Poverty in the United States of America refers to people who lack sufficient income or material possessions for their needs. Although the US is a relatively wealthy country by international standards, poverty has consistently been present throughout the United States, along with efforts to alleviate it, from New Deal-era legislation during the Great Depression to the national War on Poverty in the 1960s to poverty alleviation efforts during the 2008 Great Recession.
The U.S. federal government uses two measures to measure poverty: the poverty thresholds set by the U.S. Census Bureau, used for statistical purposes, and the poverty guidelines issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, which are used for administrative purposes. Poverty thresholds, which recognize poverty as a lack of those goods and services which are commonly taken for granted by members of mainstream society, consist of income levels. On the other hand, poverty guidelines are simpler guidelines that are used to determine eligibility for federal programs such as Head Start and food stamps.
The 2020 assessment by the U.S. Census Bureau showed the percentage of Americans living in poverty for 2019 (before the pandemic) had fallen to some of lowest levels ever recorded due to the record-long economic growth period. However, between May and October 2020, some eight million people were put into poverty due to the economic effects of the pandemic lockdowns and the ending of funds from the CARES Act.
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