HOUMA -- Audrey Blanchard, 30, works full time behind the counter at a local convenience store but says her $6.50-an-hour pay doesn’t quite cut it in providing for herself and her 3-year-old daughter.

The cashier, who didn’t finish high school, started attending Blue Cliff College in Houma in July to become a massage therapist. But working full time, caring for a young child and attending school proved too much. Plus, she couldn’t afford to pay for her next classes.

The single mom credits her family with helping her to get by. Blanchard says she and her daughter live with family members because they can’t afford apartment rent in Houma, and Blanchard’s mom often shuttles the toddler to and from school and day care. The government also helps by paying half the $90-a-week cost for day care. Blanchard says she works as many hours a week as possible, but making more can cost: her food-stamp benefits recently dropped from $179 to $12 a month.

"That’s a big drop," she said. "The more you try to get ahead, the more behind you get."

Over the past decade, Houma-Thibodaux’s economy has bustled. Oilfield companies and shipbuilders struggle to find enough workers, health care and retail have taken off, and the community’s jobless rate consistently ranks among the lowest in the state and nation.

Yet many who work full-time jobs struggle to make ends meet.

Pinpointing the exact number of people who might be described as "working poor," however, is elusive. Definitions vary wildly, depending on the organization, government agency or other source consulted.

Each week, at least 650 Terrebonne Parish residents head to full-time jobs where they don’t earn enough money to rise above the federal poverty level, according to 2000 Census figures, the latest information available with those specific numbers. Another roughly 1,400 residents work part time but have incomes at or below poverty level.

But if national Census Bureau estimates from 2004 poverty reports hold true in Terrebonne, roughly 3,800 to 4,140 parish residents could fall into the category of "working poor."

They include people like Jeff, a 34-year-old full time produce clerk at a local supermarket, who said he has struggled to make a living since being laid off in 2003 from his health-insurance sales job. Jeff, who declined to give his last name, worked in customer service for a New Orleans-area garbage-collecting company before Hurricane Katrina relocated him to Gray. He has taken a few college courses but said it’s tough to find the money to finish schooling on $8 an hour. To cut costs, he splits rent and other expenses by living with his ex-girlfriend.

Kelli Boyd, 21, of Thibodaux, drives to Houma to work full time as a motel housekeeper in hopes of saving enough money to finish schooling in dental hygiene. She began attending school in Georgia to become a dental hygienist, then transferred to a school in Metairie this summer to complete her education but had to leave in August for financial reasons. Paying for rent, car insurance, gas to travel to work and school, and courses became too expensive, she said. She earns $5.75 an hour, opting to travel to Houma because work at a Thibodaux motel would have paid less. Boyd, who hopes to return to school in February, said lacking the money to finish her courses -- and get ahead in life -- can be discouraging.

THE GREAT DEBATE

National discussion about the working poor often results in fierce debate, polarizing political, academic and religious leaders on whether the working poor need more government help or just need to work harder, whether corporate greed or individual laziness is to blame, and whether such a group as "the working poor" even exists in America, the most powerful country in the world.

Some argue that the federal threshold -- $20,000 a year for a family of four -- is far too low to accurately describe a lifestyle that could reasonably be considered impoverished. That could explain why some locally and across the nation living above the official poverty line still struggle to maintain the basics of food, clothing, electricity and shelter. Various government programs use higher income guidelines to determine eligibility for services like health insurance or food.

Others say "the working poor" is an imaginary group created by those smitten with the idea that all things should be equal, including income. The working poor in America typically have color television sets, vehicles and air conditioning, said Walter Block, an economics professor at Loyola University in New Orleans.

"I resist the notion that they’re poor," Block said.

But the endless political and philosophical debate about the working poor seems far removed from the real struggles faced by the people at the debate’s center.

"We see people every day who are one paycheck away from disaster," said Rob Gorman, director of Houma-based Catholic Social Services. One car problem or one sick child can tip the scales. "People are looking at poor people and say they should get a job. Very often, they have a job -- and maybe more than one."

