Working-Age Poor Population Highest Since '60s

3 out of 5 below the poverty line are now adults between 18 and 64

WASHINGTON — Working-age America is the new face of poverty.

Counting adults 18-64 who were laid off in the recent recession as well as single twenty-somethings still looking for jobs, the new working-age poor represent nearly 3 out of 5 poor people — a switch from the early 1970s when children made up the main impoverished group.

While much of the shift in poverty is due to demographic changes — Americans are having fewer children than before — the now-weakened economy and limited government safety net for workers are heightening the effect.

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