Poverty in United States. Facts and Causes Research Paper

Introduction

Poverty is regarded as the condition where an individual does not have amount of money that is socially acceptable or does not possess the materials that are believed to be basic for the survival of human beings (Schwartz, 2005, para.3).However, the government regards poverty depending on how much an average individual is expected to earn. Schwartz carried out a research which showed that in the United States, about 13-17|% of the individuals live below the federal poverty line at any one single time and poverty is one of the main problems in the United States. Poverty in the United State is measured using poverty threshold that was set by the government. According to this measure, poverty is failure to have goods and services that the members of mainstream take for granted (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2009, para.7).

Facts about poverty in United States

During a census that was done in 2008, it was clearly shown that thirty seven million people lived in poverty with about 37%of families headed by women living in poverty. In addition, among the most affected group of people are the children who are below the age of six. For instance, it was clearly indicated that among the 9.6 million of people who are in poverty 3 millions of them are children (Ventura etal, 1995, p.7).

Causes of poverty in United States

There are many reasons as to why people find themselves poor or living below the poverty line. To start with one of the main causes of poverty is lack of education or getting inadequate education such that those who are poor and are not educated will always remain poor. Additionally, unemployment or one being discontinued from his job are other causes of poverty. This is so because the main source of income for most of the people in United States is employment and therefore when they are discontinued their main source of income is cut such that they may not be able to meet the needs of their families. Moreover, wastage of food is another cause of poverty such that people sleep hungry or take only two meals per day or very little food (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2009, para.7).

Policy that is at work

United States have developed a welfare policy called Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996(PRWORA).This policy was developed with an aim of assisting the poor families with cash and was introduced by Rep E.Clay Shaw, Jr.Clay believed that in some ways welfare brought the immigrants to the United States. On August 22, 1996, the bill became a law after Bill Clinton signed it. The moment Clinton signed the bill; he honored his 1992 campaign pledge of terminating the welfare. PRWORA came up with a programme on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) that has been effective since July 1, 1997.This programme replaced the Aids Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) that had been at work since 1935.Additionaly, the programme also removed the programme on job opportunities and training on basic skills. TANF is an individual work fulfillment where it is a necessity for the head of the family to work for approximately two years. Failure for that his family will loose all the benefits (Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, 1996, para.16).

Through this policy the families are given cash or any other assistance for period of approximately. Then the adults start doing some community service works in case they do not have a stable job. Currently, one can only benefit from the welfare for a maximum of five years which can also be reduced by the state if it wills.However, this limitation may not be there for families that go through a lot of hardships and those women with children are only expected to work for twenty hours per week (Midley,2010,p.284-293).Additionaly,it is a requirement that only 75% of the welfare money should be spent.

The bill faced a lot of criticism as some people said that it did not remove people from their poverty since the benefits offered were not sufficient. For instance, most of the families that have been in the TANF programme and are no longer there have remained in poverty. Another criticism is that the bill have not done much in removing equality and may even have led to increase of this.Moreover,the programme have not led to creation of jobs for the poor nor have it led to the increase of wages.

Changes that should be done in the policy to make it effective

There is a need to reform the policy due to the fact that the policy did not eliminate poverty so as to ensure that families overcome poverty. This can be done by ensuring that people are employed full time and that their wages are increased from $6 dollars as this is very little for these families to meet the needs of their families.Moreover, since most of the single mothers are the one that are affected so much, it is important that their job opportunities are increased and that a balance on job opportunities between married and unmarried women exists.Additionaly ,there is a need to ensure that non citizens do not get the aids as this limit the one available for citizens.Moreover,there should also be some special attention on children programme and for those who are working to ensure that they get health facilities.

Conclusion

Poverty is one of the main problems in United States and the main causes of it have been lack of education, wastage of food among others. Various policies have been made to curb the problem and the one at work now is Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996(PRWORA).This policy has brought various positive changes though there has been some criticism on the same which calls for some changes to make it more effective.

Reference List

1. Midgley, J. (2010). “The United States: Welfare, Work, and Development”. International Journal of Social Welfare10 (4): 284–293.
2. Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, Web.
3. Schwartz, J. E. (2005). Freedom reclaimed: Rediscovering the American vision. Baltimore: G-University Press.
4. U.S Department of Health and Human Services. The 2009 HHS Poverty Guidelines.
5. Ventura, S.J., Martin, J.A., Taffel, S.M., Mathews, T.J. & Clarke, S.C. (1995) Advance report of final natality statistics, 1993. Monthly Vital Statistics Report, 44(3). Washington, DC: U.S. Public new policy Health Service