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Although the poor were primarily adults who had not participated in the labor force during the year and children, 6.3 million individuals were among the “working poor” in 2019, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS); this measure decreased from 7.0 million in 2018.
Although the poor were primarily adults who had not participated in the labor force during the year and children, 6.4 million individuals were among the “working poor” in 2021, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS); this measure was essentially unchanged from 2020.
Although the poor were primarily adults who had not participated in the labor force during the year and children, 6.3 million individuals were among the “working poor” in 2020, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS); this measure was essentially unchanged from 2019.
In 2020, 37.2 million people, or 11.4 percent of the nation’s population, lived below the official poverty level, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 1 (See the technical notes section for examples of poverty levels.)
Although the poor were primarily adults who had not participated in the labor force during the year and children, 6.3 million individuals were among the “working poor” in 2019, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS); this measure decreased from 7.0 million in 2018.
working poor are people who spent at least 27 weeks in the labor force (that is, working or looking for work) but whose incomes still fell below the official poverty level.
Among people in the labor force for 27 weeks or more in 2018, those with less than a high school diploma had the highest working-poor rate, at 13.5 percent, while those with a bachelor’s degree or higher had the lowest, at 1.4 percent.
