{
  "id": "R41187",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R41187",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 360339,
      "date": "2010-04-12",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T01:44:50.403587",
      "title": "Poverty Measurement in the United States: History, Current Practice, and Proposed Changes",
      "summary": "Nearly a half-century has passed since poverty emerged as a major policy issue in the United States, taking form as a \u201cWar on Poverty.\u201d As precursors, statistical studies sought to define the scope, depth, and breadth of the poverty problem in the United States, as well as the composition of the population affected, and poverty\u2019s social and economic causes and effects. Ultimately, the federal government adopted an \u201cofficial\u201d U.S. statistical poverty measure, which was to serve as the official benchmark for evaluating progress towards eliminating poverty in the United States.\nMany experts consider the \u201cofficial\u201d poverty measure currently in use as flawed and outmoded. A National Academy of Sciences (NAS) expert panel provided a wide range of specific recommendations to revamp the statistical measure of poverty in its congressionally commissioned 1995 study\u2014Measuring Poverty: A New Approach. Now, after some 15 years of study, efforts are being undertaken to incorporate NAS panel recommendations into a new statistical poverty measure to accompany the current \u201cofficial\u201d measure. House and Senate legislative proposals introduced in both the 110th and 111th Congress (H.R. 2909, S. 1625), if adopted, would instruct the Census Bureau to create a new \u201cmodern\u201d poverty measure, following many of the NAS panel\u2019s recommendations. More recent developments initiated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) propose that the Census Bureau, in coordination with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), develop a new Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), using NAS panel recommendations as a starting point. \nA NAS-based poverty measure, like the current \u201cofficial\u201d measure, would count families\u2019 and unrelated individuals\u2019 incomes against poverty income cutoffs (i.e., poverty income thresholds) in determining whether they, and their members, are considered poor. Under a NAS-based poverty measure, poverty income thresholds would be higher than under the current measure, and more sources of income (e.g., nutrition assistance and refundable tax credits) would be counted against the thresholds than under the current measure; and, unlike the current measure, work-related expenses, taxes, and out-of-pocket medical expenses would be subtracted from income. NAS-based poverty thresholds, unlike the current \u201cofficial\u201d thresholds, would adjust for changes in the overall basic standard of living in the society over time. In addition, the NAS panel recommended that adjusting poverty thresholds for area cost-of-living differences should be considered. All in all, a NAS-based poverty measure would be more sensitive than the current poverty measure in assessing the effects of government policy on poverty.\nEstimates of the number and composition of the population that would be counted as poor under a NAS-based poverty measure, compared to the current \u201cofficial\u201d measure, in part depend upon the specific details and methodologies used to construct the alternative measure. However, a NAS-based poverty measure generally results in a greater number of persons being counted as poor than under the current \u201cofficial\u201d measure. Additionally, persons in working families are more likely to be counted as poor than under the current measure (largely due to the subtraction of taxes and work-related expenses from income), as are older persons (largely due to subtraction of medical expenses from income). Whereas under the current \u201cofficial\u201d poverty measure, the poverty rate of children is about twice that of persons age 65 and older (19.0% compared to 9.7%, respectively, in 2008), under a NAS-based measure, the age 65 and older poverty rate exceeds the child poverty rate (21.0% compared to 20.2%, respectively). Based on current methodologies, geographic adjustments for area cost-of-living differences result in markedly different poverty rates for some states.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Domestic Social Policy"
  ]
}