The ongoing debate doesn’t concern Tranquilina Stearns of Ashland, who works full time but, until recently, lived below the poverty line. Stearns is busy working to support and raise her four sons.

"At least you know when you go out there and get it, you know it’s getting done," Stearns said. "I don’t wait for the free hand. I go out there, and I do what I got to do."

WHY DO THEY STRUGGLE?

Poverty has long plagued Louisiana. An estimated 19.8 percent of the state’s residents lived in poverty in 2005 compared to the 13.3 percent national average, according to the Census Bureau. Only Mississippi has more residents in poverty.

Just 10 states have a greater percentage of residents whom the Council for a Better Louisiana defines as "working poor," adults earning less than one-and-a-half times the federal poverty level.

Recent national trends don’t help, say some experts. The minimum wage has not been increased since 1997, health-care costs have surged, incomes for the typical family have slacked since 2000, and the gap between rich and poor is widening, according to research by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C.

In Terrebonne, an estimated 17.1 percent of residents -- or about 18,139 people -- lived in poverty in 2005, Census figures show.

Poverty deepens in several of the parish’s more-rural communities, as the factors driving poverty swell, according to the 2000 Census, which offers the latest detailed income information on each community.

Though working full time substantially lowers a person’s risk of poverty, most of the working poor usually work full time, according to the federal Department of Labor.

In Terrebonne, 4,329 families had incomes below the poverty level in 1999, the latest numbers available. Of these, more than 640 families had at least one family member who worked full time. Another roughly 1,400 families included at least one member who worked part time.

The reasons for poverty among working people are wide and diverse. Some are simple to grasp -- poor health or a lack of education. Others are more complex, like the subtle remnants of centuries of discrimination or the recent downturn of the fishing industry. Poverty can develop slowly, over years of being stuck in minimum-wage work, or swiftly, with a single unexpected medical bill.

Weapons to downsize the problem, nationally and locally, also can be simple, such as raising the minimum wage and increasing eligibility for federal aid, some suggest. But an overall solution, a sweeping cure, is much more complex, certainly more complex than, say, just getting a job.

WHILE ECONOMY BUSTLES …

In most places, economist and LSU professor Loren Scott said, he would look to a troubled economy and low wage rates to explain poverty. But not in Terrebonne and Lafourche, which boast strong economies overall.

Though dependence on the unpredictable and changing oil-and-gas business can cause dramatic fluctuations in the economy, the industry generally offers better pay than an economy based on a textile industry or food-processing plants, Scott said.

"Your economy is not going to explain the differential between the amount of poverty locally compared to the national average," Scott said.

Instead, economists, social scientists and community groups point mainly to Terrebonne’s overall lackluster education levels, among other factors. Low education levels lead to low wages, even in the oil patch, they said.

"Without a high-school education, a person sort of commits to being poor," said Chad Turner, assistant professor of finance and economics at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux. "Dropping out is almost a vow of poverty."

By most critical measures, Terrebonne’s education levels trail state and national averages. For example, the parish has fewer high-school and college graduates than the state and national averages.

Earnings increase by about 50 percent for people with a high-school diploma, compared to those without, according to federal statistics cited in a report by a pair of Nicholls State University economics professors. Average earnings rose by nearly $7,000 more for those with associate degrees and nearly doubled for those with bachelor’s degrees.

Local oil-and-gas service companies, construction and health-care businesses have long cried out for more skilled labor. Most industries with higher-paying jobs require a more highly educated and skilled workforce, according to the Nicholls State report, issued earlier this year.

"The working-poor issue revolves around education," said Robert Newman, chairman of Louisiana State University’s Economics Department. "You can only earn what your productivity commands."

PUBLIC POLICY

Experts also blame government policy for working poverty in America. Some economists, like Sylvia Allegretto of the Economic Policy Institute, say Bush Administration tax cuts have aggravated a widening gap between the rich and poor by granting favor to the wealthiest American residents.

