Poverty is something that afflicts large swaths of the world population, whether this is noticeable or not. According to the World Bank in as recent as 2020, it was estimated that about 9.2% of the entire world – or, to better illustrate this, roughly 689 million people – were living in a state of extreme poverty everyday; struggling to get by on poor wages and even poorer living conditions. People in poverty can often toil their entire lives away trying to get their heads above the waterline, and lack of sufficient government support can cause most of these efforts to escape poverty to be for naught. Therefore, it becomes crucially important for governments to further aid the poorest communities among us, and finally help them out of the dire everyday situations they struggle within.
When it comes to poverty, it is important to recognize that anyone could potentially come into poverty at any time. They could have lost all their money to scammers, or thieves, or even a less-than-scrupulous forex broker in Malaysia. In fact, it is very possible that a person may suffer huge losses in the stock or forex market whether they did a sufficient forex market review in Malaysia or received adequate forex market feedback in Malaysia or not; as no one can reliably predict what direction these markets could take. Regardless of their reasons, people in poverty deserve all the governmental help and assistance they need to pull themselves above the waterline; and here are 3 ways these could manifest:
Minimum Wage
In countries like the USA, the enacted national minimum wage is often not sufficient for a person to live comfortably. While the minimum wage may seem like it’s increased by leaps and bounds since previous generations, factors such as inflation, rising prices, and monetary depreciation are often not considered; making it difficult for many minimum wage workers to afford many of the necessities they need on a day-to-day basis. Furthermore, some people in dire situations may even be exploited to work below the minimum wage; trapping them in an endless cycle of poverty which may be incredibly difficult to escape.
Therefore, it becomes important for the government to check carefully if the national minimum wage is actually sufficient for populations to maintain a comfortable living and financial situation. If not, steps should be taken to increase the minimum wage, as well as providing legal ramifications for those who seek to exploit the vulnerable among us by paying them below the standard. Furthermore, it is also important to recognize that many people who are underpaid, and do not have the financial wherewithal to consider quitting or looking for better offers, do not know how to fix their situation – as such, on top of increasing minimum wage, governments should also look to increasing awareness on how to seek legal support in situations like these so they are entitled to the wages they deserve.
Improved Welfare Benefits
While most countries around the world do offer some form of welfare benefits to those in need, cases have shown that these welfare benefits are still simply not enough. Sometimes, those who receive welfare benefits from the government still find themselves struggling in some way or another; whether this is because the benefits received are still too little, or other reasons stemming from problems with the welfare system. For example, some people on welfare may experience difficulties with getting higher paying jobs due to welfare cut-off points, in which welfare benefits are taken away and taxes increase to remove any additional wages they may earn (also known as “the benefits trap”). Additionally, obstacles in applying for welfare, such as insufficient knowledge on how to or extreme poverty stigma for those who do, may obstruct those who desperately need them.
Therefore, the government should seek to improve their welfare system to ensure that all who need it are helped, rather than further burdened, by the program. If the benefits provided are simply too little to help one escape poverty, the government could begin with increasing them; meanwhile, if not enough people know how to apply for said benefits, campaigns could be launched to educate the public these matters (after all, anyone could suddenly come into poverty at some point in their life). Even for those who never experience poverty themselves, a campaign could also raise awareness as to the plights of the poor and help increase sympathy, and therefore reduce stigma, about those in poverty.
New Job Opportunities
Often, poverty in certain countries is caused by high rates of unemployment. Therefore, steps can be taken by the government into creating more new jobs for those who need them, such as launching projects to improve infrastructure, rebuild homes, and the like. Not only can these help improve the overall state of the nation, it can also help many people in poverty and unemployment find a source of income; and is therefore a good direction to take for governments hoping to help their poverty-stricken populations.
