Channel 9 News featured recent CRER research in a story about poverty trends in the Chattanooga metro area. CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall was quoted about some of this findings and their implications:
“A good economy is absolutely necessary to reduce poverty, but it’s not going to be magic.”
“Both areas saw decreased poverty, and Chattanooga saw faster growth. So you would have expected that the dark line would have maybe fallen by more than the dotted line, but it fell about the same.”
“Some people are poor not because of a lack of opportunity or skills, but because of bad decisions by them or other people. So it’s a more complicated issue than just bringing jobs.”