Percentage of Poor Americans At Lowest Level Since 1980: Number Living in Poverty Decreases
The proportion of Americans living in poverty last year dropped to the lowest level since 1980, while median family income after adjustment for inflation took one of its biggest jumps in the past 15 years, the Census Bureau reported yesterday.</br></br>The bureau said the number of people below the governmentÛªs official poverty line ($11,203 for a family of four in 1986) fell from 33,064,000	in 1985 to 32,370,000 in 1986ÛÓfrom 14 percent to 13.6 percent of the population. Median family income rose to $29,458, a</br></br>Gordon Green, assistant chief of the bureauÛªs population division, said the figures are the result of ÛÏno economic downturn, four years of sustained economic growth, more people working, low inflation, lower</br></br>President Reagan said the figures released yesterday showed that ÛÏsustained noninflationary growth is the governmentÛªs single best tool for fighting poverty.Û</br></br>But Rep. Thomas J. Downey (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Ways and Means public assistance subcommittee and sponsor of a major welfare bill, said the drop in poverty was so small that ÛÏthere is nothing to be proud of in these statistics,Û and noted that the rates are still higher than during the 1970s.