31.9 Million Americans in Poverty in ‘88; 13.1% Rate

The nation’s poverty rate was 13.1% last year, about the same as in 1987, the Census Bureau reported today. That means 31.9 million Americans were living in poverty in 1988.

In 1987, about 32.3 million people, or 13.4% of the population, were living in poverty. The Census Bureau said the changes between 1987 and 1988 were not statistically significant.

The Census Bureau also reported that Americans’ median household income was $27,230 in 1988, up from $27,140 a year earlier after adjusting for the rise in consumer prices. Again, the change was not considered significant.

Per capita income, meanwhile, rose 1.7% to an all-time high of $13,120 in 1988, a change that was considered significant.

“It’s a year basically in which most groups stayed the same or improved,” said William Butz, associate director for demographics at the Census Bureau.

The report said the nation’s poverty rate for whites declined by 0.3% last year to 10.1%. The poverty rate for blacks was 31.6%, down from 32.6% in 1987, and the rate for Latinos dipped to 26.8% from 28.1%. None of those changes was considered significant.

Regionally, the only statistically significant change in the poverty rate occurred in the Midwest, where the rate dropped from 12.5% in 1987 to 11.5% last year. The poverty rate in the South was 16.2% in 1988, up from 16.1%. In the West, the rate was 12.7%, up from 12.5%, and in the Northeast, the rate was 10.2%, down from 10.9%.

Today’s report on poverty in 1988 was prepared by the Census Bureau based on a survey of about 58,000 U.S. households last March.

While debate rages over the cost and adequacy of programs to fight poverty, battles also continue over defining and counting it.

Advocates for the poor insist the formal definition underestimates the problem because it does not really reflect their spending habits.

But other researchers contend the measurement may overestimate poverty because it only considers people’s cash income and not government assistance.

The official definition of poverty was developed by the Social Security Administration in 1964 based on Department of Agriculture research on what people spend on food.

Agriculture analysts had calculated that people spent about one-third of their income to eat, and developed a variety of plans to provide adequate nutrition at high-, middle- and low-cost levels.

The definition of poverty was then set at three times the cost of the lowest price food program, known as the thrifty food plan.

Adjusted annually for inflation, the poverty threshold has risen from about $3,000 per year in the early 1960s to nearly $12,000 today for a family of four. The poverty level varies slightly for urban and rural residents and rises with the size of family. Many assistance programs kick in at 125% of the poverty rate.

In recent years advocates for the poor have challenged that thinking, contending the cost of living has changed over the years.