Study: Recession Pushing Illinoisans into Poverty
Chicago Tribune
April 30, 2009
The recession likely has pushed hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans into poverty, according to a Heartland Alliance study released Thursday.
From Chicago Tribune:
The recession likely has pushed hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans into poverty, according to a study released Thursday, and two leading indicators — use of food stamps and emergency food assistance — appear to support that assertion.
More than 400,000 people have fallen into poverty statewide since 2007, an increase of about 27 percent, the Chicago-based Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty projects.
The most recent Census data on poverty are from 2007, so the projections were based on the relationship between unemployment and poverty, established during the last three recessions, said Amy Rynell, executive director of the poverty institute.
“The magnitude of our projection is very upsetting,” said Rynell. “We’ve never seen an increase in poverty over a two-year period that is anywhere near this large, and important mechanisms to address it are not strong enough.”
The state’s jobless rate was 9.1 percent in March, the highest in more than 23 years, and the number of unemployed was at a 25-year high of 596,000.
Food banks are seeing a big surge in individuals and families requesting assistance, and the Illinois Department of Human Services says the state’s emergency food program has distributed 36 percent more food in the first three quarters of the state’s 2009 fiscal year, which began last July, than it did in the entire previous year.
More than 672,000 households used food stamps last month, up 14 percent, or an additional 82,300 households, since December 2007, DHS data show.
The report did not project poverty numbers by county, but placed 24 counties on its poverty warning list and 46 on its watch list, based on four indicators: unemployment, poverty, high school graduation and teen birth rates.
Suburban areas outside of Chicago are among those most at risk, and have seen “an exponential growth in poverty” as more people move to the suburbs and work in lower-paying jobs, Rynell said.
“The importance of the report right now is that … our struggling economy has the greatest impact on those who have the least income to begin with,” Rynell said.