Poverty levels in the city of Oswego have been high for a long time, according to the United State Census Bureau, who show that they have risen an additional 5% since 1997.

The poverty rate was 24.3% in 1997, according to the city of Oswego’s website and had increased to 25.3% by 2012, then to 28.9% in 2016 and slightly decreased to 26.7% in 2019, as found by the U.S. Census Bureau.

In 2017, “Although the official poverty rate in the City [was] 29%, another 18% of residents have income at or below 200% of the poverty threshold, which means they often struggle to make ends meet,” according to a LIFT (Learn, Identify, Focus and Transform) Oswego Needs Assessment.

“This isn’t really a new thing,” Dr. Elizabeth Schmitt, professor of economics at SUNY Oswego said. “We can find decades of data that would tell us that poverty rates in Oswego County are higher than the national average.” 

The average U.S. poverty rate in 2020 was 11.4%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Rural areas, like the city of Oswego, tend to have higher poverty rates than the national average, Schmitt said. There are not as many job opportunities due to fewer employers and underemployment can be an issue, too.

Transportation is a significant contributor to poverty in rural, spread-out areas, Schmitt said. Unlike a rural one, an urban area has more public transit options that are more widely available.

A lack of a vehicle makes it difficult for an individual to get to and keep a job and travel to higher education, like college or trade school, Schmitt said.

According to the Needs Assessment, “Census data show that 16% of city households do not have a vehicle, and 61% of jobs held by city residents are located outside of the city.”

Ellen Lazarek, prevention services coordinator at Oswego County Opportunities (OCO), said that people “don’t have the transportation that they need to get from point A to point B to be able to get back to work and maintain regular employment.” 

The OCO is a “community action agency for Oswego County, offering over 50 human services programs aimed at empowering vulnerable populations and creating thriving communities,” according to its Facebook page.

Currently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are many more job openings, said Tina Eusepi, collaboration manager for workforce at OCO. Prior to the pandemic, however, the more sustainable, higher-paying jobs were located outside of the city of Oswego, such as manufacturing jobs. 

A factor in continued poverty is the lack of transportation, Eusepi said. Furthermore, since many manufacturing jobs start at odd hours, carpooling and buses can be unreliable ways to get to work.

Eusepi said that in a previous poition working with impoverished families in Oswego County, if she worked with 55 families, only 10% would have a vehicle. Eusepi said these families without a car could get to the grocery store, for example, but getting outside the city was difficult.

Another barrier to employment is finding safe, reliable and affordable childcare, Lazarek said. She also noted that many daycares are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., meaning individuals who work odd hours or different shifts every week may find it difficult to find child care. 

The Needs Assessment also noted that “About 30% of the 5,000 poor residents of the City are college students, who may be able to relatively quickly move out of poverty upon graduating and finding employment.”

Schmitt, Lazarek and Eusepi all noted the historical factors of the poverty rate in Oswego and surrounding areas; the shift in industry. Many factories in the area have closed in past decades, taking jobs with them.

“We have a shift for … 40 years at least, out of manufacturing employment into service employment,” Schmitt said. “The shift from manufacturing means it becomes a lot harder to earn a living wage without a skill, without a post-secondary skill.” A post-secondary skill could be a college degree but could also be an apprenticeship or trade. 

“The city has been losing population for some time, and when it loses population, it mainly means it’s losing jobs,” said Dr. Ranjit Dighe, professor of economics at SUNY Oswego. “Jobs [move] out, but … sometimes the people stay in.”

“Manufacturing jobs have decline by more than 30% in the last 15 years,” according to the Needs Assessment.

When industry leaves an area, often the skilled workers move with it, Schmitt said. Those individuals have mobility, but the people without skills get “caught in a trap.” 

“It takes a lot of money to move,” Schmitt said. 

Low-income people can lack mobility because they often do not have income for a first month’s deposit or may not be able to pass a credit check and the high cost of moving in general, she said.

“So you’re stuck in an area where job opportunities are limited,” Schmitt said. “And limited job opportunities and lower income has limited transportation reliability, and it limits your ability to move, so now you sort of get in that kind of trap.”

Image via City of Oswego’s Website