The New Face of Poverty
April 6th, 2009WNUA Broadcast Date: March 17, 2009
Illinois’ unemployment rate is hovering close to 8 percent. The national unemployment rate is already there.
Foreclosures are spreading into affluent communities, even suburbia. Lay-offs happen weekly. And as the recently jobless white-collar workers come to depend on the state for basic needs, America’s understanding of poverty is changing.
Now, more than ever before, the middle-class - and even some upper-income families - are the new faces of poverty. And some of these families are not yet eligible for unemployment benefits.
So is Illinois, with its ever-deepening deficit, prepared to take on the growing number of needy residents? And how will our new governor’s policies help or hurt the needy?
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