The U.S. Census Bureau’s annual Current Population Survey Report contains the good, the fair and the bad. The report, released Wednesday, has a sample size of 100,000 households and provides the official numbers on poverty, income and health insurance coverage for the United States. Here are some of the key findings:
The Ugly – Income: There was a 1.2% decline in median household income and a 1.6% growth in income inequality in 2011. The number of middle-income households is decreasing while the number of households in extreme poverty has grown by almost 50%. Also, 6.6% of all Americans lived in households with income at or below 50% of the federal poverty level ($11,406 for a family of four) in 2011.
The Fair – Poverty: After three consecutive years of increases, the poverty rate seems to be flattening out. The 46.2 million Americans (15% of the population) who lived in poverty in 2011 was not significantly different than 2010. This may be due to an increase in the number of people working full-time, year round. The number of year-round, full-time workers in the bottom income quintile of households increased 17.3% between 2010 and 2011, indicating that many of the new jobs that are being created are low-wage jobs.
The Good – Health Insurance: The number of Americans without health insurance decreased from 16.3% in 2010 to 15.7% in 2011, a 3.8% drop. The increase in health care coverage is likely attributable to two things:
- The growth in government-sponsored health insurance – the percentage of people covered by government health insurance (Medicaid, Medicare, CHIP, etc) increased for the fifth consecutive year
- The increase in young adults under age 26 receiving health coverage under their parents’ health insurance as provided under the Affordable Care Act. There was a 7% decrease in the number of people ages 19 to 25 who were uninsured.