Key findings from the 2022 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress:
On a single night in 2022, roughly 582,500 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States. Six in ten (60%) were staying in sheltered locations—emergency shelters, safe havens, or transitional housing programs—and four in ten (40%) were in unsheltered locations such
For the last two years, the debate on the economy has centered around inflation.
After reaching a 40-year high last summer, inflation as measured by economists is now approaching normal levels. But despite the rapid slowdown, millions still feel squeezed by a decades-long affordability crisis.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans struggled to afford sky-high prices
The U.S. Census Bureau announced last month that real median household income in 2022 fell in comparison to 2021. The official poverty rate of 11.5% was not statistically different between 2021 and 2022. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) rate in 2022 was 12.4%, an increase of 4.6 percentage points from 2021. This is the first
Irit Tamir, Director of Oxfam America’s Private Sector Department, has written an excellent article explaining the context for the recent and dramatic uptick in number of workers going on strike in the U.S. In it she writes:
“Why are members of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) taking to the street as the latest workers to go
The PFW Scale™ is an eight item survey, which is a reliable measurement of perceived financial distress/financial well-being. It provides the user with a score, which has been scientifically determined to be a valid and reliable measure of one’s perceived personal financial wellness, as well as measure for employees learning progress during the financial literacy
Water is the basic necessity for all living organisms. Water capacity of ponds and lakes in India has been significantly reduced due to the settling of silt at the bottom of these water bodies. This causes a water availability problem for villages, in particular.
Another problem is that many people don’t have the resources to de-silt
Too often good news goes unnoticed and not reported. Such is the case with a new report released in July 2023 by India’s biggest public policy think tank. The numbers are mind-blowing. 135 million people were lifted out of multi-dimensional poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-2021, easily putting India, the world’s most populous nation and fastest
While the steep rise of inequality in the United States is well-known, long-run data on the incomes of the richest shows countries have followed a variety of trajectories. Here are four articles, written by Joe Hasell for Our World in Data, that explore a wide range of indicators on inequality and poverty
A while ago, researchers at Oxfam set out to answer a question: if we compare labor laws in the US to peer nations, how does the US stack up? We figured the answer would be “not so great.” We didn’t anticipate just how poorly the US is doing.
It turns
As the global economy continues to weather high inflation, energy prices and interest rates, majorities of adults in 18 of 24 countries surveyed by Pew Research Center this spring rate their nation’s economic situation poorly. A median of 70% of adults across these countries say their nation’s economic situation is bad. Just 29% offer positive
According to the Federal Reserve Board’s May 2023 report Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2022, nearly four in 10 US adults reported that they couldn’t cover a $400 emergency expense with cash, savings, or a credit card paid off at the next statement.
The Federal Reserve Board noted, the higher savings aren’t
A record share of Americans in a new survey from the Federal Reserve Board say they’re worse off financially than they were a year earlier.
According to the “Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households” report, the 35 percent of adults who reported they were worse off in 2022 than they year prior is the highest share recorded
In 2019, about half of American households had no savings in retirement accounts, according to the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). These accounts include individual retirement accounts; Keogh accounts; certain employer-sponsored accounts, such as 401(k), 403(b), thrift savings accounts; and pensions.
Personal saving has grown more important as
Businesses can play a crucial role in addressing poverty issues in the USA and throughout the world by implementing strategies that promote economic and social equity. Business needs to be part of the equation of alleviating poverty. Ask any one who is struggling financially what would improve their situation and the answer will usually
The Covid-19 pandemic was terrible. But it did contribute to two improvements in the lives of working Americans on both sides of the wage spectrum.
First, low earners. “After a brutal few decades in which low-wage jobs proliferated and the American middle class hollowed out, the working poor have started earning
Amid soaring inflation rates and signs that the economy is approaching a recession, one-in-four U.S. parents say there have been times in the past year when they could not afford food their family needed or to pay their rent or mortgage. A similar share (24%) say they have struggled to pay for health care their family
Imagine a 12-year-old girl, named Merah, who aspires to be a female legislator in her country when she grows up but who cannot continue her schooling because there is no secondary school in her community. She and other girls like her are not allowed to shuttle back and forth to neighboring communities to attend school,
New data from the UN, WHO & World Bank shows that the first two decades of the 21st century have seen the largest decline in maternal deaths in human history. Between 2000 and 2020, the annual number of women dying while pregnant or within 42 days of giving birth fell from 447,000 to
It’s time to take action to support women workers in global supply chains
BSR’s HERproject, Gap Inc., P.A.C.E, CARE and Better Work have come together to form a new initiative called RISE: Reimagining Industry to Support Equality in order to scale impact and accelerate equality for women workers in global garment, footwear and home furnishings supply chains.
The
In honor of Women’s History Month, we will feature articles that focus on women this month. This one’s from the Pew Research Center by
The gender gap in pay has remained relatively stable in the United States over the past 20 years or so. In 2022, women earned an
