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University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

Supplemental Poverty Measure

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  • Report: Kansas child poverty would double without government aid, By Jonathan Shorman, February 25, 2015, Topeka Capital-Journal: “Twice as many Kansas children would be in poverty without government aid, a new report shows.  According to just-released data from Kids Count, a data project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, government programs have kept about 103,000 children out of poverty in the past few years. Kansas’ child poverty rate, which stands at 15 percent under the Kids Count measure, would rise to 30 percent without assistance…”
  • Government programs cut state’s child poverty in half, report says, By Katie Johnson, February 25, 2015, Boston Globe: “More than 220,000 children in Massachusetts were kept out of poverty with the help of government assistance — reducing the child poverty rate by half, according to a report to be released Wednesday.  Nationwide, state and federal programs such as tax credits, nutrition and energy assistance, and housing subsidies cut the child poverty rate from 33 to 18 percent, keeping more than 11 million children out of poverty, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a Baltimore philanthropy that helps children at risk of poor educational, economic, social, and health outcomes…”
  • Decades-old poverty measurements inaccurate, says report by Annie E. Casey Foundation, By Mike Averill, February 25, 2015, Tulsa World: “Decades-old poverty measurements fail to show the effect of programs designed to combat childhood poverty, according to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.  ‘Measuring Access to Opportunity in the United States,’ released Wednesday by the foundation, points to the Supplement Poverty Measure as a better index for measuring poverty because, unlike the official federal measurement created in the 1960s, this method captures the effect of safety-net programs and tax policies on families.  When using the U.S. Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, the rate of children in poverty in Oklahoma drops from 30 percent to 14 percent, according to the report…”