Developing Postcensal Income and Poverty Estimates for All U.S. Counties

摘要

Recently, the Census Bureau and a consortium of other Federal Agencies -- Food and Nutrition Service (USDA), National Center for Education Statistics (DoEd), Head Start (HHS), HUD, and the Employment and Training Administration (DoL) -- initiated a project to provide postcensal estimates of income and poverty for small areas during the 1990's. While current plans for the 2000 census include a system of continuous measurement which will periodically furnish Census-level measurements and estimates for small areas, in this decade, more traditional estimates are likely to be the only ones available. Motivation for this project rests in the use of income and poverty data for small areas in the administration of Federal programs. In fiscal 1994 more than 30 billion in Federal funds were allocated to States or local jurisdictions on the basis of 1990 Census data on income or poverty. State and local programs also make extensive use of these data, and their concerns cannot be overlooked. Absent new measurements, the same data would continue to be used throughout the decade. Both legislators and administrators recognized that these estimates were less and less adequate representations of current conditions as time passed. Some Federal Laws have been rewritten to require the use of 'updated' Census estimates, when they become available and are judged of sufficient quality.