 
issue no. 11, summer 2004
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facts and figures 1—Number of current presidents who said, "I don't understand how poor people think." $18,400—Poverty threshold for a family of four, according to the 2003 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Guidelines $28,850—Annual wage needed to rent a two-bedroom house in the U.S. in 2001 31,581,086—Number of individuals below poverty level according to 2000 Census $35,307—Amount determined by Economic Policy Institute to be above the poverty level for a family of one parent and two children 47 million—Number of U.S. households with annual incomes below $35,000 35%—Amount by which real value of minimum wage earnings in the U.S. declined between 1968 and 2000 64.4%—Increase in corporate profits during this 32-year period 158.3%—Increase in retail profits during the same period $58,580—Minimum amount earned by top-earning 10 percent of all U.S. cartoonists $6.84-$14.28—Hourly wage earned by half of all disc jockeys in 2000 $22,900—Average wage in the largest of U.S. Labor Department employment categories, "local and visitor services" (including retail and restaurant workers) 1%—Number of all households in 1997 whose wealth exceeded all of the households in the bottom 95 percent combined 1,336%—Amount by which the stock market grew between 1983 and 1998 85.8%—Amount of the stock market's growth between 1989 and 1999 received by the richest 10 percent of U.S. households 330,000—Number of incarcerated individuals in 1972 2,000,000—Number incarcerated in 2000 49%—Number of American employers who run criminal checks More than 50%—Number of employers who will not hire ex-offenders 25-30%—Amount by which the weekly earnings of white males with similar education exceeded those of black males between 1983 and 1999 20—Factor by which the average U.S. CEO's take-home pay exceeded that of the average worker in 1965 458—Factor by which the average U.S. CEO's take-home pay exceeded that of the average worker in 2000
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