How U.S Poverty Could Spike in the Last Half of the Year

Posted by Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity on August 11, 2020

According to a new study from the Urban Institute, millions of American families will fall into poverty if Congress fails to implement three policies measures contained in the HEROES Act. Researchers project that the poverty rate will rise to 11.9 percent in the last five months of 2020 if these policies, aimed at supporting families through this period of economic hardship, are not passed by the Senate. The study indicates that expanding unemployment insurance, issuing a second stimulus check, and increasing SNAP through the HEROES Act would keep 12.2 million Americans out of poverty in the later half of the year. Black and Hispanic families with at least one job loss would be especially vulnerable if additional support policies are not passed, and poverty rates in those communities could be near 20 percent from August to December.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-29/absent-new-stimulus-u-s-poverty-rate-will-surge

View the study: https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/102605/2020-poverty-projections-assessing-three-pandemic-aid-policies-projections-of-heroes-act-policies-by-race-and-by-state-august-through-december.pdf