2008 US Census shows sharp increase in poverty

When 2008 census data is released next month, it is expected to show a dramatic increase in the number of Americans living in poverty and without health insurance, according to Rebecca Blank, undersecretary of economic affairs for the Commerce Department.

The number living below the official poverty threshold increased in 2008 by 1.5 million people to 38.8 million, a number equivalent to 12.7 percent of the population, the census is expected to show...

The forthcoming census data does not measure the growth in poverty that has taken place in 2009, which has seen massive job loss, particularly in the first months of the year. Blank has estimated that the official poverty rate could rise to 14.8 percent, more than one in seven Americans, should the unemployment rate rise to 10 percent, as many economists forecast.

The official US poverty rate is based on income thresholds. The Census Bureau counts a family of four as impoverished if its pretax income falls below $21,660; for an individual, the figure is $10,830...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/aug2009/cens-a21.shtml

There is a census every 10 years. "The census" will be in 2010.

The Census Bureau, however, continuously does statistical surveys of the population. So it is census bureau data, not "the census" that the story is referring to.

Another blatant lie from World SociopathologicalLiars Web Site. Why am I not surprised?

That said who is surprised that Census Bureau data would show an increase in poverty during one of the worst recessions since World War II?

factfinder.census.gov

2008 should be released next month.

Get your priorities straight.;-)

k&r

fortunately the Census uses an index to measure how above/below the threshold certain communities are. So even if the index is 1.3, that's still pretty shitty.

And the current proposal in the Senate Finance committee to lower the threshold for subsidies to help buy health insurance to 300% of the poverty level means a couple making more than around 33,000 will be on their own. Our last premiums were $1200 per month.