Poverty Grew in One-Third of Counties Despite Strong National Economy

[Rasulis]

Interesting article from on Pew.

Poverty Grew in One-Third of Counties Despite Strong National Economy

Despite an economic recovery that lifted people out of poverty in most areas of the country, poverty increased in at least one county in every state between 2016 and 2018.

The poverty rate grew in 30% of counties between 2016 and 2018, according to a Stateline analysis of U.S. Census Bureau county estimates released this month. The poverty rate is the percentage of people in households earning less than the poverty threshold, currently $25,750 for a family of four.

While the overall poverty rate dropped between 2016 and 2018, from 13% to 12%, states varied widely. In New Jersey and Rhode Island, the poverty rate grew in only one county, compared with 83 in Texas.

The counties with the biggest jumps in poverty ranged across the political and demographic spectrum: from 97% white and solidly Republican-voting Carter County in Kentucky to black-majority, Democratic Bullock County in Alabama.

Most of the biggest increases were in areas both rural and Southern. Those areas generally had residents who lacked job training and skills and industries that suffered downturns.

For many counties, rising poverty rates underscore the importance of fully counting residents in next year’s census, since a count of low-income residents will help determine funding available to help them.

Alabama, where poverty grew in 27 of 67 counties, named a rural development manager in August to help create jobs in rural areas, a move that Bullock County welcomed, said David Padgett, the county’s economic developer.

Bullock County had the second-biggest increase in poverty in the country, up almost 10 points between 2016 and 2018 to 42.5%.

Most of the biggest increases were in areas both rural and Southern. Those areas generally had residents who lacked job training and skills and industries that suffered downturns.

The county has job opportunities at its airport, poultry plant, hospital and state prison, and a low unemployment rate of about 3%. But that figure doesn’t count the discouraged workers who have given up on finding jobs and remain in poverty, many of whom are too old to look for work, Padgett said.

“We have a lot of disadvantaged people who are not in the workforce. This goes way beyond Bullock County,” Padgett said. “This is about rural areas across Alabama.”

Carter County, Kentucky, also saw one of the largest poverty rate increases, up 8.5 points to 31.1%.

“This is rural America. We’re rich in self-sustaining nature and neighbors helping neighbors but we don’t have resources,” said state Sen. Robin Webb, a Democrat who lives in Carter County. “I’ve got a car full of toys we’re taking to a school where 60 kids weren’t going to have Christmas.”

Like Bullock, Carter has an aging population, and a meat processing plant is its largest employer. It also has an AT&T customer service center, and many residents drive to coal-related jobs in other areas.

But the county has seen a long decline in business related to the coal industry and has been hit by drug addiction as opioids and meth come in on highways from urban areas, Webb said.
Most of the county’s 20,000 registered voters are Democrats but the county has voted Republican for president since 2008, including 73% for Donald Trump in 2016.

“Now they’re closing the coal-fired plants,” Webb said, “and those tradesmen and -women are being thrown out of those highly skilled jobs, and it’s having a terrible impact.”

While 14 of the 20 counties with the biggest poverty increases were Southern, some Native American-majority counties also saw big jumps.

Poverty in Oglala Lakota County in South Dakota grew 13.3 points to 54%. The Bethel Census Area in Alaska, which is treated as a county for census purposes but is unincorporated, had a jump of 7.2 points to 32.7%.

One of the few big poverty-rate increases outside of rural areas was in San Juan County, New Mexico, home to the regional hub of Farmington. Poverty increased 5.7 points between 2016 and 2018 to 23.1% as low natural gas prices led to a loss of jobs in the area, said Larry Hathaway, the county’s community development administrator.

“We had more people moving out than moving in the last couple of years,” Hathaway said. “Natural gas prices are cheap, so production is down.” Workers have been attracted to more lucrative oil-drilling jobs in southeastern New Mexico and West Texas, he added.

In Bullock County, median income after inflation dropped 18% between 2016 and 2018 to $29,267. Padgett said that may reflect a more realistic estimate than in years past, when immigrants working at the poultry plant were afraid to participate in the 2010 census. That may have resulted in an undercount of the low-income population, distorting income statistics, he said.

“We have to do a better job next year,” Padgett said, referring to the 2020 census. An artificially high median income figure in 2010 left the county with less money for things like police cars. The U.S. Department of Agriculture should subsidize those purchases 55%, he said, but instead the county qualifies for only 25% to 35%.

Getting a better census count is a high priority for Bullock County, said Carla Elston, the county extension coordinator for Auburn University and Alabama A&M. The extension is working to get a better count of Haitian and Hispanic workers, and to encourage them to participate in next year’s census so that the low-income population will be more accurately counted for funding purposes and those residents will get the representation they deserve, she said.

“There is still that fear factor,” Elston said. “We want this to be an accurate count.”

