Investing in What Works
Effective policies that will reduce
poverty, restore economic opportunity,
and rebuild our economy
Erik R. Stegman, Manager, Half in Ten
Presentation to the UCSJOCO 2013 Human Services Summit
June 18, 2013
We CAN cut poverty in half
Poverty Today
• U.S. Poverty Rate: 15%, 46.2 million
• Johnson County:
– 6.6% (2011)
– 12.3% for children ages 0-5 (2011)
5 things you need to know about
poverty in America
• Half in Ten’s Annual
Report tracks 21
indicators of poverty
to measure our
progress and identify
top line trends
The economy grew…but so did
income inequality
Top 20% see income
gains in 2011 while
incomes fall or
stagnate for low- and
middle-income
families
Stagnant service incomes
Real median weekly
earnings for workers
in service
occupations over the
last decade
Johnson County Income Trends
• Incomes are dropping for most people: Median
income dropped 12.6% in JC between 2008-2011
(currently $69,856)
• Low wage work is a large component of the
market: 33% of all jobs in JC paid less than
$30k/year, and more than 1 in 3 residents work
these jobs
• Income inequality on a sharp rise: The # of
households making less than $25k grew by 38%,
while those making $75k or more decreased 9%
Johnson County Income Trends
• Projected job growth won’t sustain
households: the majority of job growth
through 2018 in the Kansas counties of the KC
Metro won’t sustain households. Of the top
10 jobs expected to have the greatest growth,
7 have median wages under $30k/year
Unemployment insurance critical to
our recovery
• The share of unemployed workers
receiving unemployment insurance
benefits fell by 10 percentage points
between 2010-2011.
• Nearly 4 million face cuts to federal
jobless aid due to sequestration.
• 4,400 workers on average received
monthly UI benefits in Johnson County
each month in 2011
Tax credits & nutrition assistance kept
families out of poverty
The Supplemental Poverty Measure
shows that refundable
tax credits such as the earned
income and child tax credits kept 8.7
million people out
of poverty in 2011, and that the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program lifted 4.7 million
people above the poverty line.
Health insurance coverage on the rise:
early effects of the ACA
The number of
Americans without
health insurance rose
steadily until 2011.
Due to the early
effects of the
Affordable Care Act,
a new positive trend
in coverage is
emerging.
New tools and resources in this year’s
report
•At-a-glance fact sheets for each of
our 21 indicators
•Updated state-by-state data and
rankings
•Summary of findings fact sheet
•Poverty and Opportunity Profiles
The bottom line: families need
good jobs & support to stay in
them
• Too many in our economy are still living in a
recession
• Lots of talk about how to grow the economy,
but not about how low-income families fit in
• Building ladders for shared economic
opportunity relies on living wages and good
work policies
But when the economy fails
struggling families…
Policies Matter
Affordable and Available
Housing
• 30% of JC housing
market is renters
• Median monthly
rent for JC housing
in 2011: $881.
• Only 30% of the
market was under
$750/month
Affordable and Available
Housing continued
• 1 in 4 homeowners were paying more than
30% of their monthly income on housing costs
(2011)
• 46% of renters were paying more than 30% of
their income on housing costs
• This kind of cost burden leaves families very
vulnerable when emergencies and unexpected
costs arise
Nutrition Assistance
• Johnson County
food insecurity
rate: 11.7%
• Children: 16.2%
(22,900 children)
• 22,481 residents
received SNAP
benefits in 2011
Other supports
• 7,818 residents received the Low Income
Energy Assistance program to prevent
their utilities from being shut off
• EITC/CTC: 20k tax filers benefitted in 2008
• WIC: 13,226 women, infants and children
received food, nutrition education, and
health screenings in JC (FY 12)
• School Lunch: 23,117 students (25%) in
2012-13
10.6 mil Americans pushed into
poverty due to out-of-pocket
costs
Health insurance coverage: an
important step forward
• 49k residents of Johnson County were
uninsured in 2011 (9%)
• Nearly 17, 640 JC residents would be eligible if
KS accepts Medicaid expansion
• The percentage of Johnson County residents
receiving employer-based health insurance
coverage is decreasing
• It’s good for public health and the economy
It doesn’t have to be this way
We can cut poverty in half because we’ve done
it before
We need to:
1. Rebuild an economy with full-employment
opportunities and living wages
2. Support sound and proven policies that keep
families on their feet when the economy fails
them
It’s time to hit the reset button
Our deficit situation has improved
dramatically
It’s time to focus on jobs and growth
Let’s take a look at the new projections
from the Congressional Budget Office
The long-term fiscal outlook has
improved significantly
Health care spending is going
down
Investments are needed, not
more austerity
• Unemployment in the
Eurozone is at a record
high
• UK’s immediate and
harsh budget slashing
resulted in a near tripledip recession
• Austerity in the UK is
actually resulting in
more, not less debt
Our economy should be creating
more jobs
• Even with this drastically
improved outlook, our
job market remains
tepid
The sequester isn’t even
necessary for deficit reduction
• The reckless across-theboard cuts that no one
wanted won’t even
achieve the deficit
reduction they were
supposed to
What it all means: increase
employment
We’ve cut poverty in half before through a fullemployment economy and smart policies to
support struggling families. We need to:
1. Increase the number of householdsustaining jobs
2. Ensure that residents have skills to fill those
jobs
3. Provide sound and accessible supports to
maintain employment
What it all means: reduce
household and work expenses
And, we need to reduce the costs most
responsible for pushing families into poverty:
1. Out-of-pocket healthcare costs
2. Work-related expenses, including
transportation and child care
Thank you
Erik Stegman, Manager, Half in Ten Campaign
Center for American Progress
202-481-8145
estegman@americanprogress.org
Twitter: @ErikStegman