Fight poverty with job training

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Nov 19, 2012

~~<p>The statistics had not adequately reflected the economic reality for years, but most Hawaii residents could not have been surprised by the update. The U.S. Census Bureau has made a new calculation that incorporates Hawaii's high cost of living and determined that the proportion of the state's population living in poverty was among the highest in the nation, at 17.4 percent.</p>
<p>This is called the "supplemental poverty measure," expected to become the official yardstick used to gauge financial conditions. What's still considered the official figure, which doesn't factor in cost of living, puts the poverty rate at 12.5 percent or 18th lowest in the nation.</p>
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The statistics had not adequately reflected the economic reality for years, but most Hawaii residents could not have been surprised by the update. The U.S. Census Bureau has made a new calculation that incorporates Hawaii's high cost of living and determined that the proportion of the state's population living in poverty was among the highest in the nation, at 17.4 percent.

This is called the "supplemental poverty measure," expected to become the official yardstick used to gauge financial conditions. What's still considered the official figure, which doesn't factor in cost of living, puts the poverty rate at 12.5 percent or 18th lowest in the nation. Login for more...