Census Report Expected to Show Rise in Poverty
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 26, 2003
nytimes.com
Filed at 9:36 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- All indications point to bad economic news when the Census Bureau releases its annual report on poverty and income.
The numbers, which were to be made public Friday by the Census Bureau, are expected to show more people fell into poverty and Americans' median income fell, both for the second straight year.
A separate bureau survey released earlier this month showed 34.8 million people living in poverty in 2002, up 1.4 million from the previous year. The same survey found the median household income rose just $51, when accounting for inflation, to $43,057.
However, that survey did not ask as detailed questions on people's financial status as the survey on which the government's official income and poverty data is based.
Even before the data was made public, House Democrats charged the Bush administration was trying to hide bad economic news by releasing the numbers on a Friday when people are paying more attention to the upcoming weekend. In previous years, the estimates were released either on a Tuesday or Thursday.
"Sounds like they're trying to bury the numbers where people won't find them," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. "This is another clear example of political manipulation of data by the Bush administration to avoid the glare of public scrutiny about the country's worsening economy."
Bureau spokesman Larry Neal said the time change wasn't politically motivated. It was originally scheduled to be released this past Tuesday, he said, but was moved to Friday because statisticians asked for more time to process the numbers.
"These are the official estimates of income and poverty in America and every debate on income and poverty for the next year will rehash them," Neal said. "The notion that we should, could or would suppress these numbers doesn't pass the laugh test."
The figures to be released Friday come from a survey of 78,000 households taken this past March that asked about respondents' economic status in the previous year.
The last official estimates, released a year ago, showed the U.S. poverty rate rose to 11.7 percent in 2001 after nearly a decade of decline. Median household income fell 2.2 percent to $42,228 after remaining flat the previous year, making it the first statistically significant decrease in a decade.
Median income refers to the point at which half of households earn more and half earn less.
The poverty threshold differs by the size and makeup of a household. For instance, a person under 65 living alone in 2002 was considered in poverty if income was $9,359 or less; for a household of three including one child, it was $14,480. |