The biggest problem is that the places with the jobs are not necessarily the places with the people that need them. There are counties in the US with unemployment below 3% and some even below 2%. Also, the people that need the jobs tend to not have the training necessary to perform the jobs that are available. So far, we have done a very poor job in transitioning those that were left behind.

[PC2]

Interesting article from on Pew.

Poverty Grew in One-Third of Counties Despite Strong National Economy

The biggest problem is that the places with the jobs are not necessarily the places with the people that need them. There are counties in the US with unemployment below 3% and some even below 2%. Also, the people that need the jobs tend to not have the training necessary to perform the jobs that are available. So far, we have done a very poor job in transitioning those that were left behind.

Yeah well that's the definition of not being able to get a job which is that a person hasn't yet gained enough problem solving skills up to the point that someone else with money will pay them to fix their problems. Opportunity is basically unlimited though so there's not much of a solution to this other than the fact that everybody has to be a life long learner and constantly upping their game.

Maybe in the past a person could find a job and then stay at that company for their entire life, but that only applies to society when it isn't in a phase of rapid change and technological innovation. People yearn for the older days but in my view we want a society that is in a constant state of job creation, job destruction, new job creation, and so on.

[Grimbold21]

So what are you gonna do with people that have lost their jobs and/or don't have the required tools to get into other and new jobs?

[PC2]

So what are you gonna do with people that have lost their jobs and/or don't have the required tools to get into other and new jobs?

If a person has a functioning brain they have the required tool for getting a new job. Unless you believe in the whole "humans have a cognitive ceiling" bullshit.

[Rasulis]

Yeah well that's the definition of not being able to get a job which is that a person hasn't yet gained enough problem solving skills up to the point that someone else with money will pay them to fix their problems. Opportunity is basically unlimited though so there's not much of a solution to this other than the fact that everybody has to be a life long learner and constantly upping their game.

Maybe in the past a person could find a job and then stay at that company for their entire life, but that only applies to society when it isn't in a phase of rapid change and technological innovation. People yearn for the older days but in my view we want a society that is in a constant state of job creation, job destruction, new job creation, and so on.

I don’t think it is a fair comparison. Learning is baked in into some professions.

Somebody with a EE/CS major will continue to develop and learn new methods and procedures in his/her profession.

As a Civil/Structural/Geotechnical Engineer, learning is part of the profession. Design methods and hazard evaluation procedures change dramatically every 2 - 3 code iterations.

For some professions, learning is a necessity and not an option.

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If a person has a functioning brain they have the required tool for getting a new job. Unless you believe in the whole "humans have a cognitive ceiling" bullshit.

I don't believe in cognitive ceiling. However, I do believe that learning is a skill that requires constant use to remain sharp.

[Dwarfhamster]

This has been happening since the early 90s. They never got the retraining/upskilling that was talked about during the discussions on NAFTA. And as manufacturing left the country, the hi-tech industry boomed, and automation continues to increase, they're going to find themselves deeper and deeper in the hole. These are the angry people that vote for someone that they see as encapsulating their frustration with the "system," hence their strong support for Trump, despite him not serving their interests, ultimately.

[Grimbold21]

If a person has a functioning brain they have the required tool for getting a new job. Unless you believe in the whole "humans have a cognitive ceiling" bullshit.

My implied point was that retraining isn't the Hail Mary that it's made out to be, particularly in an area where coal or factory jobs dominate the sector

[Howel]

That's not exactly a new phenomenon, nor an isolated case. Despite economic growth, it has a tendency to be quite centralized these days (particularly the really big gains, are often very centralized).

It is unfortunate, and a reality of our current situation that there are parts of our countries that didn't make it in the transitions in our economic growth models.

[Draco-Onis]

My implied point was that retraining isn't the Hail Mary that it's made out to be, particularly in an area where coal or factory jobs dominate the sector

Even in those places job training programs have proven very successful you can redirect those workers into green energy sectors like solar or natural gas though they are failures due to age and unwillingness to learn. The biggest problem though is people hanging onto to thin hope that those jobs are coming back some con man running from president told them he had magic powers and could rewind time.

[Ivanstone]

Opportunity is basically unlimited though so there's not much of a solution to this other than the fact that everybody has to be a life long learner and constantly upping their game.

Just imagine if we all tried really, really hard we all get to be CEO's!

[the game]

Who would've thought not having employable skills would cause a problem for employment.

[kamuimac]

So what are you gonna do with people that have lost their jobs and/or don't have the required tools to get into other and new jobs?

force them to get education

simple - if you want social support you have to learn - preferably send them to typical blue collar schools . if you dont learn no social support for you.

would instantly solve many problems.

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Just imagine if we all tried really, really hard we all get to be CEO's!

technically everybody can be

if they open their own business they are instantly CEOs of their own business

[Zan15]

So what are you gonna do with people that have lost their jobs and/or don't have the required tools to get into other and new jobs?

