• home
• archive
• about BLS reports
• subscribe

A profile of the working poor, 2020

In 2020, 37.2 million people, or 11.4 percent of the nation’s population, lived below the official poverty level, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.¹ (See the technical notes section for examples of poverty levels.) Although the poor were primarily adults who had not participated in the labor force during the year and children, 6.3 million individuals were among the “working poor” in 2020, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS); this measure was essentially unchanged from 2019. The working poor are people who spent at least 27 weeks in the labor force (that is, working or looking for work) but whose incomes still fell below the official poverty level. In 2020, the working-poor rate—the ratio of the working poor to all individuals in the labor force for at least 27 weeks—was 4.1 percent, little different from the previous year’s figure (4.0 percent). (See table A, chart 1, and table 1.)

Highlights from the 2020 data:

• In 2020, the working-poor rate of people in the labor force for 27 weeks or more was 4.1 percent and was little changed from a year earlier, when it reached a series low (4.0 percent). (See chart 1.)
• Full-time workers remained much less likely to be among the working poor than part-time workers. Among people in the labor force for 27 weeks or more, 2.6 percent of those usually employed full time were classified as working poor, compared with 10.2 percent of part-time workers. (See table 1.)
• Women were more likely than men to be among the working poor (4.6 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively). In addition, Hispanics or Latinos (7.4 percent) and Blacks or African Americans (6.7 percent) continued to be much more likely than Whites (3.7 percent) and Asians (2.6 percent) to be among the working poor.² (See table 2.)
• The likelihood of being classified as working poor diminishes as workers attain higher levels of education. Among those with less than a high school diploma, 13.0 percent of those who were in the labor force for at least 27 weeks were classified as working poor, compared with 1.3 percent of those with a bachelor’s degree and higher. (See table 3.)
• Individuals who were employed in service occupations remained more likely to be among the working poor than those employed in other major occupational groups. (See table 4.)
• Among families with at least one member in the labor force for 27 weeks or more, those with children under 18 years old (7.9 percent) were about four times as likely as those without children (1.9 percent) to live in poverty. Families maintained by women (13.1 percent) were more than twice as likely as families maintained by men (5.9 percent) to be living below the poverty level. (See table 5.)

Table A. Poverty status of people and primary families in the labor force for 27 weeks or more, 2008–20 (Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Total in the labor force1	147,838	147,902	146,859	147,475	148,735	149,483	150,319	152,230	153,364	154,762	156,454	157,769	153,201
In poverty	8,883	10,391	10,512	10,382	10,612	10,450	9,487	8,560	7,572	6,946	6,964	6,318	6,306
Working poor rate	6.0	7.0	7.2	7.0	7.1	7.0	6.3	5.6	4.9	4.5	4.5	4.0	4.1
Unrelated individuals	32,785	33,798	34,099	33,731	34,810	35,061	35,018	35,953	35,789	36,959	37,082	36,805	37,080
In poverty	3,275	3,947	3,947	3,621	3,851	4,141	3,395	3,137	2,792	2,524	2,684	2,445	2,424
Working poor rate	10.0	11.7	11.6	10.7	11.1	11.8	9.7	8.7	7.8	6.8	7.2	6.6	6.5
Primary families2	65,907	65,467	64,931	66,225	66,541	66,462	66,732	67,193	67,628	67,588	68,099	68,318	66,781
In poverty	4,538	5,193	5,269	5,469	5,478	5,137	5,108	4,607	4,082	3,854	3,628	3,232	3,260
Working poor rate	6.9	7.9	8.1	8.3	8.2	7.7	7.7	6.9	6.0	5.7	5.3	4.7	4.9
1 Includes individuals in families, not shown separately. 2 Primary families with at least one member in the labor force for more than half the year. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey (CPS), Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC).

This report presents data on the relationship between labor force activity and poverty status in 2020 for workers and their families. These data were collected in the 2021 Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey. (For a detailed description of the source of the data and an explanation of the concepts and definitions used in the report, see the technical notes.) Data in this report reflect the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the labor market. The specific income thresholds used to determine people’s poverty status vary depending on whether the individuals are living with family members, living alone, or living with nonrelatives. For people living with family members, the poverty threshold is determined by the family’s total income; for individuals not living in families, personal income is used as the determinant.

