The Working Poor

Most Americans believe that if they work hard, they should not be poor. Although recent government welfare
reform policy is aimed at encouraging people to work more, seven to nine million working Americans remain poor.
Visiting Scholar Marlene Kim, of the School of Labor and Management Relations, Cook College, Rutgers
University, asks, Why are there so many working poor? Are they poor because they choose to work too few
hours? If so, why don’t they choose to work more? If they worked more, would doing so end their poverty?
These questions have significance for public policy. If choosing too few hours is the problem, the only role
policy might play is to encourage more work. But, if poverty is caused by forces beyond workers’ control,
policy could play a more substantial role. Kim finds that many of the working poor do not work more hours
because they cannot. She also finds that because their wages are so low, most of the working poor would still
be poor even if they worked full-time year-round.