Income Money and Poverty Status - Change In Methodology, Income Differences, Poverty Status Of Minorities, Children Living In Poverty, Welfare Reform - ELDERLY POOR, GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS

Income greatly influences where people live, what they eat, how they dress, what they drive, and what schools their children can attend. How much money and income they have is usually determined by their occupation, which is often directly related to their level of education. Racial and ethnic backgrounds can play a big role in all these factors.

ELDERLY POOR

In the years prior to and including 1973, the poverty rate of the elderly (16.3 percent) exceeded that of children (14.4 percent). Since then, however, with the growth in Social Security and Medicaid, the rate for the elderly has decreased. In 2002 the poverty rate for children under eighteen years was 16.7 percent, while that for the elderly sixty-five and over was 10.4 percent. (See Table 5.8.)

GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS

The U.S. government offers various forms of assistance to the poverty-stricken. These include means-tested (based on income) programs, such as Supplementary Security Income and General Assistance (cash assistance programs in which recipients receive monthly checks from the government), Medicaid, food stamps, the school lunch program, and rent subsidies.