CS 79 Appendix 2 Family Poverty Status

Family Poverty Status and Family Poverty Level variables are calculated using the Poverty Income Guidelines, updated yearly by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Poverty Income Guidelines use one person as a base and an increment is added to that figure for each single person increase in family size.

An NLSY79 respondent is determined to be in poverty if the family income for the last calendar year for the family size is below the Poverty Income Guidelines. The family poverty level, available for survey years 1979, 1987 and later survey years, is the actual federal Poverty Income Guideline amount for each NLSY79 respondent based on the family size for that survey year.

Three sets of guidelines exist, one each for 1) the contiguous 48 states, 2) Alaska, and 3) Hawaii. The figures for Alaska and Hawaii apply scaling factors of 1.25 and 1.15 (respectively) of the figure for the contiguous 48 states. These figures mean that the guidelines for Alaska are 1.25 times those for the contiguous 48 states (or 25% greater), and the guidelines for Hawaii are 1.15 times those of the contiguous 48 states (or 15% greater). In addition, a distinction was made between farm and non-farm families for the contiguous 48 states, Alaska, and Hawaii. Poverty Income Guidelines for farm families were defined as 85% of those for non-farm families. This farm and non-farm distinction was officially eliminated after 1982, and that change was reflected in the NLSY79 variable creation.

For survey years 1980 through 1986, CHRR staff projected poverty guidelines used in the NLSY79 household interview schedule and in the creation of poverty status. This was done because the guidelines were issued in February of the survey year, more than a month after all materials had to be printed for the field period.

For survey years 1979 and 1987 and after, changes in the household interview eliminated the need for projected poverty guidelines, and the actual Poverty Income Guidelines were used in the creation of the NLSY79 poverty status. Because of these changes, there is a higher missing rate in the later survey years on the family poverty status variable for these years.

The 1979 NLSY79 household interview schedules did not use the Poverty Income Guidelines. As a result, when the family poverty status and the family poverty level variables were created in 1990, the actual federal Poverty Income Guidelines were used.

Since the 1979 family poverty status variable was not created until 1990, a modified version of the family poverty status variable creation was used. First, if the created total net family income variable R(2179.) was greater than zero then income was compared to the Poverty Income Guideline amount for the respondent's family size, farm/non-farm distinction, and state of residence. Second, if the total net family income was less than zero, an abbreviated version of income was calculated using selected income variables (primarily earned income variables and other income variables that did not require computation of the number of months that the income was received). This abbreviated income amount was only used to determine if the family was not in poverty. Third, if the family poverty status was not computed based on either of the previous scenarios, then the screener income R(1916.10), if it was greater than zero, was compared to the Poverty Income Guideline amount for the respondent's screener family size, farm/non-farm distinction, and 1979 state of residence. A special flag variable (R2179.30) was created so that users could determine which income value was used to create the poverty status and the poverty level.

1980-2006 NLSY79 Family Poverty Status and 1988-2006 Family Poverty Level variable creation is contained in the algorithm for Total Net Family Income, which is part of this appendix.

The following is a brief description of the procedure used by NLSY79 staff to project the Poverty Income Guidelines that were used in the NLSY79 Family Poverty Status and Family Poverty Level variables. All procedures are applied to the various sets of guidelines and the income increments for those guidelines.

From 1980-1986, NLSY79 staff used the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the two years preceding the actual NLSY79 survey year to project the Poverty Income Guidelines for the NLSY79 survey year. The following steps were taken:

This step requires an assumption that the degree of change in the CPI between the two years preceding the NLSY79 survey year is a reasonable estimate of the change that will occur between the year immediately previous and the actual NLSY79 survey year. The accuracy of these projections varies. All may be considered reasonable. However, some figures are more precise than others.

Copies of the computed Poverty Income Guidelines 1980-1986 and the federal Poverty Income Guidelines for 1979, 1987 and subsequent years are part of this documentation.

Questions about the use of the poverty guidelines in one of the outlying jurisdictions (Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Commonwealth of the North Marianas, and Palau) by a Federal program serving any of those jurisdictions should be referred to the Federal office which is responsible for the individual program involved.

