FRHD 1020 Chapter 15: Chapter 15
17 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
Two ways have commonly been used to define poverty. The first measures absolute poverty and uses as a standard the minimum amount of money required to ensure physical survival. The second is a relative measure and is based on the standard of social wellbeing. In north america, the focus was initially on providing the barest essentials to deserving poor. Gradually the government provided more income-support services, and today the definition of poverty is closer to the well-being standard. One of the most used definitions is the statistics. There are four principal groups of poor people. Older women often have not been employed and are solely dependent on the government pension. Young adults aged 16 to 24 are affected by the shift of employment form well-paying areas to poorer paying consumer services. Young working couples make up a third group. These tend to be single-earner families with several children. The hardest hit is female-headed, single-parent families, especially young mothers.
