Center for Policy Research in Environment, Energy, and Community
New Poverty Policies Needed to Address Economic Realities of the Poor
For the last 20 years, poverty policies have focused on reforming poor individuals and their behavior when programs should have been aimed at expanding supports for child care, housing assistance and health care and also restructuring low-wage jobs.
That is the argument of Randy Albeida, a faculty member in the department of economics and center for social policy at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, who recently (March 2008) presented the results of a multi-city study, "Bridging the Gaps: Reframing Poverty Policy and Research."
The results of that study showed what Albeida described as "huge hardship gaps" between what people earn and what people need to cover essentials such as food, housing and health care. As many as one in four workers experiences those hardship gaps, she said.
"The U.S. labor market coupled with public supports doesn't work for families," Albeida said. "The basic minimum standard for jobs in this country needs to include some form of health insurance, paid days off and adjustments for cost-of-living increases."
Albeida noted that the prescription for being poor in the U.S. is to be a single woman, with children and without a college degree-although with a job. That job, however, is likely to be low paying without health insurance, paid vacation and other benefits.
The result: Even the most industrious and committed women with children "are fighting against the stream to make it," Albeida said.
Policies which address these hardship gaps need to provide families with additional support for child care, health care and housing. Also needed are new employment programs which provide opportunities beyond low-paying jobs, Albeida said.
Albeida's talk was sponsored by the Social Science Research Institute, the Rock Ethics Institute; Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment; Center for Policy Research in Environment, Energy, and Community; and the departments of Political Science, Women's Studies and Geography.
Last modified: 06/12/08 | Contact Webmaster
