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Using the American Community Survey to Implement a National Academy of Sciences-Style Poverty Measure: A Comparison of Imputation Strategies

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Abstract

Since the 1995 report of the National Academy of Sciences’ Panel on Poverty and Family Assistance (NAS) on improving the poverty measure, the Census Bureau has conducted research on the report’s recommendations using the Current Population Survey (CPS). The recently announced plan for Census to begin publication of a NAS-style Supplementary Poverty Measure (SPM) continues the Bureau’s focus on national-level poverty rates derived from the CPS. In the years since the NAS report, however, the Census Bureau has fully implemented the American Community Survey (ACS), which is designed to provide poverty estimates for states and sub-state areas. We report on two research projects, one sponsored by the New York City Center for Economic Opportunity, another initiated by the Census Bureau, that explore how the ACS can be used to produce NAS-style poverty estimates. We compare the results of several different approaches to estimating the value of Food Stamp benefits and assigning housing assistance status. We conclude with some thoughts about the options for using the ACS to estimate a NAS-style SPM measure.

Page Last Revised - October 8, 2021