When Pope Francis addressed Congress last month, he called on all Americans to “keep in mind all those people around us who are trapped in a cycle of poverty. They too need to be given hope.”

The pope is right to challenge us to help those trapped in poverty — today, too many Americans are struggling to get ahead.

One obvious reason why so many need help is that, under President Obama’s economic policies, our nation’s economy simply isn’t growing like it should — and like we were promised it would. Insufficient growth has kept too many on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder, and recent data hasn’t provided much hope for improvement. Median household incomes fell substantially during and after the 2007-2009 recession and still haven’t recovered. A smaller share of American adults is working or looking for work than at any time since the 1970s. And a record number of people have simply given up looking for jobs.

Read the article “To Create Upward Mobility, Government Needs to Promote Work” on thehill.com.