CHILD POVERTY SOARS IN L.A. NEARLY 1 IN 3 LIVING IN NEED.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

The number of children living in poverty in the city of Los Angeles rose by more than 10 percent last year - to nearly one in three children - outpacing a national increase in the ranks of poor and uninsured Americans, the Census Bureau reported Thursday.

The city's overall poverty rate was far higher than that for the county, the state or the nation, and the sudden leap in child poverty increased concerns after two steady years with the level at just over one in four.

``It certainly is alarming,'' said Janis Spire, executive director of the Alliance for Children's Rights, a legal advocate for poor and abused children in Los Angeles.

``It's a mind-boggling statistic, with very real and serious consequences for our children and our future.''

Spire and other child-welfare specialists were puzzled by the sudden spike in child poverty in Los Angeles, but said diminishing public services for the poor and the rising cost of housing were certainly contributing factors.

Overall, the city's total population living in poverty grew to one in five people - from 18.8 percent in 2002 to 20.1 percent last year. Poverty levels were lower countywide, 16.4 percent, and statewide, 13.4 percent, in 2003.

Nationally, the number of Americans living in poverty increased by 1.3 million, while the uninsured grew by 1.4 million, according to the report.

It was the third consecutive annual increase for both categories. While not unexpected, it was a double dose of bad economic news.

Approximately 35.8 million people lived below the poverty line in 2003, or about 12.5 percent of the population, according to the bureau. That was up from 34.5 million, or 12.1 percent in 2002.

The rise was more dramatic for children. There were 12.9 million living in poverty last year, or 17.6 percent of the under-18 population. That was an increase of about 800,000 from 2002 - a 6.6 percent jump.

In Los Angeles, 29.8 percent of children were deemed poor - the same as in 2000 - compared with 27 percent in 2001 and 2002.

In California, 18.6 percent - or more than 1.7 million children - lived in poverty last year, up from 18.2 percent in 2002. Three-fourths of the state's poor children are from immigrant families, according to 2000 census data.

``What we've always seen is that children are disproportionately represented among the poor, that single-parent mothers are disproportionately represented along with African-Americans,'' said Paul Tepper, director of the Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty at the Weingart Center in Los Angeles.

The Census Bureau's definition of poverty varies by the size of the household. For instance, the threshold for a family of four was $18,810, while for two people it was $12,015.

Nationally, 45 million people in 2003 lacked health insurance, 15.6 percent of the population. That was up from 43.5 million in 2002, or 15.2 percent, but was a smaller increase than in the two previous years.

Meanwhile, the median household income, when adjusted for inflation, remained basically flat last year at $43,318. Whites, blacks and Asians saw no noticeable change, but income fell 2.6 percent for Hispanic households, to $32,997. Whites had the highest household income at $47,777.

Census Bureau analyst Dan Weinberg said the results were typical of a post-recession period. He said the increase in the number of people without insurance was due to the uncertain job picture.

``Certainly the long-term trend is firms offering less generous (benefit) plans, and as people lose jobs they tend to lose health insurance coverage,'' he said.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry seized on the numbers as evidence that the Bush administration's economic policies have failed. During the years Bush has been in office, 5.2 million people have lost health insurance and 4.3 million have fallen into poverty, he said.

``Under George Bush's watch, America's families are falling further behind,'' Kerry said.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, noted that while more people lost insurance, there also were about 1 million more Americans with coverage in 2003. Overall, 243 million people had insurance last year.

``The bottom line is this: More people in America have health coverage today than at any time in our nation's history, and I think that's a fact worth noting, but we can always do more,'' he said.

Even before release of the data, some Democrats claimed the Bush administration was trying to play down bad news by releasing the reports about a month earlier than usual. They normally are released separately in late September - one report on poverty and income, the other on insurance.

Decisions to put out the numbers at the same time and not so close to Election Day ``invite charges of spinning the data for political purposes,'' said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y.

Census Director Louis Kincannon, a Bush appointee, denied that politics played any role in moving up the release date. The move, announced earlier this year, was done to coordinate the numbers with the release of other data, he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Dana Bartholomew, [phone]

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

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SOURCE: Census Bureau

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