Why? Because seniors, more than any other demographic
group, have a working safety net in the form of Social
Security, plus Medicare which was added in the 1960s. In
2009, Social Security alone saved over 14 million
Americans from falling into poverty.
Workers didn’t fare so well. More than 3 million
Americans were kept out of poverty by unemployment
insurance alone, but millions of other workers are
struggling to survive job loss without government help
and have little prospect of finding a job in the current
economy.
The new poverty also highlights the continuing plight
of families with children, especially single-parent
families where there is rarely a second income to fall
back on when one parent loses a job.
The most vulnerable families are those headed by
single mothers, and among them the hardest hit are those
headed by single women of color.
Almost two out of five single mothers are poor, and
this isn’t for lack of trying: Even now, two-thirds are
employed. But in addition to the chronic problems of low
wages and unstable and episodic employment, many single
mothers have seen their work hours cut in the recession.
Welfare (now called TANF, Temporary Assistance to
Needy Families) doesn’t begin to meet the needs of
vulnerable families. Even though there are six people
for every job opening in this recession, TANF ironically
still insists you have to find a job to get benefits.
And welfare often doesn’t last as long as its
beneficiaries may need it. Right now, TANF is cutting or
eliminating benefits for 85,000 families per month, even
as welfare offices are swamped with destitute families
who have exhausted all other options.
With welfare budgets frozen at pre-recession need
levels, officials must choose between spending money on
child care for still working mothers and helping
families with no income at all.
There are a few bright lights in this dark picture:
The TANF emergency fund has created 250,000 subsidized
jobs, mostly in the private sector, making the
difference for many small enterprises as well as the
jobholders and their families. Extended unemployment
benefits have sustained the unemployed and their
communities. The Recovery Act has saved or created
millions of jobs.
Yet Congress has turned a blind eye to what clearly
works and is clearly needed. Some especially cynical and
callous lawmakers are even ignoring worries about
deficits and supporting tax breaks for the rich.
As we have seen with Social Security, and to a lesser
extent the extension of unemployment benefits, food
stamps, and housing programs, we can reduce poverty.
We know what to do. We just have to have the
determination to do it.
Barbara Ehrenreich is the author of “Nickel and
Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America” and a board
member of the Institute for Policy Studies. Diana Pearce
is senior lecturer and director of the Center for
Women’s Welfare at the University of Washington School
of Social Work.