Poverty in New York
Lomtevas (2018) defines poverty as a lack of adequate resources to meet somebody’s needs. Poverty can be examined in different aspects and encompasses numerous dynamics. Absolute poverty and relative poverty are parameters used to measure the poverty index of a demographic or geographical unit. New York City, just like any other place in the world, has problems of poverty within its population and is in constant efforts to remedy the problem and its associated effects. This report will analyze the question of poverty as a whole and juxtapose it with the New York position. It will also enumerate the effects of the problem and possible solutions that would help curb the menace.
Terminologies commonly used.
The poverty rate is a term used to refer to the percentage of families whose income does not meet the set threshold of the poverty line. It is commonly used in developing countries. Absolute poverty is one of the most common terms used to refer to poverty. It is a situation where somebody lacks basic needs such as food, safe water, healthcare, shelter, education, and sanitation (Lomtevas, 2018). It is sometimes considered as extreme poverty or abject poverty. Relative poverty, on the other end, is a measure of poverty used mainly in developed countries. It is based on the differences between the levels of income and is defined and contextualized socially. It is calculated as the percentage of a group of people who cannot meet a set threshold of median income for the group. This method of measuring poverty is common in Europe and North America. According to experts, it is a better reflection of social disparities caused by income differences.
Breakdown of the problem
Austensen et al. 2016 found out that the concentration of poverty in most neighborhoods of New York has changed drastically for the worse over the years. The poverty rates for New York city has alternated around 19 to 21 percent for a better part of the late 20th century. This translates to one in every five people living in the city. With children and older people being the hardest hit, poverty rates in New York remain well above the national rate. Approximately 1.7 million of New York dwellers were living in poverty between 2011 and 2015. The Bronx area is one of the hardest hit with more than half of its population living in extreme poverty (Austensen et al., 2016.) Other areas such as queen and Staten island are poverty hotspots. Plagued with perennial problems such as crime that is a result and effect of poverty, the city needs to find quick solutions to the problems before they get out of hand.
History of poverty in New York.
Poverty has been a constant problem in New York, with recorded rises in the indices over the years. As one of the largest industrial and residential centers of the USA, it was heavily predisposed to conditions motivating income disparities and, subsequently, poverty. In 1969, only 14 percent of New York residents lived below the poverty line. However, the following year heralded a sharp increase that shot the rate to over 20 percent of the population for the first time.
Statistical details and demographics of the poverty index
The high poverty areas are characterized by high crime rates, majorly involving the youths, more inferior performing schools, and a resultant lower number of college-educated adults. The socially accepted systems and modes of living enable the thriving of crime and drug use. Characteristically, black and Hispanic persons are the prevalent race in these neighborhoods. Their children are also predisposed to live in these tough neighborhoods. Thirty percent of families who form a share of a fifth of the New York population live below the federal poverty line. These poverty indices increased tremendously between 2010 and 2015, with about 16 percent of neighborhood reporting increases as opposed to 2.6 percent who registered poverty declines (Austensen et al., 2016). The seniors’ poverty rate was also rated at twice the national poverty rate for the senior population.
These statistics are supported by poor education and employment rates. The non-poor population of New York recorded a 77 percent employment rate between 2011 and 2015 compared to 33 percent for the poor population. This points to a huge disparity in economic earnings and begs the question of investigating the reasons behind the observations. The racial differences in poverty indices are also notable, with over half the black and Hispanic population of New York living in high poverty neighborhoods (Austensen et al., 2016). On the other end, only 30 percent of whites and 23 percent of Asian origin Americans were found to reside in high poverty dwellings.
On another facet, Children are the hardest hit of all new Yorkers, with almost a third of them living in high poverty areas of New York City, with only 21 percent of their compatriots able to grow up in low poverty areas. At 30 percent, the children’s poverty statistics tally higher than the national average of 22 percent. These children are born and grow into the poverty of their parents. They attend the local schools that are close to the high crime areas and are lured into drug abuse and gang activity at an early age, dropping out of school eventually. Between 2011 and 2015, this cycle was reflected in findings that indicated that only ten percent of non-poor new Yorkers age 25 and above did not have a college degree (Austensen et al., 2016). The poor population of poor new Yorkers without a college degree stood at a fifth of their total numbers.
