Michigan’s long economic struggle is reflected in preliminary 2010 numbers released by the Census Bureau today. The state poverty rate increase by more than 50 percent over the decade – rising from 9.8 percent in 1999-2000 to 14.8 percent in 2009-2010 — while households saw their median income drop by more than $12,000 a year in inflation-adjusted dollars since the start of the decade, the largest drop in the country.

Nationally, poverty rose to 15.1 percent in 2010 and the 46.2 million people living in poverty is the largest number in 52 years of poverty estimates. Across the country, and in Michigan, fewer people enjoyed employer-sponsored health insurance.

“This is evidence that we need a balanced approach in Michigan and in our nation’s capital that includes looking at revenues as part of the solution. Deep cuts alone will threaten the recovery and make it harder for Michigan to advance,’’ said Gilda Z. Jacobs, president and CEO of the Michigan League for Human Services. “We know that rising poverty threatens our economic future.”

Specifically, Congress needs to support Medicaid, food assistance and tax credits for working Americans. In Michigan, lawmakers and the administration should rethink deep cuts to business taxes combined with deep cuts to programs and services that help Michigan children and families. 

The state budget that starts Oct. 1 includes cuts to cash assistance (affecting 11,000 families with nearly 30,000 children), back-to-school clothing allowance (cutting help for up to 12,4000 children to purchase a new set of clothes for school), Earned Income Tax Credit for working families (dropping the credit from 20 percent to 6 percent of the federal credit and affecting nearly 800,000 families) and mental health services (cutting funds that would pay for mental health services for 1,000 childless adults with serious mental illness who don’t qualify for Medicaid). 

In addition, Michigan lawmakers reduced unemployment benefits from 26 to 20 weeks at a time when half of the jobless spend 26 weeks or longer searching for work.

“The drop in Michigan’s median income speaks to the fact that we must retrain our workers for new jobs. We must make sure that we invest in workers, starting with adults who need basic skill training,’’ said Karen Holcomb-Merrill, policy director at the League. “Unfortunately, we have disinvested in adult education and backed away from our commitment to higher education.’’

The budget year that starts Oct. 1 cuts higher education by 15 percent and community colleges by 4 percent. Adult education funding is flat, but has been dramatically reduced over the past few years.

The Census also released numbers showing a drop in employer-sponsored health insurance, from 76.4 percent covered by employer plans in 1999-2000, to 63.9 percent in 2009-2010 in Michigan. In 2010, there were 1.3 million uninsured in Michigan, including 121,000 kids.

That’s 14.8 percent uninsured, up from 9.3 percent at the start of the decade.
 
With a growing number of uninsured in Michigan, it’s more important than ever to implement provisions in the Affordable Care Act, which will extend health insurance to an additional 32 million people in 2014, including 1.2 million in Michigan.

The numbers released today were from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. On Sept. 22, the Census Bureau will release more definitive 2010 data from its American Community Survey.

The Michigan League for Human Services is a nonprofit, nonpartisan statewide policy and advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that Michigan’s low-income residents achieve economic security.