I think you're massively underestimating a) the amount of poverty even in the US (or whatever country you're thinking of) yet alone in places where the mean salary is only a couple of hundred bucks, and b) the limited options for making more money for the type of person who does paper rounds (often but not always <18yo, but always in a situation where they need/want the work of delivering newspapers for a low hourly rate and for likely less than a few hours a day).