A local study of poverty rates in Memphis and Shelby County confirms what most people, local and otherwise, probably already suppose to be the case.
The incidence of poverty is higher in the city proper than in the county as a whole, and both Memphis and Shelby County have a higher rate of poverty than does Tennessee, while the state itself has a higher incidence of poverty than pertains in the nation.
Poverty as a percentage of population (Photo: Courtesy Delavega and Blumenthal)
The study, entitled 2024 Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet, was prepared by local analysts Elena Delavega and Gregory M. Blumenthal, a husband-and-wife team who undertake annual statistical reports on the incidence of poverty.
If there is a surprise in the study, based on 2020 census figures, it is that poverty rates for non-Hispanic whites are higher in Tennessee at large than in the United States, Shelby County, and the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) of Memphis.
This might seem to suggest a rising affluence gap between the state’s white residents and its Black and brown residents. It also has implications concerning the effects of out-migration from the Memphis area.
Poverty has increased since last year, the authors find. “This is true for most groups, including children and minorities, but not for whites in Memphis or Shelby County,” they say. “Poverty for non-Hispanic whites has fallen since 2022. It also appears that the population size of non-Hispanic whites in the city of Memphis has dropped more than for other groups, suggesting that those non-Hispanic whites who left were those in poverty.”
It is “not a surprise,” say the authors, that the poverty rate among minorities is higher than among whites. Indeed, they find that structural disparities based on race seem to have accelerated in 2023. “[These] disparities remain and will require deliberate efforts to dismantle. Solving poverty will require regional solutions and regional investments.”
One possible explanation for what seems to be a deepening divide locally is that the labor market in Memphis tends to consist of unskilled workers in the warehouse industry. “The lack of comprehensive, effective, and efficient public transportation also makes progress against poverty quite difficult,” the authors maintain.
“An additional problem has been that of external firms acquiring Memphis housing stock and renting it to Memphians at inflated prices, which makes it almost impossible for local families to afford housing.”
Finally, say the authors, “The divide between the city and the county, as evidenced by the racial and geographical differences in poverty, tends to deprive the city of Memphis of the funds it needs to support the region.”
Apropos the racial divide, the authors note that while Memphis ranks second in overall poverty and first in child poverty among large MSAs (urbanized areas with populations greater than 1,000,000) and second in overall poverty and child poverty among cities with over 500,000 population, it ranks significantly better when only whites are included.
Ranked only by its white population, Memphis is positioned significantly lower in the list, ranking 25th among 54 large MSAs (populations greater than 1,000,000) and 61st among 114 MSAs with populations greater than 500,000.
Ominously, the authors conclude that while the long-term poverty trend provides evidence of the structural nature of poverty in Memphis, five-year trend graphs suggest that disparities are increasing along racial lines.
• Meanwhile, on the eve of the pending presidential election, an equally fraught finding comes from a new poll by the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy. The survey, conducted from September 20th to 23rd, based on responses from 1,030 adults across the nation, concludes that most Americans think that democracy is in danger.
More than 50 percent of Americans think that our democracy is “under attack” in the run-up to the election. The Unity Poll is meant to offer “regular snapshots of Americans’ sense of national political unity and their faith in the country’s democratic institutions,” according to Vanderbilt professor John Geer.
Rent is too high for most Memphians. (Photo: Designer491 | Dreamstime.com)
The gap between the haves and the have-nots gets larger every year. Some effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are still being felt by the masses. One of those is the rise of rental prices. Rent will never be the same.
We could not predict a virus interrupting our economy or U.S. involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Now that we are here, we have been subjected to inflation. Everything is more expensive now, but one’s biggest expense is housing, especially with rent increases. It is taking increasingly more money to live comfortably.
SmartAsset did a study earlier this year based on the 50/30/20 rule that 50 percent of your income goes toward necessities (bills, transportation, groceries), 30 percent on entertainment, and 20 percent on savings and investments. Based on this metric, they compiled a list of the 99 largest cities, ranking them in terms of the lowest salary needed to sustain a comfortable life (not living paycheck to paycheck). Memphis was ranked 25th, listing $85,696 as the lowest salary needed to sustain a single person.
According to the 2022 census, the per capita income in Shelby County was $36,230. Most residents only have a high school diploma, but the SmartAsset study suggests that these same residents need to make $85,696 a year to live comfortably. It is suggested that no more than 30 percent of your income go toward rent, but half of all renters in Tennessee are spending more than that.
Affordable low-income housing exists, but the requirements often include making less than $30,000 to $40,000 a year. This leaves those in the middle in a bind. Your income is above the poverty line, yet you do not make enough to be comfortable.
