How not to be poor

Walter E. Williams:

Avoiding long-term poverty is not rocket science. First, graduate from high school. Second, get married before you have children, and stay married. Third, work at any kind of job, even one that starts out paying the minimum wage. And, finally, avoid engaging in criminal behavior. If you graduate from high school today with a B or C average, in most places in our country there are low-cost or financially assisted post-high school education programs available to increase your skills.

Most jobs start with wages higher than the minimum wage, which is currently $5.15. A man and his wife, even earning the minimum wage, would earn $21,000 annually. The Census Bureau reported that in 2003, the poverty threshold for one person was $9,393, for a two-person household was $12,015 and for a family of four was $18,810. Taking a minimum wage job is no great shakes, but it produces an income higher than the Census Bureau’s poverty threshold. Plus, having a job in the first place increases one’s prospects for a better job.

The Children’s Defense Fund and civil rights organizations frequently whine about the number of black children living in poverty. In 1999, the Census Bureau reported that 33.1 percent of black children lived in poverty, compared with 13.5 percent of white children. It turns out that race per se has little to do with the difference. Instead, it’s welfare and single parenthood. When black children are compared with white children living in identical circumstances, mainly in two-parent households, both will have the same probability of being poor.

Some good advice but how many will follow it?