Percentage changes small, but numbers up for poverty in United States

Published: 2008-08-26

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Figures released Aug. 26 by the U.S. Census Bureau revealed that, while the number of Americans in poverty last year rose over 2006 levels, the percentage increase was not statistically significant. Try telling that to America's newly poor, said Candy Hill, senior vice president for social policy and government affairs at Catholic Charities USA. "We have 800,000 more people living in poverty, including 500,000 more children" and 200,000 more senior citizens, Hill told Catholic News Service shortly after the figures were released. The Census Bureau's Current Population Survey and its American Community Survey, both issued Aug. 26, had a margin of error of 0.2 percent, so percentage changes in either direction from 2006 to 2007 are regarded as being "statistically unchanged." David Johnson, chief of the Census Bureau's Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, told CNS in an Aug. 26 telephone interview that changes of 0.3 percent or more are recognized and reported in the surveys.

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