According to Robert E. Rector and Kirk A. Johnson writing for The Heritage Foundation (online), last year, the Census Bureau released its annual report on poverty in the United States declaring that there were nearly 35 million poor persons living in this country in 2002, a small increase from the preceding year. According to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (online), for the third consecutive year, the poverty rate and the number of Americans living in poverty both rose from the prior years. Since 2000, the number of poor Americans has grown by more than 4 million. The official poverty rate in 2003, the most current year for which figures are available, was 12.5 percent, up from 12.1 percent in 2002. There were 35.9 million Americans below the official poverty threshold, a figure 1.3 million higher than the 34.6 million in poverty in 2002. The number of Americans living in severe poverty, with incomes below half of the poverty line, increased by 1.2 million in 2003, to 15.3 million. The American Midwest and South saw the greatest numbers of people entering poverty in 2003; the number in the Midwest rose from 6.6 million to 6.9 million, while the South rose from 14 to 14.5 million people (One Nation, Free from Poverty).
Sid Mohn writing in Crain's Chicago Business notes that poverty and education levels are linked. Mohn explains that recent research has demonstrated the state is facing an epidemic of teen poverty in the United States characterized by the highest high school dropout rate in the Midwest. For example, about one in four Illinois 18 to 24-year-olds did not graduate high school. Among African-Americans and Hispanics, the rate of high school non-completion is 47 percent. Failing to complete high school affects future income, employment prospects and the overall quality of Illinois' labor market and High school dropouts are 72% more likely to be unemployed than graduates (Mohn, 2004, 22).
Rector and Johns...