Ashley Killingsworth
October 12, 2010
English 102 – Causal Analysis
Professor Jun Zhao
The poverty rate in the United States is increasing at a rapid rate. The poverty rate has
increased throughout the years but never quite as rapidly as it has lately. There are many factors
that can be blamed for increasing the poverty rate. One factor is the recession. However, there
are two other factors that have helped contribute to the high poverty rate. One of these factors is
Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters. Hurricane Katrina and other natural disaster leave
millions of people without homes as well as jobs. Another factor is immigration. Immigration is
becoming a huge problem here in the United States.
So why has it been so difficult for the United States to recover following the Hurricane
Katrina disaster? One factor that can greatly affect the poverty rate is a natural disaster. The
United States was struck by a natural disaster in August of 2005. Hurricane Katrina struck the
United States twice with-in four day span. Hurricane Katrina struck Florida as a category one
storm on Thursday, August 25th. Then, on Monday, August 29th, Hurricane Katrina made
landfall as a category three storm near New Orleans, Louisiana and completely devastated the
area. Even before Hurricane Katrina struck, the southeastern United States was already known
for their health issues and high poverty rates. In fact, many say that Hurricane Katrina only
exacerbated these problems (Kalb).
Before Hurricane Katrina made land fall in Louisiana, many people were already
suffering from chronic disease and illnesses. The New Orleans area had a much higher than
average poverty rate and a higher than average jobless rate before Hurricane Katrina and
following the storm, these rates only skyrocketed (Kalb).
One major problem that the residents of New Orleans had to deal with following the
Hurricane Katrina disaster was the loss of their homes. Many people were living in public
housing because they had already lost their job. Immediately following the Hurricane Katrina
disaster, 70,000 units of public housing were torn down due to water damage. For many of the
residents of New Orleans, this meant that they lost everything they had. Residents who had
already lost their jobs now lost all that they had left. The government tried to help the housing
issue by handing out housing vouchers. The only problem with this was there was a five year
waiting list. This only increased the problems in the area (Alter, 5). Many people were forced to
leave the area and those who were left fell far below the poverty rate. New Orleans new higher
poverty rate caused the United States poverty rate to increase dramatically. However, Hurricane
Katrina alone did not cause the United States poverty rate to skyrocket.
Another cause of the increased poverty rate in the United States is immigration.
Immigration is becoming a major issue in the United States today. More and more illegal
immigrants are crossing the United States border and are taking jobs from Americans. Many
Americans are losing their jobs to immigrants because they are a much cheaper source of labor
(Kirschten). Many American companies today are concerned with making a profit and therefore
are turning to immigrants for labor because they will work for much lower wages than
Americans. The practice of American companies hiring immigrant workers is a practice that has
become increasingly popular over the last few years. Also, many companies have been bought by
foreign companies and many Americans jobs have been moved overseas. As a result, Americans
have lost their job and their American dream to immigrants who have come to the United States
in search of the American dream.
Another reason why the immigration rate is affecting the United States poverty rate is
because many immigrants come to the United States with little money and are very uneducated.
Many immigrants come to the United States in search of the American dream, to become
wealthy and live a good life. However, this is difficult to do when they are uneducated.
Immigrants are often offered jobs that involve heavy labor and don’t require a lot of skills. Even
though many jobs are considered dangerous, immigrants don’t earn much money because
companies can hire them and aren’t forced to pay them the current minimum wage because they
aren’t legal citizens, therefore the law doesn’t apply to them (Kirschten). These people are
taking jobs away from Americans which causes the poverty rate to skyrocket because more and
more Americans are losing their jobs and the immigrants replacing them aren’t earning a lot of
money so therefore both groups are below the poverty rate.
Immigrants also cause the poverty rate to increase because of where they decide to settle once
arriving in the United States. Many immigrants come to the United States in groups. Therefore,
many of them settle in the same area once arriving in the United States. Most of them are poor
and uneducated and this causes problems for the area. This causes problems with the poverty rate
because with so many poor uneducated people living in one area that area’s poverty rate
increases dramatically and that causes the United States poverty rate as a whole to increase.
According to Jargowsky’s article, Immigrants and Neighbourhoods of Concentrated
Poverty: Assimilation of Stagnation? foreign-born immigrants are 4.1% more likely to be poor
based on the federal poverty guidelines. With more and more immigrants coming to the United
States in search of the American dream, they are causing the United States poverty rate to
increase dramatically. Also, 18% of foreign-born immigrants are considered poor based on their
family income due to the federal poverty guidelines. It is a known fact that immigrants earn far
less than American citizens even if they are working the same basic entry level job. Immigrants
come to the United States in search of the American dream and are taking away many of the
American citizens jobs as a result.
Also, as a result of the massive immigration rate, many American’s are being forced to
relocate their families overseas. Many Americans are leaving the United States because their job
has been moved overseas as the result of a foreign-based company purchasing the United States
company. Many American companies today are being purchased by foreign companies because
they cannot afford to operate by themselves because they are not making a profit. The United
States is suffering financially because big businesses are taking over and then are not making
wise decisions and are collapsing. Many Americans are losing their job as a direct result of big
companies taking over and failing.
It is unfortunate that these factors are causing the United States poverty rate to skyrocket.
The United States of America has suffered many natural disasters in the past and has been able to
come back stronger than ever. However with other factors, including immigration, this has made
it even more difficult for the United States to recover. Hurricane Katrina and the high
immigration rates have greatly affected the United States poverty rate.