Features
California above national income, poverty levels
SACRAMENTO — California’s median household income exceeds the national average, while the percentage of poor residents has declined, Census Bureau data released Tuesday shows.
At the same time, the percentage of Californians living in poverty remains higher than the national average, indicating the state’s elite has continued getting rich while the poor struggle to catch up.
The three-year average state median income was $42,262 – $2,605 higher than the national average. The Census Bureau data covered 1997 through ’99.
An average of 15.3 percent of Californians were below the federal poverty line over that period, compared to a national average of 12.6 percent.
The average poverty threshold for a family of four in 1999 was $17,029 in annual income; for a family of three, it was $13,290.
The culprit may be an excess of high-paying technological jobs, analysts said.
“California has become an information sector where the cutting edge needs educated workers who are getting paid more,” said Joe Magaddino, chairman of the economics department at California State University, Long Beach.
It’s not that California has more undereducated people than other states have, but that most of the state’s job growth is in high-skill careers, Magaddino said.
Another economist urged caution when looking at the numbers.
Although the recent decline in the percentage of those in poverty in California and nationally is good news, it doesn’t mean the problems of the poor are solved, said Deborah Reed of the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.
Over the past three decades there has been little change in the economic status of low-income families, “and we don’t want to be overly optimistic about the growth over just the last few years,” Reed said. The numbers should inspire lawmakers to do more to get low-income residents out of poverty, such as paying more attention to welfare-to-work programs and making it easier for entrepreneurs to find success, said Naomi Bauman, a policy analyst at the Pacific Research Institute.
“Inequity can perpetuate itself,” she said. “It’s easy for a more wealthy resident to secure that venture capital or loans to start a business.”