Ranks of Poverty and Uninsured Rose in 2003, Census Reports (NYT)

Latest "new economy" misery numbers from the government, as reported in today's NYT:

The number of Americans living in poverty increased by 1.3 million last year, while the ranks of the uninsured swelled by 1.4 million, the Census Bureau reported Thursday. It was the third straight annual increase for both categories. [...]

Approximately 35.8 million people lived below the poverty line in 2003, or about 12.5 percent of the population, according to the bureau. That was up from 34.5 million, or 12.1 percent in 2002. The rise was more dramatic for children. There were 12.9 million living in poverty last year, or 17.6 percent of the under-18 population. That was an increase of about 800,000 from 2002, when 16.7 percent of all children were in poverty. The Census Bureau's definition of poverty varies by the size of the household. For instance, the threshold for a family of four was $18,810, while for two people it was $12,015.

Nearly 45 million people lacked health insurance, or 15.6 percent of the population. That was up from 43.5 million in 2002, or 15.2 percent, but was a smaller increase than in the two previous years.

Meanwhile, the median household income, when adjusted for inflation, remained basically flat last year at $43,318. Whites, blacks and Asians saw no noticeable change, but income fell 2.6 percent for Hispanics to $32,997. Whites had the highest income at $47,777.

The New York Times > AP > National > Ranks of Poverty and Uninsured Rose in 2003, Census Reports

Newberry Library labor history talks (Chicago)

This is a good seminar series, and while it's too far for me to drive to on a regular basis, thought I'd pass it on to any adventurous students.

The Newberry Library Seminar in Labor History

Co-Sponsored by the University of Illinois at Chicago, Northern Illinois University, and the Labor and Working Class History Association

Schedule 2004-2005
Fridays 3:00-5:00pm, The Newberry Library

October 15, 2004
Prostitution Blues: Black Women's Sex Work as a Musical Theme, 1920-1940
Cynthia Blair, University of Illinois at Chicago

November 12, 2004
Factories for Turning Out Criminals: Convict Labor, Torture, and the Invisible World of Prison Punishment in New York, 1860-1900
Timothy J. Gilfoyle, Loyola University Chicago

December 10, 2004
Sex and the Motor City: The Bachelor Culture of Detroit Auto Workers, 1920s-1930s
Steve Meyer, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

January 21, 2005
The World that Trade Built: International Worker Rights in a Globalizing World, 1959-1999
John French, Duke University

February 18, 2005
On a Wing and a Prayer: Organizing on the Airlines
Liesl Orenic, Dominican University

April 15, 2005
Big Labor's Golden Age?: Labor-Management Conflict and Class Politics in the 1950s Midwestern Heartland
David Anderson, Louisiana Tech University

May 13, 2005
Crossing Over: Mexican Labor and the Color Line in 1920s Chicago
Anne M. Martinez, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Scholl Center seminars present scholars' works-in-progress. All papers are pre-circulated. If you plan to attend, you may receive a paper by sending an e-mail message to scholl@newberry.org, or by calling 312.255.3524.