Unrelated Individuals: A "Backwash" Poverty Population.

In this article it is argued that among American families there are certain identifiable groups whose rate of poverty reduction was relatively unresponsive to the general rate of economic growth and progress. These groups were: farm families, families with a head 65 years and over, nonwhite families, and families with a female head. These groups were also labeled "minority" population groups as they comprise the smaller part of a given population category. "Majority" population groups comprised the larger part of a given population category and showed a significantly greater responsiveness to economic growth in their rates of poverty reduction. Because poor "minority" group families appear to be considerably less responsive to economic growth and progress in reducing their level of poverty incidence than are "majority" group families, it was argued that the former constitute a relative "backwash" among which poverty can be expected to become increasingly more concentrated if past relationships are allowed to prevail into the future.