Poverty in America

EconoFact Chats

The official poverty rate in the U.S. stood at about 11.5% in 2022. But as Jeff Fuhrer highlights, this is almost certainly a vast undercounting. He estimates that about 40% of people struggle to afford basic necessities like food, housing, and transportation. He joins EconoFact Chats to discuss why official poverty measures underestimate poverty, what this means for a nation that prides itself on meritocracy, and how policies to alleviate poverty offer a win-win opportunity. Jeff served for nearly four decades in the Federal Reserve System, first at the Board of Governors in Washington, DC, followed by more than 25 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Currently, he is a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a Foundation Fellow at the Eastern Bank Foundation. He is the author of the award-winning 2023 book 'The Myth that Made Us: How False Beliefs about Racism and Meritocracy Broke Our Economy (and How to Fix It).'