Fewer in isles The number of people in poverty in Hawaii is on a two-year decline, according to the latest figures released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.
living in poverty
A greater number of jobs may
have helped the 2-year decline,
a state economist says
about the Census dataBy Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.com
The bureau's 1998 poverty estimates -- the most recent data available -- show 122,841 people in Hawaii, or 10.5 percent of the state's population, were in poverty that year.
In 1996, after at least a seven-year climb, Hawaii had a high of 137,386 people, or 11.7 percent of the population, in poverty, according to similar census reports.
A year later, that number dropped to 130,644, or 11.1 percent.
"It's very good," said state economist Pearl Imada Iboshi. "We have less people in poverty."
Imada Iboshi said even though 1997 and 1998 were not necessarily good economic years for Hawaii, the unemployment rate during that period fell, and the number of jobs increased. That could account for the drop in the number of people in poverty, she said.
She predicts the poverty percentage will drop further next year, assuming a significant improvement in the number of jobs and a larger drop in the unemployment rate.
Nationwide, the District of Columbia had the highest percentage of poverty of any state in 1998 at 18.2 percent. New Hampshire had the lowest at 7.5 percent.
California had a total of 4,917,053 poor people -- the most of any state. That is about four times the current population of Hawaii.
The 1998 estimates have a 90 percent confidence level and are taken from a 1999 current population survey.
The data were compiled over the past two years and released today.
The Census Bureau determines poverty by studying a family's characteristics. An income threshold is set according to a particular family's set of characteristics. If the family's income is below that threshold, the family is poor.
Census Bureau officials said these annual estimates of poverty and income levels help the federal government determine the resources to send to each state for federal programs that help the poor.
This data from the bureau's Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates program are more stable than those found in the bureau's decennial census, which cannot account for significant fluctuations in income and poverty during the 10 years between censuses.
Hundreds of state and local programs depend on these income and poverty estimates for distributing and managing their programs. In 1990 about $30 billion in annual federal allocations was earmarked for federal programs that address poverty. Census 2000 data on poverty will be released in 2002.
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