Thanks for your comments, Mike. Many people have a prejudice toward poverty, but the facts don’t bear it out. According to the Economic Policy Institute, poor working adults spend more hours working each week than their wealthier counterparts. “Although people living in poverty are often stereotyped as lazy, two-thirds work an average of 1.7 jobs; 83% of children from low-income families have at least one employed parent.”

According to the Century Foundation, “the root of the problem is the federal government’s failure to update the Official Poverty Measure for increases in average real income and mainstream living standards since the early 1960s”

In addition, the US has only regained 42% of the 22.2 million jobs lost in March and April. Minimum jobs are more common and these do not pay a living wage. Salaries are shrinking as productivity increases. In fact, wages in the US have been steadily falling due to technological change, globalization, the decline of labor unions and money in politics, according to Robert Reich, former US Secretary of Labor, in his book The System: Who Rigged It, How to Fix It.

The pandemic has exacerbated all of this and working families as well as unemployed families are now seeking help from food banks. 17 million children are hungry through no fault of their own. I worry about them when I fall asleep at night.