The Nation - News from Dec. 22, 1986

High unemployment and falling wages were most responsible for the 7-million increase in the number of poor Americans since 1979, according to a government study. Prepared by the staff of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, the study challenged the view propounded by conservatives in and out of the Administration that an increase in teen-age pregnancies and single-parent families has accounted for much of the decade’s rise in poverty. “The poverty rate seems to rise and fall in lock step with the unemployment rate,” which averaged 5.8% in 1979, rose to 9.5% in 1983 and now averages 7%, the study said. The findings were expected to fuel the debate over raising the minimum wage, which has remained at $3.35 an hour since 1981.