“On the 50th anniversary of President Johnson’s War on Poverty, we can be thankful for important progress we’ve made in reducing poverty in America and Ohio,” said Amy Hanauer, executive director of Policy Matters Ohio. “Today, the safety net cuts poverty nearly in half and provides relief to many poor and near-poor people and families.”
When measured using a comprehensive poverty measure, poverty has fallen significantly over the last half-century. Since the mid-1960s, average incomes of the poorest fifth of Americans have risen significantly, infant mortality has dropped sharply, and severe child malnutrition has largely disappeared.
Nevertheless, poverty and hardship remain high, with millions of Americans struggling to put food on the table or a roof over their heads. More should be done to strengthen efforts to reduce poverty and hardship and promote economic opportunity.
Under a version of the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) that uses today’s poverty standards (starting with the SPM poverty line for 2012 and adjusting for inflation back to 1967), the overall poverty rate has declined substantially
Lame duck is an opportunity for legislators to act on data centers (and more)