Gainful employment helps combat poverty

Feb. 09--Oklahoma has the highest percentage of people working minimum wage jobs or below in the entire country, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That plays a part in the state's 16.6 percent poverty rate, contends writer Phyllis Lewelling.

"Employment is crucial in alleviating poverty," Lewelling writes. "What is not taken into consideration is that most poor adults are already working, looking for work, or are disabled or ill."

That's from the Gospel Rescue Mission's newest White Paper, which discusses the intersection of employment opportunities and poverty. The paper is the fifth in a series of discussions on the root causes of poverty.

"A single parent who works full time at minimum wage and has one or more dependents, still falls below the poverty line," Lewelling said. "Increasing work will require addressing barriers to work."

Those barriers include education, a criminal background, and disabilities, as well as a failure of labor unions to modernize and a habitual search for "getting by" jobs rather than dream careers, Lewelling writes.

In education, for example, Lewelling feels that reform is needed to better prepare students for the real world, she writes.

"Currently, our education system does not prepare students for careers. Every year the school district does testing, but those results are only used to rate the schools," Lewelling said. "What if that testing was designed to find out where the student's strengths and weaknesses lie?"

Reform of the criminal justice system is also necessary to combat unemployment of convicted felons, which in turn combats recidivism, Lewelling argues.

"Something needs to be done, some policies set in place, so that when men and women are released into society again gainful employment is available," Lewelling writes. "The recidivism rate among the unemployed offenders was 42.4 percent. Recidivism among the employed was 26.2 percent. These individuals also need stable jobs to support themselves and loved ones."

Lewelling recommends in-prison job training and addiction recovery programs as potential avenues for improvement.

The paper contends, ultimately, that gainful, desired employment may not be a catch-all cure for poverty, but it's a good place to start.

"Employment as a cause of poverty is very relevant," Lewelling said. "While just a job alone is not a ticket out of poverty, it is definitely a step in the right direction."

The paper marks the last in the Gospel Rescue Mission's series of white papers, for now. Executive Director Rich Schaus said the papers were internally improving the Mission's day-to-day operations -- as well as serving as a call to action.

"These papers are helping us really understand poverty. They are making us better at what we do and enabling us to serve our guests better," Schaus said. "These papers are also inspiring me to get more involved in the larger social justice issues that revolve around poverty."

More than anything, the papers prove the value of the perspectives their authors bring to the table, Schaus said.

"It's exciting to think that these men and women will have a voice when it comes to helping to reduce poverty in our community," he said.

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