Despite the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report on income and poverty, which states that the poverty rate fell slightly last year, millions of Americans still struggle.
About 38.1 million people were designated as poor in 2018, and while that is less than in 2017 experts cite disturbing trends, according to National Public Radio. Median household income rose four years in a row, but both the growth rate and income level are below where it was nearly 20 years ago.
And, the numbers include large racial disparities. Black households’ median income was nearly $30,000 less than whites, and the poverty rate for black people was more than twice that of non-Hispanic whites.
Advocacy groups called out that benefits from government safety net programs like Social Security and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) are vital to keeping millions of families from falling into poverty.
“Such gains can demonstrably be reversed by policies hostile to them. It is thus extremely worrisome to consider the actions the Trump administration is taking to reduce government support of poor households, especially those with immigrants,” said economist Jared Bernstein, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
There was also little change in income inequality in 2018—more than half of the income in the country still goes to the top 20 percent of households.
Read more here: https://www.npr.org/2019/09/10/759512938/u-s-census-bureau-reports-poverty-rate-down-but-millions-still-poor
