Originally published Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Census data: good news or bad news?
Wages for working Americans increased, the number of people without health insurance decreased and the poverty rate was essentially unchanged...
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — Wages for working Americans increased, the number of people without health insurance decreased and the poverty rate was essentially unchanged in 2007, according to census figures released Tuesday.
Experts cautioned, however, that the new data don't capture the effects of the economic slump that began late last year.
In 2007, though, median household income rose by 1.3 percent, from $49,568 in 2006 to $50,233. The portion of Americans in poverty increased slightly, from 12.3 percent to 12.5 percent. The number without health coverage fell from 47 million in 2006 to 45.7 million last year. It was the first annual decline in the uninsured population since President Bush took office in 2001.
In Washington state, the median household income rose from $54,149 in 2006 to $55,591 in 2007, an increase of 2.6 percent. Nationwide, among cities with 250,000 or more residents, Seattle ranked seventh in median household income at $57,849 in 2007. Plano, Texas, was tops at $84,492.
The state's poverty rate fell from 11.8 percent in 2006 to 11.4 percent and the proportion of people without health insurance dropped from 12.8 percent to 11.6 percent, census figures showed.
A closer look at the national numbers reveals some troubling trends, including that the inflation-adjusted median income for working-age households was $1,100 lower in 2007 than it was in the recession year of 2001. Last year's poverty rate was also higher than the 11.7 percent rate in 2001.
Experts credit an increase in government-funded coverage for reducing the number of uninsured Americans. The number of people younger than 65 who are publicly insured jumped from 46.3 million to 48.6 million last year, said Lynn Blewett, director of the State Health Access Data Assistance Center at the University of Minnesota.
Children accounted for nearly half that increase, as the number of youngsters in government health programs grew from 22.1 million in 2006 to 23 million last year.
"Programs like SCHIP and Medicaid are lifelines for providing Americans with the health care they need," Blewett said.
Most researchers and economists said federal measures are a poor tool to gauge poverty's complexity. The numbers don't factor in assistance from government anti-poverty programs. Alternative poverty measures that account for these shortcomings typically deflate poverty statistics.
Median household income — the level at which half of U.S. households earn more and half less — increased for the third straight year. Men who worked full time saw their median earnings increase nearly 4 percent to $45,113. Median income for full-time working women rose by 5 percent to $35,102.
The poverty rate increased by a small fraction; 816,000 more people lived in poverty in 2007 than in 2006. But the rate and number of children in poverty increased from 17.4 percent, or 12.8 million, in 2006 to 18 percent and 13.3 million last year.
Nationally, children account for nearly 36 percent of Americans in poverty, though they make up only about 25 percent of the population.
Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
Service sector shrinks less than expected in June
UPDATE - 04:05 PM
Obama, Medvedev agree to deal to cut nuke weapons
Ousted Honduras leader blocked from return by air
Pakistan attack targets nuclear lab workers
UPDATE - 03:29 PM
Appeals loom in GM plan to sell assets

2009 fireworks time lapse
With strict parking rules enforced at this year's July 4th celebration on Wallingford Ave North, less cars and more spectators filled the streets.
Entertainment | Top Video | World | Offbeat Video | Sci-Tech
shopping

events for Monday, Jul. 6th
- Blackbird Spring Half-Yearly Sale
- Posh on Main Semiannual Sale
- REI Summer Sale and Clearance
- Market Street Shoes and Market Street...
editors' picks
More shopping guides- Seattle may allow homeowners to build backyard cottages
- Landmark Smith Tower mostly vacant
- Police: McNair's girlfriend bought gun Thursday
- Property taxes: Appeals shoot up in King, Snohomish Counties
- Mariners Blog | What the Seattle Mariners learned on their road trip
- Palin links resignation to 'higher calling' and blasts media in Facebook posting
- Former NFL MVP McNair killed
- Climber who died in fall was Duvall woman
- Hard times for tourist towns means good deals for travelers
- New laws help tenants evicted due to foreclosure
- Palin links resignation to 'higher calling' and blasts media in Facebook posting
216 - What Mariners learned on this road trip
144 - Tent City on campus: UW stalls decision
117 - Seattle may allow homeowners to build backyard cottages
91 - FBI denounces rumors: Palin not investigated
90 - New laws help tenants evicted due to foreclosure
72 - 2 wounded in Central District drive-by shooting
63 - Bicyclist fatally hit by SUV outside Bremerton
62 - Bellevue ordinance would fine retailers for not collecting runaway shopping carts
60 - Mariners did their part, now they need help
51
- Seattle may allow homeowners to build backyard cottages
- Property taxes: Appeals shoot up in King, Snohomish Counties
- Researchers stunned by inmates' success raising endangered frogs
- Hard times for tourist towns means good deals for travelers
- Landmark Smith Tower mostly vacant
- New laws help tenants evicted due to foreclosure
- 250 gather in field near Twisp for fairy congress
- Plasma and LCD beware; OLED screens ready to go mainstream
- Seattle safety project: A snake shelter on Beacon Hill
- Toyota's Toyoda scolds execs for emulating U.S. car companies' mistakes



