美國極貧人口創歷史新高佔十五分之一

The ranks of America's poorest poor have climbed to a record high — 1 in 15 people — spread widely across metropolitan areas as the housing bust pushed many inner-city poor into suburbs and other outlying places and shriveled jobs and income.

New census data paint a stark portrait of the nation's haves and have-nots at a time when unemployment remains persistently high. It comes a week before the government releases first-ever economic data that will show more Hispanics, elderly and working-age poor have fallen into poverty.

In all, the numbers underscore the breadth and scope by which the downturn has reached further into mainstream America.

"There now really is no unaffected group, except maybe the very top income earners," said Robert Moffitt, a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University. "Recessions are supposed to be temporary, and when it's over, everything returns to where it was before. But the worry now is that the downturn — which will end eventually — will have long-lasting effects on families who lose jobs, become worse off and can't recover."

Traditional inner-city black ghettos are thinning out and changing, drawing in impoverished Hispanics who have low-wage jobs or are unemployed. Neighborhoods with poverty rates of at least 40 percent are stretching over broader areas, increasing in suburbs at twice the rate of cities.

Once-booming Sun Belt metro areas are now seeing some of the biggest jumps in concentrated poverty.

Signs of a growing divide between rich and poor can be seen in places such as the upscale Miami suburb of Miami Shores, where nannies gather with their charges at a playground nestled between the township's sprawling golf course and soccer fields. The locale is a far cry from where many of them live.

About 20.5 million Americans, or 6.7 percent of the US population, make up the poorest poor, defined as those at 50 percent or less of the official poverty level. Those living in deep poverty represent nearly half of the 46.2 million people scraping by below the poverty line. In 2010, the poorest poor meant an income of $5,570 or less for an individual and $11,157 for a family of four.

That 6.7 percent share is the highest in the 35 years that the Census Bureau has maintained such records, surpassing previous highs in 2009 and 1993 of just over 6 percent.美國極貧人口的比例升至歷史新高——15個人中就有1個人極度貧困。這些極貧人口廣泛地分佈在大都市各個地區中，因爲大都市的房市崩潰迫使許多住在市中心貧民區的窮人搬到了郊區和其他邊遠地區，減少了他們的工作機會和收入。

新的統計數據勾勒出在失業率居高不下的美國，富人和窮人之間反差強烈赤裸裸的現實。將於一週後首次發佈的經濟數據顯示，有更多的西班牙裔人口、老人和勞動年齡貧困人口已陷入赤貧。

總體而言，這些數據突出表明經濟衰退的影響已經進一步深入到美國主體，無論是廣度還是範圍。

約翰•霍普金斯大學的經濟學教授羅伯特•莫菲特說：“如今真的沒有哪個人羣逃過經濟衰退的影響，也許只有收入最高的那部分人除外。人們原以爲經濟衰退是暫時的，在衰退過後，一切都會回到原來的樣子。但是現在讓人擔心的是，儘管經濟衰退最終會結束，但是對失業家庭會產生持久的影響，這些家庭會更貧困，而且無法恢復原狀。”

傳統的市中心黑人貧民區人口正在減少併發生變化，新搬進來一些低收入或失業的赤貧西班牙人。貧困率達至少40%的居民區正延伸到更廣的區域，郊區貧民區的增長速度是市內的兩倍。

曾經繁榮的“陽光地帶”市區正越來越多地陷入集中貧困，部分地區的貧困率增長最快的。

在邁阿密海岸的邁阿密市郊高檔居住區等地方，可以見到貧富差距不斷擴大的跡象。那裏有大片的高爾夫球場和足球場，保姆們帶着主人家的小孩在兩個球場中間的一個操場聚集。這個地方和她們當中的許多人居住的地方相比簡直是天壤之別。

約有2050萬美國人(佔美國人口的6.7%)屬於極貧人口，也就是生活水平在官方貧困水平的50%以下的人口。在貧困線以下勉強度日的4620萬人口中，有將近一半人極度貧困。2010年極貧人口的標準是個人收入在5570美元以下或四口家庭收入在11,157美元以下。

6.7%的極貧人口比例是美國人口普查局保有此項記錄的35年內最高的，超越了2009年的高貧困比例，1993年這一比例僅略高於6%。