Figure A
The poverty rate would have dropped to zero without rising inequality : Supplemental poverty rate, actual and simulated, 1967–2019
| Simulated | Actual | |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | 22.1% | 22.4% |
| 1960 | 22.0% | 22.2% |
| 1961 | 21.7% | 21.9% |
| 1962 | 20.6% | 21.0% |
| 1963 | 19.8% | 19.5% |
| 1964 | 18.6% | 19.0% |
| 1965 | 17.1% | 17.3% |
| 1966 | 15.4% | 14.7% |
| 1967 | 14.9% | 14.2% |
| 1968 | 13.7% | 12.8% |
| 1969 | 12.9% | 12.1% |
| 1970 | 13.3% | 12.6% |
| 1971 | 12.6% | 12.5% |
| 1972 | 11.1% | 11.9% |
| 1973 | 9.4% | 11.1% |
| 1974 | 10.0% | 11.2% |
| 1975 | 10.4% | 12.3% |
| 1976 | 8.8% | 11.8% |
| 1977 | 7.4% | 11.6% |
| 1978 | 5.7% | 11.4% |
| 1979 | 4.8% | 11.7% |
| 1980 | 5.4% | 13.0% |
| 1981 | 4.8% | 14.0% |
| 1982 | 5.9% | 15.0% |
| 1983 | 4.4% | 15.2% |
| 1984 | 1.7% | 14.4% |
| 1985 | 0.2% | 14.0% |
| 1986 | -1.0% | 13.6% |
| 1987 | 13.4% | |
| 1988 | 13.0% | |
| 1989 | 12.8% | |
| 1990 | 13.5% | |
| 1991 | 14.2% | |
| 1992 | 14.8% | |
| 1993 | 15.1% | |
| 1994 | 14.5% | |
| 1995 | 13.8% | |
| 1996 | 13.7% | |
| 1997 | 13.3% | |
| 1998 | 12.7% | |
| 1999 | 11.9% | |
| 2000 | 11.3% | |
| 2001 | 11.7% | |
| 2002 | 12.1% | |
| 2003 | 12.5% | |
| 2004 | 12.7% | |
| 2005 | 12.6% | |
| 2006 | 12.3% | |
| 2007 | 12.5% | |
| 2008 | 13.2% | |
| 2009 | 14.3% | |
| 2010 | 15.1% | |
| 2011 | 15.0% | |
| 2012 | 15.0% | |
| 2013 | 14.8% | |
| 2014 | 14.8% | |
| 2015 | 13.5% | |
| 2016 | 12.7% | |
| 2017 | 12.3% | |
| 2018 | 11.8% | |
| 2019 | 10.5% |
Note: Simulated supplemental poverty rate is based on a model of the statistical relationship between growth in per capita GDP and poverty that prevailed between 1967 and 1979.
Source: EPI analysis of Wimer, Fox, Garfinkel, Kaushal, and Waldfogel 2013; Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) National Income Product Accounts (NIPA) [Table 7.1], and U.S. Census Bureau Supplemental Poverty Measure: 2019 [Table 1]. Analysis using methodology from Danziger and Gottschalk, America Unequal (Harvard Univ. Press, 1995).]
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