The poor population and human capital

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SOCIOLOGY
Poverty and Income Inequality
Introduction
Poverty is a term that is referred to the lack of financial resources to meet the basic needs of an
individual. When it comes to income inequality it refers to the extreme disparity of distribution
in income in the society, where, majority of the financial resources are in the hand of a small
percentage of the population. Income inequality can be considered as a major cause behind high
poverty rate in a nation. When it comes to USA, the income disparity is so high that 10 percent
of America earns 9 times more than the rest 90 percent. The most plausible impact of income
inequality and poverty is its effect on health and social anxiety. Poor people and people with low
income find it highly difficult to obtain effective healthcare and to have appropriate diet, housing
as well as sanitation. This in turn imposes negative impact on their physical as well as mental
health. Along with this, income disparity puts individuals in a system that raises competitiveness
and pressures, leading to bad health and other adverse outcomes. The government should invest
in educating the poor population and human capital in order to enhance individual wealth and
improve the labor force. Along with these strict regulations for employers compelling them to
provide health insurance and pension to low wage employees and taxation for higher income
generating class will help the government to reduce and eventually eradicate poverty.
Background
While poverty is considered to be a major social issue for a prolonged amount of time,
more recently researchers are considering income inequality, irrespective of poverty as the major
factors that is leading to health and social problem. According to the USA census Bureau, in the
year 2018, the top 20 percent of the population has earned approximately 52 percent of the total

2SOCIOLOGY
USA income (Bureau. 2020). Amongst this, while the top 20 percent have earned 23 percent of
the total income, the bottom 20 percent has earned only 3.1 percent of the total nation’s income.
These are leading to the following social problems.
First of all, poverty and unequal income is taking a toll over the health security of the
poor people. Poverty as a result of lower income is resulting malnutrition amongst people with
lower income. Bailey et al. (2017) stated that “Adults at the highest adjusted income have higher
micronutrient intakes and lower risk of inadequacy than those with lower incomes.” Malnutrition
is imposing negative impact on the health condition of poor people. Along with this, majority of
the employees who works at low wage in USA, UK and several other nations are found to be
lacking health insurance or pension plans from the employers. As a result of this, a considerable
amount of population is unable access appropriate healthcare service while needed due to
insufficient amount of financial resources. This in turn has created healthcare inequality which
has enhanced the cost of medical care in the nations. Not only this, lack of financial resources
compels poor people to access the emergency care service in USA for preventive care. They
ended up using the emergency room as their primary care physician. The hospitals passed this
cost along to Medicaid.
Another major reason behind considering poverty and unequal income as a societal issue
is that it lowers the educational accessibility and performance. Lack of adequate financial
resources makes it difficult for parents with lower income to provide sufficient educational
supports to offspring. In majority of the cases, poor people and people with lower income
consider education as secondary needs, the primary needs being food, shelter and health,
considering the fact that a considerable amount of the population struggle to meet the basic needs