Newswise — The share of Americans living in poverty jumped to 13.2 percent in 2008—up significantly from 12.5 percent the year before, new Census Bureau data reveal. For a family of four, this means making ends meet on less than $22,000 a year.
In an array of timely analyses, Urban Institute researchers offer perspectives and insights into the circumstances of nearly 40 million poor men, women, and children. These reports, commentaries, and more are on the Urban Institute’s “Understanding Poverty” web site, http://www.urban.org/poverty/index.cfm.
New resources include
• “Poverty in the United States, 2008,” by Greg Acs: “A key to avoiding poverty is work, but even among workers age 16 and over, poverty rates grew between 2007 and 2008 as wages and hours slipped.”
• “Testimony on Income and Poverty in the United States: 2008,” by Harry Holzer: “The worst is yet to come. Even if the recession officially ends this year—meaning that the production of goods and services in the economy begins to recover—the unemployment rate will likely continue to worsen for the rest of this year and into next year…. Real income, therefore, will continue to fall and poverty will continue to rise for a few more years—and almost certainly by much more than what we have witnessed between 2007 and 2008.”
• “Poverty Numbers: Historical Rates by States and by Age,” by Austin Nichols: An assortment of graphs display the evolution of poverty over the last two decades.
• “Rising Poverty Threatens Neighborhood Vitality,” by Margery Austin Turner: “In recent years, overall levels of black-white segregation have been declining, albeit slowly, while segregation of Latinos has climbed. Although a growing share of U.S. neighborhoods are racially and ethnically diverse, low-income African Americans and Latinos in particular remain highly clustered in predominantly minority neighborhoods.”
• “Transitioning In and Out of Poverty,” by Signe-Mary McKernan and Caroline Ratcliffe: Slightly more than half of the U.S. population experiences poverty before age 65. Roughly half of those who get out of poverty will become poor again within five years.
The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization that examines the social, economic, and governance challenges facing the nation.
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