Census: More Californians in poverty than any other state
By Aaron Sankin, Huffington Post
California has a poverty rate of 23.5 percent, the highest of any state in the country, according to figures released this week by the United States Census Bureau.
The only other geographic region with an equivalent poverty rate is the District of Columbia, with 23.2 percent. The second most poverty-stricken state was Florida, at 19.5 percent.
The recognition of California’s shockingly high poverty rate comes as a part of a shift in the way the Census Bureau measures its data. When the government began examining poverty back in the early 1960s, the line for determining who fell underneath the threshold was determined solely by looking at food costs.
In the decades since, there’s been increasing criticism this benchmark, as it doesn’t take into account tax rates and assistance programs such as food stamps, child care expenses and medical costs. In examining its most recent data, the Census Bureau considered these previously ignored factors, deemed the “supplemental poverty measure.”
These new metrics have yielded quite different results than in past years. Under the traditional definition of poverty, for example, California’s rate is 16.3 percent.
“We’re seeing a very slow recovery [nationally], with increases in poverty among workers due to more new jobs which are low-wage,” University of Wisconsin-Madison economist Timothy Smeeding told the Associated Press. “As a whole, the safety net is holding many people up, while California is struggling more because it’s relatively harder there to qualify for food stamps and other benefits.”
The Golden State’s jump between the supplemental and conventional measures was the largest swing of any state, and the Sacramento Bee attributes it to California’s high cost of living.
“There are several important differences between the official and supplemental poverty measures,” explained Census Bureau economist Kathleen Short in a statement. “For instance, the supplemental measure uses new poverty thresholds that represent a dollar amount spent on a basic set of goods adjusted to reflect geographic differences in housing costs. The official poverty thresholds are the same no matter where you live.”
Under the supplemental measures, the national poverty rate jumped by a full point up to 16.1 percent, or just under 50 million individuals. The poverty rate for minors dropped from 22.3 percent down to 18.1 percent, while the rate for seniors (ages 65 and above) nearly doubled to 15.1 percent.
Poverty in CA is not like poverty in Nigeria.
Poverty in California is caused by the Democrats that run the entire State and give out welfare like it is free candy and food stamps like it was free popcorn. And We are paying for it, some day the people will realize that this can’t go on but it will as long as you keep putting the same people back in office.
How many of the poverty class are people that are illegally in CA? How many are recent arrivals?
Figures lie and liars figure. Why isn’t the raw data given so the numbers can be fully understood and not spoon feed to the people who pay for all this? The backs of the working class are overburdened supporting the taking class.
X – this isn’t a Democrat or Republican problem. We do need to reform to make sure those that truly need are getting, and those that are working are not.
Did you know that since 1967, CA has been led by Republicans have led the state for 31.5 years and the Democrats for 12.5?
You can point fingers at a lot of causes: Wal Mart putting small stores out of business and putting in minimum wage jobs into towns across the state. Am sure you can find some sort of figure that shows people getting aid of some sort on the rise in towns with Wal Mart. You have people coming into this country that want to work, but we’ve made it so hard for them to do so. You have generations of children that aren’t documented since they were brought here as infants. They want to go to college and be fruitful citizens but they are so limited without proper ID. You have an unfavorable industry climate that forces businesses out of state. Housing prices went through the roof in the 90s, thus keeping those without big bank roles living in conditions most wouldn’t want to….the list goes on.
I may be wrong, but illegals can’t get aid if they don’t have proper ID (Social Security # and legitimate ID card). Does anyone know?
This is not a Blue or Red problem but a society problem and we need to get it fixed.
“Did you know that since 1967, CA has been led by Republicans have led the state for 31.5 years and the Democrats for 12.5?”
The governor isn’t king. The legislature matters too, ya know.
‘Poverty in CA is not like poverty in Nigeria.’
You must be confused by this article. Let me help clear up the misunderstanding by teaching you about the literary device of ‘setting’.
Setting, is the place or time in which an article or story is based. It is usually established at the beginning of the piece. In this case the setting is The United State, specifically in California. (see the first paragraph).
Setting can change in an article/story when the author makes a specific statement that opens up the setting. This can be done with a sub-plot that involves traveling, but in an article you can expect something less elaborate and involved. Using the word ‘worldwide at the beginning of a paragraph would indicate a change in setting.
In this article, the word ‘national’ is used to change the setting.
The phrase “The official poverty thresholds are the same no matter where you live.” seems to be confusing you. All one has to do is look for hints about the setting.
In this article any ambiguity about the setting after that quote can be cleared up by reading the introductory sentence to the next paragraph:
‘Under the supplemental measures, the **national** poverty rate…’
Ahh, but what nation? It is the duty of the reader to think back about the clues in the article that define the extent of the setting. Did the author ever use any words like ‘worldwide’ or mention any nation other than the United States?
No, the author did not expand the setting into any other state than California, and at the end expanded the setting to the Nation of the United States.
I hope that cleared things up for you Dog and that you now know that the author and characters were discussing poverty in the setting of the United States.
Would you like to practice ‘setting’ in any other articles to reinforce the concept? Let me know. I hoped this helped.
-Mr. F.
I found some more resources to help you with ‘setting’.
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/english/storysettings.htm
http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ela4/h/setting.cfm
http://bogglesworldesl.com/setting.htm
I hope these help.
Education is the best tool in the fight against poverty.
-Mr. F
Good point about Republicans being in the Governorship for many years! Both parties have done a poor job controlling our State’s expenses! But there’s no doubt CA is a state, when compared to others, that has high taxes, and generous benefits. Thus definitely worth noting it’s high poverty rate!
Tom its a damn shame that you are such an angry old coot
with out your City Pension you would be broke to
most folks at the poverty level spend there money on Bad Habits- Drinking,Drugs,Gambeling,Whores
Fish, poverty in the USA comes with air conditioning, cell phones, i-phones, and plenty of creature comforts most of would never have dreamed of 20 years ago.
Nigerian poverty comes with starvation.
Your condescending attitude sucks.
thingfish,
Do you really think that poverty in the USA is the same as poverty in say, Brazil, or Nigeria, or Egypt?
If so,
WHERE DID YOU GO TO SCHOOL? CALIFORNIA?