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Energy poverty in America: a never-ending emergency
By Mark Wolfe On March 25, 2023 When bills are tight, families live in fear because they have to decide between paying rent on time, buying food, or paying their home energy bill. Low-income families across the country struggle to make these decisions every day. But this year, high home energy costs are making it…
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Biden revives hopes for this poverty-fighting tax break
By Gabriella Cruz-Martinez On March 18, 2023 Bringing back the enhanced Child Tax Credit was included in the president’s budget this month. The last year has been a difficult one financially for 44-year-old Rocky Harper. Inflation, especially, has eaten into his paychecks that support his family of four. “I had to switch careers last year…
Read More‘Poverty, By America’ shows how the rest of us benefit by keeping others poor
By Jennifer Ludden On March 17, 2023 After Matthew Desmond won the Pulitzer for Evicted, about families struggling to stay housed, the Princeton sociologist realized he still didn’t understand why the U.S. has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. His new book Poverty, By America, provides a provocative and compelling answer: It’s because the rest of us benefit from…
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Both parties agreed to protect anti-poverty programs — time to support ‘Baby Bonds’
By Gary Cunningham On March 16, 2023 As officials in Washington gear up for partisan warfare over President Biden’s recent budget proposal, a remarkable bipartisan agreement has persisted. Both sides are pledging to protect two of the nation’s most critical anti-poverty programs, Social Security and Medicare, acknowledging that these programs, despite some racially discriminatory origins, have been essential to protecting…
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Why poverty rates are likely to rise this year
By Emily Peck On February 28, 2023 One of the last remaining major COVID relief programs — the expansion of SNAP benefits, aka food stamps — ends this month, pushing about 32 million Americans off a “hunger cliff.” Why it matters: Since 2020, massive expansions of funding for programs that serve low-income Americans have meaningfully lowered poverty…
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Wages Are Rising for Low-Skill Workers, Driving Down Poverty and Inequality
By Elizabeth Nolan Brown On March 10, 2023 Income inequality and poverty are falling, thanks to rising wages for workers in low-skill jobs. A lot of low-wage work is, in fact, becoming middle-wage work. The shift stems—at least in part—from low unemployment, which means companies of all sorts must compete harder for workers. And they’re…
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‘Devastating’: One in four EU children at risk of poverty, says NGO
By EuroNews On March 6, 2023 The number of children driven to the brink of poverty in the European Union grew by 200,000 in 2021 to reach 19.6 million, according to Save the Children. A report by the NGO released on Tuesday states that one in four children in the bloc was on the brink…
Read MorePandemic-era SNAP benefits end for millions of Americans as costs rise
By Nancy Chen, Kerry Breen On March 1, 2023 As pandemic-era food benefits come to an end and food costs continue to rise, many are wondering how they’ll be able to afford groceries. Wednesday marks the end of extra food benefits for more than 30 million people in the United States. Low-income families in 32 states who…
Read MoreChronic Pain Among Adults — United States, 2019–2021
By Rikard SM, Strahan AE, Schmit KM, Guy GP Jr.. On April 14, 2023 Summary What is already known about this topic? An estimated 50 million adults in the United States experienced chronic pain (i.e., pain lasting ≥3 months) in 2016, resulting in substantial health care costs and lost productivity. What is added by this…
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