New Poverty Data Expected to Show Record Increase

by Josie Raymond · 2010-09-14 07:46:00 UTC
Topics:

T-minus two days until the Census Bureau releases new poverty statistics. It's as exciting as a movie premiere and just as dramatic. Will the stats damn Obama and the Democrats come midterm election time? Or will they register barely a blip on the average person's radar, something of a statistical Pauly Shore?

We've have all the coverage here on Thursday and Friday. Since we can't wait, though, how about a peek at the estimates?

The data on who was poor in 2009 — two years into the recession-that-will-never-end — is expected to show a record increase, from 13.2 percent to 15 percent of the population. That would be the highest single-year jump since the government started keeping track in 1959. If the 15 percent mark is correct, then 45 million people will be categorized as poor. (Millions more will not be categorized as poor, even though they should be, because the country's poverty threshold is laughably low.)

Here's what else experts are expecting:

  • A jump in the child poverty rate from 19 percent to over 20 percent.

  • A jump, to 12.4 percent, in the poverty level among the working-age population — the highest since President Lyndon Johnson launched the War on Poverty.

  • Disproportionate jumps among African-Americans and Latinos, since they have higher unemployment rates.

  • Populations hard hit in Modesto, California; Detroit; Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida; Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

No one will be surprised. We know, after all, that about one in six Americans currently receives some form of government assistance to get by. But that doesn't mean we can't be angry, and sad, and scared.

Photo credit: ePublicist

Josie Raymond has reported from the streets of the South Bronx, written for several magazines that folded (not her fault) and fixed thousands of typos.

RELATED PETITION

Tell President Obama to Update the Unrealistic Federal Poverty Line
SIGN PETITION
2,245 People
PREVIOUS STORY:
"We Are Visible" Teaches the Homeless How to Log On
NEXT STORY:
Is the NCAA Putting Student Athletes at Risk?

COMMENTS (3)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.