Because of rent increases, some people have to resort to finding roommates or are forced to relocate to a less desirable neighborhood. Rent increases promote the displacement of loyal tenants for those more well-off. This affects proportionally more low-income and middle-class tenants.
The need for rent control regulations in Tennessee is paramount. In 2021, lawmakers tried to amend TCA Title 66, Chapter 35, which prohibits local government authorities from enacting rent control. The amendment was withdrawn.
In a county where most have not completed undergrad or graduate school, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to survive in this inflation-riddled economy. There needs to be a union organized to allow the community’s voices to be heard. Legislation for rent control should be introduced and passed. Locally, we should have the freedom to give tenants more rights instead of all the power belonging to the landlord. Opponents say rent control would suppress new housing construction. One could argue that supplying affordable housing to the average American exceeds that risk. Fewer evictions and more stable tenants able to pay rent prevent homelessness and time spent in civil court over evictions.
In the meantime, it’s understood that one must do their own part to sustain a lifestyle that can comfortably afford a nice place even with rent increases. One must consider going back to school, getting another degree (potentially raking in more student debt) so they can potentially get promoted to a higher paying job. Nevertheless, the middle class deserves to live in safe neighborhoods with reasonable rates. Without any rent control protections, a landlord or property owner can raise the rent as soon as the lease expires to match the market, irrespective of the local county’s average income.
In the zip codes with the highest number of homicides, rent is cheaper. But the average citizen wants to live in a safe neighborhood where they don’t fear car theft, robberies, and violence. The safer areas in Memphis cost more. Do only those with the means deserve to live in a safe environment where their kids can ride their bikes without cause for concern? There is a price tag on having peace of mind when you go to sleep at night. There is an income level that dictates the probability of whether your car will still be in your driveway the next morning.
It’s understood that year after year price increases affect our lives, but it should be a reasonable percentage. It shouldn’t mean having to move because it became unaffordable. Years ago, one expected maybe $50 to $100 increase (monthly) after a lease renewal, but I have seen apartment complexes increase by the hundreds of late.
Hopefully there is further discussion on this topic with meaningful discourse toward finding common ground. There should be compassion toward low- and middle-income citizens who want to live in safe neighborhoods where they can raise their children. If more people speak to lawmakers, sign petitions, work together to get legislation signed, and raise overall awareness, we can find a solution to a growing issue that affects the have-nots.
Bria Michele is a native Memphian who has always had a passion for writing. Outside of publishing her first novel this year, she enjoys reading fantasy novels, dancing, skating, and crocheting.
Nearly half of all Tennessee working families cannot afford the basic cost of living in their counties, according to new analyses of Census and federal economic data by the United Way of Tennessee.
The report examined the challenges facing households that earned more than the federal poverty level but, nevertheless, struggle to make ends meet.
While the number of households living in poverty decreased by nearly 5,000 across the state between 2021 and 2022, more than 34,214 households were added to the category of Tennesseans unable to pay for basic needs despite earnings that put them above the poverty level. In total, the report found that 1.2 million Tennessee households fall into this category.
The report concluded that the “survival budget” necessary for a family of four increased to $75,600 between 2021 and 2022. The budget includes the cost of housing, food, childcare, transportation and healthcare — all of which grew more expensive. In 33 Tennessee counties, more than half of all households failed to earn enough to meet their survival budgets.
While wages have increased in that time period, the 20 most common occupations in Tennessee still pay less than $20 per hour, the report found. These include jobs like sales, truck driving, administrative assistants and elementary school teachers.
Although poverty levels for Tennessee kids have shrunk, the report found that 38 percent of working Tennessee families with children at home did not earn enough to keep up with basic expenses.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.
Credit: vepar5 | Adobe Stock and University of Memphis
Our cover story this week looks at issues stoking the embers of class struggles in Tennessee.
School vouchers, flagging revenues, and even that brief “tax holiday” on groceries have some wondering for whom does the state’s Republican-dominated government work?
State revenues will flatten this year, according to experts, after years of increases. This is thanks, in large part, to big tax breaks the legislature approved for business owners last year.
This “business-friendly” policy framework, which cuts taxes for the business class in hopes of prosperity for everyone, found harsh critics in economists with the national Economic Policy Institute.
Elena Delavega is a professor at the University of Memphis, a Memphis poverty expert, and co-author of the annual Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet, along with Gregory M. Blumenthal. She said the low-tax system does not work for everyone and stymies investments in cities. Here’s what she told us in a recent interview. — Toby Sells
(This interview has been edited for clarity.)
Memphis Flyer: Does this “business-friendly” economic system work for everyone?
Elena Delavega: It may help two or three people at the very top, but it ends up hurting everybody else by denying the investment in the community that would make it a livable community, that would attract people who can have a choice [of a place to live].
