Tasks: Poverty in the United States

Use the internet to find answers to the questions below. In the expandable box you will find links to useful information.

1. How is poverty measured in the U.S.?
2. What is considered to be the poverty line in the United States.?
3. How many are poor in the U.S. today?
4. How many children live in households that are below the poverty line in the United States today?
5. How many people are homeless in the United States?
6. Is there a link between poverty and drug addiction in the United States?
7. What is meant by the expression the American Dream? Is the American Dream still attainable for the average American?

The illustration below tells us something about the distribution of wealth in the United States of America in 2019.

1. Explain what the statistics tell us and suggest how this is relevant to understand the issue of poverty in the U.S.
2. Can you find a more up-to-date statistic? Has the distribution of wealth in the USA changed in the past few years?

Open image in new window

CC BY-SA

Image: wallstrategies.com

Work with a partner, calculate and discuss.

The Supermarket Walmart is the biggest employer in the United States, employing over 1.5 million people.

1. In 2020, the minimum wage at Walmart was $11 and the average shift was eight hours. What does someone on minimum wage earn per day? And per month?
2. The tax rate on minimum wage is between 10–15 %, and it increases the more you earn. Calculate how much the minimum wage earner would pay in taxes per month when the tax rate is 10%.
3. Full time hourly workers at Walmart earned $14.76 per hour in 2020. How much is that per day and per month?
4. In 2019, Housing Action Illinois reported that there was nowhere you could rent a two-bedroom apartment in the state of Illinois if you earned less than $20 per hour. What does that tell you about the wage level at Walmart?
5. A Walmart manager earns around $175,000 a year. Is it reasonable that with the added responsibility of being a manager, you get a considerable wage increase?
6. The CEO of Walmart, Douglas McMillon, had a yearly salary of $1,276,892 in 2019. What does that tell you about the wage gap within the company?
7. Is it fair that the CEO earns so much more than the average workers?
8. According to Bloomberg, the Walton family, which owns Walmart, had a fortune of 215 billion in 2020. Is it ethically questionable that one family accumulates this amount of wealth from a company where many employees struggle to make rent?
9. Does being poor mean that you are merely not smart enough or driven enough to achieve the American Dream?

Pick one of the topics and make a ten minute presentation. Use a presentation tool like Power Point, Google Slides or Prezi.

1. Crack cocaine and methamphetamin use has become so widespread in the United States that it has been compared to an epidemic. Find out how common it is to use these drugs in the United States, what consequences these drugs have for users, and discuss if there is a correlation between drug use and poverty.
2. To save money, a lot of the traditional industry in the USA has moved to low-cost countries. Make a presentation where you look at what has happened to the traditional industrial region of the United States – The Rust Belt – and discuss what solutions there may be for the problems this region faces.
3. Find out about the distribution of wealth in the United States, and discuss what consequences the wealth divide has for the American society.
4. Native American communities are among the poorest in the United States. Find out why poverty is common among Native Americans and what is being done to change the situation. Discuss what obligation the United States government has to help the Native Americans overcome poverty.
5. Most of us have heard that the American healthcare system does not provide universal health coverage, but instead relies on a system of health insurance. Find out how the American healthcare system works and discuss what the advantages and disadvantages of the system are.

Pick one of the tasks and write a five paragraph essay. Remember to include a list of sources.

1. Norway and the USA have very different systems when it comes to taxation and public spending. Compare the two systems and discuss which you feel is better.
2. Is the American Dream dead? The United States is also called the land of opportunity, but is that still true today? Write a text where you discuss what obstacles there are to achieving the American Dream today.
3. Write a text about what it is like to be young and poor in the United States today. Use relevant sources. (If the teacher agrees, you can write this text as a short story. In that case, you do not need to cite sources.)

In 2020 NRK released the TV series UXA, where Thomas Seltzer travels around America looking at problems facing the United States today. The languages used in the series are English and Norwegian. Watch one or more episodes depending on how much time you have. The episodes can be watched independently of one another.

Link to the TV series UXA on NRK's website.

1. Write a summary: What did you learn about poverty in the United States by watching the series UXA?