Thepovertylineistheminimumincomethatpeopleneedforanacceptablestandardofliving.Peoplewithincomesbelowthepovertylineareconsideredpoor.Economistsstudythecausesofpovertyinordertofindsolutionstotheproblem.
Asthegeneralstandardoflivinginthecountryrisesthepovertylinedoestoo.There?foreevenwithtoday'srelativelyhighstandardoflivingabout10percentofthepeopleintheUnitedStatesarebelowthepovertyline.Howeverifthesepeoplehadstablejobstheycouldhaveanacceptablestandardofliving.Economistssuggestseveralreasonswhypoorpeopledonothavejobs.
Foronething，morethanhalfofthepoorpeopleintheUnitedStatesarenotqualifiedtowork.Over40percentofthepoorpeoplearechildren.Bylawchildrenlessthan16yearsoldcannotworkinmanyindustries.Alargenumberofpoorpeopleareold.Manycompaniesdonothirepeopleover65yearsoldthenormalretirementage.
Somepooradultsdonotlookforjobsforavarietyofpersonalreasons：theyaresick，theydonothaveanymotivation，theyhavefamilyproblems，ortheydonotbelievethattheycanfindajob.
Otherpoorpeoplelookforajobbutcannotfindone.Manypooradultsneverwenttohighschool.Thereforewhentheylookforjobstheyhavefewskillsthattheycanoffer.
Atthepresenttimethegovernmentthinksitcanreducepovertyinthecountryinthefol?lowingways.
Firstifthenationaleconomygrowsbusinessesandindustrieshiremoreworkers.Someofthepoorwhoarequalifiedtolookforjobsmayfindemployment.Thentheywillnolongerbebelowthepovertyline.
Secondifsocietyinvestsinthepoorthepoorwillbecomemoreproductive.Ifthegov?eminentspendsmoneyonsocialprograms，education，andtrainingforpoorpeople，thepoorwillhavetheskillstooffer.Thenitismorelikelythattheycanfindjobs.
Finallyifthegovernmentdistributessociety'sincomedifferentlyitraisessomepoorpeopleabovethepovertyline.Thegovernmentcollectstaxesfromthenon-poorandgivesmoneytothepoor.Thesepaymentstothepoorarecalledwelfare.In1975over18millionpeopleintheUnitedStatesreceivedwelfare.
Someeconomistsarelookingforbettersolutionstothepovertyproblem.Howeveratthepresenttim