Abstract
Families living in poverty increasingly contain adults with a strong attachment to the workforce. These families are not, however, the traditional target of public assistance programs. This policy brief high- lights research results from a comprehensive portrait of working families living in poverty, both nationally and in the rural south, using data from the An- nual Demographic Files of the Current Population Survey. Three issues are explored. First, what are the characteristics of working poor families and how have they changed over time? Second, what role does public assistance play in the coping strategies of working families? Third, how can public assistance programs be better tailored to address the needs of working poor families?
Publisher
Southern Rural Development Center
Publication Date
10-2005
Research Center
Southern Rural Development Center
Recommended Citation
Mills, Bradford; Whitacre, Brian; and Hilmer, Christiana, "Working More But Staying Poor" (2005). Food Assistance. 2.
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/srdctopics-foodassistance/2