U.S. Severe poverty rate at highest in three
decades
Plight of poorest of poor extends to suburban areas
By TONY PUGH
Mcclatchy-Tribune
02/26/07 "Huston
Chronicle" -- -- WASHINGTON — The percentage of
poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a
32-year high as the gulf between the nation's "haves" and
"have-nots" continues to widen.
A McClatchy Newspapers analysis of the 2005 census figures, the
latest available, found that nearly 16 million Americans are
living in deep or severe poverty. A family of four with two
children and an annual income of less than $9,903 — half the
federal poverty line — was considered severely poor in 2005. So
were individuals who made less than $5,080 a year.
The McClatchy analysis found that the number of severely poor
Americans grew by 26 percent from 2000 to 2005. That's 56
percent faster than the overall poverty population grew in the
same period.
McClatchy's review also suggested that the rise in severely poor
residents isn't confined to large urban counties but extends to
other areas.
The plight of the severely poor is a distressing sidebar to an
unusual economic expansion. Worker productivity has increased
dramatically since the brief recession of 2001, but wages and
job growth have lagged behind. At the same time, the share of
national income going to corporate profits has dwarfed the
amount going to wages and salaries.
That helps explain why the median household income for
working-age families, adjusted for inflation, has fallen for
five straight years.
These and other factors have helped push 43 percent of the
nation's 37 million poor people into deep poverty — the highest
rate since at least 1975.
The growth, which leveled off in 2005, in part reflects how hard
it is for low-skilled workers to earn their way out of poverty
in an unstable job market that favors skilled and educated
workers. It also suggests that social programs aren't as
effective as they once were at catching those who fall into
economic despair.Click here
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