US Poverty Rate at 11.7% in March... Highest Since the COVID-19 Pandemic

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Bloomberg reported on the 20th (local time) that the poverty rate in the United States in March this year reached 11.7%, the highest since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bloomberg explained that this poverty rate survey was based on data collected up to the third week of March, which was just before the implementation of President Joe Biden's stimulus package.

President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion stimulus package on the 11th of last month, and cash support under the stimulus began in the third week of March. Therefore, this poverty rate calculation does not reflect the effects of the stimulus package.

Bloomberg stated that the high poverty rate just before the stimulus package's implementation ironically shows that people still need to rely on government relief measures.

Looking at the trend of the poverty rate last year, it declined until June but increased in the second half of the year. The poverty rate was low initially due to one-time relief measures at the start of COVID-19, but as the support funds were exhausted, the poverty rate rose again.

Last month's poverty rate increased by 1.4 percentage points compared to the same month last year.

The poverty rate among White people was 10.5%, up 1.8 percentage points from March last year. The poverty rate among Black people actually decreased but remained twice as high as that of White people. Last month, the Black poverty rate was recorded at 21.2%. In March 2020, the poverty rate was 21.8%.

Before COVID-19, in 2019, the overall poverty rate in the United States was 10.5%.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.