Demographic characteristics

Among those who were in the labor force for 27 weeks or more in 2020, the number of women classified as working poor (3.4 million) was higher than that of men (3.0 million). The working-poor rate also continued to be higher for women (4.6 percent) than for men (3.6 percent). The working-poor rates for both women and men were little different from a year earlier. (See table 2.)

Hispanics and Blacks were much more likely than Whites and Asians to be among the working poor. In 2020, the working-poor rates for Hispanics and Blacks were 7.4 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively, compared with 3.7 percent for Whites and 2.6 percent for Asians. (See table 2 and chart 2.)

Among Whites and Blacks, the working-poor rate was higher for women than for men in 2020. The rates for White women and White men who spent at least 27 weeks in the labor force were 4.0 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively. The rate for Black women was 8.1 percent, compared with 5.1 percent for Black men. For Asians and Hispanics, the working-poor rates for women varied slightly from those of men. The working-poor rate for Asian women was 2.8 percent and the rate for men was 2.4 percent. Among Hispanics, the rate for women was 7.8 percent, and the rate for men was 7.2 percent. (See table 2.)

There are disparities in the distribution of poverty among the different race groups by age. Even though the working-poor rate for women overall was little different from the previous year, women ages 20 to 24 saw their rate increase significantly—by 1.4 percentage points to 9.7 percent—over the year. Among race and ethnicity groups, White women ages 20 to 24 saw an increase to 8.8 percent in 2020. Black women ages 25 to 34 experienced a decrease to 12.1 percent over the year. The working-poor rate for Hispanic women ages 25 to 34 saw an increase to 8.8 percent, and Hispanic women ages 35 to 44 saw an increase to 9.6 percent over the year. (See table 2.) The increase in working-poor rates in some of these age groups coincided with the 2020 recession associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. (More information about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labor market is available at https://www.bls.gov/cps/effects-of-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic.htm.)

Young workers are more likely to have higher working-poor rates than are workers in older age groups, in part because earnings are lower for young workers and the unemployment rate for young workers is higher. Among youths who were in the labor force for 27 weeks or more, 7.8 percent of 16- to 19-year-olds and 7.9 percent of 20- to 24-year-olds had incomes that fell below the official poverty level in 2020. Those rates were higher than the rates for workers ages 25 to 34 (5.0 percent) and those ages 35 to 44 (4.6 percent). Workers ages 45 to 54, 55 to 64, and 65 and older had lower working-poor rates—3.0 percent, 2.5 percent, and 1.5 percent, respectively—than did those in younger age groups. Younger workers are more likely than older workers to be employed in service occupations, an occupational group hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, employment declined more sharply among part-time workers because of the pandemic and younger workers are more likely to be employed part time. (More information about how the pandemic affected people working part time is available at https://www.bls.gov/covid19/effects-of-covid-19-pandemic-and-response-on-the-employment-situation-news-release.htm#ques17.) (See table 2.)

Educational attainment

Achieving higher levels of education reduces the incidence of living in poverty. People who complete more years of education usually have greater access to higher paying jobs—such as management, professional, and related occupations—than those with fewer years of education. Among people in the labor force for 27 weeks or more in 2020, those with less than a high school diploma had the highest working-poor rate, at 13.0 percent, while those with a bachelor’s degree and higher had the lowest, at 1.3 percent. For high school graduates and those with some college or associate’s degree, women were more likely than men to be among the working poor. The working-poor rates were little different for men and women with a bachelor’s degree and higher and for those with less than a high school diploma. (See table 3 and chart 3.)

For people with a bachelor’s degree and higher, all race and ethnicity groups had similar working-poor rates, ranging from 1.1 percent to 2.1 percent. For those with less than a high school diploma, the working poor rate for Asians (8.7 percent) was lower than the rates for Whites (12.1 percent), Hispanics (14.8 percent), and Blacks (19.4 percent) in 2020.

Occupation

The likelihood of being among the working poor varies widely by occupation. Workers in occupations requiring higher education and characterized by relatively high earnings—such as management, professional, and related occupations—were least likely to be classified as working poor. For example, 1.4 percent of those in management, professional, and related occupations were among the working poor in 2020. By contrast, individuals employed in occupations that typically do not require high levels of education and that are characterized by relatively low earnings were more likely to be among the working poor. For instance, 8.4 percent of workers in service occupations who were in the labor force for at least 27 weeks were classified as working poor in 2020. The 2.0 million working poor employed in service occupations accounted for about one-third of all those classified as working poor. (See table 4.)