According to Austensen et al. (2016), approximately fifty-two percent of New York dwellings were rated moderate poverty areas compared to 27 percent of a neighborhood that was rated as low poverty areas. Additionally, eleven percent of the areas in New York was rated extreme poverty areas, and another 8.7 percent termed as high poverty areas. The occupants of these respective zones emit the individual characteristics of these areas. The number of new Yorkers living in the extreme poverty areas had once experienced a dip to 19 percent from 25 percent between 2006 to 2010 but quickly shuttled back to 23 percent in 2011-2015 findings. However, the same period has recorded reported reductions in poverty rates of individuals by up to ten percent. This has, however, not stopped the onslaught of violent crime that is a key characteristic of these neighborhoods. According to Kaplan-Lyman (2012), extreme poverty neighborhoods experienced three times as high crime rates as low poverty areas, with 7.5 persons per 1000 people reporting crime incidences.
Factors contributing to poverty in New York
The question of employment is one of the major contributing factors to poverty in New York City. The large disparity in employment rates between the non-poor population and extreme poverty population best illustrates this relationship. Between the years 2011 to 2015, 77 percent of non-poor New York residents were employed, while only 33 percent of the high poverty area residents got employed (Neckerman et al., 2016). Underemployment is also coupled with wage stagnation in the poor population as most of them cannot grow their average income to cater for ballooning costs. The availability of jobs is also a challenge with cut-throat competition for them with other people who have better academic qualifications.
The resultant low income in these situations has been reflected in the New York average, which is approximately equal to the national average. However, the city of New York is a large metropolis with a higher cost of living compared to other areas in the country. Additionally, less than 33 percent of the new yok population own the homes that they live in (Levitan & Wieler, 2008). These statistics are reflected in the budgetary strains of most households that are struggling to stay afloat and access all basic needs. According to Levitan & Wieler (2008), a family in Westchester, New York, is forced to earn 88,000 dollars a year to meet basic needs such as food, housing, and health care, excluding emergency funds and savings. This is a testimony of the strain that most families in New York undergo daily and leads to poverty.
Furthermore, research has isolated the level of education as another major influencing factor in poverty. Notably, most residents in high poverty areas showed less ability to obtain college degrees. Children in black occupied high poverty areas also showed weaknesses in classwork compared to their compatriots in low poverty neighborhoods. Albrecht & Abramovitz, (2014), claim that 29 percent of people without degrees are poor compared to almost five percent of people with degrees. Likewise, only over ten percent of people with an associate degree were living in poverty compared to the fifteen percent who had only a high school degree. The calculated average income of a person with a high school degree is less than the national poverty threshold by almost three thousand dollars.
The effects of poverty in New York
Crime is one of the largest challenges to the police department of the city of New York. Crime trends have been traced to most areas with high and extreme poverty indices. These backgrounds, commonly referred to as ghetto neighborhoods, are hotspots for crime, drug peddling, and gang activities (Mogull, 2007). Youths are the largest affected group in this quagmire, as most of them are poor and jobless. Additionally, a substantial number of them are growing in the hardship environments where the allure of quick money easily influences them. Most of the juveniles in the high poverty areas usually spend time in correctional facilities for delinquency and other behavioral problems. Crime has had the effect of stunting business startups in the areas and is demanding to the state as they have to mount better surveillance and policing to protect innocent people living in the areas. However, the menace of smuggled guns that find their way to the hands of these youths is a constant setback to the efforts to curb crime and make the neighborhoods safe (Mogull, 2007).
Another result of poverty is poor healthcare. Most of the residents in the high poverty area do not live in clean environments and are exposed to the possibilities of disease outbreaks. Their limited income also means a limited diet that is trimmed to survival. Approximately 2.6 million New York residents run out of food annually. Consequently, a sizable sum of people in these neighborhoods, especially children, suffers malnutrition. The results of malnutrition and pathetic living conditions are poor health that has seen a majority of sick people who die come from these disadvantaged neighborhoods. These families have a challenge enrolling for and maintaining any health cover that might require payment of premiums. Then the national government, in conjunction with the state have, however, risen to curb the health problem by providing health cover through Medicaid to a sizable number of these families. Consequently, more of them have been able to pay for their healthcare.
