Reducing Poverty in America Also Key to Curbing Hunger

While the United States can make rapid progress against hunger by improving and expanding the national nutritional programs, a durable end to hunger depends on a broader effort to reduce poverty in America. The best solution to hunger is a decent job. Some people are elderly, disabled or, for other reasons, cannot work. They need safety-net programs. But when poor people are asked what they most need, they ask for a stable, well-paying job or an educational opportunity that will lead to a good job. Many people make tremendous efforts to gain employment, such as migrant farm workers who travel hundreds of miles in hopes of finding work. But people cannot always find jobs, and many jobs pay too little to support a family.

Helping people overcome poverty in America by finding jobs that pay a livable wage must be a part of any U.S. plan to end hunger.

Create Jobs

One of the most important steps to cutting hunger and financial difficulty is for government leaders to reduce high unemployment. How best to achieve a strong economy and low unemployment is debated. Some believe in supply-side economics, including tax cuts for investors and corporations in order to stimulate job growth. Others argue that reducing taxes or providing assistance to families who live paycheck to paycheck (and who are likely to spend extra income immediately) is a more effective way to stimulate the economy. In fact, if low-income people receive more food stamps, research shows that they use them right away – both reducing hunger and boosting grocery sales. Every $1 in food stamps turns over five times within the economy.

Prepare People for Work

People also need to be prepared for the jobs that the business community needs. Improving U.S. public primary and secondary education systems is a tried and true way to help citizens fill jobs within the United States and remain competitive in a global marketplace. Access to higher education helps some citizens move up the economic ladder. For every demographic – Blacks, whites, Latinos, men and women – incomes rise as education rises.

Make Work Pay

The United States always will need people to take low-skilled jobs such as farm work or cleaning hotel rooms, which most often pay lower wages. But the only way for many of these workers to get by – and to be food secure – they must receive more compensation than the market is willing to pay for their skills and services. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) systematically raises after-tax wages of low-income workers. It has become one of the most effective programs in lifting families out of this situation.

Programs such as food stamps, affordable housing, and child care and transportation assistance also help low-income workers make ends meet.

In 2007 the minimum wage was inreased. It currently stands at $6.55 and will be increased to $7.25 in July 2009.