WASHINGTON (AP) — Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of
Americans — nearly 1 in 2 — have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on
earnings that classify them as low income.
The latest census data depict a middle class that’s shrinking as
unemployment stays high and the government’s safety net frays. The new
numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt
millions of workers and families.
“Safety net programs such as food stamps and tax credits kept poverty from
rising even higher in 2010, but for many low-income families with
work-related and medical expenses, they are considered too ‘rich’ to
qualify,” said Sheldon Danziger, a University of Michigan public policy
professor who specializes in poverty.
"The reality is that prospects for the poor and the near poor are dismal,”
he said. “If Congress and the states make further cuts, we can expect the
number of poor and low-income families to rise for the next several years.”
Congressional Republicans and Democrats are sparring over legislation that
would renew a Social Security payroll tax cut, part of a year-end political
showdown over economic priorities that could also trim unemployment
benefits, freeze federal pay and reduce entitlement spending.
Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage
Foundation, questioned whether some people classified as poor or low-income
actually suffer material hardship. He said that while safety-net programs
have helped many Americans, they have gone too far, citing poor people who
live in decent-size homes, drive cars and own wide-screen TVs.
“There’s no doubt the recession has thrown a lot of people out of work and
incomes have fallen,” Rector said. “As we come out of recession, it will be
important that these programs promote self-sufficiency rather than
dependence and encourage people to look for work.”
Mayors in 29 cities say more than 1 in 4 people needing emergency food
assistance did not receive it. Many middle-class Americans are dropping
below the low-income threshold — roughly $45,000 for a family of four —
because of pay cuts, a forced reduction of work hours or a spouse losing a
job. Housing and child-care costs are consuming up to half of a family’s
income.
States in the South and West had the highest shares of low-income families,
including Arizona, New Mexico and South Carolina, which have scaled back or
eliminated aid programs for the needy. By raw numbers, such families were
most numerous in California and Texas, each with more than 1 million.
The struggling Americans include Zenobia Bechtol, 18, in Austin, Texas, who
earns minimum wage as a part-time pizza delivery driver. Bechtol and her
7-month-old baby were recently evicted from their bedbug-infested apartment
after her boyfriend, an electrician, lost his job in the sluggish economy.
After an 18-month job search, Bechtol’s boyfriend now works as a waiter and
the family of three is temporarily living with her mother.
“We’re paying my mom $200 a month for rent, and after diapers and formula
and gas for work, we barely have enough money to spend,” said Bechtol, a
high school graduate who wants to go to college. “If it weren’t for food
stamps and other government money for families who need help, we wouldn’t
have been able to survive.”
About 97.3 million Americans fall into a low-income category, commonly
defined as those earning between 100 and 199 percent of the poverty level,
based on a new supplemental measure by the Census Bureau that is designed to
provide a fuller picture of poverty. Together with the 49.1 million who fall
below the poverty line and are counted as poor, they number 146.4 million,
or 48 percent of the U.S. population. That’s up by 4 million from 2009, the
earliest numbers for the newly developed poverty measure.
Broken down by age, children were most likely to be poor or low-income —
about 57 percent — followed by seniors over 65. By race and ethnicity,
Hispanics topped the list at 73 percent, followed by blacks, Asians and
non-Hispanic whites.
Even by traditional measures, many working families are hurting.
Following the recession that began in late 2007, the share of working
families who are low income has risen for three straight years to 31.2
percent, or 10.2 million. That proportion is the highest in at least a
decade, up from 27 percent in 2002, according to a new analysis by the
Working Poor Families Project and the Population Reference Bureau, a
nonprofit research group based in Washington.
Among low-income families, about one-third were considered poor while the
remainder — 6.9 million — earned income just above the poverty line. Many
states phase out eligibility for food stamps, Medicaid, tax credit and other
government aid programs for low-income Americans as they approach 200
percent of the poverty level.
The majority of low-income families — 62 percent — spent more than one-third
of their earnings on housing, surpassing a common guideline for what is
considered affordable. By some census surveys, child-care costs consume
close to another one-fifth.
Paychecks for low-income families are shrinking. The inflation-adjusted
average earnings for the bottom 20 percent of families have fallen from
$16,788 in 1979 to just under $15,000, and earnings for the next 20 percent
have remained flat at $37,000. In contrast, higher-income brackets had
significant wage growth since 1979, with earnings for the top 5 percent of
families climbing 64 percent to more than $313,000.
A survey of 29 cities conducted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors being
released Thursday points to a gloomy outlook for those on the lower end of
the income scale.
Many mayors cited the challenges of meeting increased demands for food
assistance, expressing particular concern about possible cuts to federal
programs such as food stamps and WIC, which assists low-income pregnant
women and mothers. Unemployment led the list of causes of hunger in cities,
followed by poverty, low wages and high housing costs.
Across the 29 cities, about 27 percent of people needing emergency food aid
did not receive it. Kansas City, Mo., Nashville, Tenn., Sacramento, Calif.,
and Trenton, N.J., were among the cities that pointed to increases in the
cost of food and declining food donations, while Mayor Michael McGinn in
Seattle cited an unexpected spike in food requests from immigrants and
refugees, particularly from Somalia, Burma and Bhutan.
Among those requesting emergency food assistance, 51 percent were in
families, 26 percent were employed, 19 percent were elderly and 11 percent
were homeless.
“People who never thought they would need food are in need of help,” said
Mayor Sly James of Kansas City, Mo., who co-chairs a mayors’ task force on
hunger and homelessness.
___
Online:
Census Bureau: www.census.gov
U.S. Conference of Mayors: www.usmayors.org/
Custom Search