So, it’s sort of like this downward spiral. We don’t invest and then become even less attractive. Then, we cut taxes. Then, there is less money for investment. We cut more taxes and so on.
So, that’s a no.
No, it doesn’t because in the end, these companies come, take advantage of the tax breaks for a little while, and then leave. We’ve observed this again, and again, and again.
In the end, if companies cannot attract people to work for them — if we cannot attract highly educated people and we’re not funding schools to the degree we need to educate people that can be hired by those companies — the low wages and cutting taxes [system] is actually a myth.
You can cut as much as you can, but unless you find ways to make more money, it really is a fallacy. So, what ends up happening is companies cannot attract people to move here. They also cannot hire people, and they leave. Or, people are not interested because there are no amenities and the only way to do that is to actually have higher taxes.
How does this all affect our poverty situation?
It’s the policies at the top that end up creating inequality and poverty, but they hurt everyone.
You shoot yourself in the foot because abandoned areas become not interesting to businesses. So we’re here begging, “Oh my god, let’s help businesses.” But businesses are choosing to go out to cities that provide good amenities, good schools, good roads, but also good theaters, good parks, good museums because these are the things that people find interesting and where those with money want to live.
You’re then able to attract businesses not by getting yourself naked and taking off your clothes in the middle of the road, but by actually having an attractive city. Then, the money is going to come. You’re not having to cut your tax base. The money is now sufficient.
You also need to have a middle class to support your businesses. You can put tons of money on the three people at the top, but the reality is … can they drink — what? — 365 cups of coffee in a year?
But if you have 200,000 adults that are able to buy a cup of coffee once a day or going to a restaurant once a week or twice a week … now you have the people who can actually support [businesses]. If you don’t have people able to support your businesses, your economy is going to go on a downward spiral.
When you put the money in the hands of the very few at the top, what you have is a feudal system. It has a bunch of servants at the bottom who cannot afford to have anything and three very wealthy people at the top, who cannot support all the other businesses.
If you put the money in the hands of those at the bottom … if you raised the minimum wage … that would be a fantastic way [to boost the economy] because now people at the bottom are able to all go buy shoes and all go buy coffee and all go to restaurants. So, the money starts circulating and what you have is an upward spiral that really lifts all boats.
London Lamar (Photo (left): Clyde Sims, Jr.); Elena Delavega (Photo (right): University of Memphis)
Editor’s note: Flyer writers will occasionally share this space.
Some news stories don’t finish where they started. This week’s “Money Matters” cover story is one of those.
Back in October, the national Economic Policy Institute (EPI) published a report critical of the South’s “business-friendly” economic policies. They favor the wealthy, are “rooted in racism,” and their promised prosperity doesn’t really trickle down the way we’ve always been told, the study says.
EPI is a nonprofit think tank “that researches the impact of economic trends and policies on working people.” The Flyer is a paper for people. Tennessee data in the report were interesting. So, I wrote a post back then outlining some of the findings. At Large columnist Bruce VanWyngarden suggested at the time that the story could make a good cover story with some local quotes and context. Does this model work for working-class Tennesseans and, especially, Memphians? That’s where this week’s cover story started.
Just as I began to report on the story, the Tennessee General Assembly began to crank up. Most of the folks who head to Nashville to make our laws every year are evangelists of the “business-friendly” economic theory. They love it, promote it, and (usually without any kind of evidence) believe that it really does work for all of their constituents, whether they own the car dealership or just work there. So, a story based on data that showed the Southern economic model didn’t work seemed well-timed.
But as I began to dig, I found new money issues in Tennessee were pressing old class frictions to the top of discussions at the beginning of the session. GOP tax cuts for the business class were flattening state revenues, making the budget even more dependent on the state’s regressive tax structure. Some argued Gov. Bill Lee’s controversial school voucher plan would take money from lower- and middle-class taxpayers and give it to the wealthy so they could pay for private schools they can probably already afford. This all comes as Lee’s administration has fumbled two federal programs to help the state’s working poor, a sign to most that those folks were not a priority for Lee.
With all this, I diverged from the main idea of the story and these class issues became the primary focus of the main “Money Matters” piece. And I feel like I flubbed the very good original idea.
Information on the new story angle edged out some enlightening commentary from two Memphis thought leaders. Elena Delavega is a professor at the University of Memphis, a Memphis poverty expert, and co-author of the annual Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet. State Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis) is a constant voice for poor and working-class people in the legislature. Look for full interviews with both of those this week on The News Blog at memphisflyer.com under a “Money Matters” headline.
For a sample, here’s what Delavega said when I asked if pro-business policy models work for everyone: “It may help two or three people at the very top, but it ends up hurting everybody else by denying the investment in the community that would make it a livable community, that would attract people who can have a choice [of a place to live].
