#ounting the Poor: Another Look at the Poverty Profile

Abstract

When the C’ouncil of Economic Advisors used trnnual income of less than $3,000 to define families living in poverty, it noted that this was a crude and approximate measure. Obviously the am.ount of cash inco?ne T*equired to maintain any given level of living will be different for the family of two and the family of eight, for the person living in a large metropolitan area and a person of the same age and sex living on a farm,. An article published in the July 1963 issue of the Bulletin, u Children of the Poor,” suggested one way of deriving rough measure8 of the amounts needed by families of differen.t size. This analysis has now been carried considerably further to define equivalent incomes at a poverty level for a large number of different family types. The Social Security AdminGtration obtained f om the Bureau of the Census special tabulations db m the March 1964 Current Population Survey classifying families and unrelated individuals as above or below these poverty cutoff points. The method used to derive this variable poverty line is described in the following artiole, which also gives a summary picture of the groups who fell below the line on the basis of their 1963 incomes. The total nwmber of poor remains about the same as when the cruder mea.yure of income ia used, but the compo.sition of the group is notabl?y different. This a.rticle deals primarily with fa.milies of two or more persons. A subsequent article will analyze the situation of unrelated individuuls and of aged persons living in families headed by younger persons. The differences between Negro and white fami&s and individuals will also be f xamined in more de tail. The method of measuring equivalent levels of 7iving that is presented here is still relatively crude. The DivzXon of Research and Stat&tics is attempting to develop more refined nwaswres based on the relationship of income and consum,p-