The authors construct a broader definition of poverty and factor in programs like Social Security, food stamps, and unemployment insurance. Based on that data, the fraction of Americans with incomes below the poverty line has dropped from 26 percent in 1967 to 16 percent today.
Author: WHES
Invisible child: Dasani’s homeless life
Slipping out from her covers, the oldest girl sits at the window. On mornings like this, she can see all the way across Brooklyn to the Empire State Building, the first New York skyscraper to reach 100 floors. Her gaze always stops at that iconic temple of stone, its tip pointed celestially, its facade lit with promise.
Study: US poverty rate decreased over past half-century thanks to safety-net programs
New research has found that with the help of food stamps and unemployment insurance, the percentage of Americans who are poor has decreased since the 1960s. Above is a scene from Woonsocket, R.I., where a third of the residents receive nutritional assistance.
South Africa still struggling to fulfill Mandela’s hopes and dreams
When Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, he brought a vision of forgiveness and reconciliation to rebuild a nation marred by the legacy of white rule. But the South Africa he leaves behind is still a work in progress, far from living up to the promises ushered in by his freedom and the ideals of justice and equality that he espoused.
The speech at the Rivonia Trial that changed history
For more than four hours he had stood in the dock in a packed, stately, wood-paneled courtroom in Pretoria, the heart of the white apartheid government, and had spoken without pause or interruption about his country and his politics and the reasons he had chosen to become an enemy of the state. And now came the moment of truth for Nelson Mandela.
Obama: Income inequality a defining challenge
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Push for minimum wage hike led by localities, Democrats
States and municipalities across the country are leading a localized push to raise the minimum wage, driven largely by Democrats, who see an opening to appeal to working-class Americans at a time of growing inequity.
Life on $7.25 an hour: Older workers are increasingly entering fast-food industry
On a recent Friday evening, Eduardo Shoy left work at 6 p.m. Mr. Shoy, a deliveryman for KFC and Pizza Hut, was coming off an eight-hour shift of driving three-cheese pies and crispy chicken fingers, in an automotive blur, to private homes and businesses in central Queens.
Pope Francis denounces ‘trickle-down’ economic theories in critique of inequality
Pope Francis on Tuesday sharply criticized growing economic inequality and unfettered markets in a wide-ranging and decidedly populist teaching that revealed how he plans to reshape the Catholic Church.
Among American workers, poll finds unprecedented anxiety about jobs, economy
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