“So, it’s sort of like this downward spiral,” Delavega said. “We don’t invest and then become even less attractive. Then, we cut taxes. Then, there is less money for investment. We cut more taxes and so on.”
Lamar said Tennessee policies have favored the wealthy since Republicans took power in 2011. She rattled off a list of cuts including the millionaire estate tax, the luxury gift tax, the reduction in the jet fuel tax, and more. But she said there have not been big moves to aid “those citizens who are working the hardest to contribute to our economy,” especially Black and brown people. This is on purpose and permeates the system, she said.
“You can look at that in the campaign funding of Black candidates in Tennessee,” Lamar said. “We’re funded far less than Republican white folks, even white Democrats. As long as our community stays poor, then we can’t compete against rich people who have the ability, access, and resources to play in a political game in a real way.
“I think this system of racism is reinforced through classism. As long as you keep people of color poor, other white folks get to stay on top,” Lamar continued. “This, more than likely, correlates to who owns the most businesses that are doing well, who owns the corporations. What’s the income makeup of policymakers and people that they’re voting to benefit? So, you can look at all those things, not just the economics side. Racism is rooted in the whole system.”
Tennessee lawmakers are making things harder on the poor and easier on the rich, and those old-timey class frictions are heating up in the rifts.
Republicans blame technical glitches and piles of red tape they created as obstacles to get millions of dollars to help low-income families here. Meanwhile, they cut taxes for the business class last year, plan to cut even more this year, and hope to free up more of everyone’s tax dollars to help everyone — no matter how much money they have — pay for private schools.
Gun violence dominated debate and headlines around the Tennessee General Assembly in 2023. Many vow to keep the issue in front of lawmakers in 2024. But if a school shooting in Nashville during last year’s regular session and an entire special session on gun violence last summer won’t move GOP lawmakers to act, rays of hope on the issue seem faint.
It’s way too early to predict what issue(s) may dominate discussions at the State Capitol in the coming weeks. But money seems an early leader, especially as news came late last year that once-hot state revenues are cooling thanks in large part to those 2023 GOP tax cuts.
Money matters have not seen center stage in Tennessee for awhile. The state’s budget has been pushed up and up in recent years with nary a cut in sight. That’s partly due to the new-ish ability to collect online sales taxes and a major surge in revenues from those business taxes in the past. But that won’t likely be the case this year.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is expected to unveil his new budget for Tennessee on Monday, during the annual State of the State address. Projected revenues — how much money officials think we’ll have to spend in the next year — will likely flatten.
This could present some difficult decisions for lawmakers, especially some on the House side, who may have not yet dealt budget cuts. If cuts come, it will be especially interesting to see where the state’s GOP-dominated purse-string-holders will make them (especially since they made the cuts necessary). This could also likely flatten the state’s ability to fund any new initiatives. (Think of it like this, if you quit a job, you might not have the money to pay for your existing car and you damn sure can’t buy a new one.)
Budgets are more than numbers. Budgets are priorities. For a household, that could mean the difference in saving for college later or going on vacation now. For local governments, that could mean the difference in more police or better parks. With its tax cuts last year, the Tennessee GOP prioritized at least one thing: more long-term money in the bank for the state’s businesses.
Now, as money matters begin to creep into the state spotlight once again, some old, tense questions are rising. Who pays for the government? Who does the government work for? Who wins? Who struggles?
So many of these questions have root in Tennessee’s overarching economic development model. That is, basically, how do we organize our economy? How do we build it?
Republicans here love to tout Tennessee as one of the most “business-friendly” states in the union. But don’t just take their word for it. Yahoo! Finance put the state in its top 10 for business friendliness last year and MSNBC ranked it in the top 3, both using different methodologies.
Tennessee’s economy, like many other Southern states, works on the basic trickle-down theory that lower business taxes will attract more businesses, which will hire more people and create more wealth that will “trickle down” to the lower classes.
Except it doesn’t, according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The high tide promised by this economic theory does not lift all boats, it said. For a more in-depth look at how this plays out in Tennessee and across the South, see below (Economic Policy Institute Report).
Here, we’ll look at some issues and opinions on money and class that might shape debates as the legislature heads back to Nashville.
The lowest 20 percent of earners in Tennessee spend 12.8 percent of their total annual household income on taxes. (Chart: Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy)
The poor and hungry
Back in 2019, The Beacon Center, a free market think tank in Nashville, discovered the Lee administration quietly sat on a stockpile of $730 million meant to help working poor families in Tennessee. For years, Tennessee got $190 million from the federal government to help these families get on their feet with monthly checks for childcare, transportation, and more.
