Census Reports Little Change in Poverty Figures

Nearly a quarter of poor people rise above poverty in a given year, but they are replaced by an almost equal number of people who fall below the poverty level, the Census Bureau said today.

“Although the majority of persons who were poor in 1985 were still poor the following year, 23.8% of poor persons in 1985 were not poor by 1986,” the bureau said in a new report, “Transitions in Income and Poverty Status: 1985-86.”

It said the figures for those moving out of poverty in 1986 were about the same as the exit rate for 1984-85.

“Even though a significant fraction of the 1985 poverty population was able to exit poverty in the following year, the total number of poor persons in 1986 was not significantly different from the 1985 figure,” the study said.

The length of poverty “spells” and their causes--changes in income, family composition and other factors--have been critical issues in the debate over anti-poverty strategies.

In 1986, the poverty threshold for a family of four was $11,203.

The bureau said its study seems to indicate that “a substantial economic or household composition change rather than a minor fluctuation in income was the cause of the poverty status change for the majority . . . who entered and exited poverty between 1985 and 1986.”

The report also said that poor people who were white were significantly more likely than blacks or Latinos to exit poverty between 1985 and 1986. About 28.3% of whites who were poor in 1985 rose above the poverty level in 1986, compared with 16.5% of blacks and 14.8% of Latinos.