Grande FinaleLecture 25

Grande FinaleLecture 25

Today’s Reading:Schiller Ch. 16-Directions

and Prospects

Today’s Reading:Schiller Ch. 16-Directions

and Prospects

Who is Left Behind?Persons in Poverty, 2003

U.S. Census Bureau

Who is Left Behind?Persons in Poverty, 2003

• By Number– Females, Children, Southerners, and

Native-born Americans

• By Poverty Rate– Non-citizens, Children, Young Adults (<25

yrs), females

• By Race– Blacks and Hispanics

Who is Left Behind?Persons in Poverty, 2003

Persons

Number

(millions)

Poverty Rate

(%)

Black children 3.9 34.1

Hispanic Kids

(any race)4.1 29.7

Black elderly

75 years +0.4 27.6

Non citizen

Hispanics3.2 26.1

Who is Left Behind?Families in Poverty, 2003

U.S. Census Bureau

Who is Left Behind?Families in Poverty, 2003

• By Number– Families with heads 25 to 34 yrs, Families living in

the South, Families headed by Married Couples or Single Females, Families whose heads had no college

• By Poverty Rate– Families with heads 15 to 24 yrs, Families headed

by single females, Families with heads who are high school dropouts

• By Race– Blacks and Hispanics

Who is Left Behind?Families in Poverty, 2003

Characteristic of Family Head

Number

(millions)

Poverty Rate

(%)

Black, 15 to 24 0.36 52.3

Black or Hispanic Single Female

2.26 37.0

Black Dropout 0.53 35.3

Hispanic,

15 to 240.25 31.9

Who is lacking Health Insurance?

• By Number– People living in families, Whites, persons age 25

to 64, Citizens, Southerners, Persons with incomes less than $50,000, and persons who did work during the year

• By Uninsured Rate– Persons living in unrelated subfamilies, Hispanics,

persons 18 to 24 yrs, Non-citizens, Southerners, persons with less than $25,000, persons who worked only part-time or not at all.

Those without Health Insurance

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

What can we do to help those left behind?Schiller’s Recommendations

• Seek full employment--Expand the number and decent jobs and their availability by:– selecting that mix of public actions that maximizes

impact on the unemployed and poor, while minimizing dislocations, such as inflation, elsewhere; and

– incorporating clear supply-side incentives for employment and training of the poor (especially the EITC).

Schiller’s Recommendations, cont.

• Equalize educational opportunities by adding additional resources, not reallocating existing educational resources.

• Expose those with low skills to real-world job situations as soon as possible.

• Assume responsibility for those who are temporarily or permanently unable to participate in the labor market, providing adequate income support.

Schiller’s Recommendations, cont.

• Enforce equal opportunity laws and compensate for the heritage of previous discrimination by providing compensatory education and training, and preferential opportunities.

• Educate the public to the realities of poverty and discrimination and reflect these realities in public policy.

Schiller’s Recommendations, cont.

• Do you that Schiller’s prescription would lead to significant reductions in poverty? If not, why not?

• What else might we do?– Welfare reform in Britain?– Programs for low-income men?

Welfare reform in Britain:Key Themes

• "rights and responsibilities”– single parents, the disabled, and older workers -

were to be encouraged into work and retrain rather than remain on the dole (welfare-to-work)

• Tackle "social exclusion”– special cabinet unit was set up to develop

initiatives for the homeless, young single mothers, and older workers who lacked not just income but access to social institutions.

Welfare reform in Britain, cont.

• "redistribution by stealth”– sharply increasing benefits to poor families

in work paid through a system of tax credits.

Source: Steve Schifferes, “The future of welfare reform,” BBC News, http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4720727.stm

Welfare reform in Britain, cont.Ten Highlights

Source: Labour’s Welfare Reform: Progress to Date, http://www.jrf.org.uk/KNOWLEDGE/FINDINGS/foundations/n44.asp

Welfare reform in Britain, cont.Ten Highlights

Welfare reform in Britain, cont.Ten Highlights

Welfare reform in Britain, cont.Ten Highlights

Programs Aimed at Low-Income Men

• Guiding Principles (from Mead)– Combine help and hassle– Honor men with potential while also challenging

them– Enhance demands but convey respect– Be supportive and directive

Source: Lawrence M. Mead, “Raising Work Levels--Especially among Men, Unpublished manuscript.

Programs Aimed at Low-Income Men, cont.

• EITC– Raise benefits but attach an hours

threshold to the benefits

• Jobs-Plus– Rents increases were reduces for men in

public housing projects if they earned more (few such men)

Programs Aimed at Low-Income Men, cont.

• Job Corps– Placed disadvantaged youth in a prep-school

setting, away from home, under close supervision

• National Guard Youth Challenge Corps– 5 months on military base followed by mentoring

by Guard members

• Center for Employment Training– Employers commit to hiring participants once they

are trained

Programs Aimed at Low-Income Men

• Parents’ Fair Share– Low-income fathers who paid their child support

were offered reduce support orders and employment and other services. Violators were jailed

• Center for Employment Opportunities– Parolees receive several day of job instruction and

are assigned to local work sites for up to 75 days– Job developers help find regular jobs