Unit of Analysis for Poverty Measurement: A Comparison of the Supplemental Poverty Measure and the Official Poverty Measure

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Working Paper Number: SEHSD-WP2010-14

Abstract

In 2009 the Office of Management and Budget‟s Chief Statistician formed an Interagency Technical Working Group (ITWG) on Developing a Supplemental Poverty Measure. In March 2010 the ITWG issued a series of suggestions on how to develop a new measure drawing on the recommendations of the 1995 report of National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Panel on Poverty and Family Assistance and the extensive research on poverty measurement conducted over the past 15 years. One suggestion of the ITWG was that the family unit should be broadened to include all related individuals who live at the same address, any co-resident unrelated children who are cared for by the family (such as foster children), plus cohabiters and their children. The current official poverty measure more narrowly defines the unit of analysis to be a reference person and any individuals related to the reference person either through birth, marriage, or adoption.

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