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WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. poverty(贫困) rate climbed to 14.3 percent in 2009, the highest level since 1994, as households' incomes were squeezed by the deepest recession(衰退) since the 1930s and high unemployment(失业率), the U.S. Census1 Bureau reported Thursday.
The report, formally known as "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage(保险范围) in the United States," showed that about 43.6 million people, or 1 in 7, were in poverty last year. That's up from 39.8 million, or 13.2 percent, in 2008.
The rise in poverty rate was not unexpected, as the world's largest economy is still struggling to recover from the recession which began in December 2007.
With hundreds of billions of dollars of fiscal2 stimulus3 injected to the economy and a host of unconventional monetary4 facilities mobilized by the Federal Reserve, the U.S. economy returned to growth in the second half of last year, even though the pace of the recovery has slowed down in recent months.
The unemployment rate jumped from 7.7 percent at the beginning of 2009 to 10.1 percent by October, and remained around 10 percent for the rest of the year.
"The Census Bureau(人口调查局) released data that illustrates5 just how tough 2009 was: along with rising unemployment, incomes failed to rise for the typical household," U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement.
"Our economy plunged6 into recession almost three years ago on the heels of a financial meltdown and a rapid decline in housing prices. Last year we saw the depths of the recession, including historic losses in employment not witnessed since the Great Depression," he said.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)
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1
census
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n.(官方的)人口调查,人口普查 | |
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2
fiscal
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adj.财政的,会计的,国库的,国库岁入的 | |
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3
stimulus
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n.刺激,刺激物,促进因素,引起兴奋的事物 | |
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4
monetary
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adj.货币的,钱的;通货的;金融的;财政的 | |
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5
illustrates
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给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 ); 说明; 表明; (用示例、图画等)说明 | |
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plunged
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v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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