Limitations of the Supplemental Measure

It does not do a good job of capturing differences in well-being across groups. It sharply increases the poverty rate of the elderly, even though other indicators of well-being show that the elderly are better off than other groups. It reduces (at least relative to other groups) the poverty rate of children, although other measures indicate they are more disadvantaged.
It is an income-based measure of deprivation. Such a measure misses important differences in well-being across families and over time. Read more about why consumption is a better measure of poverty and deprivation than income.
It changes the thresholds over time in a complex and unattractive way that will make it hard to interpret changes in the poverty measure over time.

"One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: An Early Assessment of the New U.S. Poverty Measure" (pdf)
Bruce D. Meyer University of Chicago and NBER and James X. Sullivan University of Notre Dame (September 12, 2010)

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