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News Census Bureau Statistics on Poverty Both Predictable and Shocking, Duke Professor Says

Figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau show an increase in poverty rates.

U.S. Census Bureau figures released Thursday that show poverty rates rose between 2002 and 2003 are predictable, although the fact that "children fare the worst" is surprising, says a Duke University law school dean who teaches a seminar on poverty law.

"While you would think that children would be a politically popular group to help, the poverty rate for families with children under 18 is 17.6 percent, up from 16.7 percent in 2002," said Carol Spruill, a senior lecturing fellow and associate dean at Duke Law School. "And the rate for families with children under 6 is up another 1.3 percent this year - “ to an astonishing 19.8 percent."

Meanwhile, the poverty rate for elderly people held steady in 2003 at 10.2 percent. "The elderly have been less poor than the overall population since 1982," Spruill noted. "However, without Social Security, half of them would be in poverty."

Spruill said the relative lack of poverty among the elderly is largely attributable to two statutory changes in 1972: the creation of the Supplemental Security Income Program (SSI) and the indexing of Social Security benefits to inflation. In contrast, a national benefit amount for welfare programs that serve families with children has never been established, and the amount set by states is not indexed to inflation.

"In North Carolina, for example, welfare for a mother and two children is a very low $272 per month, and the rate has not changed in years," she said.

Spruill gives a "Poverty IQ Test" to her students and in occasional training sessions for attorneys. She said that most people are surprised to learn how little they know about poverty and welfare, even though most people have a firm opinion of what they think about it.

"Whether the poverty rate statistics are shocking to people or not depends upon their view of whether the poverty line itself is valid," she said.

In 2003, the poverty line for a family of four was $18,400, and it was $15,260 for a family of three. "It is based on an amount established by the U.S. Government, based on the cost of a nutritionally adequate food plan, multiplied by three to cover other household expenses. This formula was developed in 1964, and revised in 1969 and 1981, long before housing prices rose so drastically.

"Perhaps most distressing is the number of people who are living far below the poverty line. The Census Bureau calls these people the 'severely poor,' and they are those whose income is less than half of the poverty line. In 2002, the percentage of those who are severely poor was about 40 percent of those in poverty, she said."

Spruill said she finds these figures both predictable and shocking.

"Poverty decreased from 1994 to 2001. It was widely expected to increase in the late 1990s after the welfare safety net was drastically modified. The booming economy held the poverty rate down for awhile. However since 2001, we have seen steadily increasing poverty rates."

 

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