Census Bureau Shows that 1 in 7 Americans Lives in Poverty

The Census Bureau released its annual report on the financial strength of American households yesterday, indicating that the overall poverty rate in the U.S. rose from 13.2% in 2008 to 14.3% last year, representing a total of 43.6 million people. That rate is the highest since the 1960s, and is attributed largely to the recession that has cost millions of people their jobs. In addition, the percentage of Americans without health coverage rose from 15.4% to 16.7%, a total of over 50 million uninsured.

President Obama, addressing the terrible year that 2009 turned out to be, noted, "Because of the Recovery Act and many other programs providing tax relief and income support to a majority of working families – and especially those most in need – millions of Americans were kept out of poverty last year." Despite that, millions still entered the poverty level during 2009, which is bad news for incumbents as the November 2 mid-term elections loom. David Johnson, chief of the Census Bureau’s household economics division, estimates that expanded unemployment benefits helped to keep an additional 3.3 million people of our poverty in 2009, lending some credence to Obama’s statement.

In addition, another 7.8 million people would not have been counted among the impoverished in the U.S. had food stamps and tax credits been counted as income. Among certain income groups, the Census Bureau saw some interesting trends. For example, among working-age people between the ages of 18 and 64, poverty rose from 11.7% to 12.9%. Additionally, though poverty rose among all races, blacks and Hispanics were especially hard hit, with the rates jumping to 25.3% and 25.8% for Hispanics and blacks, respectively