U.S. Poverty Rate Remains Unchanged
According to a recent Census Bureau report the number of Americans living in poverty remained the same last year as it was in 2010. Even though the poverty rate had climbed for three straight years prior, the numbers that were released earlier this week are a direct reflection of the 50 million Americans who are barely capable of providing for themselves and struggling with hunger.
The economic outlook for the country seems bleek as the 15.1 percent of people living in poverty remained unchanged from the year before. The official poverty line was listed as $23,021 for a family of four and $11,484 for an individual. While the median household income, or the gap between rich people and poor people was $50,054. This was the second straight year that the midpoint between the two had a decline of 1.5%
Even though the economy is showing signs of recovery, there is still a very large number of Americans who are living in poverty.
According to the report, every group saw their income decline with the exception of those America’s who earn the country’s top 5 percent of income. In other words, the rich are getting richer while the poor are…well, getting poorer!
The high poverty rate can truly be attributed to the high level of unemployment in the country, as well as the large number of low paying jobs amongst other factors.
Colorlines outlines how minorities and people of color are affected by this latest poverty rate from the Census Bureau.
- Close to 1 out of three blacks, and one out of four Latinos, is poor.
- Poverty falls hardest children. One out of five in poverty is below the age of 18, double the rate for those over 65.
- The poverty rate for women is 20 percent higher than that of men.
When numbers like this are revealed I become less concerned with political ads, mud slinging, and the blame game that the candidates are offering up this close to an election, and more concerned with finding resolutions. We need results and we need them now. How are we going to get out of this mess and get back on track? There are way too many children going to bed hungry every night and not enough men and women going to work every day. We need to get folks back to work so we can start to chip away at this poverty crisis.
