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More than 3 percent of Rhode Island's population -- some 33,000 men, women and children -- fell into poverty in 2008 as the recession tightened its grip on the Ocean State, according to recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.

From 2007 to 2008, Rhode Island displaced Massachusetts as the New England state with the highest poverty rate. The state also leap-frogged past Maine and Vermont in the process, going from fourth highest to highest in the six-state region.

Even so, Rhode Island didn't fare too badly compared to the national average because the New England had some of the lowest poverty rates in the country. New Hampshire had the lowest rate nationally, at 7.0 percent.

Connecticut was third, with 8.1 percent, and Vermont sixth, with 9.0 percent. Rhode Island's 12.7 percent rate tied it with Kansas for 26th lowest in the nation, and the state had less poverty than the country as a whole, which measured 13.2 percent.

"So many people have lost their jobs," said Linda Katz, policy director, the Poverty Institute at the Rhode Island College School of Social Work. " The increase in poverty is related to the fact that people have lost their jobs and their source of income."

Katz noted that Rhode Island's unemployment rate jumped more than two percentage points from July 2007 to July 2008. Revised numbers from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics show the rate increased during that period from 5.2 percent to 7.9 percent.

"Our concern, of course, is going forward," she said. "We're very concerned about what the data in 2009 is going to show because we've fallen much deeper into economic hardship."

By July 2009, the state's unemployment had climbed to 12.7 percent.

The Census Bureau data, taken from the Current Population Survey, which is done jointly with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed Rhode Island with a larger increase in poverty than any other New England state. After Rhode Island's 3.2 percent increase in the number of people living in poverty, New Hampshire ranked second at 1.2 percent. Two states, Connecticut and Vermont, showed drops in poverty of less than 1 percent.

Paul E. Harrington, an economist with the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, said Rhode Islanders are feeling the recession harder.

"The recession came a year earlier to you," Harrington said. "And you had pretty rapid job loss early on."

Comments

George said:

What else is new, the way the GA is running this state nothing surprises me any more, they just want to make sure they leave their play ground a big mess. Some of these morons must feel that their job as rep is about over, people have had enough. Change is coming next election.

Link | September 22, 2009 7:42 AM
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