Take away their food stamps and welfare appears to be the current plan so far on the table.

Oh and saving dying industries instead of trying to retrain these workers and invest in new businesses.

We keep giving corporations more and more breaks but they still refuse to pay for training for workers. They want everyone else to pay. We need a national job training system and make those who profit the most from it pay for it

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Who would've thought not having employable skills would cause a problem for employment.

Most of them did..it's just their job and skill no longer exist in the marketplace. Replaced by new tech, automation or outsourcing

[jeezusisacasual]

Every state should have a way to fund for the educational needs of the state. For instance my dad got his degree in accounting after Vietnam with a combination of the GI Bill and with subsidies from the state of Wyoming. This is the sort of thing that should become common place in the modern world to promote the change required to an ever evolving workplace. Something as small as a sales tax or tax credits could be applied to change the landscape of the failing underclass of America which should promote personal growth in that specific degrees / trades are valued under staid system.

One of the largest problems in America has been the lack of overall community to care and spend for our brothers and sisters, it has largely been fueled by the singular instead. This is a far deeper problem but almost impossible to tackle in a specific post or thread for the very nature of the discussion but in short we should start to care to create a community. I have recently spoken about the need to continue my own educational path forward for my shrinking and increasingly automated career which used to make me feel afraid but today not so much as i understand that another door will open.

Also the trades should be just as applicable as higher education, i mean no disrespect for a tradesman hell my brother installs flooring making a very solid wage at it.

[the game]

Take away their food stamps and welfare appears to be the current plan so far on the table.

Oh and saving dying industries instead of trying to retrain these workers and invest in new businesses.

We keep giving corporations more and more breaks but they still refuse to pay for training for workers. They want everyone else to pay. We need a national job training system and make those who profit the most from it pay for it

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Most of them did..it's just their job and skill no longer exist in the marketplace. Replaced by new tech, automation or outsourcing

Yes which means they now have no employable skills. They need to get some new work training so they can get a new job.

[PC2]

Just imagine if we all tried really, really hard we all get to be CEO's!

That's not far from the truth, there's not much of a limit to what opportunities people can create with enough skills. Poverty is caused by a lack of knowledge and isn't caused by a lack of government programs. If people want the government to solve all these issues then they're going to be waiting around for a very long time.

[Ivanstone]

technically everybody can be

if they open their own business they are instantly CEOs of their own business

I am the CEO of my own small business yet somehow I am unconvinced that would work for everyone. Do you believe that the gig economy ideal of pure self-employment would work for single part of society?

Or is opportunity strictly limited? Mostly people are just doing whatever job that seems to work for them and some jobs just need to be done. You may have to occasionally change careers but to be in a constant state of re-training is completely ludicrous.

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That's not far from the truth, there's not much of a limit to what opportunities people can create with enough skills. Poverty is caused by a lack of knowledge and isn't caused by a lack of government programs. If people want the government to solve all these issues then they're going to be waiting around for a very long time.

Its bullshit. There's a hard limit on what can be done. Some jobs are necessary and those jobs are not leadership ones. Stop confusing what one person can do and what everyone can do. They're not even remotely comparable.

[PC2]

Its bullshit. There's a hard limit on what can be done. Some jobs are necessary and those jobs are not leadership ones. Stop confusing what one person can do and what everyone can do. They're not even remotely comparable.

There's really not much of a limit. Zero sum theories are adopted by people who want to make excuses for why their failures aren't caused by their own shortcomings and lack of problem solving knowledge.

"I can't create economic opportunities for myself because other people are taking those opportunities". This the true bullshit.

[Ivanstone]

There's really not much of a limit. Zero sum theories are adopted by people who want to make excuses for why their failures aren't caused by their own shortcomings and lack of problem solving knowledge.

"I can't create economic opportunities for myself because other people are taking those opportunities". This the true bullshit.

There's a complete limit. In your world who does the Police work then? Within the structure of the police not everyone can be a sergeant, even less a lieutenant, fewer a captain and least of all the commissioner.

But in your fantasy world everyone can be the commissioner if they just work hard at it! Stop spouting fairy tales. One individual can be the commissioner but that's a combination of ambition, work and luck to just get there. Everyone below that person still needs to do their part. Your vanity demands that you think one person can rise to the top but the reality is that society is complex and is made up of huge numbers of people doing small tasks to keep it functioning. Again this isn't a one person problem, its an everyone problem. They're not the same.

[Theodarzna]

Take away their food stamps and welfare appears to be the current plan so far on the table.

Oh and saving dying industries instead of trying to retrain these workers and invest in new businesses.

We keep giving corporations more and more breaks but they still refuse to pay for training for workers. They want everyone else to pay. We need a national job training system and make those who profit the most from it pay for it

First, I mean maybe. Though the current regime of means tested programs sucks.

Second, Retraining is a failure, and there is no place for people.

Third, job training only works if there are enough jobs.