Nearly a Quarter of Angelenos Were Living in Poverty Last Year

While rich people have firmly bounced back from the recession, Los Angeles's poor keep on getting poorer--the US Census released data yesterday saying that LA County's poverty rate rose from 15.5 percent in 2008 to a staggering 19.1 percent in 2012, reports the Daily News. If that doesn't stagger you enough, in the city of Los Angeles, the poverty rate rose from 19.5 percent in 2008 to 23.3 percent in 2012. Meaning nearly a fifth of all people in the county and a quarter of people in Los Angeles were living below the poverty line last year. (The poverty rate varies depending on the number of people and the number of adults in a household, but the Census gives the example of a five-member household with three adults--poverty rate in 2012: $28,087.) In LA County, the unemployment rate (people actively looking for work) was at 6.9 percent in 2008; it peaked in 2011 at 12.2 percent and was at 11.6 percent in 2012. In the city of LA, unemployment rose from 7.1 percent in 2008 to 12.2 percent in 2012. Meanwhile, and no duh, LA County's median household income adjusted for inflation fell from $59,196 in 2008 to $53,001 in 2012; in the city it fell from $52,044 to $46,803. (Those rich people had to claw their money back somehow.)
· Poverty strikes more in Southland each year despite recovering economy [LADN]
· Why Aren't Los Angeles's Insanely Rich People Insanely Richer? [Curbed LA]