Household Income Climbs: Census Bureau Also Reports Poverty Rate Drop
Household income rose for the first time in six years while the proportion of Americans living below the poverty line fell last year, the Census Bureau reported yesterday. Among African Americans and the elderly, poverty rates were the lowest on record.</br></br>2.7	percent last year to $34,076, after being adjusted for inflation. Over the same period, the poverty rate declined from 14.5 percent to 13.8 percent and the number of poor fell by 1.6 million, the largest decrease in 27 years.</br></br>ÛÏThe news is remarkably good,Û said President Clinton, who quickly, claimed the numbers as proof of the nation's economic health. .. It is clear that we are moving on the right track."</br></br>Although the U.S. economy emerged from recession more than four years ago, the benefits from the economic recovery had largely eluded not only the poor but even the average familyÛÓwith most of the gains concentrated in the upper income brackets.	,	.</br></br>But in 1995, the benefits of economic growth were spread widely.-through the economyÛÓin nearly all See INCOME, A22,CoLl