Instead of finding ways to getting all of the money to needy families, Lee just did not. The initial discovery of the funds in 2019 led some on social media to decry Lee’s money management. Others saw GOP disdain for the poor.
“This is why [I march for universal basic income] today, because of villainous shit-holes like the governor of Tennessee who is hoarding $732 M in TANF [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families] money instead of spending it on reducing poverty,” reads a tweet from the time from Scott Santens, founder of the Income to Support All Foundation.
By 2021, the fund ballooned to nearly $800 million. Thanks to Beacon, a plan is now in place to spend that money down.
However, Lee’s plan puts a hurdle between those needy families and the money. Rather than go directly to families in need, the funds will in large part go to organizations or health departments that will give them temporary aid.
Lee administration officials said it has found a home for $717 million of the TANF reserve. But state Sen. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) wants more in the hands of actual needy families. Introduced last week, her bill would increase TANF payments to cover rising inflation costs each year.
Meanwhile, thousands of families in Tennessee have less literal food on the table thanks to Lee administration computer problems. Last summer the Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS) updated some computer software. A glitch in the system resulted in a backlog of benefits for 35,000 recipients of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), sometimes called food stamps.
TDHS Commissioner Clarence Carter said his team hopes to have the backlog cleared by March. He also said he’s not dragging his feet, telling state lawmakers last week that his team has “an almost desperate sense of urgency to get this right.” Tennessee Lookout editor Holly McCall pointed out this “kicker” from their story on the matter: “DHS officials noted that the staff brought in to help are keenly aware of the importance of the work: some department staff rely on food stamps themselves.”
Who pays?
Tennessee has the third-most regressive tax system in the country, according to the seventh annual “Who Pays?” report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). Regressive taxes are those paid equally by all, no matter how much money they make. These, of course, hit lower-income taxpayers the hardest.
In Tennessee, this means the lowest 20 percent of earners (those making less than $21,000 each year) spend 12.8 percent of their total annual household income on taxes. The top 1 percent (those making over $661,600 each year) spend just 3.8 percent of their total income on taxes here. The poorest pay more than three times as much as the wealthy.
“States such as Florida, Tennessee, and Texas are often described as ‘low tax’ due to their lack of personal income taxes,” reads the report. “While this characterization holds true for high-income families, these states levy some of the nation’s highest tax rates on the poor.”
State Senator London Lamar (Photo: Dawn Majors | US capitol)
A tale of two tax cuts
State Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis) can go back to 2011 and rattle off a list of GOP-sponsored policies “that have truly benefited the wealthy and big corporations.” The repeal of the millionaire estate tax. The repeal of the luxury gift tax. A repeal of income tax on stocks and bonds. A reduction of the jet fuel tax. Corporate exemptions to the sales tax. Exemptions for corporate income taxes.
“Our tax policy is incentivizing businesses for keeping people poor,” Lamar said. “I say that because since 2011 and when the Republicans got in office, the main tax reform and benefits have truly benefited the wealthy and big corporations.
“So, the question is, where are the priorities for those citizens who are working the hardest to contribute to our economy?”
Well, the GOP cut taxes for working-class families just last year. Well, kinda sorta. And it wasn’t much. And it wasn’t forever. But …
Remember that odd, three-month cut on the state’s grocery tax last year? It was a $273 million part of the $400 million Tennessee Works Tax Act, “the largest single tax cut in Tennessee history.” It cut the 4 percent tax for everyone from August to October. Then, the tax went straight back onto receipts.
It was a head-scratcher to many and seemed a solution to a problem that didn’t exist (except, y’know, that Tennessee is one of only 13 states that still tax groceries). Why? Where did this cut come from? Even folks on Reddit couldn’t pin the motivation on some coarse design to win votes because there was no upcoming election.
But it was the remaining cuts in the Tax Act that smarted some working-class taxpayers. While they got a one-time deal that put about $100 in their pockets, the state’s business class got a permanent tax cut worth about $127 million that would put thousands of dollars in their bank accounts each and every year.
The Tax Act seemed to prove Lamar’s notion. Meaningful, permanent cuts for those with means; shallow, temporary cuts for everyone else. (Though, legislation has been filed for this year’s session to permanently cut Tennessee’s grocery tax.)
This might all come into sharper focus later, especially if revenues continue to fall. Because it’s lost revenues from those business tax cuts knocking multi-million-dollar holes in the state budget.
So, should lawmakers indeed need to make cuts to programs it offers Tennessee’s taxpayers, it won’t be because the majority of them got a brief respite from grocery taxes.
Chart: Economic Policy Institute
#VoucherScam
Capitol-watchers have said Lee’s controversial plan to expand his school voucher program could be the biggest fight in Nashville this year. Lee eventually wants to expand the program to every student for any kind of school — public, private, charter, or home.
