By Washington Bureau of The Associated Press
A panel of government agencies is studying how the nation measures poverty and whether that definition needs updating.
Currently, the Census Bureau issues annual poverty reports, calculating the number of families that fall below an income formula established decades ago.
Changing the formula -- and the things that are counted as income -- could greatly increase or reduce the number of people listed in poverty, a decision sure to draw political fire.
Possible new poverty definitions are under study by an interagency panel, headed by the Office of Management and Budget, the Census Bureau's Kathleen Short said. OMB established the current poverty measures.
Included on the panel are representatives from Census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Housing and Urban Development, Department of Agriculture and other agencies, she said.
Their effort was prompted by a report by the National Academy of Sciences, said Edward Welniak, chief of income and poverty statistics at the Census Bureau. Welniak said the goal is to improve the measure of poverty.
In addition to redefining the poverty threshold itself, which could increase the number of people considered poor, the Census Bureau has also studied for several years whether to include all or part of non-cash benefits as income for the poor, a change that could reduce the number in poverty. Among the non-cash benefits studied were housing assistance, food stamps, and energy subsidies.
The National Academy of Sciences recommended that in redefining poverty, family income be calculated by including the value of food, housing and energy assistance programs and subtracting work-related and childcare expenses, taking account of taxes and subtracting out-of-pocket expenses.
Using this method would have raised the poverty rate to 14.6 percent of families from the official 1998 rate of 12.7 percent. Using alternative methods of valuing child care could raise it even higher, to 15.2 percent in one case and 14.7 percent in the other.
In general, the panel has found, considering in-kind benefits as income can substantially reduce the incidence of poverty, while accounting for expenses such as work-related child care can substantially increase the rate.
The current poverty formula was created during President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration and has not changed since 1965 except for inflation adjustments.
A higher poverty line would mean a rise in government spending to pay for benefits for the poor, such as food stamps.
AP-NY-10-18-99 1508EDT copyright@Associated Press 1999.
| |||||||||
.
[Home Page] [Architectural & Urban] [High Power Self-Improvement] [Premiere Personal Finance] [Masters of the Market] [Savvy Investment] [Great Adventure] [Chilling Horror] [High Suspense] [Superb Novels] [Fantastic Science] [Beautiful Art] [Design & Construction] [Worthy Charities] [Trading Techniques] [Technical Analysis] [Moving Music] [Helpful How-To] [Other Fantastic Titles] [Top CDs]
