Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 5, 1993 TAG: 9310050320
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By WILLIAM J. EATON LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Putting the figures in historical perspective, the bureau said 14.5 percent of Americans were classified as poor. Although the rate was only slightly higher than the 14.2 percent of the year before, it marked the highest level since the post-recession year of 1983, when it was 15.2 percent.
The 1992 figures, the latest available, also demonstrated that the number of Americans without health insurance rose 2 million to 37.4 million, representing 14.7 percent of the civilian population.
Analysts said the rising number of poor in America could be traced in part to a "jobless recovery" from the recent recession. That appeared to be especially true in California, where defense industry cutbacks have contributed to unemployment that remains stubbornly high.
The poverty rate in the Golden State climbed to 15.8 percent last year and to 17.2 percent in Los Angeles. Both figures were well above the national average of 14.5 percent.
Only three other states - Nevada, North Carolina and Rhode Island - showed increases in poverty rates last year and no state reported a decline.
The government, which adjusts its poverty standard each year according to prevailing prices and inflation. In 1992, the poor were defined as individuals with incomes of $7,143 or less and a family of four with earnings of $14,335 or less.
Of the estimated 37 million poor, Census Bureau official Daniel Weinberg said, "This is the largest number of poor since 1963, when the total [U.S.] population was of course much smaller - about three-fourths as large as now . . . After this recession, I expect you'll see a decline."
The South had the highest poverty rate - 16.9 percent last year - and the lowest median household income. Two out of five poor persons lived in the region, the report said, while 40 percent of the poor nationwide were children.
In the segment of its report on health insurance, the Census Bureau found that young adults and poor people were most likely to lack coverage, while all but 1.5 percent of Americans over 65 were insured.
In a related report, the Census Bureau said that median household income remained unchanged last year from the year before at $30,786. That figure was nearly $2,000 below the 1989 level.
Typical household income for white Americans was $32,368 last year, compared to $22,848 for persons of Hispanic origin and $18,660 for African Americans.
A huge gender gap on earnings was evident in 1992. Men over 25 years old who held year-around, full-time jobs typically had income of $26,766 for high school graduates and $40,381 for those with a college degree. Women with the same characteristics typically had incomes of $18,648 for high school graduates and $29,284 for college graduates.
\ POVERTY IN AMERICA\ Some facts about poverty, incomes and health-care coverage in 1992 from the\ Census Bureau:\ \ Percentage in poverty: Blacks, 33.3 percent; Hispanics, 29.3 percent; Asians\ and Pacific Islanders, 12.5 percent; whites, 11.6 percent; non-Hispanic whites,\ 9.6 percent.
\ Working poor: 40.3 percent of poor people over 16.
\ Poor receiving government assistance: 42.7 percent.
\ Americans covered by health insurance: 85.3 percent.
\ People moving into poverty: 6.2 million.
\ People moving out of poverty: 5.1 million.
\ Household incomes: Asians and Pacific Islanders, $38,153; whites, $32,368; non-Hispanic whites, $33,388; Hispanics, $22,848; Blacks, $18,660; Westerners, $33,621; Northeasterners, $33,194; Midwesterners, $30,911; Southerners, $27,741; big-city suburbanites, $40,460; inhabitants of big inner cities, $26,872.
\ Women's income: 71 cents of each dollar earned by men.
\ Households with income of $100,000 a year and up: 4.7 million, or 4.9 percent.
\ Households with income of less than $25,000: 39.5 million, or 40.9 percent.\ - Associated Press
by CNB