Wisconsin Poverty Measure Study
Saturday, April 25th, 2015 -- 8:43 AM
A new study shows poverty rose slightly in Wisconsin from 2012 to 2013, despite some job gains.The report released Tuesday by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers says the Wisconsin Poverty Measure rose to 10.9 percent in 2013, up from 10.2 percent in 2012. That measure was roughly 2.5 percentage points lower than the official Wisconsin poverty rate from the federal government.
The Wisconsin Poverty Measure takes into account family income as well as food assistance and refundable tax credits, while the official federal poverty measure is based on pretax cash income.
Urban Institute senior fellow Julia Isaacs, an author of the report, tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that researchers didn't expect poverty go up in light of job gains. She says much of the growth is in low-wage jobs.
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