PRESS RELEASES
Release Date: September 30, 2003
CONTACT: Lenore Neier, CSSNY, 212/614-5425
New York City Poverty Rate Holds Steady at Twenty Percent
According to a Community Service Society Report
Related Documents:
New York, NY, September 30, 2003 – A
report released today by the Community Service Society of
New York (CSS), Poverty
in New York, 2002: One-Fifth of the City Lives Below the
Federal Poverty Line, finds that the poverty rate for
New York City remains fixed at just over 20 percent. For
the 2002/2001 period, New York City poverty rate averaged
20.5 percent, essentially unchanged from a 20.2 percent rate
in 2001/2000. The CSS analysis is based on data from the
2002 Current Population Survey that was released on September
26th by the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
"The good news is that a very high poverty rate has
not become significantly worse during the recession," stated
CSS Policy Analyst Mark Levitan and the author of the report. "But
given the continued contraction of the city°s
job market, I am concerned about the future. There may
be bad news in the year or two ahead."
Through good
times and bad, the poverty rate in New York City is nearly
twice that of the nation. This is particularly bad news
for the city°s children.
Nearly 30 percent are living in
poverty according to the 2002/2001 data, compared to one-in-six
children (16.5 percent) nationwide. The report also reveals
that poverty rates for working age and elderly adults of
most race and ethnic groups are higher in New York City
than in the rest of the nation.
Each year the Bureau of
the Census issues a report that includes estimates of poverty
rates for the total U.S. and the 50 states. The Bureau°s
report, however, does not include data on poverty in New
York City. Each year CSS utilizes the Census Bureau°s Current
Population Survey to calculate a poverty rate for residents
of the city.
For over 150 years, CSS has pursued a mission that
is aimed at the poor but which benefits all: to identify
and eradicate the problems creating and perpetuating
poverty in New York City. CSS is an independent, nonprofit
organization that assists those in need to defeat the problems
of poverty and more fully participate in productive community
life.
[Back
to Press Releases List] |
