US poorest poor at record highs

US poverty data: 1 in 15 people among America's poorest poor

Data shows about 20.5m Americans make up the poorest poor, defined as those at 50% or less of the official poverty level

Get the data: where are America’s super-poor?

the Guardian,

4 November, 2011

The ranks of America's poorest poor have climbed to a record high — 1 in 15 people — and spread widely across metropolitan areas, as the US housing bust pushed many inner-city poor into suburbs and other outlying places and reduced jobs and income.

New US census data paint a stark portrait of the nation's haves and have-nots at a time when unemployment remains persistently high. It comes a week before the government releases first-ever economic data that will show more Hispanics, elderly and working-age poor have fallen into poverty.

In all, the numbers underscore the breadth and scope by which the downturn has reached further into mainstream America.

"There now really is no unaffected group, except maybe the very top income earners," said Robert Moffitt, a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University. "Recessions are supposed to be temporary, and when it's over, everything returns to where it was before. But the worry now is that the downturn — which will end eventually — will have long-lasting effects on families who lose jobs, become worse off and can't recover."

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