NUMBER OF POOR IN U.S. HITS HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE
1961
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The number of people living in
poverty in the United States climbed past 39
million last year, the most since 1961.
Income growth seems to be concentrated among the
wealthy, according to Daniel Weinberg of the census
bureau.
"The long-term trend in the U.S. has been toward
increasing income inequality," he said.
The census bureau's annual poverty report said
that 39.3 million people fell below the poverty
level in 1993, the most since 1961, when 39.6
million, or 22% of the population, fell in the same
category.
In 1993, poverty was defined as an income of
US$14,763 for a family of four.
The growing number of poor pushed the poverty
rate to 15.1 per cent, a share officials termed
"not statistically different" from 1992, when 38
million, or 14.8 per cent, were officially poor.
Weinberg, chief of the bureau's housing and
household economic statistics division, said that
the poverty rate normally peaks in the year after
the end of a recession, then begins to decline.
"This recession ended in 1991. One could expect
a higher poverty rate in 1992. This (1993 rate) is
unusual," he said.
David Payne, of the commerce department's office
of economic conditions, added: "This is a bit
unusual in that the unemployment rate kept rising
after the recession ended." He pointed out that
the beginning and end of recessions are determined
by the gross domestic product, not employment
rates.
Isaac Shapiro, of the centre on budget and
policy priorities, said: "It appears that some long-
term trends, such as declining wages, overrode the
positives, such as economic growth." Weinberg
noted that in 1993 the median income of u.S.
households was $31,241, down by one per cent from
1992. Median income means that one half of the
population was making more than that amount and the
other half less.
There were other findings of the new report on
poverty in the U.S.:
--That children, who represent 27 per cent of
the total population in the U.S., make up 40
per cent of the poor.
--That Blacks experienced the highest poverty
rate, 33.1%, compared to 12.2% for whites.
--That poverty in metropolitan areas, at 14.6%,
was lower than in rural areas, where it was
17.2%
-- Associated Press (Vancouver Sun, October 7,
1994)
Sid Shniad
