Poverty is Knocking on More American Doors

Big news the past two days has been the just-released Census Bureau analysis of income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the US. There is little in this report to be encouraged about. The percentage of Americans living below the poverty is higher than it has been since the 1990s and average income, adjusted for changing prices, is also back at the level of the 1990s. The obvious reason for this is the Great Recession and the jobless rate that has come in its wake. At the same time, the report had very few surprises--the most vulnerable populations are those that have been hit the hardest, especially African-Americans, Latinos, and within all demographic groups it is the children growing up in a family without a father that are most at risk of living below the poverty level. I commented in more detail about this report on yesterday's Midday Edition on KPBS radio here in San Diego.