Oregon's Poverty Numbers

More grim numbers about how the recession has hit Oregon: The state's poverty rate rose from 12.9 percent in 2007 to 13.6 percent in 2008 during the recession, according to figures released (PDF) today by the American Community Survey.

That makes Oregon — and our estimated 506,000 people living in poverty — one of just eight states that saw an increase in their poverty rate from 2007 to 2008 (the others were California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania). And it makes you wonder how much worse things may have gotten in 2009.

“We weren't winning the war on poverty before the economic downturn, much less now,” Oregon Center for Public Policy analyst Joy Margheim said in a press release. “And the news will likely get worse next year, when the survey takes into account 2009, the worst period of the recession.”