Mobility in the U

The United States has a much more unequal distribution of income than most developed nations. In fact, although it has one of the highest standards of living on average, as measured by its gross domestic product per capita, the more unequal income distribution translates into comparatively high rates of both relative poverty (50 percent of median disposable income) and absolute poverty (the official US poverty thresholds). This paper examines the dynamics of poverty in the United States in light of evidence from other developed nations. The author begins by examining poverty mobility in the United States based on monthly incomes. The proportion of those who have below-poverty-level income in two or more months is much greater than poverty based on annual income, so the experience of poverty is in some sense much more common than annual figures suggest. Similar background factors—belonging to a racial minority or living in a female-headed household—are associated with higher short-term, annual, and long-term poverty. Mobility in the United States in Comparative Perspective