The Census Bureau issued a report Wednesday indicating about 46.2 million people, or nearly 1 in 6, were in poverty. The figures were better than the expectations of analysts who had predicted an increase due to persistently high unemployment.
Richard Measell, assistant professor of economics at Saint Mary's College,can interpret the findings. His expectations before the Census Bureau issued the report were: "We'd expect it to reveal that median household income continues to decline, that the income gap continues to widen and that the percentage of people in poverty continues to rise (to a level unseen since 1966). Given our weak economic recovery, noticeable improvement in these areas is unlikely in the coming years. The sad reality is that there is little that public policy can do in the short term to turn this around and that even a strong economy will only slowly reduce poverty."
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