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Poverty In The United States

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There are many factors which contribute to poverty in the United States. The first of the governing factors of poverty is economic downturn. According to Kneebone (2010) and Desilver (2014), both the Great Depression and Recession led to increasing levels of poverty due to the lack of employment. Essentially, if companies are not making revenue, eventually they must begin laying off workers to compensate for losses. In addition, collapse of family structures of contributed to poverty. Rushefsky (2014) reports single-parent families, specifically those with female head of households tend to be in poverty due to low wages and or lack of job opportunities, requiring the dependence of welfare programs. Fundamentally, it becomes more difficult for families …show more content…

Therefore, the lack of higher education prevents workers from obtaining the necessary skills to be marketable to the job market. Beyond the major contributors mentioned above, the factors of discrimination and a culture of poverty aid in contributing to poverty. To address the second question, I think existing welfare policies are and are not effective in combating poverty. Yes, I believe policies have the potential to influence productivity to leverage a robust and marketable workforce, however, the results show very little in fluctuation to poverty levels. Therefore, we must examine the various welfare reforms through the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations and how they aided in the prevention, education, and access to social services. First starting with the Clinton administration, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) was signed into law. Essentially, this law instituted the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), which put time limits on assistance and required individuals to be engage in training or education to in the future be able to be marketable to the job market (Rushefsky, 2014). Basically,

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