September 28, 2010

The Census Bureau has recently released a report on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage for 2009. According to the census data, income inequality reached a record high in 2009. In other words, the income gap between the richest and poorest Americans is the widest it's ever been recorded (the Census Bureau began tracking household income in 1967). [This data excludes capital gains. Inequality in earnings between the rich and poor would be even higher if that was take into account]. Those in the top 20% (those making more than $100,000 a year) received 49.4% of all income generated in the U.S. Those below the poverty line (approximately 14% of Americans) made just 3.4%. The income ratio is now 14.5 to 1 -- two years ago it was 13.6 and in 1968 it was 7.7. In elementary school math terms, that means for every one pie those below the poverty line get, the richest 20% get 14.5 pies.

The United States also has the largest rich-poor gap among Western industrialized nations.

The census data also revealed that four million additional people fell below the poverty line in 2009. The total reached 44 million Americans. That is one in seven Americans (14.3%). That's the highest percentage it's been in 15 years. The increase was steepest for children -- now about one in five children (21%) live in poverty. That is a 5% increase since 2000. 

This rate could be higher and millions more could have fallen below the poverty line if it weren't for expanded unemployment insurance and other assistance (and yet Republican Senators still try to block the extension of unemployment insurance. Fortunately, their most recent attempt at obstruction was foiled when Republican Senators Collins & Snowe voted with the Democrats to end the filibuster). Another way people have gotten by is moving back in with their parents or other relatives, or sharing homes with nonrelatives. Timothy Smeeding, the director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said, "A lot of people would have been worse off if they didn't have someone to move in with." Census data has shown an 11.6% increase in the number of multifamily households over the last two years. 

The poverty rate in 2009 for non-Hispanic whites was 9.4%, 25.8% for blacks, 25.3% for Hispanics, and 12.5% for Asians. There was an increase in poverty for all groups, except for Asian Americans, whose rate remained unchanged.   

The number of U.S households that receives food stamps increased by 2 million last year. This brings the total up to 11.7 million (or one in ten) households receiving food stamps -- the highest amount on record. 

The percentage of Americans that are below half the poverty line ($10,977 for a family of four) grew from 5.7% in 2008 to 6.3% in 2009. That is the highest percentage since 1975 (when the government first began tracking this group). 

Lower-skilled adults that are aged 18-34 experienced the largest jump in poverty last year due to the dwindling labor market. This group has been hit hard by unemployment, especially as employers often kept on or hired older workers. 

Another interesting finding from the census report is that the number of U.S. residents without health insurance rose to 51 million in 2009 (up from 46 million in 2008. Yeah, we definitely need to repeal the health care reform law, right Republicans?!). Though, this number is expected to drop as the health care reforms begin to take effect. (Full Story) (Full Story)