Poverty Ain't What It Used To Be: The Case for and Consequences of Redefining Poverty. Policy Issues Monograph

The case for and consequences of redefining poverty were considered. The analysis focused on the following issues: (1) remeasuring poverty in a time of prosperity; (2) alternative poverty measures; (3) consequences of and enhanced poverty threshold; (4) assessing the performance of employment and training programs in achieving income adequacy standards for participants; and (5) the adequacy of the earnings of demographic and state subgroups of Job Training Partnership Act terminees. The analysis demonstrated that, to give the term "poverty" the same realistic meaning it carried in 1964, the current official index must be raised to 140% of its current level. To represent 50% of the median pretax income of families containing two to four persons now as in 1964, the index must be raised to 165% of the current standard. It was recommended that the poverty threshold be changed accordingly but varied by state to account for cost of living differences. (Sixty tables/figures are included. Information on the assignment of family poverty thresholds to individual metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas across the United States in 1995 and information about various estimates related to recipients of services under various titles of the Job Training Partnership Act are appended. Sixty-two endnotes are included.) (MN)