Poverty Stats: Comparative Analysis of 1990 And 2000 Census Bureau Pvty Stats For Mass. Counties

John Howat at NCLC has compiled the attached data on poverty changes in Mass between 1989 and 1999. Among his interesting findings is that there was an incease of 24% in the population of people below 50% of poverty. Some of this increase is perhaps attributable to the fact that there was a decrease in the population of people between 50% and 74% of poverty, suggesting that people who lost benefits because of welfare reform fell from above 50% of FPL to below 50% of FPL.