In 2007, for instance, 6.4 percent of adults who lived under the poverty line and didn't work in the past year said it was because they couldn't find a job. As of 2012, the figure had more than doubled to a still-small 13.5 percent. By comparison, more than a quarter said they stayed home for family reasons and more than 30 percent cited a disability.

As you might expect, the are some big differences between the genders on this front. Women are far more likely than men to cite family. Men are more likely to cite their inability to find a job.

To me, these are the sorts of numbers that raise more questions than they answer. Are women staying home because they prefer to be mothers, or because they can't find jobs that pay enough to make working a financially viable choice, once the cost of family care is factored in? Are youngish retirees really choosing to leave the workforce early, or are they cashing in their social security benefits prematurely because they're out of other options? Of the 1.2 million adult men who said they couldn't hunt down work, how many really couldn't find any job, and how many couldn't find a job they wanted? Of the millions of apparently impoverished college students in the country, how many are essentially living on loans or their Pell Grants? You get the idea.

If you do choose to take the Census figures at face value, though, I think there are a couple of lessons. First, the recession changed poverty to some extent. More of the non-working poor claim they cannot find a job than at any point in the past two decades. Given that there are three unemployed Americans for every job opening, that shouldn't be much of a surprise. Second, the poor who choose not to work aren't necessarily doing so out of laziness, but because they have other obligations: they're trying to take care of relatives, they're ill, or they're attempting to make their way through school.

And taking away their meal tickets won't fix any of those problems.

Americans 18 to 64 who lived under the poverty line in 2012 and did not work during the year, by reason for not working (U.S. Census, in thousands)

Year Total Ill or Disabled Retired Home or Family Reasons Could Not Find Work School or Other 1994 9738 3027 660 3379 851 1820 1995 9398 2799 589 3363 810 1837 1996 9526 2983 669 3364 716 1794 1997 9116 3128 639 2932 732 1684 1998 8,914 3,019 760 2,703 582 1,850 1999 8,333 2,813 786 2,476 420 1839 2000 8,221 2,866 897 2,446 432 1580 2001 9,588 3,291 1,011 2,806 557 1,923 2002 10,253 3,269 1,085 2,951 793 2155 2003 10,951 3,618 971 3,106 867 2390 2004 11,510 3,716 1,147 3,386 847 2,415 2005 11,450 3,750 1,058 3,563 671 2,407 2006 11,385 4,003 1,048 3,312 619 2403 2007 11,627 4,035 1,103 3,281 747 2,461 2008 12,365 4,225 1,175 3,317 1,177 2,470 2009 14,291 4,336 1,065 3,726 2,200 2,964 2010 16,037 4,764 1,201 4,136 2,382 3,552 2011 16,147 4,917 1,352 4,034 2,352 3,492 2012 15,825 4,908 1,312 4,074 2,132 3,399