Poverty fell overall in 2020 due to massive stimulus checks and unemployment aid, U.S. Census says [View all]

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Source: Washington Post

Economy

Poverty fell overall in 2020 due to massive stimulus checks and unemployment aid, U.S. Census says

By Heather Long and Amy Goldstein
Today at 11:08 a.m. EDT

U.S. poverty fell overall in 2020, a surprising decline that is largely a result of the swift and large federal aid that Congress enacted at the start of the pandemic to try to prevent widespread financial hardship as the nation experienced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

The U.S. Census reported that the official poverty rate rose slightly in 2020 to 11.4 percent, up from a record low 10.5 percent in 2019, but that figure mostly reflects cash payments to Americans. After accounting for all the government aid payments, the so-called supplemental poverty measure declined to 9.1 percent in 2020 from 11.8 percent in 2019.

The decline in the poverty rate means that millions of Americans were lifted out of severe financial hardship last year, the U.S. Census said. Poverty is defined as having an income of less than $26,200 a year for a family of four.

Extensive federal relief assistance passed during the coronavirus pandemic is widely credited by economists and policy experts for preventing another Great Depression. The stimulus payments provided $1,200 cash payments to most low-income and middle-class Americans last year, moving 11.7 million people out of poverty, the Census said. Another 5.5 million people were prevented from falling into poverty by the enhanced unemployment insurance aid.



Supplemental poverty went down (US Census)

The annual findings also showed the proportion of Americans without health coverage rose slightly in 2020, marking the fourth year in a row that the ranks of the uninsured swelled.

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By Heather Long
Heather Long is an economics correspondent. Before joining The Washington Post, she was a senior economics reporter at CNN and a columnist and deputy editor at the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa. She also worked at an investment firm in London. Twitter https://twitter.com/byHeatherLong

By Amy Goldstein
Amy Goldstein is The Washington Post's national health-care policy writer. During her three decades at The Post, her stories have taken her from homeless shelters to Air Force One, often focused on the intersection of politics and public policy. She is the author of "Janesville: An American Story." Twitter https://twitter.com/goldsteinamy

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/09/14/us-census-poverty-health-insurance-2020/

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This happened while Trump was in office.