Note on Standard Errors and Other Relevant Statistics of Experimental Poverty Thresholds Produced at the Bureau of Labor Statistics: 2006 to 2008. Working Paper 436

摘要

This note provides results from ongoing research at the Bureau of Labor Statistics on experimental poverty thresholds. The purpose of this note is to present the standard errors of National Academy of Sciences (NAS)-based thresholds based on food, clothing, shelter, and utilities (FCSU), and also those based on FCSU items plus medical care (FCSUM). For both sets of thresholds, mortgage principal payments are included in the shelter expenditures of homeowners with mortgages. Thresholds are presented for reference families that consist of two related adults and two children. The methodology used for the 2008 thresholds was applied throughout the study. The 2008 thresholds match those on the Census Bureau website. However, the estimated thresholds for 2006 and 2007 differ from those on the Census Bureau website due to changes in the methods to produce the thresholds, introduced in the fall of 2009.