Figures released Tuesday by the US Census Bureau reveal sharply worsening conditions for tens of millions of Americans under the impact of the economic crisis and the accumulation of vast wealth by a relative handful.
Some of the figures, for particular states and regions, are simply staggering. Michigan residents experienced a 6.2 percent decrease in median income in the course of one year, from 2008 to 2009, while Illinois has suffered a 24 percent increase in poverty in the past decade. More than 36 percent of Detroit’s population officially lives in poverty.
More:
- Median household income 2008-2009 fell 3%, from $51,726 to $50,221, the second consecutive decline.
- Median income: fell in 34 states & rose only in S. Dakota. National median income down 4% since the beginning of the recession in 2007. Declined by $1500 during 2008-09 alone.
- People living in poverty: Rose both absolutely & percentage-wise in 31 states, declined in none.
- Percent living in extreme poverty (at half the poverty line, or $5489 for a family of 4) rose from 5.3 to 6.7%, an 11% increase 2008-09. THE HIGHEST PERCENT ON RECORD SINCE IT BEGAN TO BE TRACKED IN 1975. DC has the highest percent of its population in extreme poverty.
- The top 20 percent of the population, those making more than $100,000 a year, took about half of all income in 2009, while the 44 million below the poverty line received 3.4%.
“That ratio of 14.5-to-1 was nearly double a low of 7.69 in 1968”
- Median property values for owner-occupied homes dropped 5.8 percent in 2009 when adjusted for inflation.
- Percent of vacant housing units has grown every year since 2006. In 2009 = 12.6%.
- The average size of a household living in a rental has increased since 2006.
- For the first time since the government began recording such data, less than 50 percent of women 18 and over were married in 2009. The share of adults 25 to 34 who have never been married climbed to 46.3 percent in 2009. “The decline in marriage is greater among the poor and less educated”.
- The percent of homes with one or more automobile declined.
- The poverty gap between young & old has doubled since 2000; Child poverty v. elder poverty = 21:9 in 2009 v. 16:10 in 2000.
- “Lower-skilled adults ages 18 to 34” suffered the “largest jumps in poverty last year"
- 2 million households were added to the foodstamp rolls last year. 11.7 million households received foodstamps, the highest percent on record.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/sep2010/cens-s29.shtml
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