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According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 estimates, the
official poverty rate is 12.3 percent, an estimated 39.7 million
Americans lived in poverty according to the official measure.
Poor are those who can’t afford the basic needs because they
earn less than half of the nation's median income. Fortunately,
we don’t have starvation in America, but we do have an amount
of poverty that leads to malnutrition and diseases. There are
many reasons and causes for poverty in America such as 1)
Lack of opportunity, many businesses ship their factories to
China to save money which affected the economy and less job
opportunity for the workers in the US. 2) Lack of affordable
housing, mortgage or rent takes a huge amount of the family’s
paycheck. According to the National Low-Income Housing
Coalition, “families across the country would need to earn a
‘housing wage’ of $15.37 an hour to afford a two-bedroom
apartment at the average fair market rent”. 3) Substance Abuse,
addiction either alcohol or drugs affects about 20% of the
homeless population. Adductors spend a lot of money on drugs
and alcohol. They also lose the opportunity to find jobs and
high medical expenses for illness. 4) Lack of Education, many
people cannot afford to attend college and the only jobs they
can get are low paying and they must support themselves and
their family. 5) Jobs denied because of race, gender, or some
other form of discrimination. and 6) Undocumented workers,
face limited employment options and their families are thus
more likely to be poor. Even though people work multiple jobs,
they remain stuck in poverty. This is caused by lack of power to
change the systems, and policies that keep creating poverty.
Steps that can be taken to reduce the poverty rate in the U.S.;
provide jobs opportunities for all occupations, invest money in
education, raise the minimum wage, strengthening existing
programs like unemployment insurance, food stamps, and cash

2. assistance, challenge segregation and poverty, immigration
reform, and end the poverty tax.
Haveman, Robert. “Causes of Poverty”. Institute for Research
on Poverty.
University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2013.
www.irp.wisc.edu/newsevents/workshops/teachingpoverty101/p
articipants/Presentations/Haveman-CausesofPoverty1.pdf (Links
to an external site.)Links to an external site.
“Causes of Poverty in America.”
pursueGOD
.
www.pursuegod.org/causes-of-poverty-in-america/ (Links to an
external site.)Links to an external site.
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There are many reasons why poverty exists for example on an
individual basic the lack of education, skill and their
experiences, mental and physical handicaps, discrimination
against sex and race, overpopulation, epidemic diseases such as
AIDS and malaria, high divorce rates and environmental
problems. In the United Stated the leading cause of poverty is
unemployment. 71% of families in 1999 and 2005 were below
the poverty line because they didn't have any working family
members. But families that were below the poverty line even if
they had one family member still working there pay was low
and they weren't given sufficient benefits which is a leading
cause. When the social security program came out in California
the poverty in elderly people was reduced. As of 2010 9% of the

3. united States poverty rate is among seniors. Back in 1960 the
poverty rate for the elderly was at a high of 35%. So we are
making strides in improving that. They also say that extreme
poverty might have something to do with lifespan. There is also
to believe there is at least two approaches to explain poverty
which are case and generic theories. "The case approach says
that individual theories (or cases) of poverty make up the
aggregate (or total) reasons for societal poverty. The generic
theory of poverty, however, maintains that systemwide societal
problems, such as low national income, cause individual cases
of poverty." The case theory believes in addressing poverty one
individual at a time for example, if the issue is lack of
education or skill then the solution would be to better educate
individuals in poverty. The Generic theory believes in
addressing poverty by looking at the whole issue. The generic
theory, however, wants to focus on the bigger issue by
improving the quantity and quality of jobs. For the scholars that
prefer the generic approach they are saying that there isn't
enough jobs opportunities for a livable wage and the fact that a
country has a low national income. So in summary the main
cause of poverty in the United States is that of unemployment
and there is not a lot of jobs that offer livable wages and
benefits. To help reduce the poverty rate people would have to
get a high education and develop more skills in order to get a
job that will offer livable wages and benefits.
Refences:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_poverty
https://www.reference.com/world-view/main-causes-poverty-
648a8f01adc47b4e#