Why Some People Are Poor The poverty line is the minimum income that people need for an acceptable standard of living. / Pe

Why Some People Are Poor
     The poverty line is the minimum income that people need for an acceptable standard of living. / People with incomes below the poverty line are considered poor. /
     As the general standard of living rises, / the poverty line does, too. / Therefore, even with today’s relatively high standard of living, / about 10 percent of the people in the United States are below the poverty line. / Economists suggest several reasons. /
     For one thing, more than half of the poor people are not qualified to work. / By law, children less than 16 years old can not work in many industries; / many companies do not hire people over 65 years old, / which is considered the normal retirement age. /
     Some poor adults do not look for jobs for a variety of personal reasons. / Other poor people look for a job but can’t find one. / Many poor adults never went to high school. /Therefore, when they look for jobs, they have few skills that they can offer.