If employment is up, then why is the poverty rate going up as well for the states?

It isn’t.

It is , you can deny it like ole orange hair him self but it is.

You’re drinking the Koolaid again, or maybe you just really don’t know how to read the figures.

You answered your own question. RepubliCONs love those minium wage shit jobs.

I was reading yesterday that in order for a minimum wage worker to be able to afford to live in a 2 bedroom apartment that they would need to work a 122 hour work week. That doesn’t include any utilities, food, medical expenses, or the like. I know that just my utilities alone have gone up 3 times what they were in 2016. I live alone & I’ve not changed my lifestyle enough to justify the increase. So, offhand I’d say the cost of living is increasing faster than the wages.

Deflect all you want @MollyMcGuire it is going up,regardless of any kind of cocktail,minimum wage jobs look great on the employment graph but do nothing at addressing the poverty issue.
Sure more people are working let’s have a party, but if those working people still can’t afford food AND a roof over their heads what good does it do them?

For Molly- https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2018/04/23/cities-hit-hardest-extreme-poverty/528514002/

@LadyMarissa

Boo hoo. You don’t have to make $900/wk to afford to live in a two-bedroom apartment. I own quite a few rentals myself.

Oh so you’re a slum lord, I guess that is why you deny the poverty rate is going up.
I get it now, thanks for clearing that up.

At Squeeky 2… Lol!

@Molly who pissed in your Cheerios this morning. Do you ever have anything to add besides a cranky reply?

The poverty rate has been decreasing since 2009.

Did you even bother to click the link that @notwonderwoman provided?^^

capitalism

@SQUEEKY2 Um yes, did anyone actually bother to look at what the poverty rate is actually doing and not just post an article that cherry picks certain cities.

Your own link shows it higher in 2016 than it was in 1990.

Also, those stats don’t include the homeless. Extreme poverty has risen.

“Forty million Americans live in poverty, nearly half in deep poverty — which U.N. investigators defined as people reporting income less than one-half of the poverty threshold. The United States has the highest child poverty rates — 25 percent — in the developed world. Then there are the extremely poor who live on less than $2 per day per person and don’t have access to basic human services such as sanitation, shelter, education and health care. These are people who cannot find work, who have used up their five-year lifetime limit on assistance, who do not qualify for any other programs or who may live in remote areas. They are disconnected from both the safety net and the job market.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/12/21/extreme-poverty-returns-to-america/

Boy the Rep/cons sure get nasty when this comes to light and casts a shadow on ole orange hair.^^

Because they know that sooner or later the sheeple are going to realize they’re being had and kick their self serving asses out of office. Dems are already making gains and the handwriting is on the wall.

There are a number of things that can contribute to the poverty rate. Illegals entering this country, for instance, can play a role. Where the surveys are sent plays a role. How many of the surveys get returned plays a role. The state you live in plays a role. CA for example has the 2nd highest poverty rate in the country. But overall, the poverty rate really isn’t changing that much in the country as a whole. This link:

https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/faq/what-current-poverty-rate-united-states

Shows the historical trend in poverty from 1959 through 2015, but the article also states the 2016 poverty which is right in line with the rest. Since the poverty is only calculated every year, this is about as accurate as you can get.

@SQUEEKY2 You can ignore the numbers if you want but the fact remains that the poverty rate is going down at the moment. in 2016 it was ~12.7% and in 1990 it was 13.5% so no, my own link does not show it was higher in 2016 than in 1990. In this report shows the homeless rate has been dropping for at least the last ten years.

(This graph shows the poverty rate in the United States among all people from 1990 to 2016. Over 11 percent of the population were living below the poverty line in 2000. In 2016, the poverty rate was 12.7 percent in the U.S.)
Sorry this was the first paragraph in your article 11% in 2000 and 12.7% in 2016 doesn’t look like a decrease but I could be wrong.

It follows the economy pretty well. In 2000 we were at the peak of the .com boom then it all went to shit when the bottom fell out on that. Same thing in 2008 with the housing and financial crisis. It’s a clickable graph so you can pull the actual numbers out. Compare 1990 with 2016. Also look at the rate it has been dropping in the last couple of years, faster than just about anytime in the last 30. We are basically seeing a recovery from the 2008 financial crisis.

Employment might be going up but it doesn’t mean those employed are making enough to make ends meet.
Here in Southern Idaho where I live, there was a report that anyone making minimum wage had to work something like 66 or 84 hours a week to afford a small 2 bedroom house or apartment, or make in excess of $22 per hour on a 40 hour per week job.

@kritiper If one can’t afford to live in their home town, it’s time to move where the cost of living index is lower. Rents are based on what the market will bear. If people couldn’t afford the rents, the units would stay empty.

Boo hoo to anyone saying I can’t live if I don’t make $22/hour. There are a lot of people raising a family on that income.

