We have two basic poverty problems in the United States. One is the prevalence of low-wage work. The other concerns those who have almost no work. 

The two overlap. 

Most people who are poor work as much as they can and go in and out of poverty. Fewer people have little or no work on a continuing basis, but they are in much worse straits and tend to stay poor from one generation to the next. 

The numbers in both categories are stunning. 

Low-wage work encompasses people with incomes below twice the poverty line—not poor but struggling all the time to make ends meet. They now total 103 million, which means that fully one-third of the population has an income below what would be $36,000 for a family of three.