New Census Poverty Figures Don't Tell Whole Story for Minorities and Women
Feature Story by Tyler Lewis - 8/30/2006
The U.S. poverty rate held steady in 2005 - at 12.6 percent - according to new Census Bureau figures released August 29.
However, for minorities no change means that millions are still worse off than whites. 2005 was the first year since 1999 that the real median household income increased, but Black and Hispanic households still have the lowest median incomes.
And while the poverty rates for Blacks and Hispanics did not change significantly in 2005, both groups still have the highest rates of poverty. The decline in the poverty rate for non-Hispanic whites in 2005 suggests the gap between whites and minorities is growing.
Health care coverage increased by 1.4 million in 2005; however the number of uninsured Hispanics increased by 600,000 and 1 in 5 blacks is still uninsured.
Civil rights groups say that the Bush Administration's defunding of critical programs, like welfare and Medicare, has made it harder for those in poverty to move up the economic ladder. "Most of the people who leave welfare for work are leaving for jobs that pay $7 or $8 an hour. Under the best circumstances, they are just getting by," Joan Entmacher, vice president of the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) told The Washington Post.
In addition, NWLC said that the Bush tax cuts are particularly harsh for women. NWLC's analysis found that adult women were 45 percent more likely to be poor than adult men, up from 37 percent in 2004 and the median household income for female-headed households with children fell to $23,100. "It's time for lawmakers to stop thinking about ways to pass even more tax breaks for multi-millionaires and start focusing on those in need," Entmacher said.
The Census figures were released on the one-year anniversary of the devastation Hurricane Katrina wrought in the Gulf Coast, an event that focused the nation's eyes sharply on eradicating poverty.
"It would be insulting to the millions in poverty - and the thousands rebuilding their lives after Hurricane Katrina -- to look at these figures depicting millions of Americans stagnating in poverty as progress," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. "There are still more people in poverty than there were in 2000 and it is past time to do something about it."
Related Links
- Census Figures (pdf)
