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CNN Live At Daybreak
Number of Poor Americans Increased by Nearly 1.4 Million
Aired September 03, 2003 - 06:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Time to get some buzz on business. Tough economic times have sent more Americans below the poverty line.
Carrie Lee is at the Nasdaq market site with the latest numbers -- Carrie.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, the economy may have technically come out of a recession last year, but it still sent 1.4 million Americans into poverty. Now Census Bureau statistics show that the number of people living below the poverty line increased in 2002 to nearly 35 million, and that's 12.4 percent of the overall population, up from 12.1 percent in 2001.
Now again, according to the Census Bureau, higher numbers are expected during times of an economic -- during times of an economic downturn. The poverty rate is considered a lagging indicator. That is that when things start to pick up, this is one of the last things that turn around. So that's why it grew even though we have come out of the recession and things are getting better.
Quickly, let me just break some things down here by age, 10.7 percent of adults 18 and over live in poverty, 9.6 percent of people are 65 and over in this group. And then finally, the number of children living in poverty rose to 17.2 percent. But, Fredricka, hopefully that since things have been improving, these numbers will improve as well coming in the next couple of months.
WHITFIELD: Well that will be nice because traditionally the fall months usually bring kind of a more depressing scenario for the jobless rate.
LEE: Yes.
WHITFIELD: All right, Carrie, let's try and look ahead, futures today.
LEE: Yes, interesting that you mentioned September, because it is typically, historically the worst month for stocks, but you wouldn't have known it yesterday. We saw a terrific reaction. The Dow up over 100 points, the Nasdaq up 1.7 percent. Futures so far for this Wednesday look pretty promising as well. We'll get a report on construction spending as well as a look at regional economic conditions from the Federal Reserve. Both of those things will certainly influence trading today -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot, Carrie. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 3, 2003 - 06:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Time to get some buzz on business. Tough economic times have sent more Americans below the poverty line.
Carrie Lee is at the Nasdaq market site with the latest numbers -- Carrie.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, the economy may have technically come out of a recession last year, but it still sent 1.4 million Americans into poverty. Now Census Bureau statistics show that the number of people living below the poverty line increased in 2002 to nearly 35 million, and that's 12.4 percent of the overall population, up from 12.1 percent in 2001.
Now again, according to the Census Bureau, higher numbers are expected during times of an economic -- during times of an economic downturn. The poverty rate is considered a lagging indicator. That is that when things start to pick up, this is one of the last things that turn around. So that's why it grew even though we have come out of the recession and things are getting better.
Quickly, let me just break some things down here by age, 10.7 percent of adults 18 and over live in poverty, 9.6 percent of people are 65 and over in this group. And then finally, the number of children living in poverty rose to 17.2 percent. But, Fredricka, hopefully that since things have been improving, these numbers will improve as well coming in the next couple of months.
WHITFIELD: Well that will be nice because traditionally the fall months usually bring kind of a more depressing scenario for the jobless rate.
LEE: Yes.
WHITFIELD: All right, Carrie, let's try and look ahead, futures today.
LEE: Yes, interesting that you mentioned September, because it is typically, historically the worst month for stocks, but you wouldn't have known it yesterday. We saw a terrific reaction. The Dow up over 100 points, the Nasdaq up 1.7 percent. Futures so far for this Wednesday look pretty promising as well. We'll get a report on construction spending as well as a look at regional economic conditions from the Federal Reserve. Both of those things will certainly influence trading today -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot, Carrie. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
