Economic Insufficiency

FOR AN INDIVIDUAL or a household, economic sufficiency means maintaining a decent standard of living and not having to choose between basic necessities such as medical care and food. An economically self-suffi-cient household is able to meet basic needs without relying on the help of government transfers or private assistance.

Economic insufficiency implies just the opposite. Many struggle with economic insufficiency largely because of inadequate incomes. Working full-time all year does not necessarily translate into economic sufficiency. Those who live in a state of economic insufficiency typically also live in a state of material deprivation with inadequate consumption of particular goods and services such as food, clothing, housing, medical care, and child-care. Absolute-income measures of poverty do not identify many who experience economic insufficiency.

Indicators of annual income may misrepresent actual household economic and material resources. Additionally, households face different demands on their economic resources. For example, the need for out-of-pocket healthcare and childcare expenditures varies across households. Some might suggest that a state of economic insufficiency is caused by preferences in spending and/or financial management. However, research shows that generally households that lack nonnecessities generally lack necessities as well.

One alternative measure in the United States that seeks to capture a household's level of economic self-sufficiency is the Standard for Self-Sufficiency (SSS). The standard takes into account differing costs associated with family size and regional variations in stan-dard-of-living costs. The SSS takes into account actual housing costs in the area, food, estimated care costs, transportation, childcare, and miscellaneous essential [Page 291]items. The result is an income figure that exceeds ab-solute-income measures of poverty and an income figure adequate to meet basic needs without relying on public or private assistance.

Economic insufficiency is not just a matter of meeting basic needs. It also impacts longer-term economic sufficiency by interfering with an individual's potential social and economic development. Being well nourished, adequately sheltered, and in good health enables an individual to be productive in the broader sense. For example, well-nourished, healthy, and adequately sheltered adults are likely to have more regular employment, to be more effective parents, and to participate more actively in their communities.

Central to building economic sufficiency are access to education and training and access to jobs that provide real potential for skill development and career advancement over the long term. Although training and education do not have the same urgency as basic needs, true long-term economic sufficiency increasingly necessitates investments that enhance job skills and adaptability.

Economic insufficiency is also a community-level issue. Within a community, economic self-sufficiency is a level of social and economic development in which that community can control and internally generate resources to provide for the needs of its members and meet its own economic and social goals. Community and institutional supports enable the availability of affordable housing, public transportation, neighborhood safety, and accessible jobs. Social and economic underdevelopment is the paramount obstacle to economic sufficiency.

While provision of government services helps to reduce economic insufficiency, a more sustainable focus involves increasing community and individual productivity through community development within low-income and poor communities that lack the infrastructure and jobs needed to support movement from economic insufficiency to economic sufficiency.

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