> Saturday, October 30, 1999
>
> Measure of hardship
>
> By DORIS CHANDLER
> Sun staff writer
>
>
> If the federal government is considering changing how
> it measures poverty, then it ought to hear what poor
> people have to say about it.
>
> That's the opinion of Rebecca Kaim, single mom
> of 11-year-old Myron and 6-week-old Robert, who
> makes $6 an hour at her job as dispatcher for
> a plumbing company. She works 40 or more
> hours a week for a weekly paycheck of about $200.
>
> "I was told I made too much money to receive welfare
> and other help. What I make is barely enough to live
> on. If not for my friends, my baby wouldn't have
> anything," said Kaim, who was eligible for aid
> when she went on eight weeks unpaid maternity
> leave when Robert was born. She gets no child
> support from the father of the 11-year-old, but
> the father of the baby, though not under court order, helps out.
>
> Financially, she's scraping the bottom of her barrel.
>
> She gets a $241 monthly welfare check that doesn't
> even cover the monthly rent of her mobile home, so
> she is behind in that and some of her other bills,
> and is pretty stressed about it, Kaim said. She
> gets $230 in food stamps. When she returns to
> work in about two weeks, the welfare payments
> will stop, she said, though she likely will continue
> to get some food stamps, and her two children will
> remain on Medicaid. The Women, Infants and
> Children's program also will help with some of the baby's needs.
>
> Would a change in the federal poverty threshold
> make it easier for Kaim to get aid from various
> programs for her family? Maybe, but maybe not.
>
> The U.S. Census Bureau, participating in a study to
> investigate different ways of defining poverty, submitted
> a list of alternative approaches to the Office of
> Management and Budget, which sets poverty thresholds.
>
> Although the study is slated to continue for several
> more years, the end result could be an increase
> in the amount of poverty and in the number of
> people considered to be living in poverty.
>
> The study springs from 1995 recommendations by
> a National Academy of Sciences panel advising
> an overhaul of the official poverty measure.
>
> "There is still a lot of work to be done on this study," said
> Kathleen Short, a researcher who co-wrote the bureau's
> report on "Experimental Poverty Measures."
>
> Based on the two-adult, two-child family model with a
> 1998 poverty threshold of $16,600, the bureau used
> six different poverty calculations that took into account
> resources and expenses not included in the current
> official poverty threshold - the value of food assistance
> programs, housing subsidies, energy assistance
> and deductions for work-related child care expenses,
> taxes and medical out-of-pocket expenses.
>
> "Using the different experimental methods we ended
> up with poverty rates slightly higher - from 14.6 to
> 15.7 percent - than the official poverty rate of 12.7
> percent in 1998, which may or may not mean higher
> poverty thresholds," Short said.
>
> The 12.7 percent poverty rate for 1998 is down from
> 13.3 percent in 1997. The number of poor dropped
> also, from 35.6 million in 1997 to 34.5 million in
> 1998, according to Census Bureau reports.
>
> The 1998 federal poverty threshold for a family the size of Kaim's is $13,133.
>
> Kaim said she believes the threshold should be much higher.
>
> "I don't think they (federal officials) know what it
> means to be poor," she said. "A family of three
> needs at least $20,000 a year to be able to afford the basics and save a
> little."
>
> The current federal poverty guideline, which is based
> on the poverty threshold but usually is a few dollars higher, is $13,880
> for a family of three.
>
> An increase in the poverty threshold wouldn't
> necessarily translate into more eligibility for aid programs.
>
> Some public assistance programs, such as
> welfare cash assistance and Supplemental Security
> Income, do not use the poverty guidelines in
> determining eligibility, while programs such as
> Head Start and the National School Lunch Program do use the guidelines.
>
> "Congress can set the poverty threshold for statistical
> purposes - just for counting the number of people in
> poverty without changing the benefit level amount,"
> said Page Jolly, a spokeswoman for the Florida
> Department of Children and Families in Tallahassee.
> "So any change in the poverty threshold might have
> no effect on us as far as the cash benefits and food stamps that are paid
> out."
>
> The current poverty threshold formula was developed
> in the 1960s by Mollie Orshansky of the Social Security
> Administration, and was based on a dietary plan
> devised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
>
> The thresholds are updated annually by the Census
> Bureau, and are used primarily for statistical purposes,
> such as determining how many Americans are in poverty every year.
>
> Setting of the thresholds is an arbitrary action, and the
> issue needs to be opened up to public debate,
> according to John Scanzoni, a University of Florida professor of sociology.
>
> "This really is a policy matter for the politicians and
> citizens to debate. What do we mean by poverty, and
> the working poor? These are the real questions,
> and there is a need for fresh debate," Scanzoni said.
>
> People have different perceptions of what "poor"
> means and what the "working poor" means, he said.
>
> "Some people are poor and aren't aware of it. Others
> may resent being put in that category," Scanzoni said.
>
> Kaim said she thinks the public should have
> some say in this study on poverty thresholds.
>
> "People who have lived the life ought to have input," she said.
>
> Doris Chandler can be reached at 374-5045 or chandld at gvillesun.com .
>
>
> _________________________________________
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