9to5 Comments to President Obama

Developing a Supplemental Poverty Measure

By Linda Meric, Executive Director

9to5, National Association of Working Women

On behalf of the Board of Directors, members and constituents of 9to5, National Association of Working Women, thank you for the opportunity to provide input on the proposal to develop a "supplemental" poverty measure.

9to5 is a national membership-led organization of low- and no-wage women, women working in traditionally female occupations, and those who've experienced any form of discrimination. Now in our fourth decade, 9to5's mission is to strengthen women's ability to win economic justice by involving low- and no-wage women in improving workplace and public policies by which they’re directly affected.

One of 9to5’s key issue areas is strengthening the safety net for low-income families and supporting policies that help women and their families move toward economic self-sufficiency. Our members have personal experience living with inadequate income, in poverty, without sufficient economic resources, on or over the edge of a financial cliff – however you want to describe the reality faced by many of not being able to make ends meet, much less move toward long-term economic security.

Lennise lives in Milwaukee. She says:  I am a single mother of 8 children with 4 still living at home. My dream is to leave welfare permanently but the fact is that I do still need it to help supplement my income and care for my family. I work two part-time jobs to make ends meet and because they are part-time, I don't receive any benefits and that's why I'm still in the welfare system. I want to help make a difference for others like me who are probably worse off than me. So I speak out and attend meetings. Fact is, there must be a way for families like mine to move toward economic self-sufficiency.

Patricia lives in Denver. She says:  I have struggled all my life. I went from migrant work to the cannery and back again. I know that poverty will not be reduced overnight. It will only be reduced if we are strategic and think about poverty reduction in holistic ways that encompass food, housing, health, utilities, employment, child care, education, disabilities, and domestic violence. But first, people must have a chance. No American should be expected to live on nothing.

Through our work, 9to5 has recognized that the existing federal poverty measure is much too low and is inadequate for measuring poverty or family economic well-being, a recognition that has been well-documented by decades of research. 9to5 has participated in efforts at the federal level and in the states to promote discussion and adoption of alternative or supplemental measures of poverty and economic well-being.

We believe that any new supplemental poverty measure should:

• Be substantially higher than current thresholds, and stop defining poverty down in a way that moves it further and further away from mainstream living standards, as well as from majority public opinion of the minimum amount needed to get by at a basic but adequate level;
• Take into account that basic economic needs and income adequacy vary by family size and circumstance, age of children, employment status of adults, geography and other factors, without lowering any thresholds;
• Take into account that basic economic needs include numerous factors, including food, housing, child care, transportation, health care including adequate health insurance, work- and education-related expenses, basic savings for emergencies and retirement, and other potential factors.

Development of a new supplemental poverty measure provides an opportunity to make some important improvements in the way we measure poverty and family economic well-being. It is critical that we utilize all we have learned in the past four decades, so that we don’t develop another too-low measure that doesn’t reflect the reality of low-income families’ lives.