11 September 2009
Since its first national census in 1790, the United States has counted its population every ten years in order to apportion seats in the House of Representatives. But over the years, the process evolved into more than just a head count used to divide political representation and today includes information on social issues most relevant to Americans at a given time. For instance, in addition to the decennial population and housing census, the Bureau releases reports every five years on the economy, many demographic and economic surveys and an annual American Community Survey. This week, the Census Bureau released its annual report on poverty, income, and health insurance—providing a statistical snapshot of the toll the first full year of the recession has had on the country’s families and households.
Most of the report for the 2008 calendar year is, not surprisingly, bad news. The real median household income in the United States suffered the biggest decline since 1991, falling 3.6 percent between 2007 and 2008, from $52,163 to $50,303. Income inequality was statistically unchanged, with the earnings of women who worked full-time, year-round at 77 percent of the amount for corresponding men. The real median earnings of men who worked full-time, year-round declined by 1.0 percent between 2007 and 2008, from $46,846 to $46,367, while for women, the corresponding drop was 1.9 percent, from $36,451 to $35,745. Lawrence Katz, a Harvard University economist, said that given the meager income gains for most workers in recent years, “we’ve basically seen a lost decade for typical American families.”
The nation’s official poverty rate hit an eleven-year high, rising from 37.3 million, or 12.5 percent, in 2007 to 39.8 million, or 13.2 percent, in 2008, including more than 14 million children. That means more than one of every eight Americans fall below the poverty line, and analysts expect that number to keep rising this year and next, despite the expectation that the U.S. economy will resume growing in the second half of this year. Approximately 3.8 million payroll jobs have been eliminated since January, and unemployment, currently at 9.7 percent, is projected to top 10 percent in the coming months. The weighted average poverty threshold in 2008, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget and updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, for a family of four was $22,025; for a family of three, $17,163; for a family of two, $14,051; and for unrelated individuals, $10,991.
The number of Americans without health insurance coverage rose from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million in 2008. However, this figure too is expected to rise as more workers lose their jobs, and in turn, their health coverage. Between 2007 and 2008, the number of people covered by private health insurance decreased from 202.0 million to 201.0 million, while the number covered by government health insurance climbed from 83.0 million to 87.4 million. The number covered by employment-based health insurance fell from 177.4 million to 176.3 million. In contrast, both the rate and number of uninsured children in 2008 dropped to the lowest since 1987, the first year that comparable health insurance data was collected. The number of uninsured children declined from 8.1 million, or 11.0 percent, in 2007, to 7.3 million, or 9.9 percent, in 2008.
However, the 2008 data does not include the economic impact of the first half of 2009, when hundreds of thousands of Americans fell into the ranks of the unemployed and likely lost their health insurance. President Obama, speaking at the White House, acknowledged that the number of those without coverage may be higher than the Census figures. “The situation’s grown worse over the last 12 months,” he said. “It’s estimated that the ranks of the uninsured have swelled by at least 6 million.”
The Census Bureau will release data on income, poverty and health insurance coverage for most counties and many cities on September 22 and will soon begin recruiting employees for the 2010 census, which for the first time will be conducted using GPS technology
By: Madeline Ellis
No comments:
Post a Comment