Poverty among the employed in the U.S.

Annual report 2009 on persons who, during the year, spent 27 weeks or more in the labor force (working or looking for work), but whose incomes still fell below the official poverty level. In 2009, according to the Census Bureau, about 43.6 million people, or 14.3 percent of the Nation’s population, lived at or below the official poverty level. Although the poor were primarily children and adults who had not participated in the labor force during the year, 10.4 million individuals were among the “working poor,” 1.5 million more than in 2008.