The political left does not believe this or they would not advocate job training programs. It is also difficult to believe that the expansion of the welfare was timed perfectly so that it exactly canceled out the increase that economic changes caused. One must further believe that this exact balance has continued for thirty years. Something happened in the sixties that arrested the systematic reduction in poverty of the previous three decades. The most plausible explanation is that economic, cultural and governmental changes all inadvertently conspired to mire a fixed percentage of the population in poverty.
Poverty rates are far higher for families headed by single woman.
The rapid increase of the people in this category began to arrest the trend toward the elimination of poverty. At the same time, well-intentioned increases in welfare payments and housing, food, and medical programs subsidized young, unwed mothers. Poor children of unwed mothers are far more likely to find themselves on welfare as well. Generation to generation poverty begins. In the 1930s, the Social Security Act substantially alleviated destitution among the elderly.