	Non-Farm			Farm
Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 3,400	$ 4,270	$ 3,930	$ 2,910	$ 3,650	$ 3,350
2	4,500	5,640	5,910	3,840	4,810	4,420
3	5,600	7,010	6,450	4,770	5,970	5,490
4	6,700	8,380	7,710	5,700	7,130	6,560
5	7,800	9,750	8,970	6,630	8,290	7,630
6	8,900	11,120	10,230	7,560	9,450	8,700
Each add'l person	$ 1,100	$ 1,370	$ 1,260	$ 930	$ 1,160	$ 1,070

	Non-Farm			Farm
Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$3,770	$4,740	$4,350	$3,220	$4,030	$3,690
2	5,000	6,270	5,760	4,260	5,330	4,890
3	6,230	7,800	7,170	5,300	6,630	6,090
4	7,460	9,330	8,580	6,340	7,930	7,290
5	8,690	10,860	9,990	7,380	9,230	8,490
6	9,920	12,390	11,400	8,420	10,530	9,690
7	11,150	13,920	12,810	9,460	11,830	10,890
8	12,380	15,450	14,220	10,500	13,130	12,090
9	13,610	16,980	15,630	11,540	14,430	13,290
10	14,840	18,510	17,040	12,580	15,730	14,490
11	16,070	20,040	18,450	13,620	17,030	15,690
12	17,300	21,570	19,860	14,660	18,330	16,890
13	18,530	23,100	21,270	15,700	19,630	18,090
14	19,760	24,630	22,680	16,740	20,930	19,290
15	20,990	26,160	24,090	17,780	22,230	20,490
16	22,220	27,690	25,500	18,820	23,530	21,690
17	23,450	29,220	26,910	19,860	24,830	22,890
18	24,680	30,750	28,320	20,900	26,130	24,090
19	25,910	32,280	29,730	21,940	27,430	25,290
20	27,140	33,810	31,140	22,980	28,730	26,490
Each add'l person	$ 1230	$ 1530	$ 1410	$ 1040	$ 1300	$ 1200

	Non-Farm			Farm
Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 4,320	$ 5,400	$ 4,970	$ 3,690	$ 4,660	$ 4,270
2	5,700	7,130	6,560	4,860	6,110	5,610
3	7,080	8,860	8,150	6,030	7,560	6,950
4	8,460	10,590	9,740	7,200	9,010	8,290
5	9,840	12,320	11,330	8,370	10,460	9,630
6	11,220	14,050	12,900	9,540	11,910	10,970
7	12,600	15,780	14,510	10,710	13,360	12,310
8	13,980	17,510	16,100	11,880	14,810	13,650
9	15,360	19,240	17,690	13,050	16,260	14,990
10	16,740	20,970	19,280	14,220	17,710	16,330
11	18,120	22,700	20,870	15,390	19,160	17,670
12	19,500	24,430	22,460	16,560	20,610	19,010
13	20,880	26,160	24,050	17,730	22,060	20,350
14	22,260	27,890	25,640	18,900	23,510	21,690
15	23,640	29,620	27,230	20,070	24,960	23,030
16	25,020	31,350	28,820	21,240	26,410	24,370
17	26,400	33,080	30,410	22,410	27,860	25,710
18	27,780	34,810	32,000	23,580	29,310	27,050
19	29,160	36,540	33,590	24,750	30,760	28,390
20	30,540	38,270	35,180	25,920	32,210	29,730
Each add'l person	$ 1,380	$ 1,730	$ 1,590	$ 1,170	$ 1,450	$ 1,340

	Non-Farm			Farm
Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 4,320	$ 5,400	$ 4,970	$ 3,690	$ 4,660	$ 4,270
2	5,700	7,130	6,560	4,860	6,110	5,610
3	7,080	8,860	8,150	6,030	7,560	6,950
4	8,460	10,590	9,740	7,200	9,010	8,290
5	9,840	12,320	11,330	8,370	10,460	9,630
6	11,220	14,050	12,900	9,540	11,910	10,970
7	12,600	15,780	14,510	10,710	13,360	12,310
8	13,980	17,510	16,100	11,880	14,810	13,650
9	15,360	19,240	17,690	13,050	16,260	14,990
10	16,740	20,970	19,280	14,220	17,710	16,330
11	18,120	22,700	20,870	15,390	19,160	17,670
12	19,500	24,430	22,460	16,560	20,610	19,010
13	20,880	26,160	24,050	17,730	22,060	20,350
14	22,260	27,890	25,640	18,900	23,510	21,690
15	23,640	29,620	27,230	20,070	24,960	23,030
16	25,020	31,350	28,820	21,240	26,410	24,370
17	26,400	33,080	30,410	22,410	27,860	25,710
18	27,780	34,810	32,000	23,580	29,310	27,050
19	29,160	36,540	33,590	24,750	30,760	28,390
20	30,540	38,270	35,180	25,920	32,210	29,730
Each add'l person	$ 1,380	$ 1,730	$ 1,590	$ 1,170	$ 1,450	$ 1,340

