The Washington Post has the story:
The ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as the recession threw millions of people out of work last year, leaving one in seven Americans in poverty.
The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its annual report on the economic well-being of U.S. households. The report covers 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office.
The poverty rate climbed from 13.2 percent, or 39.8 million people, in 2008.
According to the story, the rate of 14.3% would have been higher still had there not been an increase in Social Security and federal emergency unemployment outlays.
