The differences between working full-time at minimum wage and the poverty line are outlined in Box 9.8. Even with the increases, the disparity between mini-mum wage income and living in poverty in 2008 was more than five thousand dol-lars for a family of three. Based on these calculations, the minimum wage would have to be raised beyond the new levels to lift a family of three above the poverty line. Without public assistance or benefits through the Earned Income Tax Credit, full-time work at minimum wage still leaves a family below the poverty line. This difference highlights one of the many policy contradictions in our social welfare system. Although people are categorized as living in poverty with incomes below officially recognized levels, legislation that sets a minimum accepted level for wages does not set that level to pay wages that lift workers or their families out of poverty.