Census: Number of poor may be millions higher (than previously thought)

Source: AP

Census: Number of poor may be millions higher


…
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The number of poor people in the U.S. is millions higher than previously known, with 1 in 6 Americans — many of them 65 and older — struggling in poverty due to rising medical care and other costs, according to preliminary census figures released Wednesday.

At the same time, government aid programs such as tax credits and food stamps kept many people out of poverty, helping to ensure the poverty rate did not balloon even higher during the recession in 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office.

Under a new revised census formula, overall poverty in 2009 stood at 15.7 percent, or 47.8 million people. That's compared to the official 2009 rate of 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million, that was reported by the Census Bureau last September.

Across all demographic groups, Americans 65 and older sustained the largest increases in poverty under the revised formula — nearly doubling to 16.1 percent. As a whole, working-age adults 18-64 also saw increases in poverty, as well as whites and Hispanics. Children, blacks and unmarried couples were less likely to be considered poor under the new measure.

Due to new adjustments for geographical variations in costs of living, people residing in the suburbs, the Northeast and West were the regions mostly likely to have poor people — nearly 1 in 5 in the West.

<snip>

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_census_poverty

. . . . their poverty rate is high, but expected. No one expected the other categories to rise as fast or as high as they have.

Again, this is a pure guess on my part.

i.e., if you've "given up" looking for work, you're not actually "unemployed."

If you live in your parents' house, as a child, why, you're not "poor" on your own.

And/or: What Stinky said!

Both worked all their lives and were frugal. He worked at the farmer's co-op. She was a hairstylist and had her own small studio. He's been ill and is facing down both heart disease and cancer. At the age of 85, she works cleaning houses to be able to buy groceries. I worry what will become of them.

This nation is a frickin failure.

We only need government to make war. No infrastructure, no safety net, no commons, just war, the more the better.

OMG, I'm turning into a wealthy Republican!

then why is >10% poverty not also addressed as a critical social issue?

A WTF country, that's why.