Poverty Data

I debated putting "Rock Hard" in the title, as I usually do. This time it sounded especially stupid, so I left it out...

Back to business!
This'll be an easy one, so we can all slide gently back into the mind-blasting awesomeness of economics-related blog posts.

Here, have a graph of the number of people below the poverty line & the rate of poverty in this country from 1959 to 2006:

The rate of poverty in this country - the bottom line of the graph - is about as low as it was in the 1970s and the end of last decade. I'm not sure if that's necessarily the best we can do, but I suppose it's not absolutely horrible, right?

Another thing to notice is that fact that the number of people in poverty increased by about 5 million people or so (around 16%) from 2000 to 2006, but the rate only increased a little more than 1 percentage point. The total population increased by about 17 million, from about 279 million people to 296 million during the same time, so the round-about ratio of citizens in poverty "coming in" (born or immigrated) to this country was about 30%, or, let's say, about a third, during those 6 years.

So about one-third of all new 2000 to 2006 residents in the U.S. were in the lowest income class.

What's that? You want a graph showing the boundaries and income changes in U.S. income classes over the past 40 years? Ohhhhh, I suppose....
This graph excludes the top 20% of income because, really, it's hard to graph those CEOs, Bill Gates, etc, because it would make the other income brackets look like straight lines. And don't forget, everything - like always - is adjusted for inflation, so you're not getting wacky graphs.

In case it's not exceptionally clear (it isn't), here are the increases in the upper bounds (top earners from each income bracket) of each quintile:
Summarized: The poorest class (lowest 20%), as an ever-changing group, are basically 29.5% less poor, the middle class is 40.1% more wealthyish, and the rich-as-hell 80% to 95% bracket is around 77.5% richer-as-hell. (Note: I didn't include the rich-as-hell class in the other graph - I didn't think you needed it...)

So what was my point?

Oh, that's right: The poor aren't getting poorer. Just in case you recently heard someone say that, like, on TV or something or during some political debate... keep that in mind.

What is happening, though, is that a large number of folks are starting their residency in this country in the lowest classes. It's a shame, but it kind of makes sense, though, doesn't it? ...You don't hear about a lot of rich people moving into this country and "taking the jobs" of other rich people. Either that, or the rich people "losing their jobs" aren't silly enough to actually make public the fact that they lost their job to an immigrant with fewer skills.

Just kidding, nobody's losing their jobs to immigrants. There's another myth (for the most part) that needs busting. Topical Cream: Immigration, anyone?

Another day, perhaps.