Poverty Decreased in the USA Thanks to Government Aid, Census Report

Last year, the coronavirus pandemic left millions of people unemployed and ushered in the worst economic contraction since the Great Depression. Yet last year, the share of people living in poverty in the United States has decreased by at least one measure due to the government’s massive relief efforts.

About 9.1 percent of Americans were poor last year, the Census Bureau reported on Tuesday, fell from 11.8 percent in 2019. It’s based on a poverty measure that explains the impact of government aid programs that lifted millions of people out of poverty last year. The government’s official measure, which excludes some major aid programs, rose to 11.4 percent from a record low of 10.5 percent in 2019.

The fact that poverty did not increase further during such a massive economic disruption reflects the equally tremendous response of the government. Congress expanded unemployment benefits and food aid, distributed hundreds of billions of dollars to small businesses, and sent checks directly to most American households. The Census Bureau estimates that direct controls alone lifted 11.7 million people out of poverty last year, and unemployment benefits prevented 5.5 million from falling into poverty.

“Despite the pandemic, unemployment, recession, poverty did not increase,” said Irwin Garfinkel, co-director of the Center for Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University’s School of Social Work, referring to the alternative measure. “Without government benefits, poverty would skyrocket.”

Poverty increased much more after the last recession, reaching 15.1 percent in 2010 and gradually recovered after that.

Still, government aid programs excluded some groups, such as undocumented immigrants and their families, and failed to reach others. Millions of people endured weeks or months of delay before getting help, forcing many to seek help from food banks or other charities.

“When we face the reality of poverty every day, we measure poverty annually,” said Hilary Hoynes, an economist at the University of California at Berkeley who studies the government’s response to the pandemic. .

Even as the pandemic continues, many of the programs that have helped people avoid poverty last year have come to an end. Approximately 7.5 million people lost their unemployment benefits This month after Congress allowed the end of pandemic-era program expansions.

The new data could fuel efforts by President Biden and congressional leaders to pass a law. more permanent expansion of the safety net. The Democrats’ $3.5 trillion plan, which is still taking shape, could include paid family and medical leave, government-sponsored childcare, and a permanent expansion of the Child Tax Credit. Liberals said the success of last year’s aid programs shows that such policies need to be sustained and expanded.

“This tells us that growth is working,” said Arloc Sherman, a poverty researcher at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive research group. “We got the answer together. These policies are extremely effective when they are actually used.”

But many conservatives argue that while some expansion of government aid is appropriate during the pandemic, these programs should end as the economy recovers.

“We needed to balance concerns about poverty, which was at an all-time low, with concerns about federal debt,” said Scott Winship, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative group, and director of poverty studies.