Hope Yen,Yahoo News
Everything old is new again.
The ranks of
America’s poor swelled to almost 1 in 6 people last year,reaching a new high
as long-term unemployment left millions of Americans struggling and out of work.
The number of uninsured edged up to 49.9 million,the biggest in more than two
decades.
The Census Bureau’s annual report released Tuesday offers a snapshot of the
economic well-being of U.S. households for 2010,when joblessness
hovered above 9 percent for a second year. It comes at a politically
sensitive time for President Barack Obama,who has acknowledged in the midst of a
re-election fight that the unemployment rate could
persist at high levels through next year.
The overall poverty rate climbed to 15.1 percent,or 46.2 million,up from 14.3
percent in 2009. The official poverty level is an annual income of $22,314 for a
family of four.
Reflecting the lingering impact of the recession,the U.S. poverty rate from
2007-2010 has now risen faster than any three-year period since the early
1980s,when a crippling energy crisis amid government cutbacks contributed to
inflation,spiraling interest rates and unemployment.
Measured by total numbers,the 46 million now living in poverty is the largest
on record dating back to when the census began tracking poverty in 1959. Based
on percentages,it tied the poverty level in 1993 and was the highest since
1983.
Broken down by state….
