Census: Supplemental Poverty Measure

Posted by on November 13, 2011

New poverty measure may show more realistic picture

While the federal government’s official figures showed in September that poverty had soared to the highest rate in four decades, a new measure released last week shows a more mixed picture, according to a report in The New York Times.

Poverty rates are lower among children and blacks than previously thought, and higher among older people and Asians.

“The official measure no longer corresponds to reality,” Jane Waldfogel, a professor of social work at Columbia University told the newspaper. “It doesn’t get either side of the equation right – how much the poor have or how much they need. No one really trusts the data.”

To help deal with the concerns, the Census Bureau released a supplemental report designed to show the real financial situation of the nation’s poor. A key goal is to shed more light on the role of government safety-net programs in lifting people out of poverty.

http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/news_conferences/2011-11-04_spm_webinar.html