Michigan's poverty rate hits 14% in '09 MIKE WILKINSON AND CATHERINE JUN The Detroit News
Michigan experienced a substantial jump in its poverty rate in 2009 as the full effects of the recession continued to sweep across the country, according to a report issued this morning by the U.S. Census Bureau. The 2009 poverty rate for Michigan was 14 percent, the highest for the state since it hit 14.1 percent in 1994, and well above the 13 percent reported for 2008. Both are substantially higher than the 9.9 percent in 2000. Advocates for the poor say that the picture would have been bleaker had the federal government not issued jobless benefit extensions. The 2009 Recovery Act directed as much as $2.6 billion to Michigan's unemployed. "It would have been far worse without all the unemployment benefits in Michigan," said Judy Putnam, spokeswoman for the Michigan League for Human Services, an advocacy group in Lansing. The poverty rate, she said, shows that families still need emergency federal help, particularly an extension of jobless benefits, additional cash assistance and an expanded after-school meal program that doesn't reduce food stamp benefits. "Until our economy recovers and (while) we're without jobs, what do we expect people to do?" Putnam said. Nationally, the poverty rate for 2009 was 14.3 percent, up from 13.2 percent last year and the largest year-over-year increase in three decades. The Census Bureau says that about 43.6 million people, or 1 in 7, were in poverty last year in the United States. That's up from 39.8 million in 2008. The median -- or midpoint -- household income was $49,777. In 2009, the poverty threshold for an individual was income just less than $11,000. For a family of four, it was slightly below $22,000. Food stamps, medical benefits and subsidized housing are not counted when calculating a person's income. For the second year in a row, national household median income dropped slightly, from $50,112 to $49,777. It is not considered statistically different than 2008, and substantially less than the decline from 2007 to 2008. But for non-Hispanic whites and African-Americans, the declines in median income were statistically significant, from $52,113 to $51,861, or 1.6 percent for whites; and $34,088 to $32,584, or 4.4 percent for African-Americans, . Since 2000, median income nationwide has fallen nearly 5 percent. Hardest hit: The Midwest, where the 2009 median household income of $48,877 is 11 percent below its level in 2000. It's also at its lowest point since 1994. The region, where manufacturing job losses were most pronounced, saw the largest year-to-year drop, with median income dropping 2.1 percent from 2008 to 2009. The Associated Press contributed. [email protected]">[email protected] (313) 222-2563 _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
