What are the facts about poverty in Massachusetts in the early 1990s? The official poverty line — actually, because the official definition of poverty varies by family size, one should more accurately speak of poverty lines — is adjusted each year based on inflation. As discussed in Chapter V, except for inflation adjustments the official poverty line has changed little over three decades, raising a number of concerns as to the validity of the measure. Still, it remains the official standard of poverty and the best measure currently available. The estimated 1997 poverty thresholds for a family of three is $12,886 and for a family of four is $16,501.4
More than one of every ten residents of the Commonwealth were poor during the period studied — 10.4 percent, to be precise. This figure hides significant differences in the prevalence of poverty among racial groups. Some of the demographic characteristics of poor people include the following:5
As shown in Figure 1, most poor people — nearly two-thirds, in fact — are non-Hispanic whites. Whites make up 65.3 percent of all poor people, while Hispanics make up 18.1 percent and blacks make up 13.6 percent. The remaining three percent of poor people are Asians, American Indians, and other races.6
Figure 1
Still, the poverty rates for minorities are dramatically higher than for whites. Figure 2 shows that while only 7.6 percent of whites in Massachusetts have incomes below the poverty line, 30.6 percent of blacks are poor and 47.9 percent of Hispanics are poor. Thus, blacks are four times more likely than whites to be poor, and Hispanics are six times more likely.
Figure 2
A particularly troubling aspect of poverty in Massachusetts is the frequency of poverty among children. Research shows that poor children may face permanent damage from early poverty: they evidence diminished intellectual capacity even when other variables such as the age, marital status, and education of their parents are factored in. In spite of this evidence that shows long-term consequences from childhood poverty, children are more likely to be poor than others in Massachusetts.7 (See Box below for a profile of one family where poverty may be having a serious effect on one very young child.)
As shown in Figure 3, the poverty rate for children in Massachusetts was 16.2 percent. This translated into about 229,000 poor children in the early 1990s.
Among adults in Massachusetts, the poverty rate in the early 1990s was about 8.6 percent. Thus the child poverty rate was nearly double the rate for adults.
Combined, the poverty rate for all people in Massachusetts in the early 1990s was 10.4 percent.
Figure 3
PROFILE:Pedro and Maritza Sanchez Pedro and Maritza Sanchez, along with their nine month old daughter, arrived in Framingham from their native Puerto Rico in October 1996. Pedro is 24 years old, and Maritza is 23. They left Puerto Rico because Maritza was being stalked by her ex-husband, and they feared for her life. Pedro was working as a supervisor in the state penitentiary earning $1100 per month, but felt that he could not continue working there and help look out for Maritza’s safety. Pedro and Maritza chose Framingham because they knew that a number of Puerto Ricans lived there, and neither speaks English. With little money, they quickly contacted the Department of Transitional Assistance. Because they needed temporary shelter they were sent to Holyoke, nearly 60 miles from Framingham. They plan to move back to Framingham once they leave the shelter system. Pedro intends to learn English, and hopes to pursue his career in the corrections field in Massachusetts. |
There were also significant differences in poverty rates among different types of households in Massachusetts. Again, families with children present are more likely to be poor than other households.
For non-elderly households without children, the poverty rate is 11.6 percent.
For households where the head of household is over 65 (and where no children are present), the poverty rate is 12.6 percent.
For families with children present, the poverty rate is 14.0 percent.
For single-parent families, the poverty rate is far higher than for two-parent families. This should not be surprising, since the single parent must fill the role of both breadwinner and caretaker, roles that too often are in conflict. It may often be the case that single parents are forced to take relatively lower-paid jobs that offer more structured work hours, since they often do not have the flexibility to work extra hours. As shown in Figure 4, the difference in poverty rates between male-headed single parent families and female-headed single parent families is striking, however, even though both perform the same breadwinner and caretaker roles.
For married couples with children, the poverty rate is just 4.3 percent.
For the fairly small number of male-headed single parent families (just 13 percent of the number of female-headed single parent families), the poverty rate is three times higher than for married couples, or 13.0 percent.
For single mothers, the poverty rate is fully 41.9 percent, nearly 10 times the rate for married couples and over three times the rate for male-headed single parents.
Single-parent families headed by women account for 22.7 percent of families with children and 72.7 percent of poor families.
Figure 4
Poverty Among Families with Children
As a result of the higher poverty rate among families with children, children are more likely to be poor than other age groups, and children from minority families are particularly likely to be poor.
