POVERTY RISING IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY; EL CAJON HAS HIGHEST POVERTY RATE

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By Walter Davis

December 7, 2008 (San Diego) — Poverty is fueled by scarcity. In San Diego County, scarcity of affordable housing and high paying jobs are causing hardship for many citizens, with some East County communities among the hardest hit.

The Center On Policy Initiatives report released on  August 26, 2008 reveals incomes stagnated in San Diego County in 2007 while buying power of worker's earnings dropped. The report reveals that more than 320,000 San Diego County residents lived in dire poverty including 145,000 working poor and 110,000 children.   

The county's top fifth of the population earned 49% of income. African Americans came in last place in terms of income earners with a median household income of $44,662 behind Latinos who were reported to have median incomes of $45,540. Asian households topped the list with median household incomes of $75,686 followed by whites with $70,486 in 2007.

El Cajon is reported to have the highest poverty rate in the county at 20.6% followed by San Marcos at 14.5%, Vista at 14.1%, San Diego at 12.1% and Carlsbad at 5.9%.

Even grimmer, the national poverty rate threshold is not a realistic measure for this area due to the high cost of living here. The National Academy of Sciences recommends that the poverty rate be doubled in measurements for this county, revealing sharp undercounting of the poor. A more realistic figure for people living in economic hardship in San Diego County is 787,991 people or 27.4% of the population.

Single moms with children make up the largest segment of families in poverty, with 29.9% living in poverty compared to 15.3% of single dads with children.

Full-time workers in San Diego County earning less than $50,000 make up 57.07% of the work force. Workers earning less than $25,000 make up 21.69 percent of the work force. 

A 10News.com report issued August 26, 2008 reveals that San Diegans are struggling to survive the economic crunch. Many couples are being forced to move back home with their parents, including two recently laid off school teachers featured in this story. It is estimated that it takes $28,500 a year just to survive in San Diego County for a single individual. Trends indicate even more grim numbers for 2008.

Workers' incomes have stagnated, barely outpacing inflation according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau in August 2008 and a report released by SignOnSanDiego.com.

San Diego County has a golden opportunity to develop jobs that cannot be outsourced--jobs related to green energy. This trend of falling wages can be reversed and many of our economic problems resolved by focusing on development of green jobs in the solar power industry, tide power and geo-thermal technology. Social and economic programs must be developed to give the working poor hope for the future. The question is will our leadership in this county make the right decisions to move us in the right direction?

Walter Davis is head of the San Diego Community Coalition, authors a syndicated newspaper column and assists nonprofit and community groups develop media campaigns, including public access television
programming.


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Comments

Poverty in San Diego

Good article; now follow it up with another article next year on changes to the economy and poverty after the new administration's policies take effect. For eight years the lower spectrum of our society has been ignored or punished. I believe we need a new philosophy of "Trickle Up Economics". When the lower echelon of society has more money then the entire economy will grow at an accelerated pace; like it did during the Clinton Administration.