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What's the Difference Between the Supplemental and Official Poverty Measures? [1]
['Us Census Bureau', 'Liana E. Fox', 'Kalee Burns', 'Social', 'Economic', 'Housing Statistics Division']
Date: 2023-08-21 16:37:35.649000-04:00
In 2010, an interagency technical working group asked the Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to develop a new measure designed to improve our understanding of the economic well-being of American families and enhance our ability to measure the effect of federal policies on those living in poverty. The result: the SPM, which draws on the recommendations of a 1995 National Academy of Sciences report and research conducted over the following decades. (Refer to the history of poverty measures in the United States infographic for more details.)
In 2016, a new interagency technical working group was formed to review and implement potential SPM methodological improvements. The working group prioritized consistency between threshold and resource definitions, data availability, simplicity in estimation, stability of the measure over time, and ease in explaining the methodology in considering potential changes to the SPM. In September 2020, this working group voted to implement various changes, the details of which can be found here <www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/supplemental-poverty-measure/library/working-papers/topics/potential-changes.html> and Improvements to the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure for 2021. A panel of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Committee on National Statistics, which provides independent reviews of federal statistical activities, has also been asked to review further changes to the SPM.
On September 14, 2021, the Census Bureau is set to release its 11th SPM report. The report will include 2020 estimates as well as revised 2019 estimates with the methodological improvements. These improvements include changes to both resource and threshold estimation. The report presents estimates of both the official and supplemental poverty measures and outlines differences between the two measures. For a detailed comparison of major concepts, please refer to the table below and this infographic.
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[1] Url:
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/blogs/random-samplings/2021/09/difference-between-supplemental-and-official-poverty-measures.html#:~:text=At%20the%20U.S.%20Census%20Bureau,as%20taxes%20and%20medical%20expenses).
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