In the US, is the percentage and number of poor people (below middle class)
higher or lower than it was 15 years ago?

Hello jroff-ga,
 

The poverty rate in the U.S. was 13.6% which was higher than 11.7% in
2001.

Below you may view  the statistics taken form the U.S. Census Bureau
in order to verify that this is the correct information.


In 2001, people below the poverty thresholds numbered 32.9 million 
and the poverty rate was  11.7 percent.

The data presented here are from the Current Population Survey (CPS),
2002 Annual Demographic Supplement (ADS), the source of official
poverty estimates.

Source:
U.S. Census Bureau
Last Revised: September 24, 2002
http://www.census.gov/hhes/poverty/poverty01/pov01hi.html



In 1986 the number of persons below the poverty level was 32.4 million
and the poverty rate was 13.6 percent.

In 1985 – 14%
In 1983 – 15.2%

Source: (page 8)
Poverty in the United States -1986
Issued 1988
U.S. Department of Commerce
Bureau of the Census
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/prevcps/p60-160.pdf



Additional information that may interest you:


The following chart shows that “the number of poor in the U.S. in 2001
-- 32.9 million people -- was 1.3 million more than in 2000. This
increase in the number of poor led to a higher poverty rate in 2001 --
11.7 percent compared with 11.3 percent in 2000, which matched the
lowest rate recorded, 11.1 percent in 1973. Except for 1999 and 2000,
the last year for which the poverty rate was as low as in 2001 was
1979.”
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/img/incpov01/fig04.jpg



Poverty 2001
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty01.html

Historical Poverty Statistics
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/prevcps.html



Search Criteria:

U.S. Census Bureau
Poverty Statistics


I hope this helps. If anything is unclear please request clarification
and I'll be glad to offer further assistance before you rate my answer
and close the question.


Best Regards,
Bobbie7-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by bobbie7-ga on 25 Jun 2003 09:30 PDT

That should say:

The poverty rate in the U.S. was 13.6% in *1986* which was higher than 11.7% in
2001.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by jroff-ga on 25 Jun 2003 09:48 PDT

Just give me your opinion (settle an arguement with a friend):

Are people in the US better off than they were 15 years ago or has the
boom in the economy over the last 15 years made it more difficult for
people to live?

---

Clarification of Answer by bobbie7-ga on 25 Jun 2003 10:53 PDT

Dear Jason,

Since I live in South America, I am not in a position to have an
informed opinion on this interesting question. I am sure that other
Google Answers Researchers and commenters would like to present their
views on this in the "Comments" section below."


Here are two links that might be helpful: 

"As business profit rates have soared to historic highs in recent
years, many U.S. families have had to make do with declining real
wages... Business profits are up, but the vast majority of Americans
continue to work harder for less. This high profitability is simply
the reflection of the dominance of employers in the shaping of wages
and working conditions in today's labor market. Persistent growth in
wage inequality and the recent surge in profitability have created a
wedge between economic growth and living standards, leaving most U.S.
families "no better off now than in 1989."
http://web.pdx.edu/~psu01435/family.html 


"Are families in Massachusetts better off now than they were in 1979?
A study by UMass Boston economists Randy Albelda and Marlene Kim
examines the gains and challenges families have experienced as the
state's economic base changed from "old-style" manufacturing to the
"new" economy... While many workers have seen their earnings improve
over twenty years, they also have been working much longer hours. More
people - especially mothers - are working in every family. Also,
despite gains in earnings, workers have experienced a steady decline
in employer-sponsored benefits since 1979. Some types of workers, such
as Black, Hispanic, and workers without high school degrees, ended the
1990s earning less than they did twenty years previously, despite two
economic booms... While earnings for workers without a high school
education fell markedly in the 1990s, those with college degrees and
beyond saw steep increases... Albelda and Kim conclude the past decade
has brought more opportunities for work, but offered little earnings
improvements, except for those at the top of the earnings scale."
University of Massachusetts Boston
http://www.umb.edu/news/2002news/releases/0702work_families.html


Sincerely,
Bobbie7

Thanks for the good answer... very interesting, and I'm sure it is
going to spark debate in the Comment section.

My opinion…

I believe we are better off, although it may seem harder because we
are dependent upon much more (Internet, better cars, luxuries, etc…).
I think we have to work harder because we expect more. Just my 2
cents.

Thanks!

Financially, my husband and I are doing less well now than 15 years
ago, but most of our friends seem to be somewhat better off.

Of course, one's perception of being well off is derived from factors
other than just economic circumstances. 15 years ago, we weren't
concerned that we might get anthrax if we opened an envelope from a
stranger; we did not worry that our loved ones might go to work and
never return because some madmen decided to crash jetliners into a
building. 15 years ago, the AIDS epidemic was not yet in full swing.
15 years ago, metal detectors were not a typical fixture of public
high schools.

15 years ago somehow seems very far away. :-(

Jason,
Thanks for the five stars and tip!
--Bobbie7

This sheds a little light on the subject ...

"The bursting of the dot.com bubble and the slide of the stock market
notwithstanding, a majority of people in the United States, as in many
developed countries, are richer than they've ever been. And yet, when
social scientists measure the happiness quotient of the population,
they report something paradoxical.

"Amidst the satisfaction people feel with their material progress,
there is a spirit of unhappiness and depression haunting advanced
market democracies throughout the world," says Robert E. Lane, the
Eugene Meyer Professor Emeritus of Political Science and an expert in
the study of well-being in industrialized societies."

Details - Mom Was Right 
http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/01_07/details.html

-K~

In assessing how well off we are (or aren't), it's also helpful to
take into account the living conditions of the rest of humanity.
Otherwise we are somewhat like the apocryphal private-school student
who wrote an essay that started like this: "Once upon a time there was
a very poor family. The mother was poor. The father was poor. The
children were poor. The maid and butler were poor. Even the gardener
and the man who cleaned the swimming pool were poor."