New poverty estimates could help lawmakers identify solutionsby
Brandt Williams, Minnesota Public Radio St. Paul, Minn. — A new
census poverty measure released Monday shows that 49.1 million
Americans live in poverty &mdash nearly two-and-a-half million
more people than the Census previously reported. Although the
data do not include numbers for individual states, people who
study poverty in Minnesota say while the numbers are tragic, the
new method of estimating poverty can help lawmakers identify
solutions. Unlike the official poverty estimate released by the
Census a few months ago, the new numbers are based on more than
just household income. Researchers added supplemental income
people receive through programs like food stamps, school
lunches, WIC, housing subsidies and energy assistance. They
subtracted expenses such as taxes, child care, child support
payments, work expenses and out of pocket medical costs. Census
officials say the driving force behind the new measure was to
provide policymakers data o