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  Date / Time: 10/21/2009 5:52 AM UTC

  One in six Americans in poverty in 2008
  

  $0A revised analysis of 2008 US census data shows that 47.4 millionAmericans, 15.8 percent of the population, lived below the officialpoverty line. The figure is markedly higher than the officialgovernment tally, which recorded 39.8 million people in poverty, or13.2 percent of the population.$0$0 $0$0The Census Bureaureleased the data on Tuesday, which is based on the National Academy ofSciences (NAS) method for measuring poverty, for consideration byCongress and the White House. The Obama administration is reportedlyconsidering altering the traditional method for measuring poverty inthe US, which grossly underestimates the true level of social misery.$0$0 $0$0Inarriving at the higher figure, the method recommended by the NAS tookinto account certain factors that the US Census Bureau typicallyignores, including increasing costs related to health care, child care,and transportation, as well as regional variations in the cost ofliving.$0$0 $0$0Among its most striking findings, the NASmethod reveals that nearly one fifth of elderly Americans live inpoverty. At 18.7 percent of the population age 65 and up, this isalmost double the official census figure.$0$0 $0$0Around 14.3 percent of the population aged 18 to 64 is poor, a figure almost 3 percentage points higher than the official tally.$0$0 $0$0Bytaking into account the high cost of living in cities such as SanFrancisco, Boston, and New York City, the NAS figure also reveals muchgreater concentrations of poverty on the West Coast and the Northeastthan official data suggests.$0$0 $0$0Currently, the officialpoverty level for a family of four is $21,203. Established in 1955, theformula for determining the poverty threshold multiplies by three theestimated annual cost of groceries.$0$0 $0$0Such official estimates, many experts and advocacy groups point out, are absurdly low.$0$0 $0$0Ifanything, however, the NAS data also underestimates poverty in the US.The method, for example, counts food stamps and other forms ofassistance to the poor in total income. This results in a slightlylower assessment of the number of children living in poverty in the US,at 17 percent as opposed to the Census Bureau statistic of 19 percent.$0$0 $0$0Accordingto statistical analysis by the Economic Policy Institute in 2007, afamily of four in Peoria, Illinois, required $42,324 to be abovepoverty. In Chicago, the figure was nearly $49,000, and on Long Islandin New York City, almost $72,000—more than three times the officialpoverty level.$0$0 $0$0Last October, a study by the WorkingPoor Families Project found that 30 percent of US households were inpoverty. The survey, based on statistical analysis from census andlabor data from 2004 through 2006, defined poverty as a condition ofhouseholds unable to meet their basic needs. (See “'Working Poor' report: Nearly 30 percent of US families subsist on poverty wages”)$0$0 $0$0Thesocial catastrophe resulting from the financial collapse of 2008 doesnot yet register in any of these statistics. With official unemploymentat nearly 10 percent, and the real rate far higher, the unemploymentcrisis is the worst the nation has experienced since the GreatDepression. Hundreds of thousands of workers are exhausting theirmodest unemployment benefits.$0$0 $0$0Meanwhile, for thosefortunate enough to have jobs, wages have fallen at a rate not seen innearly two decades, and the workweek has shrunk to its shortest onrecords dating back to 1960. At the same time, productivity isincreasing—by a 6.6 percent annualized rate in the second quarter. Andworking class Americans have seen the two largest sources of theirpersonal wealth—home values and retirement plans—decline sharply.$0$0 $0$0Forthese reasons, there can be little doubt that when statistical analysisis carried out for 2009, it will reveal a sharp increase in poverty.$0$0Thereis little in the way of a social safety net in the US to amelioratethis misery, after decades of cuts to welfare and other socialprograms. On the contrary, state and city governments are responding tounprecedented budget crises by further reducing outlays for socialservices.$0
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