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Report: 2 in 5 Pennsylvanians Financially Insecure

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State-by-state data is shedding new light on the problem of financial insecurity.  While 13% of Pennsylvanians live in poverty as defined by their incomes, more than 37% live in what’s known as liquid asset poverty.

“We need to encourage residents to build savings and prepare for the unforeseen,” says Lyn Kugel of PathWays PA, “so that fewer residents are one incident away from financial devastation.”

While the numbers are alarming, Pennsylvania’s liquid asset poverty rate still falls below the national average.  This is just one data point that can be found in the Corporation for Enterprise Development’s Assets & Opportunity Scorecard.

Overall, the scorecard ranks Pennsylvania 15th among states, based on five key areas including personal finances.

CFED and local advocates like Kugel say a number of things can be done to encourage asset building in Pennsylvania, including the adoption of a state-level Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the elimination of asset limits on things like foods stamps, which they say is a disincentive for savings.

Study Recognizes the Overlooked and Undercounted

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A new report finds that one in four Pennsylvania households is living below the self-sufficiency standard.  Pathways PA calls that standard the true cost of living, and they’ve crunched the numbers county-by-county. 

“We look at the cost of food, transportation, health care, housing and child care as well as miscellaneous costs,” explains senior policy director Marianne Bellesorte.  “Using publicly verifiable data we’re able to determine how much – at minimum – a family would need to make ends meet.” 

For instance, in Dauphin County, a one adult household would need to earn $19,000 dollars a year to meet the self-sufficiency standard.  Add an infant, and that number would increase to $34,000 dollars.  Child care is generally a household’s biggest expense, according to Bellesorte. 

The new report finds that 25% of PA families live below the standard, up from 20% in 2007.  The highest numbers can be found in Philadelphia (42%); the lowest in Adams County (17%). 

The report’s called Overlooked and Undercounted: How the Great Recession Impacted Household Self-Sufficiency in Pennsylvania.  “The people who are overlooked and undercounted are people who are above the federal poverty level, but are below the self-sufficiency standard,” Bellesorte explains. 

Pathways PA wants policymakers to pay attention, and take action that leads to adequate work.  Bellesorte says nearly 4 in 5 of the households below the standard have at least one adult the workforce.

Hunger Problem Reaches Epidemic Proportions

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Sheila Christopher - Food Banks

Sheila Christopher wore orange to the Legislative Food Drive. Orange is the official color of Hunger Action Month.

The Commonwealth reports a 43.9% increase in the need for food assistance since the economy went south in 2008.  Food banks have been under pressure ever since.  “It has not stopped in three years.  It’s getting worse, as we can see,” says Sheila Christopher, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Regional Food Banks (PARF). 

A new Census report issued just days before the Legislative Food Drive pegs the federal poverty rate at 15.1%.  More Americans are living in poverty than at any other time since the report was first published 52-years ago.  “It’s 2011, it’s not 1950.  We seem to be going backwards,” Christopher said as she called the poverty numbers completely unacceptable. 

A second Census report shows a statewide poverty rate of 13.4%.  “Every day in Pennsylvania, one in five Pennsylvanians is hungry, and this is an unfortunate reality that we can end,” says State Senator Mike Brubaker (R-Lancaster), co-chair of the Legislative Hunger Caucus.  “This is an issue that touches everybody, I don’t care what your registration is,” adds State Rep. John Myers (D-Philadelphia), the other co-chair of the bipartisan, bicameral Hunger Caucus. 

September is Hunger Action Month in Pennsylvania, as proclaimed by Governor Tom Corbett.  While the state and federal governments help to subsidize food banks, Christopher says donors are their core.  “Imagine if everyone in Pennsylvania gave a dollar, that’s 12-million dollars.”