Advocate Group Says One Third Of New Jersey Lives In Poverty

By David Madden

EDISON, N.J., (CBS) -- A New Jersey group that advocates for the poor has issued a new report that might surprise some people.

Legal Services of New Jersey, based in Edison, released a 146 page report which establishes the poverty line in the Garden State at 250% of where the feds put it. By that standard, the group suggests that 2.8 million people are living in poverty and little is being done to address the issue.

As an example, a family of four would have to earn more than 60 thousand dollars a year to rise above the group's definition of poverty.

LSNJ President Melville Miller says this study looks at practical costs for everything from clothing and food to health care, housing and transportation. It also defines living in poverty as being significantly deprived of any one particular need.

In an interview with KYW Newsradio, Miller concedes that employment in New Jersey is up, but it is not even close to meeting the needs of a large number of residents. "We know that most of the job growth in New Jersey over the past five years, post the Great Recession, has been in low-end low-wage service sector jobs," Miller said. "So they would not have any effect really on poverty."

The group makes a number of suggestions to begin to address a problem that Miller insists has persisted in New Jersey for about 50 years now. They say better education would prepare people for the high tech, higher paying jobs of the future. But in need of more immediate attention are welfare payments, which Miller says have not been adjusted in 28 years. And providing longer and better benefits for the chronically unemployed would also help.