Poverty Among Working Families: Findings from Experimental Poverty Measures, 1998. Special Studies. Current Population Reports.

摘要

This report examines poverty among working families with children using experimental measures of poverty that are based on recommendations by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Panel on Poverty and Family Assistance. These experimental poverty measures take into account elements not included in the current official measure of family income, such as noncash government benefits and job-related expenses. This analysis indicates that according to these experimental measures, people in full-time working families comprise a higher proportion of those in poverty than previously estimated. This result occurs because expenses, such as child care costs, social security taxes, and out-of-pocket medical expenses, tend to outweigh the noncash benefits, such as food stamps, working families may receive. Without the recent expansion of the Earned Income Credit, poverty among people in full-time working families would be even higher.