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2 years in a row more in poverty Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-09-26-poverty-usat_x.htmhttp://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-09-26-poverty-usat_x.htm
2 years in a row, more in poverty
By Peronet Despeignes, USA TODAY
More than a million Americans sank into poverty last year, an annual Census report showed Friday. It was the first time in nearly a decade that the number of poor rose two years in a row.
The poverty rate was 12.1% last year, up from 11.7% in 2001, the Associated Press reported. Nearly 34.6 million people lived in poverty, about 1.7 million more than the previous year.
The figures were previewed three weeks ago by a Census survey testing a new methodology. Today's figures are considered more authoritative and comprehensive. They're the ones used by the government in calculating unemployment and setting policies.
Although the economy is showing signs of improvement, poverty rates lag behind economic shifts. The report will give Democrats ammunition to attack President Bush's stewardship of the economy.
The official definition of poverty varies by family size and age and can change annually with the cost of living. In 2001, a family of two parents under 65 and two children younger than 18 were considered poor with a household income below $12,207. That year, 32.9 million people were defined as poor.
David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's, said, "Clearly, with a hiring slump going on, you'd expect poverty to get worse."
The economy was stagnant in 2002 amid layoffs and spending cuts by employers and state governments. More people were unemployed for longer periods, and more saw their jobless benefits run out.
But the 2002 poverty rate reported today is still close to the 2000 mark, its lowest level in more than 25 years, the Associated Press reported. The recession, job losses and slumping income of the past few years have not completely erased the gains of the 1990s boom, said Robert Rector, who studies poverty at the Heritage Foundation.
And fresher indicators suggest the economy is staging a comeback: Retail sales are rising, corporate profits are rebounding, investing is picking up, and the stock market has rallied.
But a hiring rebound remains little more than a forecast — and a shaky prospect that has proven elusive for nearly three years. Even if economic growth continues to accelerate, it might be too uncertain and subpar to encourage a quick hiring revival, or to stop the rise in unemployment and poverty.
For the first time in 15 years, the poverty report was released on a Friday. That had prompted charges by Democrats such as Reps. Carolyn Maloney of New York and William Lacy Clay of Missouri that the White House hoped to see the bad news buried in little-seen Friday night and Saturday news coverage.
Census officials strongly denied the accusation.
"The news conference was moved from Sept. 23 to Sept. 26 because the professional staff asked for extra time to process this round of data," Census spokesman Lawrence Neal said. "The Sunday public affairs shows will make a meal of the data and spit them back into the news cycle on Monday. ... The notion that we should, could or would suppress these numbers doesn't pass the laugh test."
Bill Spriggs, director of research and public policy at the National Urban League, said the numbers were frightening. "This may become one of the worst downturns in income in 30 years," he said. "We see that people are digging themselves deeper into poverty because the economy is not generating jobs."
Experts had predicted that rising unemployment last year and the still shaky economy would increase poverty and lower income for most people, even though the recession officially ended in November 2001.
Bureau statistician Daniel Weinberg said the changes between 2001 and 2002 were consistent with changes following past recessions.
"The highest point in the cycle of poverty and the lowest point in income tend to come in the year after a recession," he said at a news conference at bureau headquarters in Suitland, Md.
Contributing: Contributing: The Associated Press
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