New York has one of the most comprehensive economic systems but still has got one of the highest rates of child poverty as well. These children are faced with several challenges that tag them from their poor dwellings. Their readiness for learning, concentration, attentiveness, and motivation is seriously hampered by poor physical and psychological health (Barr et al., 2001). Children from these backgrounds grow up in their school settings with insecurities, and are socially destabilized, constantly enduring the looming consequence of their economic conditions. These problems make them perform poorly in school work and predisposes them to dropouts before they complete high school. As Barr et al. (2001) put it; those who complete high school, their chances of going to college are greatly reduced. This is compounded with the high college costs that are imminent if they do not get sponsorship.
The national averages estimate that the number of children born into poverty who do not finish high school is at 30 percent. Metropolitan New York is one of the high-risk areas where children undergo many challenges that prevent them from finishing school (Austensen et al., 2016). With less than a high school diploma, most of these young adults earn very little money in meaningful employment. They, therefore, continue the cycle of poverty as their limited income takes them back to their neighborhoods, where they are constantly at the mercy of recruiting street gangs that lure them into crime. According to Barr et al. (2001), these people are seven more times more likely to be persistently poor and are more likely to suffer health complications. They eventually feel powerless over the fate of their conditions and developmental and psychological health conditions, some of which are fatal.
The proposed solutions to poverty.
Poverty in New York could become catastrophic if an effort is not channeled to alleviate it. The methods used should be those that target the causal factors of poverty, such as lack of education. The debate over the solution to the problem of poverty in New York has generated much political heat, with experts questioning some of the proposed methods. The following are some of how the New York City authorities are scheming on ending the problem of poverty.
One of the proposed methods that have been tried in the past is the increase in the minimum wage. This is in an attempt to enable poor folks to earn enough to pay for their basic needs. This minimum wage plan that has been enacted by the current leadership with a plan to reduce poverty by 20 percent within the next ten years. This plan is also targeting the near-poor residents of New York, who, combined with the poor consist of half of the city population. According to Lomtevas, (2018), this method has come under heavy criticism from experts who feel that the program does not correctly target the poor and might eventually result in the loss of employment by these people. The congressional budget office ha opined that only about 19 percent of the output from the increments would reach the targeted population.
Another useful method is increasing work to get more people from poor neighborhoods employed (Levitan & Wieler, 2008). The scheme would increase the number of family members with full-time employment. With extra income to foot their bills, most people could be on their way out of the poverty bracket. Social benefits should also be joined to employment to assist the residents to cater for specific costs. Such a step could be coupled with reducing burdens for business startups in the city to encourage more people to venture into business. This will diffuse the effects of the lack of education on the earning capacity of poor people.
References.
Levitan, M., & Wieler, S. (2008). Poverty in New York City, 1969-99: The influence of demographic change, income growth, and income inequality. Economic Policy Review, 14(1).
Austensen, M., Been, V., O’Regan, K. M., Rosoff, S., & Yager, J. State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods, 2016 Focus: Poverty in New York City. NYU Furman Center.
Neckerman, K. M., Garfinkel, I., Teitler, J. O., Waldfogel, J., & Wimer, C. (2016). Beyond income poverty: Measuring disadvantage in terms of material hardship and health. Academic pediatrics, 16(3), S52-S59.
Lomtevas, M. (2018). Poverty in New York City: Consumption Expenditure as a Poverty Predictor.
Barr, R. G., Diez-Roux, A. V., Knirsch, C. A., & Pablos-Méndez, A. (2001). Neighborhood poverty and the resurgence of tuberculosis in New York City, 1984–1992. American Journal of Public Health, 91(9), 1487-1493.
Mogull, R. G. (2007). Metropolitan Poverty: The Case of New York City. The American Economist, 51(1), 85-96.
Albrecht, J., & Abramovitz, M. (2014). Indicator analysis for unpacking poverty in New York City.
Kaplan-Lyman, J. (2012). A punitive bind: Policing, poverty, and neoliberalism in New York City. YALE HuM. RTs. & DEv. LJ, 15, 177.
Levitan, M. (2003). Poverty in New York, 2002: one-fifth of the city lives below the federal poverty line. Community Service Society, New York City (http://www. cssny. org/pubs/special/2003_09poverty. pdf).