Predictors of Poverty in America

            Contrary to what is probably the speculation of the majority, the best poverty predictor in the United States is not race but family status. According to the data of the Census Bureau, in the United States the different levels of poverty are best predicted by the family makeup (Jeffrey, 2005). In other words, generally a relatively poor person belongs to a broken family and a child growing up in financial difficulty is the one who is raised by one parent and without the financial support of the other parent.

            According to the 2004 Census Bureau, only 6.4% of those living below poverty line belong to the married couple families. There is not much difference between black and whites. The rest belongs to those who live in broken families. 13.8% are those who belong to a family where the father is present but the mother is absent; while 30.5% are those without the father present.

            Based on these data, the second greatest predictor of poverty is the absence of the father or without the support of the father. As in most cases, the poorest children are those belonging to families wherein the father has left for good or is not an active participant in the family.

            The third greatest indicator of poverty in the United States is hours of work the parents or parent has. Whether the economy is good or bad, generally, those belonging to poor families are the ones which only have 800 hours of work for a year. This translates to only 16 hours of work in a week (Rector & Johnson, 2004). If the parent or parents do not work much, the family is more likely to belong in the poor bracket.

            Now if the family will have 2,000 hours of work in a given year, which is equivalent to one adult working for 40 hours in a week for the whole year, then they will be lifted to the above poverty line bracket (Rector & Johnson, 2004).

            Based on these three greatest predictors of poverty, the way to solve the country’s poverty problem is to strengthen the foundations of the family. By strengthening the foundations of the family, the number of broken families and the father leaving the household without giving any support will be reduced.

At the same time it is important to provide jobs for the families or adults in the household. Though welfare has its own merits, it is not enough for the government to simply provide such support. It is important that those living in poverty line be given jobs to support the needs of the family. 

Works Cited

Jeffrey, Terence P. 2005. “Best Poverty Predictor: Family Status, Not Race”. Human Events.

FindArticles.com. Retrieved 09 Feb. 2008 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_200509/ai_n15643759

Rector, Robert E. and Johnson, Kirk A, PhD. 2004. “Understanding Poverty in America”. The

Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 09 Feb. 2008 from

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm