Working poor is a term used to describe individuals and families who maintain regular employment but remain in relative poverty due to low levels of pay and dependent expenses. Officially, in the United States, the working poor are defined as individuals who spent at least 27 weeks in the labor force (working or looking for work), but whose incomes fell below the official poverty level. Often, those defined as "working poor" have negative net worth and lack the ability to escape personal and economic contingencies.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a unit of the United States Department of Labor, is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics.

In the United States, according to the government Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 6.4 million working poor in 2000 [1]; by 2003 the number had grown to 7.4 million [2]. In 2004, Business Week suggested that [3] a more accurate figure would be 28 million, counting those at least eighteen, employed, and making less than $9.04 an hour, a full-time salary of $18,800 per year and the federal poverty line for a family of four.

you ask, how did this happen?

simple economics!

I was asked to buy breakfast for my children at school

I was asked to buy public school PTA T-shirts

I was asked to buy public school photos of my children

I was asked to buy a public school year book

I was asked to pay for field trips

I was asked to buy ...

when I purchase a school breakfast

it helps pay for a schools cook's wages

it helps encourage the school system to come up with better ways to provide breakfast, more training goes into it, colleges and teachers get paid to teach school cooks, third world countries can learn from this training...

because the food is purchased from farmers, stores, truck drivers, etc. it helps to economically provide for families by providing jobs that way ...

if I was to draw an economic tree that explained all that went into making a breakfast at a public school, it is incredible the amount of people and families get economic help just from a $2 dollar a day breakfast per child ...

lets see $2 times 2 children is $4

$4 times 5 days a week is $20 dollars a week

$20 dollars a week times 4 weeks in a normal month is $80 dollars a month ... ( and we haven't even talked about school lunch yet )

for some families I have heard about, that is rice and butter for a few months ... minimum wage in Washington is $7.63 an hour

http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm

if you use algebra, the $7.63 an hour algebraically becomes a lower wage real fast after doing the math - ( ok, I'll take a deep breath and )

Food taxes, ( food handlers health and safety state required licenses and all that )

federal taxes, 

state taxes, 

county taxes, 

city taxes, 

B & O taxes, ( for those who don't know what B & O stands for, it's probably not what you think it is ... )

Vendor taxes, 

unemployment taxes, 

Social Security taxes, 

Local taxes, 

Medicare taxes,

Workers Compensation Taxes, 

Building Permit Taxes, 

Well Permit Taxes, 

Septic Permit Taxes, 

Corporate Income Taxes, 

Accounts Receivable Taxes, 

Privilege Taxes, 

Inventory Taxes, 

Inheritance Taxes, 

Capital Gains Taxes, 

Luxury Taxes,

Marriage License Taxes, 

Service Charge Taxes,

Telephone federal excise taxes, 

Telephone federal universal service fee taxes, 

Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes,

Telephone minimum usage surcharge taxes, 

Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges taxes, 

Telephone state and local taxes, 

Telephone usage charge taxes, 

Vehicle Sales Taxes, 

Vehicle License Registration Taxes, 

Recreational Vehicle Taxes, 

Trailer registration taxes, 

Road Toll Booth Taxes,

Toll Bridge Taxes,

Toll Tunnel Taxes,

Watercraft registration Taxes, 

Road Usage Taxes (Truckers),

Bus taxes, 

gas taxes, 

property taxes, 

sales taxes, 

taxes on your electric bill, 

taxes on your water bill, 

taxes on your trash bill, 

waste water taxes, 

phone taxes, 

cable taxes, 

internet taxes, 

Car License taxes, 

Road taxes, 

Truck License taxes, 

rail road taxes, 

Airplane taxes, 

taxes for boats, 

taxes for ships, 

transportation taxes, 

taxes for asking questions about taxes, 

taxes for finding out how to pay taxes, 

education taxes, 

taxes that pay for the fire department, ( to save your life with )

taxes that pay for the police department, ( to serve and protect )

taxes that pay for the FBI department, ( well you know, if you don't know, there is a tax to pay for you to have the right to know )

taxes that pay for the military

DSHS taxes,

CPS taxes, 

Legal taxes, 

entertainment taxes, 

taxes associated with Hospitals, 

taxes associated with Dentists, 

taxes associated with Doctors, 

taxes associated with Veterinarians, 

taxes associated with medical research, 

taxes associated with United Laboratories, 

etc. etc. etc. 

( the power of the American Dollar as a tool to solve problems is a lot stronger than I once thought it was ... )

just so you know, if you don't think you paid for any of these taxes and more ... if who you purchased from ( on down to where it came out of the ground and got manufactured ) paid for the taxes, you knowingly or not paid for part of those taxes in the cost of doing business taxes ...

after you have paid all those taxes required for your family, then you algebraically find out what your minimum wage really is ... 

at this point I am not anywhere near close to being able to tell you what that is, 

and I not sure who is, 

but I am sure you are paying taxes for the right to know, 

so you have the right to know, 

if you know where to go to get the information that you pay tax for ...

oh my god, and the algebra for the cost of living hasn't even started yet ... wow

( I ask, did you learn any of this in high school or college ? )

where is the tax, 

to pay teachers, 

to learn how, 

to teach / show families how to earn money, 

to pay for all of these taxes and stuff ? ...

I come up with the question because ... since there is economics teachers and other related teachers, I ask 

 why don't teachers send a complete idea or suggestion ( not requirement ) for families to make money to pay for these things that would fit the family, be fun, teach the family much needed information in many different ways, etc. etc. etc.

why aren't teachers encouraged to send each family economic improvement idea from the public school system?

or put it on a web site where the families have choice to go to economically improve there family's lifestyle ...

but I am sure there are teachers who can explain these things to you better, after all they go to college for it, don't they? ...