September 13, 2011
The Census Bureau has released its annual report on income and health insurance coverage in the previous year, and as expected the report shows a substantial deterioration in Americans’ economic security between 2009 and 2010. Substantial income losses for middle- and working-class Americans and an increase in the number of Americans without health insurance cap off what can only be called a “lost decade” in economic terms. However, things could have been worse: The 2009 Recovery Act and the 2010 Affordable Care Act, as well as existing social insurance, moderated the declines.
The latest CEPR Poverty Byte looks at the new Census numbers, and in a new paper Shawn Fremstad offers recommendations for addressing poverty in a jobs and economy framework.