But the program would allow the vouchers, worth about $7,075 per student each year, for all students, with no income requirements. This means wealthy parents — who now pay taxes for public schools and tuition at private schools — could divert funds from the public school system.
The fight over the legislation may prove to be another class battle that could heat up in Nashville this year. For proof, dig around X for #LeesVoucherScam.
“The voucher scam takes tax dollars from our neighborhood public schools to pay for the private school education of the wealthy,” tweeted Teri Mai, a Democratic candidate running for a House seat in Middle Tennessee. “Simply put, the school voucher scam defunds public schools by funneling your tax dollars to private and religious schools.”
Economic Policy Institute Report
Southern politicians tout the region’s “business-friendly” economic development policies, but a new study finds those policies are rooted in racism and have failed most people who live here.
The October study is from Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a nonpartisan think tank focused on “the needs of low-and-middle-income workers in economic policy discussions.” The study looks at job growth, wages, poverty, and state GDP. The data, EPI said, “show a grim reality.”
The group characterized the Southern economic development model as one with “low wages, low taxes, few regulations on businesses, few labor protections, a weak safety net, and vicious opposition to unions.”
The state of Tennessee basically agrees with this and shouts it in all caps (literally) on its website under the “business climate” section.
“We believe in high expectations, low debt, and a pro-business regulatory environment,” reads the page from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. “Tennessee is proud to be a right-to-work state [also noting Tennessee’s low union participation] with no personal income tax. Our state and local tax burdens are among the lowest in the country, and our state budget operates with a healthy surplus, rather than a deficit.”
The EPI study said this does not work for everyone.
“While this economic model has garnered vast amounts of riches for the wealthiest people across the region, it is leaving most Southerners with low wages, underfunded public services, a weak safety net in times of economic downturns, deep racial divisions, and high rates of poverty,” said report author Chandra Childers, a senior policy and economic analyst for EPI’s Economic Analysis and Research Network.
Here are a few key takeaways from the report:
• Job growth across the South has failed to keep up with population growth. The share of prime-age workers (ages 25–54) who have a job is lower than the national average in most Southern states.
• Workers in Southern states tend to have lower earnings. Median earnings in nine Southern states are among the lowest in the nation, even after adjusting for lower cost of living in the South.
• Poverty rates are above the national average in most Southern states. Louisiana and Mississippi have the highest poverty rates in the nation, with nearly one in five residents living in poverty.
• Child poverty is highest in the South compared to any other region. At 20.9 percent, child poverty rates in the South are 3.7 percentage points higher than the region with the next-highest child poverty rate — the Midwest (17.2 percent).
• Southern states are among the lowest-GDP states. Nine of the 15 states with the lowest per-worker GDP are in the South.
The racist remnant of the Southern economic development model, according to EPI, is that business owners in the South continue to rely on “large pools of cheap labor,” particularly Black and brown people. The study points back to slavery in the South when Black people were not paid at all and then to Pullman porters who were “forced to rely on tips” after slavery ended. Now, incarcerated individuals can be required to work with no pay at all, the study said.
“The racist roots of this model have been obscured and have been replaced by a more acceptable ‘pro-business’ narrative,” reads the study. “The pro-business narrative suggests that low wages, low taxes, anti-union policies, a weak safety net, and limited regulation on businesses creates a rising tide that ‘lifts all boats.’”
Tennessee policies fit into this model, the study said, as the state has no minimum wage, no income tax, a high sales-tax burden for all residents, no expanded Medicaid program, a low per-worker GDP, and more.
Poverty is higher in Tennessee than in other parts of the country. This is especially true for people of color and particularly women of color, according to the data. The highest rates of poverty across the South are experienced by Black women. One in five lives in poverty, but it’s not due to an unwillingness to work, the study says. Black women have a higher employment-to-population (EPOP) ratio than women from any other racial or ethnic group in the South.
“One reason Black women’s poverty rates remain high in the South — despite a relatively high EPOP — is that they are disproportionately employed in jobs consistent with the occupations they were largely limited to during and after the end of slavery: care work, cleaning, and food production, including agricultural and animal slaughter work,” reads the study. “Because this work is largely done by Black, brown, and immigrant workers, consistent with the Southern economic development model, these jobs pay very low wages.”
Wages are lower in Tennessee than in other parts of the country, and again it’s especially true for people of color and particularly women of color, according to the report.
“On average, Black women in the South are paid $35,884 at the median and Hispanic women just $30,984, compared with $58,008 for white men,” reads the report.
If the Tennessee economic model is working like politicians claim, where does the money go? The study says it goes to the wealthiest Tennesseans. The top 20 percent richest Tennesseans share more than half (51 percent) of the state’s total income. The top 5 percent share 23 percent of the state’s aggregate income. The bottom 20 percent share just 3.4 percent.
