study, Fremstad suggests five recommendations for a standard that would more accurate describe poverty in the United States:
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