I have the poverty rate data from 1959 to present
(http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/prevcps/p60-207.pdf). What I
want is time series data in table or graph form of the poverty rate
from 1900 to the present, using a consistent standard. |
Request for Question Clarification by
bobbie7-ga
on
19 Apr 2006 13:39 PDT
cls3277,
Official poverty estimates for the United States at the turn of the
20th century are not available however the following figures might be
useful.
?Before 1900, being poor for most poor Americans meant, in truth,
surviving on a subsistence income?in some cases living on bread and
water. In the 1920s poverty rates fell to about 20 percent and, on the
eve of the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover notoriously declared that
"we shall soon be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished in
the nation." In the 1930s poverty rates surged to above 40 percent.
Since the late 1950s poverty rates have declined by about 10
percentage points. For the past 20 years the "official" poverty rate,
depending on the state of the economy, has fluctuated between 10 and
15 percent.
Official poverty estimates for the United States at the turn of the
20th century are not available, but unofficial measures suggest that
poverty was substantially higher than today. In the late 1800s, 30 to
50 percent of families were in poverty. In 1950 the poverty rate was
about 30 percent?or twice the current level. The century-long trend in
poverty shows clear improvement.
The most impressive decline in poverty over the past half century has
been among senior citizens. About one-half of seniors were in poverty
in the early 1950s, compared with about 10 to 15 percent today.?
Source: It's Getting Better All the Time, by Stephen Moore and Julian
L. Simon (2000)
Page 74
http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN1882577965&id=N-Vq9KmJWBYC&pg=PA74&lpg=PA74&dq=%22poverty+in+1950&sig=mhlQbfFGhtTHMJZOf7_8BR9jkDo
?The estimates of poverty in the 1930s?including those that set it at
50 per cent or more of the population?also do not appear disastrously
large in historical or international perspective. In 1900, similarly
high percentages lived at or below subsistence, in the more stringent
way that subsistence was defined in that era.?
James T. Patterson, The Welfare State in America, 1930-1980
BAAS Pamphlet No. 7 (First Published 1981)
British Association for American Studies
http://www.baas.ac.uk/resources/pamphlets/pamphdets.asp?id=7#ch1
Does this help?
Thanks,
Bobbie7
|
Clarification of Question by
cls3277-ga
on
19 Apr 2006 14:54 PDT
I am sorry, but I need the data quantitatively in either a table or a
graph form. It doesn't need to be the poverty rate as the US defines
it, but as some measure of poverty from 1900 to 2000.
Thanks
|
Request for Question Clarification by
bobbie7-ga
on
19 Apr 2006 15:20 PDT
Cls3277,
Thank you for responding to my clarification. I will resume my search
and if I locate anything useful I will let you know. If not, this
question is still open and another researcher may find your answer.
Best regards,
Bobbie7
|
Request for Question Clarification by
rainbow-ga
on
19 Apr 2006 15:57 PDT
Do the tables located halfway down this page help?
http://www.friesian.com/stats-2.htm
Rainbow~
|
Clarification of Question by
cls3277-ga
on
19 Apr 2006 17:52 PDT
No, I am sorry. I am looking for the poverty rate in graph or table form.
|