“Many Southerners may believe their politician’s arguments that the Southern economic development model will deliver good, well-paying jobs,” reads the report. “However, the data presented here show clearly and emphatically that this model has failed those living in Southern states.”
John F. Kennedy (Photo: Cecil Stoughton, White House,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy addressed Congress and proposed that the United States “commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” It was an astonishing thing to propose, but Kennedy persevered and managed to achieve NASA funding for the unlikeliest of goals. Kennedy did not live to see the dream he set in motion fulfilled, but his ambition was achieved in July 1969, with the landing and return to Earth of Apollo 11.
My New Year’s wish for Memphis is that its leaders — civic and corporate — have the courage and vision to embark upon a moonshot: to set a goal to become the first American city to successfully address its poverty problem, to change Memphis from one of the country’s poorest cities to one of its most prosperous.
I know. That seems an impossible dream, like, well, walking on the moon in 1961. Besides, if you ask the average Memphian what the city’s biggest problem is, they’ll say it’s crime, not poverty. Yes, Memphis does have a crime problem. Too many cars are being stolen, too many homes are being broken into, too many citizens are being shot and killed, too many young people are living without hope or guidance and turning to crime.
But the crime problem has publicists, and they’re pushing a 24/7 narrative that crime is everywhere. Local television news and social media are the crime problem’s biggest boosters — getting clicks, views, and readership by scaring us, day after day.
In response, politicians get elected by promising to be “tough on crime,” usually meaning they’ll hire more police and demand stiffer sentencing. That’s like pledging to put band-aids on a cancerous tumor. If those policies worked, our crime problem would be fixed by now. Get-tough policies don’t stop crime; they just fill up jails and overload the court system — and lead to the kind of police brutality that killed Tyre Nichols.
Poverty gets little TV time, little social-media buzz. No politician gets elected by pledging to “get tough” on poverty. But almost all of the city’s problems, including crime, stream from the river of poverty. The way to reduce crime is to dam the river, not the stream.
Too expensive, you say? Listen, if this poor-ass city can come up with hundreds of millions of dollars to fund football stadiums, basketball arenas, fabulous art museums, and glorious new city parks, surely we can find ways to leverage private and public funds to pay for more and better teachers, to fund a public transit system that can reliably get people from one side of town to jobs on the other, to keep children fed, to get people healthcare, to pay them an equitable wage.
Impossible, you say? Let me return you to 1961, the year Kennedy proposed going to the moon. Do you know what was happening in Memphis that year? Thirteen “Negro” first-graders were integrating our public schools. They were separated into small groups, no more than four to a school, because, you know, Memphis didn’t want to rush into things. In fact, the city initially planned to integrate its schools one grade at a time over the next 12 years — longer than it would take to put a man on the moon.
The grade-a-year plan held until 1965, when Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. In 1966, all Memphis school grades were integrated, although that could mean 20 Black students at a high school with 1,500 students. And vice versa.
Let me do the math for you: Black people were enslaved in this country from 1619 until 1865. They lived under Jim Crow and segregation in this city for another 100 years, until 1965, meaning Black folks in Memphis have had 58 years to overcome the oppression that kept them from equal opportunity in employment, education, housing, and political leadership for 346 years.
This is the root of our poverty problem, which is the root of our crime problem. Our city’s leadership is Black. Most of its citizens are Black. It’s time for all of us who live here to dare to dream big. Come on, Memphis. Let’s shoot for the moon.
Nearly one in five Tennessee children live in poverty, a measure of well-being that varies sharply by geography.
In rural northeast Lake County, for example, the number of children living below the poverty line is double the state average; meanwhile in wealthy Williamson County, fewer than 4 percent of children are being raised under such economic strains.
The data, released Tuesday by the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, paints an uneven portrait of Tennessee’s children in county-by-county snapshots that also measure rates of low birth-weight babies, educational outcomes, childcare costs, child abuse and family circumstances.
County poverty rates coincide with other stressors facing families with children. The ten counties with the highest rates of poverty for kids also are among those with the greatest rates of low birth-weight babies, child care cost burdens and food insecurity, according to the agency’s annual 2023 County Profiles in Child Well-Being, which measured 52 different metrics that impact the states’ children.
The high poverty rates straddle both rural and urban areas. Among the top 10 counties for child poverty are Shelby and Davidson, which include Nashville and Memphis, the state’s largest cities. Small-population counties of Haywood, Hardeman and Madison Counties in west Tennessee and Campbell in eastern Tennessee also have outsized numbers of poor children.
The report also revealed wide educational disparities.
