Giving Compass' Take:

· Angela Rachidi analyzes the connection between poverty and employment and explains why steady employment rarely leaves individuals living in poverty.

· How does consistent employment lift people out of poverty? 

· Do work requirements help life people out of poverty?

It may seem simple, but the role employment plays in explaining poverty in America is frequently misunderstood, especially when it comes to understanding why people might be poor for many years. It is generally accepted that having a job is a good way to avoid poverty, but policy debates too often focus on the “working poor,” meaning those who maintain consistent employment but are still in poverty. As it turns out, being stuck in poverty while maintaining steady employment is extremely rare.

The general public seems to make the same mistake. In a 2016 public poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times and the American Enterprise Institute, 60% of respondents believed that most poor people have been that way for a long time, and the majority agreed with the claim that most people in poverty hold steady jobs. Neither of these is true.

The truth is that being poor year after year is uncommon in America, and a steady job almost always lifts households out of poverty. Persistent, or long-term poverty, is nearly nonexistent when someone in the household works steadily. This suggests that focusing exclusively on the “working poor” as many politicians do, is misguided. Instead, policies aimed at getting more people to work consistently will better reduce poverty than perhaps anything else.

Read the full article about poverty and employment by Angela Rachidi at AEI.