America has made a lot of progress in every field in the last 50 years. But, there has been no real improvement in the problem of poverty. According to the poverty line of the central government, 12.6 percent of the population was poor in 1970. 13.5% in 1990, * 15.1% in 2010 and 10.5% in 2019 the population was poor. Families with an annual income of less than Rs 29 lakh are considered poor.

The poor have the same access to everyday necessities as other Americans. On this, Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill, senior fellows at the Booking Institution, said that people’s access to consumer goods such as TVs, microwave ovens and mobile phones shows that the poor are not so poor. Things like mobile phones have definitely become cheaper but the prices of most of the essentials of life like health services and house rent have gone up substantially. In cities, house rent has increased more than double in twenty years. Between 2000 and 2020, fuel and electricity prices have increased by 115 percent in the average US city.

Experts believe that the poverty level is not declining due to the high cost of housing rent, some other essential services including health facilities and the wages of the workers not increasing in that proportion. More than a third of people coming from other countries do not make minimum wage. 85% overtime is not paid. Inflation wise, after 1979, the wages of the workers have increased by only 0.3 per cent every year. There is a huge disparity in pay among employees. High school dropout workers were earning 2.7 percent less in 2017 than in 1979.