Poverty on the Rise, According to New Census Bureau Report

The number of people living in poverty in the United States grew by more than one million in 2004, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual poverty report released last month (Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004). Thirty-seven million Americans, 12.7 per cent of the population, now live in poverty, up from 12.5 per cent in 2003. Poverty grew even though real median household income remained the same in 2004 and the nation was in the third full year of economic recovery. The official poverty line for a family of three is $15,067.

Work was less effective as a means of escaping poverty in 2004. The number of people who work but live in poverty grew by more than half a million, increasing the poverty rate among this group from 5.8 percent to 6.1 percent. The real median earnings of full-time year-round male workers fell by nearly $1,000, a decline of 2.3 percent.

The news about the growth in poverty comes as Congress is considering deep cuts in basic safety-net and work-support programs for people living in poverty. The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law opposes any such cuts, whose effect would be magnified at this time.

The Census Bureau also reported that 45.8 million Americans were without health insurance coverage in 2004. The percentage of people without health insurance, 15.7 percent, remained the same as in 2003. However, the number of people with employer-provided health insurance coverage continued to decline, falling below 60 percent for the first time since 1993. The percentage of Americans with health insurance coverage would have declined if not for the growth of coverage in government health insurance programs such as Medicaid and FamilyCare.

Illinois bucked the national trends in 2004, with the number of people in poverty falling by 58,000, or 3.5 percent, and the percentage of uninsured Illinois residents falling by 54,000, or 3 percent. While Illinois has done better than the rest of the country in adapting public policies that address the needs of its poorest residents, it still has a long way to go with over 1.5 million people living in poverty and 1.8 million uninsured residents.