	Non-Farm			Farm
Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 4,910	$ 6,160	$ 5,670	$ 4,200	$ 5,290	$ 4,850
2	6,530	8,180	7,530	5,570	6,990	6,420
3	8,150	10,200	9,390	6,940	8,690	7,990
4	9,770	12,220	11,250	8,310	10,390	9,560
5	11,390	14,240	13,110	9,680	12,090	11,130
6	13,010	16,260	14,970	11,050	13,790	12,700
7	14,630	18,280	16,830	12,420	15,490	14,270
8	16,250	20,300	18,690	13,790	17,190	15,840
9	17,870	22,320	20,550	15,160	18,890	17,410
10	19,490	24,340	22,410	16,530	20,590	18,980
11	21,110	26,360	24,270	17,900	22,290	20,550
12	22,730	28,380	26,130	19,270	23,990	22,120
13	24,350	30,400	27,990	20,640	25,690	23,690
14	25,970	32,420	29,850	22,010	27,390	25,260
15	27,590	34,440	31,710	23,380	29,090	26,830
Each add'l person	$ 1,620	$ 2,020	$ 1,860	$ 1,370	$ 1,700	$ 1,570

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 5,010	$ 6,280	$ 6,790
2	6,750	8,450	7,780
3	8,490	10,620	9,770
4	10,230	12,790	11,760
5	11,970	14,960	13,750
6	13,710	17,130	15,740
7	15,450	19,300	17,730
8	17,190	21,470	19,720
9	18,930	23,640	21,710
10	20,670	25,810	23,700
11	22,410	27,980	25,690
12	24,150	30,150	27,680
13	25,890	32,320	29,670
14	27,630	34,490	31,660
15	29,370	36,660	33,650
Each add'l person	$ 1,740	$ 2,170	$ 1,990

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 5,180	$ 6,500	$ 5,970
2	6,990	8,760	8,050
3	8,800	11,020	10,130
4	10,610	13,280	12,210
5	12,420	15,540	14,290
6	14,230	17,800	16,370
7	16,040	20,060	18,450
8	17,850	22,320	20,530
9	19,660	24,580	22,610
10	21,470	26,840	24,690
11	23,280	29,100	26,770
12	25,090	31,360	28,850
13	26,900	33,620	30,930
14	28,710	35,880	33,010
15	30,520	38,140	35,090
16	32,330	40,400	37,170
17	34,140	42,660	39,250
18	35,950	44,920	41,330
19	37,760	47,180	43,410
20	39,570	49,440	45,490
Each add'l person	$ 1,810	$ 2,260	$ 2,080

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 5,430	$ 6,790	$ 6,250
2	7,290	9,120	8,390
3	9,150	11,450	10,530
4	11,010	13,780	12,670
5	12,870	16,110	14,810
6	14,730	18,440	16,950
7	16,590	20,770	19,090
8	18,450	23,100	21,230
9	20,310	25,430	23,370
10	22,170	27,760	25,510
11	24,030	30,090	27,650
12	25,890	32,420	29,790
13	27,750	34,750	31,930
14	29,610	37,080	34,070
15	31,470	39,410	36,210
16	33,330	41,740	38,350
17	35,190	44,070	40,490
18	37,050	46,400	42,630
19	38,910	48,730	44,770
20	40,770	51,060	46,910
Each add'l person	$ 1,860	$ 2,330	$ 2,140

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 5,550	$ 6,680	$ 6,310
2	7,400	9,240	8,500
3	9,300	11,620	10,690
4	11,200	14,000	12,880
5	13,100	16,380	15,070
6	15,000	18,760	17,260
7	16,900	21,140	19,450
8	18,800	23,520	21,640
Each add'l person	$ 1,900	$ 2,380	$ 2,190

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 5,770	$ 7,210	$ 6,650
2	7,730	9,660	8,900
3	9,690	12,110	11,150
4	11,650	14,560	13,400
5	13,610	17,010	15,650
6	15,570	19,460	17,900
7	17,530	21,910	20,150
8	19,490	24,360	22,400
Each add'l person	$ 1,960	$ 2,450	$ 2,250

