Poverty in Wisconsin Sikh Temple May 23, 2015 Ken Taylor Wisconsin Council on Children and Families Robert Kraig Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund 1
American Poverty Ideology Faith in markets to distribute resources to the most deserving Poor are personally responsible for condition Anyone can make it who is moral (American Dream) Doing harm by doing good (Dependency) Deservedness Contingent on work Contingent on behavior
2015 Federal Poverty Guidelines by Family Size Persons in Family / Household Poverty Guideline 1 $11,770 2 $15,930 3 $20,090 4 $24,250 5 $28,410 6 $32,570 7 $36,730 8 $40,890 For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $4,160 for each additional person. A full-time minimum wage job produces a gross income of $15,080
% Poverty by Age Living Below the Federal Poverty Level 2010 US Census 4 Bureau
% Poverty Over Time: 1959-2010 Children and Seniors Sachs JD. The Price of Civilization. 5 2011, Random House, NY. Chapter 10, pp. 185-208
16 Million American children in the U.S. live below the poverty line That s more than the populations of New York LA and Chicago COMBINED = 100,000 people
Child Poverty Rates: United States and United Kingdom 26.1 22.5 18.9 12.3 10.6 2010 Smeeding T, Waldfogel J. Fighting childhood poverty in the US &UK: and update. 2010. 7 Cribb J, Joyce R, Phillip D. Living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK: 2012. IFS commentary C124.
Poverty in Wisconsin 8
What do we know about Wisconsin? Although our child poverty rate is still below the national average (18% vs. 23%): Wisconsin s rate has grown faster than the national rate over the decade Milwaukee has the 4 th highest level of children living in concentrated poverty of the 50 largest cities There are substantial racial disparities in child poverty rates 9
Percent of the population living in poverty By county, Wisconsin, 2006-2010 Source: American Community Survey, 2006-2010. 10
Free/Reduced Lunch Eligibility Reveals Trend in WI Child Poverty
Racial Disparities in Wisconsin Percent of Children Living in Poverty by Race (2013) 60% 50% 52.5% 46.7% 40% 35.3% 30% 20.0% 20% 10.9% 10% 0% Black or African American American Indian Hispanic Asian Non-Hispanic White Source: American Community Survey, 2013 12
The poverty rate for Black kids in Wisconsin is over 4X higher than for White kids
Milwaukee County 14
Waukesha County 15
Concentrated and deep poverty The added challenge of extreme poverty: 16
100,000 Wisconsin children live in deep poverty
The Economy
Income Inequality Trend Source: https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/data/historical/inequality/index.html
Wisconsin Unemployment
59% of Milwaukee African American men not employed Source UWM Center on Econ Development
Minimum Wage Jobs Increasingly Support Families, and Lost Ground Minimum Wage over $2.00 per hour less than 1968 Minimum Wage workers in 2014 are much more productive and better educated 87% minimum wage workers 20 years or older 57% are women 45% have some college education 587,000 Wisconsin workers make less than $10.10 per hour
US Labor Department 24
Poverty Increasing in Wisconsin Even as employment increases, because mostly poverty wage jobs are being created (UW-Madison Institute for Research on Poverty, 2015).
Low-Wage Worker Education 26
Chronic Diseases: Age-adjusted rates of heart attack and stroke among Wisconsin adults, by household income, 2008-2011 10% Low income (<$20,000) Middle income ($20,000-$74,999) High income ($75,000+) 5% 0% 7% 3% 3% 5% 2% 2% Ever had a heart attack 27 Ever had a stroke Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Behavioral Risk Factor Survey (BRFS); 2008-2011 landline-only dataset.
Wisconsin Incarceration
Adult Arrests
Vocabulary 1200 Wealthy CHILD S CUMULATIVE VOCABULARY 1000 800 600 400 Middle Class Low Income 200 0 Age of Child (in months) 30 Hart & Risley, 1995
What beliefs get in the way of addressing the challenge of poverty? We don t have enough money Raising the wage floor harms the economy Its no longer possible to solve big social problems Personal vs. Systems analysis of social & economic issues 31
Roles It Takes a Village Individuals Families Private Sector Public Sector Charitable Sector Faith Communities 32
The End FIN 33