Confronting Poverty

"Our labor market is broken," said Peter Edelman of the Georgetown University Law Center. The former aide to Sen. Robert Kennedy then discussed some of the factors that have caused almost half of all American workers to essentially run in place over the last three decades.

Edelman delivered his remarks on Wednesday as part of the conference "New Frontiers in Poverty Research and Policy" hosted by UNC's Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity. Based in Chapel Hill, NC, and led by former Sen. John Edwards, the Center serves as a discussion forum for innovative ideas designed to help Americans escape poverty.

Wednesday's conference gathered political and academic experts from across the nation, along with thought leaders from across North Carolina, for a day of discussions. Topics included the role of public policy in confronting poverty; the relationship between family structure and poverty; pathways out of low-wage jobs; and the role of community development in fostering opportunity.

One theme that ran throughout the day was that the welfare reform initiative of the 1990s succeeded in bringing low-income individuals into the labor market. However, at the same time that low-income people entered the labor market, policy choices and economic changes like outsourcing eliminated many jobs in the middle of the labor market. As a result, low-income individuals have no where to go and wind up stuck on low-level jobs that frequently pay low wages, provide few benefits and offer little mobility. The challenge, therefore, is to build pathways and provide supports that allow low-income families to work themselves into better paying positions.