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 5,980	$ 7,480	$ 6,870
2	8,020	10,030	9,220
3	10,060	12,580	11,570
4	12,100	15,130	13,920
5	14,140	17,680	16,270
6	16,180	20,230	18,620
7	18,220	22,780	20,970
8	20,260	25,330	23,320
Each add'l person	$ 2,040	$ 2,550	$ 2,350

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 6,280	$ 7,840	$ 7,230
2	8,420	10,520	9,690
3	10,560	13,200	12,150
4	12,700	15,880	14,610
5	14,840	18,560	17,070
6	16,980	21,240	19,530
7	19,120	23,920	21,990
8	21,260	26,600	24,450
Each add'l person	$ 2,140	$ 2,680	$ 2,460

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 6,620	$ 8,290	$ 7,610
2	8,880	11,110	10,210
3	11,140	13,930	12,810
4	13,400	16,750	15,410
5	15,660	19,570	18,010
6	17,920	22,390	20,610
7	20,180	25,210	23,210
8	22,440	28,030	25,810
Each add'l person	$ 2,260	$ 2,820	$ 2,600

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 6,810	$ 8,500	$ 7,830
2	9,190	11,480	10,570
3	11,570	14,460	13,310
4	13,950	17,440	16,050
5	16,330	20,420	18,790
6	18,710	23,400	21,530
7	21,090	26,380	24,270
8	23,470	29,360	27,010
Each add'l person	$ 2,380	$ 2,980	$ 2,740

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 7,360	$ 9,200	$ 8,470
2	9,840	12,300	11,320
3	12,320	15,400	14,170
4	14,800	18,500	17,020
5	17,280	21,600	19,870
6	19,760	24,700	22,720
7	22,240	27,800	25,570
8	24,720	30,900	28,420
Each add'l person	$ 2,480	$ 3,100	$ 2,850

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 7,360	$ 9,200	$ 8,470
2	9,840	12,300	11,320
3	12,320	15,400	14,170
4	14,800	18,500	17,020
5	17,280	21,600	19,870
6	19,760	24,700	22,720
7	22,240	27,800	25,570
8	24,720	30,900	28,420
Each add'l person	$ 2,480	$ 3,100	$ 2,850

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 7,470	$ 9,340	$ 8,610
2	10,030	12,540	11,550
3	12,590	15,740	14,490
4	15,150	18,940	17,430
5	17,710	22,140	20,370
6	20,270	25,340	23,310
7	22,830	28,540	26,250
8	25,390	31,740	29,190
Each add'l person	$ 2,560	$ 3,200	$ 2,940

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 7,890	$ 9,870	$ 9,070
2	10,610	13,270	12,200
3	13,330	16,670	15,330
4	16,050	20,070	18,460
5	18,770	23,470	21,590
6	21,490	26,870	24,720
7	24,210	30,270	27,850
8	26,930	33,670	30,980
Each add'l person	$ 2,720	$ 3,400	$ 3,130

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 8,240	$10,320	$ 9490
2	11,060	13,840	12,730
3	13,880	17,360	15,970
4	16,700	20,880	19,210
5	19,520	24,400	22,450
6	22,340	27,920	25,690
7	25,160	31,440	28,930
8	27,980	34,960	32,170
Each add'l person	$ 2,820	$ 3,520	$ 3,240

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 8,590	$10,730	$ 9,890
2	11,610	14,510	13,360
3	14,630	18,290	16,830
4	17,650	22,070	20,300
5	20,670	25,850	23,770
6	23,690	29,630	27,240
7	26,710	33,410	30,710
8	29,730	37,190	34,180
Each add'l person	$ 3,020	$ 3,780	$ 3,470

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 8,980	$11,210	$10,330
2	12,120	15,140	13,940
3	15,260	19,070	17,550
4	18,400	23,000	21,160
5	21,540	26,930	24,770
6	24,680	30,860	28,380
7	27,820	34,790	31,990
8	30,960	38,720	35,600
Each add'l person	3,140	3,930	3,610

Size of family unit	Contiguous (48) states and District of Columbia	Alaska	Hawaii
1	$ 9,570	$11,950	$11,010
2	12,830	16,030	14,760
3	16,090	20,110	18,510
4	19,350	24,190	22,260
5	22,610	28,270	26,010
6	25,870	32,350	29,760
7	29,130	36,430	33,510
8	32,390	40,510	37,260
Each add'l person	3,260	4,080	3,750

APPENDIX 2: FAMILY POVERTY STATUS AND FAMILY POVERTY LEVEL VARIABLES

Introduction