For most occupational groups, women had higher working-poor rates than men. However, the rates for men and women were little different in management, professional, and related occupations (1.2 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively). For both men and women, working-poor rates were lowest in this occupational group. The working-poor rate for women in service occupations was 10.1 percent while the rate for men was 6.2 percent.

Families

In 2020, 3.3 million families were living below the poverty level despite having at least one member in the labor force for half the year or more. This figure was little different from the prior year. Among families with only one member in the labor force for at least 27 weeks in 2020, married-couple families were less likely to be living below the poverty level, at 6.3 percent, than were families maintained by women, at 17.5 percent, and families maintained by men, at 8.6 percent. (See
table 5.)

Among families with at least one member in the labor force for more than half the year, those with children in the household were much more likely, at 7.9 percent, to live below the poverty level than those without children at 1.9 percent. However, those without children experienced a 0.3-percentage-point increase in their working-poor rate while the rate for those with children changed little over the year. Among families with children under 18, the working-poor rate for those maintained by women (18.9 percent) was higher than the rate for those maintained by men (8.3 percent). Married-couple families with children under 18 had a working-poor rate of 4.4 percent.

Unrelated individuals

The “unrelated individuals” category includes individuals who live by themselves or with others not related to them. Of the 37.1 million unrelated individuals who were in the labor force for half the year or longer, 2.4 million lived below the poverty level in 2020. This measure was essentially unchanged from a year earlier. The working-poor rate for unrelated individuals who were in the labor force for 27 weeks or more was 6.5 percent, little different from last year’s figure. (See table 6.)

Within the group of unrelated individuals, teenagers continued to be most likely to be among the working poor. In 2020, 36.5 percent of teens (ages 16 to 19) who were in the labor force for 27 weeks or more and who lived on their own or with others not related to them lived below the poverty level, little changed from the prior year. In 2020, the working-poor rates for men and women living alone or with nonrelatives were 5.9 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively. The rates for unrelated individuals were higher for Hispanics (10.2 percent) and Blacks (7.9 percent) than for Whites (6.1 percent) and Asians (5.5 percent). (See table 7.)

Of the 2.4 million unrelated individuals considered to be among the working poor in 2020, about 3 out of 5 lived with others. These individuals had a higher working-poor rate (8.3 percent) than individuals who lived alone (4.8 percent). Many unrelated individuals living below the poverty level may live with others out of necessity. By contrast, many of those who live alone do so because they have sufficient income to support themselves. Unrelated individuals’ poverty status, however, is determined by each person’s resources. The pooling of resources and sharing of living expenses may permit some individuals in this category—who are technically classified as poor—to live at a higher standard than they would have if they lived alone.

Labor market problems

As noted earlier, people who usually work full time are less likely to live in poverty than are those who work part time, yet there remains a sizable group of full-time workers who live below the poverty threshold. Among those who participated in the labor force for 27 weeks or more and usually worked in full-time wage and salary jobs, 2.9 million, or 2.4 percent, were classified as working poor in 2020—little different than the 3.0-million figure a year earlier. (See table 8.)

There are three major labor market problems that can hinder a worker’s ability to earn an income that is above the poverty threshold: low earnings, periods of unemployment, and involuntary part-time employment.

In 2020, 83 percent of the working poor who usually work full time experienced at least one of the major labor market problems. Low earnings continued to be the most common problem, with 61 percent subject to low earnings, either as the only problem or in combination with other labor market problems. Forty-three percent experienced unemployment as the main labor market problem or in conjunction with other problems, an increase of 16.6 percentage points from the prior year, an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Five percent of the working poor experienced all three problems: low earnings, unemployment, and involuntary part-time employment. (See table 8.)

Some 490,000, or 17 percent, of the working poor who usually worked full time did not experience any of the three primary labor market problems, a decline of 114,000 in 2020. Their classification as working poor may be explained by other factors, including short-term employment, some weeks of voluntary part-time work, or a family structure that increases the risk of poverty.