The Census Bureau, with support from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, released its second annual report, The Research
Supplemental Poverty Measure: 2011, describing research on a new
supplemental poverty measure. This measure extends information
provided by the official poverty measure, released Sept. 12, by
explicitly including benefits from many of the government
programs designed to assist low-income families and individuals.
Today’s report compares 2011 supplemental poverty estimates to
2011 official poverty estimates for numerous demographic groups
at the national level. In addition, for the first time, the
report presents supplemental poverty estimates for states, using
three-year averages. At the national level, the report also
compares 2010 supplemental poverty estimates with 2011 estimates
and examines the effect of excluding individual resource or
expenditure elements. According to the report, the supplemental
poverty measure rate was 16.1 percent last year, which was
higher than the official measure