Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 7, 1994 TAG: 9410070026
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
There were 39.3 million poor Americans in 1993, or 15.1 percent of the population. Although it marked only a slight change from a poverty rate of 14.8 percent in 1992, the increase came at a time of robust expansion.
The poverty level for a family of four was $14,763 in 1993. Among children, 22.7 percent were living in poverty - the highest level since 1964.
Coming five weeks before congressional elections, the numbers are likely to reinforce the sense that President Clinton and Congress have not done enough to get the country on the right track. However, the reasons have more to do with long-term changes like falling wages for unskilled workers than with government policy.
The Census survey also brought bad news for the middle class: the income of a typical household declined slightly in 1993, while the number of people without health insurance increased to 39.7 million.
The bureau's snapshot of a typical middle-class household showed that median income for 1993 stood at $31,241, a slippage of $312 from 1992. Median income represents the midpoint on the economic ladder. The median earnings of full-time, year-round workers also declined after adjustment for inflation. Both men and women workers lost ground, but the earnings of men fell more sharply.
Government and private analysts said the slow pace of hiring after the end of the 1990-91 recession and an increasing gap between haves and have-nots in the U.S. economy may help to explain the figures.
``Hiring has lagged in this recovery,'' said Frank Levy, an urban economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ``If you see the same kind of pattern for 1994, when it is clear that employment is catching up, then you should really be worried.''
Daniel Weinberg, chief of the Census Bureau's household economic statistics division, said the increase in poverty was ``unusual.'' The poverty rate usually falls in the second year after the end of a recession, and 1993 was such a year.
``This seems to have gone on longer than most recessions,'' said Weinberg.
He said part of the explanation may be the fact that higher-income households are claiming a bigger proportion of total income, while the shares going to those in the middle and on the bottom are being whittled down.
A Census analysis showed that in 1993 the top 20 percent of households - those making more than $60,544 - accounted for 48.2 percent of all household income, an increase of 1.9 percent from 1988.
By comparison, the middle 60 percent saw its share of overall household income fall by 1.7 percent during the same period. And the bottom 20 percent of households - making less than $12,920 - saw its share of the pie shrink by 0.2 percent.
``The fact that the general economy is growing isn't enough,'' said Isaac Shapiro, an economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, an advocacy group for the poor. ``We need the type of economic growth that reaches all Americans.''
by CNB