Poverty line is not "BEST" indicator.

• Position: Economics - Basic Economic Security Table - Brief article

Single workers need rnore than $30,000 a year for economic security. Single parents with two children should have at least $57,756 to cover basic expenses and save for emergencies and retirement, while dual-income households with two children require $67,920, concludes the Basic Economic Security Table (or BEST Index), a report that the Center for Social Development at Washington University, St. Louis, Mo., helped prepare.

These figures are well above--sometimes several times--aditional measurements like the poverty line and minimum wage designed to show what workers require for a basic standard of living. The national poverty level is $10,830 for a single-person family and $18,310 for a family of three.

BEST is different from the Federal poverty measure in that it takes into account actual spending for necessary items (e.g., food, housing, transportation, and child care) for a family to meet its basic needs. In contrast, the Federal poverty measure is calculated based solely on food cost. Accordingly, BEST captures...