Poverty is a social issue – something to be addressed through social programs and governmental intervention. It also is an income and workforce issue. By definition, people in poverty have too little money. But why, if there are plenty of jobs available, do people fail to thrive? Does the fault lie with the people or with the job market?

Although poverty is a simple concept, there is much to understand. Poverty is generally discussed in terms of categories: X percent of the people are poor and the rest aren’t. Realistically, this dichotomy is inadequate. There are degrees of poverty. Many people whose income exceeds the official poverty rate are nonetheless hampered by lack of money. And among those who are classified as poor, some suffer more than others. The official poverty rates change each year, and are set on a sliding scale according to the number of people in the household.¹

Experts, such as the authors of the book, “Bridges Out of Poverty,”² stress the difference between “situational poverty” and “generational poverty.” The first type results from an illness or other misfortune, and is often temporary. Just as most spells of unemployment are brief (See Duration of Unemployment), many people suffer from poverty for a short time and then get “back on their feet.” Generational poverty describes a very different circumstance, characterized by infrequent employment, by reliance on public assistance and often by other types of personal and social problems. It is called “generational” because the lifestyle often is passed on by parents to their children so that the family may never achieve self-sufficiency. Since most people in poverty in Indianapolis are children and youths, there is evidence that generational poverty is a serious concern here.

1 Source for poverty threshold numbers: Federal Register, Vol. 72, No. 15, Jan. 24, 2007, pp. 3147-3148.

2 Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D., Philip DeVol and Terie Dreussi Smith, Bridges Out of Poverty: Strategies for Professionals and Communities, aha! Process Inc., 2001