Poverty on the rise in rural areas of US

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158686.html


The latest figures show that poverty is on the rise in rural areas across the United States as the country grapples with the highest national poverty rate since 1994.

According to new estimates released on Tuesday by the US Census Bureau, which is part of the Department of Commerce, poverty in rural areas rose significantly between 2006 and 2009, to the point where over 15 percent of rural US citizens are living in poverty.

The figures also indicate that the national poverty rate was over 14 percent in 2009, its highest level since 1994.

Census figures show 43.6 million US citizens lived in poverty in 2009 and 19 million lived in extreme poverty.

The figures also show that one in five children in the United States lives in poverty, with almost half of them living in extreme poverty.

Meanwhile, the Working Poor Families Project issued a report based on the new data from the Census Bureau, bringing the issue of the financial predicament facing those on the lower economic rungs into sharper focus as the country struggles with high unemployment in the wake of the recession that began in December 2007.

In 2009, there were more than 10 million low-income working families in the United States -- up 246,000 from the previous year, the report said.

It also noted that nearly 1 in 3 working families in the US have difficulty meeting basic needs such as buying groceries and paying utility bills.

"Obviously, the Great Recession has taken its toll on low-income working families," said Brandon Roberts, manager of the Working Poor Families Project, adding that "this new data says we are heading in the wrong direction."

The new assessments also show that the number of working women with an unemployed husband more than doubled from 2.4 percent to 5.4 percent between 2007 and 2009.

"This means there is a growing proportion of working families in which women -- who earn less money, on average, than men -- are the primary breadwinners," the report stated.