The working poor: the largest growing group of people in America today

by Dr. Salima Hunafa

There are a group of people growing in numbers in America that are being referred to as the “working poor” because they do work but live either below or right on the poverty line. Many times they do not know where the next meal is coming from; they cannot pay their bills at times and need to ask for assistance from government agencies, social service agencies or religious groups.

In the year 2012, the official poverty rate was 15.0%. There were 46.5 million people living in poverty. Between 2011 and 2012, the number of people in poverty did increase for people aged 65 and older, people living in the South and people living outside metropolitan areas. Some studies show that for those who are 55 or older, the average duration of unemployment  is now up to 53.6 weeks compared with 39.4 weeks for workers younger than 55. If some of these people do work, they usually earn minimum wage which for Georgians if $7.25 per hour. They are “the working poor”. Can you imagine living on $7.25 per hour in 2014?