@MollyMcGuire The problem is that there aren’t that many jobs that pay more than minimum wage and this place where I am has about the lowest rents anywhere, and it’s getting worse. And what kind of life do you expect these people to have when they’re working 2 jobs, 80 hours per week, 7 days a week?
But I suppose that would work for you…

IF you can’t afford to live, how the hell are you supposed to be able to afford to move???

@LadyMarissa in Alberta ,years ago, under the Ralph Klein government they paid your bus fare to leave the province when on welfare.

@SQUEEKY2 Maybe its a math illusion. The same way that 50% of the population has an I.Q. between 91 – and 109. No matter what. The goal posts keep changing.

You have to live in the sticks if you want affordable housing. This means no public transportation and lack of quality medical care and education. How is a move to the sticks going to help someone if they use public transportation to get to work. Boo fucking hoo @Molly, your advice doesn’t work for many.

Am I the only one who still thinks that minimum wage jobs were never intended to be for “earning a living.” They’re for kids working their first job, in school or a small bridge for those who are looking for actual work?

@ARE_you_kidding_me You’re right about minimum wage jobs, problem in this day and age they tend to last a lot longer than just a stepping stone to get into the work force,and some times they are the only positions available in that areas supply of jobs.
But even with that said a minimum wage job,should be able to at least put a crappy roof over your head and food on the table,but they don’t.

You can make several bucks over minimum wage and this still isn’t enough to cover living expenses. We aren’t just speaking about minimum wage jobs. You can have several years experience in a factory and only make $16 an hour or less.

@ARE_you_kidding_me Exactly…..........minimum wage jobs shouldn’t be your life ambition. It’s entry into the work force. People have to take opportunity when it presents itself and it does. Right now it’s all over the place….........more jobs than people wanting them.

And it presents itself because you say it does @MollyMcGuire ??
There are still more minimum wage positions available then ones that pay a living wage.

There is a critical skilled worker shortage where I live right now. All it takes to get those jobs are a basic certificate, associate’s degree or appreticenticeship. These jobs do pay a living wage and some you can earn six figures. They are even offering paid apprenticeships to entice people. Generally people go to a four year and get a degree that does not lead to employment or they just don’t go after basic job skills. It’s not so much an issue with jobs, it a skills gap.

What are these skilled jobs, you say that need filling??
I am noticing lots of job openings up here as well but again those are mostly minimum wage jobs.
One thing that gets shoved down my throat a lot is when there is a shortage of workers to fill even a minimum wage job,the wage for that job will go up to attract workers to it, UH BULL SHIT!!! I have seen the hospitality,mining sector,and a few other sectors,when this happens they reach out and employ foreign nationals to fill these jobs thus keeping the pay rate for these jobs LOW.
So that age ole if there is a shortage of workers for low skilled jobs the rate will go up, hasn’t happened yet, even in the States there is a critical shortage of transport drivers, instead of upping the rate for drivers they try and employ foreign drivers to fill these seats DENY it all you want it is happening!!

Trades such as shift mechanics, electricians and especially specialized technicians, network admins and just about anything that requires working technical know-how but not an engineering, computer science or other fancy degree. Let’s face it factory type work as it once was is gone and it’s not coming back. Low skilled work is not something that will bring home the bacon like it once did because of automation and it probably never will again. I’m talking about medium to highly skilled labor. In this economy without a “trade” even one that is easily learned there is basically nothing for you except the most very basic grunt work that does not pay and probably should not. Was minimum wage ever enough to do what people try to do with it now?

@ARE_you_kidding_me A lot of that grunt work is what keeps the wheels of society moving! We can’t do without it, so somebody has to do it. But we could try taking the wheels off the bus…

There is a reason people don’t pick cotton by hand anymore. Eliminating drudgery and soul crushing grunt work is not a bad thing. The work landscape has changed, it’s never coming back and flipping burgers will never pay more than what the market will bear, which isn’t much. In fact those jobs will probably be gone soon as well, self order kiosks are already in many fast food joints here. The world has always demanded adaptation to change. Just because we have enjoyed a departure from the norm and low hanging fruit cut the mustard for decades does not mean we will ever see that trend again. Modern society and modern economy demand skilled labor. The real failure here is our education system which does the exact opposite in preparing youth for the real world. Just saying…

But you’re talking about a perfect world. Some drudgery simply can not be replaced by a machine. And I’m not talking about fast food restaurants. And there will always be those people who don’t want to pay those skilled labor wages. It’s why Republicans love right-to-work policies!

Great answer @kritiper !^^

@ARE_you_kidding_me if it is cost effective to replace the worker with a machine corporations will do it,regardless of how high or low skilled the human is that it’s replacing.

Of course they will and I don’t have a problem with it. Understand this is going to happen and society must adapt. Freeing people up to use their time doing things other than mindless drudge work is one of the reasons we have such an advanced society. I’m willing to wager we’ll see some sort of universal basic income implemented in the next 50 years or so, it’s hard to think we’ll get by without something like it for long. Until then it’s adapt or starve just like it has been for most of human history. The sun is setting on the period where not having any relevant skills was offset by trading sweat and time. The sooner people realize it the better off they will be.