When the Census Bureau announced that a record number of Americans live below the poverty line it did so using an old metric that has not been changed, apart from adjustments for inflation, since it was hastily conceived in 1963. Starting Monday, the Census Bureau will use a new metric – taking into account such federal assistance like food stamps and such costs as rent, medical and child care, for the first time. Jane Waldfogel, professor of social work at Columbia University, talks more about this change in the metric.
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