A child living in the lowest performing county was half as likely to be proficient in TCAP reading than the state average, the report found. A child in Perry County was far more likely — by a factor of nearly 10 — to be absent from school than a child in Blount County.
The disparities also extended to rates of child abuse and neglect, a data point that could signal either higher incidents of harm — or differing levels of investigations or enforcement actions by state child welfare officials or local law enforcement.
Clay County had the highest rate of substantiated abuse or neglect at nearly 34 per 1,000 children. Moore County had the lowest at 0.8 per 1,000.
“These county profiles always serve as a reminder that the experience, opportunities, and access to positive outcomes can look vastly different for each child in Tennessee.” said Richard Kennedy, executive director of Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth.
The report is released annually by the commission, an independent state-funded entity responsible for providing objective analyses and serving as a watchdog for the Department of Children’s Services.
The commission earlier this year survived an effort backed by the administration of Gov. Bill Lee to dissolve it, after it released a critical report on the DCS’s work
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.
A Monday rally in Memphis was one of many across the country calling for a Third Reconstruction, which organizers say is a “revival of our constitutional commitment” for the justice and welfare of the nation’s 140 million poor people.
The Memphis event was slated for 11 a.m. Monday between Memphis City Hall and the Odell Horton Federal Building on Civic Plaza. The event was organized by the the Tennessee Poor People’s Campaign and was one of 50 simultaneous rallies happening across the U.S. These events were to publicize the national push for a Third Reconstruction and announce a new National Poor People’s Assembly on June 21st, 2021.
Dr. Martin Luther King and others formed the Poor People’s Campaign in 1968 for a “revolution of values” in America. They wanted to build a broad movement to unite poor communities across the country.
The Third Reconstruction movement draws “on the transformational history of the First Reconstruction following the Civil War and the Second Reconstruction of the civil rights struggles of the 20th century,” according to the group. Details of the Third Reconstruction are outlined in a proposed resolution sent to lawmakers in the U.S. Congress.
The resolution describes a country in which ”the injustice of poverty and low wealth is deeply entwined with the injustices of systemic racism, the denial of health care, and ecological devastation, militarism, and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism that seeks to blame the poor instead of addressing systems that cause poverty.”
It claims that 250,000 die each year from poverty and inequality. The resolution describes how poor communities of color were hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, how they’ll be the hardest hit by new voter suppression laws, how millions face homelessness and food insecurity, and how those in poor communities are more likely to face incarceration.
To fix these issues (and more), Third Reconstruction organizers want Congress to admit that the federal ”budget is a moral document that exposes the priorities and values of our nation, however, addressing poverty has not been a top legislative or budget priority.”
The group wants direct budget action to permanently expand welfare benefits, provide cash assistance programs, raise the minimum wage, and guarantee “safe and quality housing for all by ending all evictions, cancelling past due rent and mortgage payments, and expanding the stock of affordable and public housing.”
The group also wants Congress to guarantee quality education, a universal, single-payer health care system, establishing “a fair redistricting process that eliminates all forms of racist and political gerrymandering, allows public input, and guarantees that every vote counts the same.”
Read the 19-page resolution here for further details.
Credit: Poor People’s Campaign
Monday’s rallies were also a run-up to the National Poor People’s Assembly. The Raleigh, North Carolina event is slated for June 21st and will be streamed live at the group’s website.
Source: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
On the tail of a rather stressful 2020, a report from RetailMeNot found that Memphis was the city with the most stressed-out citizens nationwide.
RetailMeNot found that nationwide, those in the Southeast scored the highest across the board in terms of stress. In Memphis, 17.9 percent of the population reported having poor mental health and 17.6 percent reported poor physical health, trumping the national average of 12.9 percent and 11.8 percent, respectively. Memphis also had an alarmingly high poverty rate that spiked at 21.7 percent, nearly double the national average of 12.3 percent.
Memphians were also found to have trouble sleeping and taking leisure time outside of work. 47.8 percent of Memphians reported sleeping less than seven hours a night, and 35.5 percent stated that they had no time for leisure. On the national scale, 36.2 percent of the population reported sleeping less than seven hours a night, and 23.6 percent stated that they had no time for leisure.
According to the report, chronic stress disturbs the immune, digestive, cardiovascular, sleep, and reproductive systems, and increases susceptibility to serious conditions like heart disease and diabetes. To score the various U.S. cities, researchers factored in mental and physical health, housing costs, poverty rates, and health insurance coverage to develop a unique stress score.
Though Memphis fared worse than others nationwide, the RetailMeNot report shows that the general level of stress across the nation was higher than average. While the report does not mention specific factors as the sole reason, it does state that complications stem from COVID-19, transitioning to work, and schooling.
To see where other states stack up, read the full report on RetailMeNot’s website.
Source: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention