MIXED CENSUS NEWS SUGGESTS POLICY DIRECTIONS
BY JULIANNE MALVEAUX
The economic expansion of the 1990s wasn't all it was supposed to be. Sure,
incomes rose by an inflation-adjusted 9 percent over the decade, which ended
with the median family income rising to about $50,000 a year. And sure, the
gender gap narrowed a bit by 7 cents over the year, with women now earning 73
cents for every dollar men earn. The number of women on public assistance was
cut in half in just a five-year period. And (surprise, surprise) the rich got
richer. Metropolitan areas in the South and Midwest were big gainers in the
1990s, but the Northeastern cities stumbled economically, perhaps because most
of the job growth they experienced was in low-wage service jobs.
While some people did well, the poverty level dropped, but only slightly,
from 13.8 percent to 12.4 percent. And the women on welfare who went back to
work left the welfare rolls, but many remained in poverty. While the level of
single-mom poverty declined, still more than one in four families headed by
women have incomes at less than the poverty level. As Congress considers
welfare reform reauthorization, there has been scant talk about an increase in
the minimum wage, which would lift so many working poor women out of poverty.
The narrowing of the gender gap is good news for women, but the gap partly
narrowed because men's wages fell as women's rose. For some families with
two earners, the trends either balance each other out, or push both men and
women into working more hours. Even as there is a focus on closing the pay
gap between men and women, there also needs to be a focus on the earnings
levels of workers at the bottom, no matter what their gender. Satirist
Michael Moore has written about the airline pilots on commuter airlines that
earn so little they can qualify for food stamps. They aren't the only ones
people entrusted with our children and our elders also often earn so little
they qualify for some form of government assistance.
There is some evidence that poverty is becoming more concentrated. The
Children's Defense Fund noted that there are 14 counties in the United
States where Child Poverty exceeded 60 percent, and several major cities,
including New Orleans, Hartford, Connecticut, Atlanta, Buffalo, Miami, and
Cleveland, where child poverty levels hover around 40 percent. Ironically,
some of these cities and their suburbs, like Atlanta and Miami, are
experiencing growth spurts. Some of the growth seems to have come from
companies locating in areas where they think they can find low-wage workers.
The Census data suggest that the rising tide of last decade's economic
expansion didn't lift all boats. Instead, the data indicate that targeted
policy needs to be developed to drastically reduce the poverty level.
Raising the minimum wage is just one thing Congress can do. To develop
economic security for low-wage women and their children, Congress needs to
look at the quality of jobs, especially on the bottom, to ensure that anyone
who works a full week can earn a living wage. Of course, in this political
climate, legislators are not likely to get involved in income transfer
programs unless, of course, those programs transfer income from the poor to the
wealthy through tax cuts, or unless aid is being provided to the oil or
big farm industries.
Findings about the persistence of poverty are likely to be swallowed by the
security and international concerns that seem to have dominated Congressional
attention this week. Their focus on the gang that can't shoot straight (also
known as the FBI and the CIA) may be appropriate, but tracking down terrorists
is not the only way to ensure domestic security. It seems to me that economic
security, especially for those at the bottom, is as important as other security
issues. And when Congress is finished grilling FBI Director Robert Mueller,
they may want to hold some hearings on the conditions under which so many
children live in our society. That two in five children in New Orleans live in
poverty ought to be alarming. Instead, it seems to be business as usual.
The poverty data are especially important in the context of welfare reform
reauthorization. The pace at which women have moved into the workplace
suggests that poor women are willing to work, even under less than ideal
conditions. But data on poverty also indicate that these women need support:
affordable child care, subsidized health care, and the opportunity to use
education to improve their situation. Legislation that increases the work
requirement, without providing other supports pushes people into low-wage
employment, but does little or nothing to reduce poverty. Perhaps the Census
data will cause Congress to change course on pending welfare reform legislation.