TRENTON — The Great Recession pushed thousands of New Jerseyans below the federal poverty level in 2009, causing the state’s rate to spike to the highest it’s been since at least 2002, a report released Tuesday finds. The recession also took its toll on the state’s youngest residents, according to a separate report to be released today by the...
TRENTON — The Great Recession pushed thousands of New Jerseyans below the federal poverty level in 2009, causing the state’s rate to spike to the highest it’s been since at least 2002, a report released Tuesday finds.
The recession also took its toll on the state’s youngest residents, according to a separate report to be released today by the nonprofit Advocates for Children of New Jersey. Close to one-third of the state’s 2 million children were living in low-income families, more youths were out of both school and work, and slightly more children were abused or neglected, the group found.
In 2009, 9.4 percent of the state’s residents lived in poverty, compared with the national average of 14.3 percent. New Jersey’s rate has not risen above 8.7 percent since 2002, the first year it was calculated under the formula now used.
"New Jersey poverty is markedly worse by every measure," said Melville Miller Jr., president of New Jersey Legal Services, which released the poverty report. The numbers are "stunning, and terribly troubling," he added.
The report found 799,099 New Jerseyans lived below the poverty line in 2009. Children and the state’s Hispanic population in particular suffered sharp increases.
The standard measurement is a family of one parent with two children. The family would need an annual income of at least $17,285 to be considered living above the poverty level. The same family would be on the brink of poverty with an annual income of up to $34,500. More than 1.9 million residents lived in or on the brink of poverty.
Among counties, Passaic had the highest percent of of residents living in poverty, at 17.2 percent. It was followed by Cumberland, Essex, Hudson and Camden counties. Among cities and towns, Camden had the highest poverty rate, at 36.7 percent. It was followed by Lakewood, Passaic, Paterson and Atlantic City.
The Advocates for Children of New Jersey report showed food stamps were used by more than 200,000 children in 2006, but that number surpassed 310,000 last year. Meanwhile, the number of households suffering food shortages rose from 8 percent in 2004-06 to 12 percent in 2007-09.
"Living in poverty impacts every aspect of a child’s life, from nutrition to sufficient housing to how well they perform in school," said Cecilia Zalkind, the group’s executive director. "There had been an improvement even for low-income families but the recession has been a setback."
There were some bright spots, however. More children now have health insurance because of a state program. The number of juvenile arrests went down over the last several years. And New Jersey continues to have consistently high graduation rates compared with the rest of the country. Zalkind said those were the payoffs of investing in proven programs.
"Compared across the country, New Jersey continues to rank in the top 10 states," she said. "We do well, but that’s because they look at the state as a whole and we have pockets of poverty in urban and rural areas that are fairly deep. It doesn’t paint a complete picture."
Zalkind said she was encouraged by parts of Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed budget, which increases funds for the state health insurance program for children. Other advocates said the state needs to provide more. The Legal Services report recommends ways to combat poverty, such as creating a single state agency to coordinate anti-poverty initiatives.
"There really should be a much greater sense of urgency in our state," said Raymond Castro, an analyst with New Jersey Policy Perspective. "This issue should have been addressed in last year’s budget."
Maura Sanders, an attorney with Legal Services, said county and state social service agencies are flooded with cases and don’t have enough employees. Residents have to wait weeks just to apply for assistance, she said.
"The recession may be over on paper, but they are continuing to see pain and that’s going to continue moving forward," Sanders said. "The demand isn’t going away, the crisis isn’t going away and yet we are cutting."
By Megan DeMarco and Salvador Rizzo/Statehouse Bureau
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