Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage ... - Census Bureau
Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage ... - Census Bureau
Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage ... - Census Bureau
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
<strong>Income</strong> Inequality index is up 3.1 percent. (Table A-2 2. As family size increases, expenses<br />
The <strong>Census</strong> <strong>Bureau</strong> has traditionally<br />
lists historical money income inequality<br />
measures.)<br />
do not increase at the same rate.<br />
20<br />
used two methods to measure income 3. The increase in expenses is larger<br />
inequality: (1) the shares of aggregate Between 2008 <strong>and</strong> 2009, the changes for a first child of a single-parent<br />
household income received by quin- in the real household income at the family than the first child of a twotiles<br />
<strong>and</strong> (2) the Gini index. In addi- 50th (median), 10th, <strong>and</strong> 90th percen- adult family. 21<br />
tion to these measures, the <strong>Census</strong><br />
<strong>Bureau</strong> also produces estimates of the<br />
ratio of income percentiles, the Theil<br />
index, the mean logarithmic deviation<br />
of income (MLD), <strong>and</strong> the Atkinson<br />
18<br />
measures.<br />
The change in income inequality<br />
between 2008 <strong>and</strong> 2009 was not<br />
statistically significant as measured<br />
tiles were not statistically significant<br />
(Table A-2). However, comparing the<br />
change in household income between<br />
1999, the year that household income<br />
peaked before the 2001 recession,<br />
<strong>and</strong> 2009 suggests income inequality<br />
is increasing. <strong>Income</strong> at the 50th <strong>and</strong><br />
10th percentiles declined—5.0 percent<br />
<strong>and</strong> 9.0 percent, respectively—while<br />
Table 3 shows several income inequality<br />
measures, including aggregate<br />
income shares <strong>and</strong> the Gini index,<br />
using both money income <strong>and</strong><br />
equivalence-adjusted income for<br />
2008 <strong>and</strong> 2009. For both 2008 <strong>and</strong><br />
2009, the Gini index is lower based<br />
on the equivalence-adjusted income<br />
estimate than under the traditional<br />
by the shares of aggregate household the change in income at the 90th per- money-income estimate, suggesting<br />
income by quintiles, the Gini index, centile was not statistically significant. a more equal income distribution.<br />
the MLD, or Atkinson measures. The Between 1999 <strong>and</strong> 2009, the 90th- Comparing the shares of aggregate<br />
Theil index was the only inequality to-the-10th-percentile income ratio household income received by quinmeasure<br />
to show a statistically signifi- increased from 10.42 to 11.36. tile historically shows higher shares<br />
cant change—a 1.3 percent increase<br />
(Tables 3 <strong>and</strong> A-2). In 2009, the share<br />
of aggregate income received by the<br />
Equivalence-Adjusted <strong>Income</strong><br />
Inequality<br />
of income in the lower quintiles <strong>and</strong><br />
lower shares in the higher quintiles<br />
for equivalence-adjusted income than<br />
bottom quintile was 3.4 percent; Another way to measure income for money income. This redistributhe<br />
second quintile, 8.6 percent; the inequality is using an equivalence- tion would be expected because at<br />
third, 14.6 percent; the fourth, 23.2 adjusted income estimate, which the lower end of the income distribupercent;<br />
<strong>and</strong> the highest quintile, 50.3 takes into consideration the number tion there is a higher concentration of<br />
percent. Households in the lowest of people living in the household <strong>and</strong> single-person households <strong>and</strong> smaller<br />
quintile had incomes of $20,453 or how these people share resources <strong>and</strong> family sizes in relation to those at the<br />
less; those in the second quintile had take advantage of economies of scale. upper end of the distribution.<br />
incomes ranging from $20,454 to<br />
$38,550; those in the third quintile<br />
had incomes ranging from $38,551 to<br />
$61,801; those in the fourth quintile<br />
had incomes ranging from $61,802 to<br />
$100,000; <strong>and</strong> those in the highest quin-<br />
tile had incomes of $100,001 or more.<br />
For example, the money-incomebased<br />
distribution treats income of<br />
$30,000 for a single-person house-<br />
hold <strong>and</strong> a family household simi-<br />
larly, while the equivalence-adjusted<br />
income of $30,000 for a single-person<br />
household would be more than twice<br />
In 2009, the lowest quintile share of<br />
aggregate income for equivalenceadjusted<br />
income (3.4 percent) was<br />
not higher than the lowest quin-<br />
tile share of aggregate income for<br />
money income. This is the first time<br />
that shares of aggregate income in<br />
The Gini index was 0.468 in 2009. the equivalence-adjusted income of the lowest quintile for equivalence-<br />
Except for the 1.5 percent decline $30,000 for a family household with adjusted income <strong>and</strong> money income<br />
in the Gini index between 2006 <strong>and</strong> two adults <strong>and</strong> two children. The were not statistically different.<br />
2007, there were no other statisti- equivalence adjustment used here is<br />
cally significant annual changes since based on a three-parameter scale that<br />
1993, the earliest year available for reflects: 21 The three-parameter scale used here is the<br />
comparable measures of income<br />
19<br />
inequality. Since 1993, the Gini<br />
1. On average, children consume less<br />
than adults.<br />
same as the one used in the report The Effect<br />
of Taxes <strong>and</strong> Transfers on <strong>Income</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Poverty</strong><br />
in the United States: 2005, Current Population<br />
Reports, P60-232, U.S. <strong>Census</strong> <strong>Bureau</strong>, March<br />
2007, . The three-parameter scale was<br />
applied to the incomes of families <strong>and</strong> unrelated<br />
individuals <strong>and</strong> assigned to each family member<br />
or unrelated individual living within the house-<br />
hold. For details on the derivation of the threeparameter<br />
scale, see Short, Kathleen, Experimen-<br />
tal <strong>Poverty</strong> Measures: 1999, Current Population<br />
Reports, P60-216, U.S. <strong>Census</strong> <strong>Bureau</strong>, October<br />
2001, .<br />
U.S. <strong>Census</strong> <strong>Bureau</strong> <strong>Income</strong>, <strong>Poverty</strong>, <strong>and</strong> <strong>Health</strong> <strong>Insurance</strong> <strong>Coverage</strong> in the United States: 2009 9