Children under the age of 18 make up 37.3 percent of poor people.
Of these poor children, slightly over half — 53.8 percent — are white. Blacks make up 18.9 percent of poor children, and Hispanics consist of another 25.1 percent.
The differences in poverty rates among children of different races are vast. As seen in Figure 5, while 10.3 percent of white children are poor, 45.6 percent of black children are poor and 60.8 percent of Hispanic children are poor. Again, black children are four times more likely to be poor than white children and Hispanic children are nearly six times as likely
Children under the age of six have even higher poverty rates. Nearly one in five children under the age of six — 18 percent, or 94,000 Massachusetts kids — live below the poverty line.
Figure 5
Educational Attainment of Poor People
Poor people generally have received less formal education than the non-poor; nearly two-thirds of poor household heads have received at best a high school diploma. It is not the case, however, that low-income people are entirely uneducated; one-third have some post-high school education and the household head in nearly one poor family in six has at least a bachelor's degree (see Box below). Figure 6 compares the educational levels of the poor to the population at large.
Among the population at large, 10.9 percent have not received a high school diploma or equivalency certificate; 29.6 percent have no more than a high school diploma or GED; 23.5 percent have some education beyond high school, but less than a college degree; and 36.1 percent have at least a four-year college degree.
Among the poor, 32.1 percent have not received a high school diploma or equivalency certificate; another 32.1 percent have no more than a high school diploma or GED; 20.3 percent have some education beyond high school, but less than a college degree; and 15.6 percent have at least a four-year college degree.
Figure 6
Communities in Which Poor People Live
Not surprisingly, poor people in Massachusetts reside disproportionately in cities. However, while the share of poor people who live in cities is greater than among the population at large, most poor families live outside cities, either in suburbs or outside metropolitan areas altogether. Figure 7 compares the geographic dispersion of the poor to the population at large.
Among the population as a whole, half of all citizens — 50.6 percent — live in the suburbs, while just under one-quarter live in cities and just over one-quarter live in non-metropolitan areas.
Among the poor, 36.6 percent live in the suburbs, another 36.6 percent live in cities, and 26.8 percent live in non-metropolitan areas. Thus while a greater share of the poor than the non-poor live in cities, fully 63.4 percent, or nearly two out of three, live outside the central cities.
PROFILE:Debbie O'Connor Debbie O’Connor is a 27 year old single mother of three children living in Lowell. The children, a girl age 10 and two boys ages six and three; only one of the boys has any continuing contact with his father. After several years on AFDC, Debbie has been working full-time and attending school over the past three years. Her efforts to make use of transitional assistance such as food stamps and medical coverage when she began work were frustrated by the unwillingness of the Department of Transitional Assistance office to schedule appointments around her new work schedule. Debbie has earned $288 per week over the past several months as a nursing assistant. She has nearly completed an associates degree, and hopes to eventually get certified as a special needs teacher. She receives subsidized child care, including before and after school care for her school-aged children in order to meet her work and school schedule. Debbie utilizes food assistance from the food pantry at her church. Although she has no medical insurance for herself, her children are covered under Mass. Health. Debbie use emergency room services for herself when she needs medical care, including surgery that was necessary. |
Figure 7
4. These figures reflect the official 1995 Census Bureau poverty thresholds adjusted to reflect inflation.
5. Unless otherwise indicated, all poverty data in this report are from a special tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau's March Current Population Survey, a national survey of over 50,000 households that includes questions on income and employment. Data from Massachusetts respondents from 1993 to 1995, reflecting their economic status from 1992 to 1994, are pooled to ensure adequate sample sizes; these remain the most current years for which detailed data are available. It should be noted that preliminary data on poverty in 1995 released in 1996 suggest a decline in poverty nationally, the only statistically significant findings to show a reduction in poverty were in the Midwest. Detailed state-by-state findings from the 1996 survey are not yet available for analysis.
6. "Hispanic," of course, is an ethnic category, not a race; Hispanics can be of any race. Throughout this report, families that identify themselves to the Census Bureau as Hispanic are not also included in the categories of black or white. For simplicity sake, the technically accurate phrases "non-Hispanic white" and "non-Hispanic black" has usually been shortened to simply "white" and "black" respectively.
7. National data also suggest that although the poverty rate for children is growing, the poverty rate for the elderly, in particular, has dropped dramatically in the last quarter century.