Why Isn’t Poverty Falling? Weakening of Unemployment Insurance Is a Pivotal Factor

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a report discussing the reasons why poverty has remained frozen despite continued economic growth. This lack of progress can be attributed to a weakening of unemployment insurance (UI). UI benefits kept over 1.7 million people – jobless workers and their families – above the poverty line in 2012, however that was 600,000 fewer than in 2011, and over 1.5 million fewer than in 2010. This report states the reasoning behind the fall in UI benefits, and provides numerical evidence of UI's influence on poverty rates.