The Biden administration tried to avoid a new Great Depression like the one that occurred in 1929.
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Poverty levels in USA have gone through a general decline in 2020 following published figures from the general census, which has yielded results for the efficiency of federal aid that promulgated the Congress early in the pandemic in order to prevent financial chaos.
This census pointed out that the official poverty rate had a slight increase last year, with a 11.4% compared to historical 10.5% in 2019; however, this count left out an important part of the government aid. After including these federal aid payments, the measure was reduced to a 9.1%.
The decrease in this rate means that millions of Americans have been able to cope with great economic difficulties in 2020, defining “poverty” with annual income parameters below $ 26,250 per family.
Federal aid approved during the coronavirus pandemic to prevent another Great Depression, as occurred in 1929, was recognized by experts and economists. These stimulus payments boosted earnings of $ 1,200 Dollars for the majority of low-income and middle-class Americans last year, resulting in 11.7 million people have been lifted out of poverty, according to the census. Unemployment insurance aid prevented another 5.5 million people from falling into poverty, he reported The Washington Post.
“This really highlights the importance of our social safety net.”stressed Liana Fox, chief of the Poverty Statistics Branch of the United States Census Bureau.
Median income was also shown to decline 2.9% in 2020 to $ 67,500, and the proportion of Americans without health coverage increased in 2020, marking the fourth consecutive year that uninsured ranks increased.
After taking into account government aid, ethnic, age and educational level groups saw their poverty rate decline. Most of the falls were registered in families that were headed by single mothers, African Americans, Hispanics, and adults without a high school degree.
“The federal government responded quickly and meaningfully. And it is very clear that these efforts prevented a sharp increase in poverty “said James Sullivan, an economics professor at the University of Notre Dame.
“Concern that we will see an increase in poverty again because we have now seen these aid packages expire,” Sullivan added.
For his part, Joe Biden is pushing Congress to enact more programs to support people with limited resources and who are part of the working class, which make up a package of $ 3.5 trillion for major investments in economic sectors.
White House advisers have credited the aid’s success during the pandemic as an example of how additional resources can make a dramatic difference in reducing poverty and hardship.
The increase in the unemployment rate due to the arrival of the coronavirus also affected their health insurance, which had an increase of 28 million people without insurance, in relation to 26.1 million that were registered in 2019. Likewise, the pandemic effects reduced the number of Americans with private insurance as the number of people who had health insurance for some public coverage expanded.
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