Latinos are poor & poorer: Census 2010

] for the source of Puerto Rico statistics used in this report). 

The poverty rate among Latinos varied for the different subgroups. Using the categories
provided by the CPS, in 2010 Mexicans had the highest poverty rate among Latinos
at 27.9 percent, followed by stateside Puerto Ricans (22.6 percent), Central and
South Americans (21.3 percent), Cubans (17.1 percent), and Other Spanish (18.5 percent).
Mexicans made up 71.8 percent of all the Latino poor.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hlnfsnbab&t=dzbxqcfab.0.wisbd6dab.hlnfsnbab.18766&ts=S0606&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bls.gov%2Fnews.release%2Fempsit.t03.htm],
in August 2010, Latinos had an unemployment rate of 12.0 percent. This compared
to 8.7 percent unemployment for Whites and 16.3 percent for Blacks. The latest figure
for Puerto Rico was for July 2010 when unemployment there stood at 16.9 percent.

The Latino unemployed made up 18.3 percent to total unemployed stateside (excluding
Puerto Rico). The unemployment rate among Latino men (20 years and older) was 10.2
percent, Latina women (20 years and older) was 11.6 percent, and among Latino youth
(both sexes, 16 to 19 years old) it was 33.0 percent.

Income, Poverty and Health Insurance 2008 and 2009

For a report just issued by the Census Bureau for 2009 [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hlnfsnbab&t=dzbxqcfab.0.xisbd6dab.hlnfsnbab.18766&ts=S0606&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.census.gov%2Fprod%2F2010pubs%2Fp60-238.pdf]
on income, poverty and health insurance coverage, the headline was that they reported
the highest overall poverty rate for the United States since 1994. These figures
provide one of the first looks at the negative impacts of the recent economic recession.

The median household income for Latinos in 2009 was $38,039,or  69.8 percent that
of Whites. The median household income in 2009 for Whites was $54,461, for Asians
it was $65,469 and for Blacks it was $32,584. In Puerto Rico, the latest figures
available are for 2008, when the median household income there was $18,610, which
was only 33.6 percent that of stateside Whites in that year.

In 2009, stateside Latinos had a poverty rate of 25.3 percent, up from 23.2 percent
the previous year. As we reported above, in 2010 it rose again very slightly to
25.4 percent. The Latino poverty figure is not statistically significantly different
from that of Blacks, which was 25.8 percent, but considerably higher than that of
Whites (9.4 percent) and Asians (12.5 percent).

The poverty rate for stateside Latinos has increased from 22.8 percent in 1972,
when these poverty statistics were first calculated for Latinos by the Census Bureau,
to 25.4 percent in 2010. The high for Latinos in this period was in 1994, when their
poverty rate reached 30.7 percent.

In 2009, Latinos continued to have the highest percentage of persons not covered
by any health insurance. In that year, 32.4 percent of Latinos reported not having
health insurance, compared to 21.0 percent of Blacks, 17.2 percent of Asians and
12.0 percent of Whites. In Puerto Rico, in sharp contrast, only 8.6 percent reported
not having health insurance in 2008.

Since the official U.S. poverty measure was first published in 1964, there has been
continuing debate [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hlnfsnbab&t=dzbxqcfab.0.ezdle6dab.hlnfsnbab.18766&ts=S0606&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2010%2FOPINION%2F09%2F20%2Fmeyer.sullivan.census.poverty%2F]
about alternative approaches to the measurement of poverty. Recognizing that alternative
statistics can provide useful information, the Office of Management and Budget’s
Chief Statistician formed an Interagency Technical Working Group on Developing
a Supplemental Poverty Measure [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hlnfsnbab&t=dzbxqcfab.0.zisbd6dab.hlnfsnbab.18766&ts=S0606&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.census.gov%2Fhhes%2Fwww%2Fpovmeas%2Fpovmeas.html]
charged with developing a set of initial starting points to permit the U.S. Census
Bureau, in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), to produce a Supplemental
Poverty Measure (SPM). The new supplemental measure will be published initially
in the fall of 2011 at the same time and level of detail as the 2010 income and
poverty statistics that contain the official poverty measure, and annually thereafter.

The SPM will not replace the official poverty measure and has been designed as an
experimental measure that defines thresholds and resources in a manner different
from the official poverty measure. For details on the different adjusted estimates
in the table below (MOOP, etc.), click here [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hlnfsnbab&t=dzbxqcfab.0.9isbd6dab.hlnfsnbab.18766&ts=S0606&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.census.gov%2Fhhes%2Fwww%2Fpovmeas%2FSPM_TWGObservations.pdf].

The Census Bureau will be releasing these alternative poverty estimates next year
that factor in additional expenses and income, and adjust for geographical differences
in cost of living. Applying these adjustments to the official poverty rate, the
economic situation of Latinos appears consistently worse than for any other racial-ethnic
group. Using these alternative measures for 2008, the Latino poverty rate ranged
from 25.9 to a high of 31.8 percent. These figures do not include Puerto Rico.

Angelo Falcón is President of the National Institute for Latino Policy (nILP). He
can be reached at afalcon@latinopolicy.org [mailto:afalcon@latinopolicy.org].
Alternative Poverty Estimates