THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 7, 1994 TAG: 9410070796
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
The number of Americans living in poverty climbed past 39 million last year, the most since 1961 and an unwelcome surprise in the second year after the end of a recession.
Income growth seems to be concentrated among better-off Americans, Daniel H. Weinberg of the Census Bureau said Thursday. ``The long-term trend in the U.S. has been toward increasing income inequality,'' he said.
The Census Bureau's annual poverty report said 39.3 million people fell below the poverty level in 1993, the most since 39.6 million in 1961, which was nearly 22 percent of the population at that time.
Poverty in 1993 was defined as an income of $14,763 for a family of four.
The growing number of poor pushed the poverty rate to 15.1 percent of all Americans, a share that officials termed ``not statistically different'' from 1992, when 38.0 million, or 14.8 percent, were poor.
However, the 1992 poverty rate has previously been listed as 14.5 percent. The adjustment to 14.8 percent was to compensate for people previously undercounted and some problems in collecting the information.
Labor Secretary Robert Reich termed the figures ``deeply disturbing,'' adding that ``we have the most unequal distribution of income of any industrialized nation.''
``Clearly the poverty rate is a long-term problem in the economy that wasn't created overnight and can't be fixed overnight,'' added Gene Sperling, President Clinton's deputy assistant for economic policy. ``We hope this will energize us, the Congress and the American people to face these problems and take them head-on.''
Weinberg, chief of the bureau's Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, said normally the poverty rate peaks in the year after the end of a recession, then begins to decline.
``This recession ended in 1991. One could expect a higher poverty rate in 1992. This (1993 rate) is unusual,'' he said.
Full-time workers experienced a significant drop in income last year, a pattern similar to that of the 1980s, when economic progress was not spread evenly through the population, explained Isaac Shapiro of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said.
Weinberg noted that the median income of U.S. households in 1993 was $31,241, down 1 percent from 1992. Median income means that half were making more than that amount and half less.
Other findings of the new poverty report included:
Children are 40 percent of the poor, but just 27 percent of the total population.
If noncash benefits such as food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, public housing and fringe benefits at work were counted as income, the poverty rate would fall to 12.1 percent.
Blacks had the highest poverty rate, at 33.1 percent, compared with 30.6 percent for Hispanics, 15.3 percent for Asians and Pacific iIslanders and 12.2 percent for whites.
Poverty in metropolitan areas, at 14.6 percent, was lower than in rural areas, 17.2 percent.
Asians and Pacific islanders had the highest median household income at $38,347, followed by whites, $32,960; Hispanics, $22,886; and blacks, $19,532.
About 39.7 million Americans lacked health insurance at some point in 1993, including 11.5 million of those living in poverty.
Median earnings of women were 72 percent of what men earned in 1993, tying an all-time high.
Weinberg urged caution in comparing the new poverty figures with those from prior years because of the adjustments being made in the calculations. ILLUSTRATION: Graphics
AP
POVERTY IN AMERICA
SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
STATE RATES
In Virginia, the rate rose from 9.5 percent in 1992 to 9.7
percent in 1993.
In North Carolina, the rate dropped from 15.8 percent to 14.4
percent.
KEYWORDS: POVERTY U.S. STATISTICS by CNB