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The US Census Bureau released its 2009 American Community Survey yesterday revealing that the Great Recession hurt many aspects of American life from employment and family incomes, to marriage rates, health insurance, and home ownership. Household income fell in 34 out of 50 states, and more than half of all Americans were affected, with the income gap between the wealthiest and poorest Americans widening dramatically. Most impacted however, were young people, people of color, and those with a high school diploma or less. Here in Los Angeles County, the poverty rate jumped to 16.1% in 2009, up from 15.2% in 2008. Broken down by racial groups, the poverty rate for Latinos is the highest, at 21.9%, followed by 19.7% for African Americans. Asians suffer from a 10.5% poverty rate with Whites having the lowest rate at 9.3%. Additionally, 29% of L.A. County’s full-time workers earned less than $25,000 in 2009. The US Census also revealed that 22.6% of Angelinos – that’s 2.2 million people – lacked health insurance in 2009. That’s almost a percentage point more than the year before.

GUEST: Jasleen Kohli, researcher for the 2009 LAANE Analysis of the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey

Find out more at www.laane.org and www.laane.org/poverty