Poverty in Mississippi
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By: Kennytta Bolton For the second time this month, Grace Smart, 27 and her husband Adam Smart, 33, sit together at their dining room table, as they discuss how they are going to pay bills that they can barely afford to cover. Grace and Adam live here in the state of Mississippi, where poverty has ranked the state number one for the poorest state in the nation. Many people, like Grace and Adam, are barely making enough to get by because they are either working low wage jobs or do not have the education to attain jobs that would pay more. “Together, me and my husband’s salary is a about $30,000. This year alone we have paid more in late fees on bills then what some of the bills were originally, because we can’t afford to pay the bills when they are due.” Wages are low through out the state due to low education rates. Much of the states money is used to provide assistant for those that can not get into higher paying jobs due to a lack of education. Many of the jobs offered can not afford to pay better salaries to those that are educate, so they offer lower wages to fill the positions, even to those that are educated; most of the time those positions are only filled by those lacking college degrees. Many of the educated individuals leave the state in search of better pay. Sondra Collins, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Southern Mississippi, said, “Many talented people will not stay in the state without job opportunities.” Out of 2,978,512 people living in Mississippi 24.2percent of those individuals are living in poverty, making a total of 720,800 living in poverty. That equals every one and four Mississippian living below their means. An employee from the U.S. Census Bureau, who did not want to provide a name, said, “poverty rates in the U.S. are based on a household member to income ratio. What determines if those individuals are living in poverty is the amount of income each person brings in, to the number of individuals the income supports.” In Mississippi the average household income median is $36,919. If a household of five people consist of three children and two working adults that bring in less than $36,919 in income, that family is considered to be living in poverty. If the household consists of three working adults and one elderly person that gets social security and all the income does not exceed $36,919, that family too is considered to be living in poverty.
Poverty also continues to increase on a national level, during 2011 and 2012 poverty increased in 44 states. The three states with the highest increases in poverty were California, Mississippi and New Hampshire. The national increase from 2000 to 2012 was 33.3 million (12.2percent) of people living in poverty to 48.8 (15.9percent) of people living in poverty, in the U.S. Ann Kinnell, PhD, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern Mississippi, said, “basic factors to poverty in Mississippi are, we have the lowest college education in the U.S. and we have the highest percentage of low wage jobs.” The Department of Labor and Statistics website reports that Mississippi’s unemployment rate is at 9.2percent, that put 268,066 people without jobs in Mississippi. More people without jobs puts more people at risk to living in poverty. “I am educated and I still fall below the poverty line. I went to school and got a college education and still I can barely make enough because many jobs offered in the state pay such low wages that it still puts you in a position where you have to struggle to get by,” Grace said. Bachelor degrees are at 18.1percent in Mississippi, that means only 539,110 people of the total 2,978,512 population in Mississippi has a degree. Collins said, “wages are the lowest in the state because of the inability to attract and keep industries in the state.” Wages are low in the state due to the lack of education being so high. Because so many people are not eligible for so many positions, wages have to be lowered in order to fill those positions, keeping the poverty levels high. “For extra money I often find myself picking up extra shifts for holidays and over the summer. I do just about anything to make money, unlike Grace I do not have a degree and not having one has affected my life greatly because I have to take jobs that don’t offer a lot of money to fill.” The state with the lowest poverty rate is Iowa with a poverty rate of 8.6percent. Iowa’s unemployment rate was 5.1percent out of a population of 1,630,300; that puts 82,600 people unemployed in the state of Iowa. When compared side by side the differences between Iowa and Mississippi was the lack of descent paying jobs, and lack of education in Mississippi that puts the state at a higher percentage for poverty. Wages were not as low in Iowa when it came to jobs, and the percentage of people with educations was higher. The median for Iowa is $50,957.
The education rate for Bachelors degree in Iowa is 39percent putting more people in the position to apply for better paying jobs. Therefore less people depend on government funding, so businesses can pay better and poverty is low. “Not having the resources to provide education is the problem here in Mississippi. We can’t afford to educate people so a continuous cycle goes on where people live off the system and have been doing so for generations back,” Adam said. Much of the money within the state goes towards government help for the poor, which raises taxes for business, which cuts into the wages that would pay individuals being hired. In order for Mississippi to stop being the poorest state changes have to be made to better educate people. For more information please contact: Ann Kinnell at [email protected]; Sondra Collins at [email protected]; Grace and Adam Kelly at 601-325-3011; Census Bureau at 1-800-923-8282
Poverty also continues to increase on a national level, during 2011 and 2012 poverty increased in 44 states. The three states with the highest increases in poverty were California, Mississippi and New Hampshire. The national increase from 2000 to 2012 was 33.3 million (12.2percent) of people living in poverty to 48.8 (15.9percent) of people living in poverty, in the U.S. Ann Kinnell, PhD, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern Mississippi, said, “basic factors to poverty in Mississippi are, we have the lowest college education in the U.S. and we have the highest percentage of low wage jobs.” The Department of Labor and Statistics website reports that Mississippi’s unemployment rate is at 9.2percent, that put 268,066 people without jobs in Mississippi. More people without jobs puts more people at risk to living in poverty. “I am educated and I still fall below the poverty line. I went to school and got a college education and still I can barely make enough because many jobs offered in the state pay such low wages that it still puts you in a position where you have to struggle to get by,” Grace said. Bachelor degrees are at 18.1percent in Mississippi, that means only 539,110 people of the total 2,978,512 population in Mississippi has a degree. Collins said, “wages are the lowest in the state because of the inability to attract and keep industries in the state.” Wages are low in the state due to the lack of education being so high. Because so many people are not eligible for so many positions, wages have to be lowered in order to fill those positions, keeping the poverty levels high. “For extra money I often find myself picking up extra shifts for holidays and over the summer. I do just about anything to make money, unlike Grace I do not have a degree and not having one has affected my life greatly because I have to take jobs that don’t offer a lot of money to fill.” The state with the lowest poverty rate is Iowa with a poverty rate of 8.6percent. Iowa’s unemployment rate was 5.1percent out of a population of 1,630,300; that puts 82,600 people unemployed in the state of Iowa. When compared side by side the differences between Iowa and Mississippi was the lack of descent paying jobs, and lack of education in Mississippi that puts the state at a higher percentage for poverty. Wages were not as low in Iowa when it came to jobs, and the percentage of people with educations was higher. The median for Iowa is $50,957.
The education rate for Bachelors degree in Iowa is 39percent putting more people in the position to apply for better paying jobs. Therefore less people depend on government funding, so businesses can pay better and poverty is low. “Not having the resources to provide education is the problem here in Mississippi. We can’t afford to educate people so a continuous cycle goes on where people live off the system and have been doing so for generations back,” Adam said. Much of the money within the state goes towards government help for the poor, which raises taxes for business, which cuts into the wages that would pay individuals being hired. In order for Mississippi to stop being the poorest state changes have to be made to better educate people. For more information please contact: Ann Kinnell at [email protected]; Sondra Collins at [email protected]; Grace and Adam Kelly at 601-325-3011; Census Bureau at 1-800-923-8282
