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60% of poor adults choose not to work. I'm sorry you consider reality to be "disgusting". http://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/de

60% of poor adults choose not to work. I'm sorry you consider reality to be "disgusting". http://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/demo/p60-252.pdf http://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publication... Table 3 Page 21 My uncited study says that your uncited study is wrong and the authors of your study are Nazis.

antisthenes 10y ago
> 60% of poor adults choose not to work. I'm sorry you consider reality to be "disgusting". Which is not evidence of them being lazy. They could be acting in their own economic best interest by being in a welfare trap. Not sure what your point is here, other than some welfare programs are poorly structured.
- yummyfajitas 10y ago
  My point is that contra ajnc, there are hordes of people who "choose poverty because of an unwillingness to work".
  - anjc 10y ago
    Whatever you say Mrs Rand.
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anjc 10y ago
Where are you getting 60%? Are you adding up the two years? And I presume you're in the US, but from an external observer's perspective, 'poverty' in the US is extreme and is almost incomprehensible to people the rest of the Western world. These are not people "choosing" to not work, they're the most decrepit, uncared-for group in the developed world.
- yummyfajitas 10y ago
  Table 3 and division. And I presume you're in the US, but from an external observer's perspective, 'poverty' in the US is extreme and is almost incomprehensible... I spend about half my time in the US, half in India. So as a semi-external observer, all I can do is laugh at you. Most middle class people would love to live as well as the American poor do. Actually so would many Europeans - Bulgarian GDP/capita is about 1/2 of what the average poor American consumes. No matter how much you might scoff and sputter, most poor American adults chose not look for work even once in the past year. That's just the basic fact of the matter.
  - anjc 10y ago
    I can't see what you mean in the Table. I can only see 30% of people who had no work experience in the year in question. I presume that you aren't adding up both years. And I presume that you also noticed that ~15% have a disability. Yeah I'm sure middle class people in India would love to live "as well" as the American poor do. I was talking about the firmly developed world. Bulgaria is the poorest country in the EU and they still have access to free and competent healthcare. Compare that the US where the poor people considered by that table sometimes die because of bad teeth and no immediate access to care.
    - mcguire 10y ago
      Take the number of poor between 18 and 64, divide by the number of poor between 18 and 64 who did not work, and you get 61.7% Of course, the question of whether they "choose" not to work, "choose" to be poor, or if they are "lazy" are judgements not supported by the numbers. (More worrying is the 40% of the poor who did work.)
      - anjc 10y ago
        Oh yeah I see now, thanks. I was misinterpreting the first column. Obviously it's impossible to glean motivations from a table, but it's telling to me that among the general population the majority of workers work full time, whereas among the poor it's the opposite, with most working part time for the entire year. These people would probably be called the 'working poor' in my country; they're trying to work, but unfavourable economic and employment conditions make it difficult to maintain stable/consistent/quality employment. But in comparison to other developed countries, the proportion of workers (in that table) for a poor demographic is relatively high. Which would also signal to me that not only is the demographic not choosing NOT to work, but that they're choosing to work in higher numbers than in other countries despite their poverty (or maybe because of it). https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/Pov_crossnatl.jpeg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/Pov_crossnatl... I still maintain that people don't choose not to work en-masse for extended periods, evidenced by the fact that the US has had full employment for many periods.

antisthenes 10y ago

> 60% of poor adults choose not to work. I'm sorry you consider reality to be "disgusting". Which is not evidence of them being lazy. They could be acting in their own economic best interest by being in a welfare trap. Not sure what your point is here, other than some welfare programs are poorly structured.

yummyfajitas 10y ago
My point is that contra ajnc, there are hordes of people who "choose poverty because of an unwillingness to work".
- anjc 10y ago
  Whatever you say Mrs Rand.
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anjc 10y ago

Where are you getting 60%? Are you adding up the two years? And I presume you're in the US, but from an external observer's perspective, 'poverty' in the US is extreme and is almost incomprehensible to people the rest of the Western world. These are not people "choosing" to not work, they're the most decrepit, uncared-for group in the developed world.

yummyfajitas 10y ago
Table 3 and division. And I presume you're in the US, but from an external observer's perspective, 'poverty' in the US is extreme and is almost incomprehensible... I spend about half my time in the US, half in India. So as a semi-external observer, all I can do is laugh at you. Most middle class people would love to live as well as the American poor do. Actually so would many Europeans - Bulgarian GDP/capita is about 1/2 of what the average poor American consumes. No matter how much you might scoff and sputter, most poor American adults chose not look for work even once in the past year. That's just the basic fact of the matter.
- anjc 10y ago
  I can't see what you mean in the Table. I can only see 30% of people who had no work experience in the year in question. I presume that you aren't adding up both years. And I presume that you also noticed that ~15% have a disability. Yeah I'm sure middle class people in India would love to live "as well" as the American poor do. I was talking about the firmly developed world. Bulgaria is the poorest country in the EU and they still have access to free and competent healthcare. Compare that the US where the poor people considered by that table sometimes die because of bad teeth and no immediate access to care.
  - mcguire 10y ago
    Take the number of poor between 18 and 64, divide by the number of poor between 18 and 64 who did not work, and you get 61.7% Of course, the question of whether they "choose" not to work, "choose" to be poor, or if they are "lazy" are judgements not supported by the numbers. (More worrying is the 40% of the poor who did work.)
    - anjc 10y ago
      Oh yeah I see now, thanks. I was misinterpreting the first column. Obviously it's impossible to glean motivations from a table, but it's telling to me that among the general population the majority of workers work full time, whereas among the poor it's the opposite, with most working part time for the entire year. These people would probably be called the 'working poor' in my country; they're trying to work, but unfavourable economic and employment conditions make it difficult to maintain stable/consistent/quality employment. But in comparison to other developed countries, the proportion of workers (in that table) for a poor demographic is relatively high. Which would also signal to me that not only is the demographic not choosing NOT to work, but that they're choosing to work in higher numbers than in other countries despite their poverty (or maybe because of it). https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/Pov_crossnatl.jpeg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/Pov_crossnatl... I still maintain that people don't choose not to work en-masse for extended periods, evidenced by the fact that the US has had full employment for many periods.