A new study, “New Jersey True Poverty Tracker,” shows what it is like for nearly three million New Jerseyans to live and barely survive in True Poverty as they disproportionately face degrees of deprivation—largely in an uneven playing field. LSNJ’s Poverty Research Institute (PRI) is releasing this report, part of its Poverty Benchmark Report Series, to provide a baseline to assess the more recent American Community Survey slated to be released by the Census Bureau later this month. This report reiterates PRI’s earlier finding that there are 2.9 million New Jersey residents in True Poverty or deprivation. By taking a hard look at True Poverty in relatively normal economic times in 2019, there is a valuable lesson to be learned, says LSNJ President Dawn K. Miller. “Clearly the failure to act more decisively in stemming poverty in our state in the past makes deprivation that much worse when hard times like COVID occur. COVID magnified the long-standing ills and unmet solutions to poverty in our state. But it now has given us new impetus and opportunity for change.”

The TPL Study (referred to as Real Cost of Living in previous publications) is based on the nationally established Self-Sufficiency Standard methodology pioneered by Dr. Diana Pearce. LSNJ produced the first cost-of-living report for New Jersey in 1999. This report is the sixth in the series and updates the data for 2019. In this study, PRI is advancing a new, more inclusive measure that reveals nearly three million New Jerseyans, including 800,000 children, — almost a third of the state's population —were living in deprivation or "True Poverty" even before the pandemic. The report finds that, on average, majority of New Jerseyans need at least 300% of the federal poverty level to meet basic needs to avoid falling into True Poverty or deprivation.

Detailed Methodology
Watch a short video on the study.

This report continues the Poverty Research Institute’s analysis of examining income inequality in New Jersey. It extends the analysis to 2013, enabling an assessment of the extent to which income inequality in New Jersey has changed four years after the conclusion of the recession. It shows that income inequality has continued to rise in New Jersey since the end of the recession. While the top twenty percent of households have increased their income share in the post-recessionary period as well as recouping some of the income lost during the recession, the income share of the bottom eighty percent has decreased. As a result, in 2013 the gap between the top fifth of all households and the remaining four-fifths was at its largest since the end of the recession in 2009.

​​Poverty estimates based upon the federal poverty level grossly understate the extent of poverty in New Jersey. Using a more realistic indicator that incorporates real cost of living data, this report reveals a much larger group than previously reported or acknowledged is experiencing serious income shortages and deprivation in New Jersey.​

This report presents and accounting of civil legal assistance shortfalls in New Jersey and indicates necessary steps on the road towards solutions.

​​This comprehensive social science study details the immense challenges faced by people living in true poverty (generally below 200 percent of the federal poverty level), and contrasts their situation with those having slightly higher incomes. More than 80 people were interviewed in-depth for this report.​

The Poverty Research Institute undertook this qualitative research study to determine - through 125 in-depth interviews of welfare recipients, caseworkers and county-based senior staff in welfare agencies and One-Stops - how the Work First New Jersey mission of moving welfare recipients toward work and economic self-sufficiency might be better achieved.​

People of lower income must deal with a broad array of laws and legal processes that directly impact their daily lives and often determine their very ability to survive. The Unequal Access to Justice: Many Legal Needs, Too Little Legal Assistance study, which builds on LSNJ’s earlier (1985 & 2002) research on legal needs, asks whether New Jersey adults with lower incomes are obtaining the legal assistance they need while facing civil legal problems. Results from the study’s survey of 2,846 adults, which also included a comparison with people of higher incomes, find that they are not. The study documents the legal assistance gap facing people of lower income in New Jersey, outlines principal policy implications for closing the civil legal assistance and justice gap, and points to areas where further research is needed.​​​

​​This report evaluates the adequacy minimum wage in New Jersey and discusses a number of factors that must be considered in assessing its adequacy. This includes an analysis of cost of living in New Jersey, changes in the components of cost of living, comparison of New Jersey to other states with respect to the above, analysis of purchasing power of minimum wage over time and comparison of minimum wage to other benchmarks of income like the Federal Poverty Threshold and Lower Living Standard Income Level. The report recommends an immediate increase in minimum wage in New Jersey, instituting automatic annual increases based on New Jersey regional Consumer Price Index and continued oversight of the New Jersey’s Minimum Wage Advisory Commission.​

This report discusses the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of New Jersey residents with inadequate incomes according to research on the Real Cost of Living (RCL) in New Jersey. The report builds on the RCL report series that was inaugurated in 1999 and most recently updated in 2008, and uses the alternative measure of income sufficiency calculated in these reports to analyze the characteristics of three different groups — those with incomes below the federal poverty level, those with incomes above the federal poverty levels but below the RCL and those with incomes above the RCL. This analysis provides a more accurate estimate of households whose incomes fall short of self-sufficiency and how they compare to other, more economically-stable groups. Factors such as employment, demographic characteristics, educational attainment and geographic distribution of income inadequacy across the state are examined to provide insight into patterns income insufficiency in the state and policy choices that will help improve the economic situation of households that lack essential financial resources. The report’s unit of analysis is households rather than individuals, and the Study Population is restricted to households with working-age adults that have no work-inhibiting disability.​​

This second report of the Poverty Benchmarks Project highlights poverty in the City of Camden, New Jersey. The report presents both an overview the city’s poverty and an examination of specific poverty-related challenges in order to understand the positive and transformative impact that state-wide policy changes such as an expansion of the state EITC and an increase in TANF grant levels could have on one of the state’s most distressed cities. The report profiles the city; analyzes the health data, work and employment issues, housing situation, welfare reliance, food and nutrition information, and education statistics; as well as providing concrete policy recommendations. As the Fiscal 2008 State budget is drawn up this report is an attempt to bring attention to its potential impact on the city of Camden.