Report: Illinois Poverty Remains Stubbornly High
From the Bloomington Pantagraph
Illinois' overall poverty rate is the same as it was a half-century ago despite scores of state and federal aid programs and a dramatic drop in the number of older people struggling to get by, according to a new report that examines how the state has fared since President Lyndon Johnson declared a national War on Poverty.
Almost 15 percent of Illinois residents, about 1.9 million, lived below the federal poverty line in 2012, about the same as in 1960 before Johnson's call to action, according to the report released Thursday by the Chicago-based Social IMPACT Research Center. It comes a day after Gov. Pat Quinn called on lawmakers to raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour and double a tax credit that helps low-income workers keep more of their earnings.
The stubbornly high poverty rate _ defined as an annual income below $23,850 for a family of four - reflects, in part, a loss of manufacturing jobs and an increase in part-time-only and service jobs, as well as a high number of people still unemployed since the recession, said Amy Terpstra, the center's associate director.
"It's not 100 percent one thing or the other," Terpstra said. "But you used to be able to come out of or not finish high school, learn skills on the job and get a family-supporting wage plus benefits, pension and vacation. Those jobs have been diminishing (and are being) replaced with jobs that are lower-paying and less secure."
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Bloomington Pantagraph
Illinois' overall poverty rate is the same as it was a half-century ago despite scores of state and federal aid programs and a dramatic drop in the number of older people struggling to get by, according to a new report that examines how the state has fared since President Lyndon Johnson declared a national War on Poverty.
Almost 15 percent of Illinois residents, about 1.9 million, lived below the federal poverty line in 2012, about the same as in 1960 before Johnson's call to action, according to the report released Thursday by the Chicago-based Social IMPACT Research Center. It comes a day after Gov. Pat Quinn called on lawmakers to raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour and double a tax credit that helps low-income workers keep more of their earnings.
The stubbornly high poverty rate _ defined as an annual income below $23,850 for a family of four - reflects, in part, a loss of manufacturing jobs and an increase in part-time-only and service jobs, as well as a high number of people still unemployed since the recession, said Amy Terpstra, the center's associate director.
"It's not 100 percent one thing or the other," Terpstra said. "But you used to be able to come out of or not finish high school, learn skills on the job and get a family-supporting wage plus benefits, pension and vacation. Those jobs have been diminishing (and are being) replaced with jobs that are lower-paying and less secure."
Read more in our daily News Update...