Memphis Poverty Is Complicated By Low-Paying Jobs City leaders are recruiting the wrong types of jobs for Memphis

Memphis has one of the highest poverty rates among large cities in the U.S. Some years, Memphis is the large city with the highest poverty rate; other years, we are in second place. Why are there so many poor people in Memphis? A popular answer is that they do not work. But that popular answer is flawed. This does not stop Memphis leaders from speaking endlessly about the need to bring jobs to the city. The Greater Memphis Chamber (GMACC) talks about bringing jobs to Memphis. City Council and the County Commission talk about bringing jobs to Memphis. The Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) board of Memphis and Shelby County talks about bringing jobs to Memphis. Memphis Tomorrow, Memphis 3.0, The Blueprint for Prosperity, and every single plan I have heard of talks about bringing jobs to Memphis. Jobs are of course very important for our community. Productive employment is the only real solution to poverty. The problem is we often bring the wrong kinds of jobs to Memphis — jobs that pay far too little. Poverty is miscalculated To understand this, first we need to understand how poverty is calculated. Absolute poverty means that people have incomes that fall...