Report: More Americans Living in Poverty Than Ever

A poor outlook on employment continues to dampen prospects for students and other individuals looking for jobs in the current market. In fact, more Americans now live in poverty than at any other time since the number has been recorded, according to a newly released report [PDF] by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The report, titled “Income, Poverty and Health Insurance in the United States,” parses Census data which shows that some 15.1 percent of Americans made less than the poverty line in 2010, up from 14.3 percent in 2009. Over the same period, the median household income fell 2.3 percent to $49,445.

The poverty line, as defined by federal agencies, depends on the age, number of children and size of family unit of an earner. For a working-age person who lives alone and has no children, for example, the determined poverty line is $11,344 per year.

In a disturbing trend, 1.5 million more Americans fell last year into the "deep poverty" bracket of individuals who make less than half the official poverty line, bringing the overall total to 20.5 million.

The report also addresses immigration, finding that native citizens were the most likely to be poor.

"The real median income of native-born households declined between 2009 and 2010," reads the report. "The change in the median income of foreign-born households was not statistically significant."

While the report shows that a higher number of Americans states now live in poverty than at any other time since the number was first recorded in 1959, a higher proportion of Americans fell below the poverty line as recently as 1993.

The number of children and persons under 65 living in poverty continued to rise in 2010, while the percentage of individuals over 65 in poverty remained the same.

There were also racial differences in poverty trends: Median income declined last year for both white and black households, but held steady in Asian and Hispanic homes.

The report is another recent indication of stubborn economic stagnation and high unemployment in the face of ongoing efforts by the Obama administration to kick start the economy.

While the report may lend a sense of urgency to jobs legislation that the administration is pushing this fall, some pundits fear the ongoing recession will be used against the president as a referendum on the stimulus package results.

However, the report contains no data from the period of time since the 2010 census data was collected.

The report also shows a modest increase in the number of individuals living without health insurance from 2009 to 2010, from 49 to 49.9 million, while an extra 500,000 young people gained health insurance in 2010 which officials said was “almost certainly” a result of health care reform.

Jon Christian is a staff writer with Campus Progress. Follow him on Twitter @Jon_Christian.

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