Others say current welfare policy still encourages idleness more than work, even after reforms made in 1996.

"The main reason for poverty among working people is that they don’t work enough," said Robert Rector, a poverty and welfare expert for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington.

Rector asserts that poor families with children don’t typically work full time, year-round. There’s debate over whether that’s caused by a poor work ethic or unavailability of full-time work, but Rector said there’s likely some truth to both arguments. Also, Rector asserts, Americans are less willing than in the past to switch locations to find jobs.

Outsourcing of blue- and white-collar jobs, as well as foreign workers filling U.S. jobs, could be taking a toll on wages, including for those at the bottom of the pay spectrum, experts said. Anecdotal evidence suggests that companies sending work overseas could be depressing wages, Allegretto said.

DISCRIMINATION LINGERS

It may not be as open and blatant as in the past, but discrimination -- racial, gender, class or social status -- still exists, economists, social scientists and local community activists say.

Black and Hispanic workers are more than twice as likely to be among the ranks of the working poor than white workers. They are also more likely to work and fall below the poverty line at all levels of education, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Women, particularly single mothers, also have high working-poor rates.

In Terrebonne, 37 percent of black families had incomes below the poverty line in 1999, compared to 10 percent of white families, according to the 2000 census. Single black women fared worse, with female-headed families forming 63 percent of the black families living in poverty in Terrebonne.

Racial discrimination, both past and present, plays a large part in the poverty equation, observers say.

Scars remain for large groups of people who had been prevented from participating in society, giving those groups fewer assets like land, money or businesses to pass on to their children, said Tim Slack, an assistant sociology professor at LSU.

"Generations of exclusion make a mark on people," said Kirby Verret, former chief of the United Houma Nation who works with local Native American students. "It’s hard to overcome that mark."

Black people also face modern, and often subtler, forms of racism, Slack said.

For example, poor, black children don’t enjoy the same education opportunities as their white peers. Low-income, minority children are more likely to be taught by the least-qualified teachers despite a federal push to change this, according to a recent report by the Education Trust, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. However, this disparity in education extends beyond race, experts said. Low-income children of all races receive lower-quality education than their wealthier peers, Allegretto said.

Racism can translate into lower wages, fewer promotions and scarcer job options for black people, even if they are more educated or qualified than others applying for the work, said Jerome Boykin, president of the Terrebonne chapter of the NAACP.

Black people are not well-represented across every sector of the Terrebonne work force, said Wayne Thibodeaux, a former parish councilman who spent more than 16 years placing people in jobs through the state Department of Labor’s Houma office.

In Terrebonne, higher-wage fields like marketing, business and engineering seem particularly tough for black people to gain ground in, despite college degrees in those areas, Boykin said.

Thibodeaux said he has seen this affect the aspirations of Terrebone’s young black people. When black people see members of their race dominate certain roles, such as cleaning crews or cashier jobs, and a lack of black people in more-lucrative work, they set their goals low, he said.

NO EASY SOLUTION

Black people trying to go into business regularly face more roadblocks than white people, particularly in gaining bank loans, Boykin added.

Yet others, like Rector of the Heritage Foundation, say lower wages among blacks have more to do with lower levels of work and higher levels of welfare. Block, the economic preofessor, concludes from the lower wage levels of blacks that black workers have lower rates of productivity. Higher rates of productivity would result in higher wages, he said. Like most groups with high poverty rates, black people have higher dropout rates, both nationally and locally, according to experts and community leaders.

"Opportunities come back to education and experience," said Turner, with education as a prerequisite to gaining experience.

Also, high-school dropouts are more prone to getting involved in crime, which severely limits job options, Turner said. Nationally, 50 percent of black males who drop out of high school have a prison record before age 30.

"I don’t see any easy solution," Turner said after reviewing the scope of issues plaguing the poor. President Lyndon B. Johnson declared war on poverty in the 1960s, he added. "We’re still losing that."