In recession, poverty strikes middle class

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chaun Frost ran up her credit cards when the U.S. economy was booming, and now the single mother is paying a heavy price.

To service her debt and buy food for her two children, she has taken a second job selling pizza on weekends and some week nights, supplementing the $2,200 a month she earns from her job coordinating volunteers at a children's hospital.

"We have been hurt by the current state that the economy is in," said Frost, 32. "I am part of the new working poor."

About 37.3 million Americans were living in poverty in 2007, or about 12.5 percent of the population, according to the government, which defines poverty as an annual income of $21,203 or less for a family of four.

Figures due out in August will show that rose by about half a percentage point last year, analysts estimate, and more and more people like Frost will slip into poverty this year as the recession takes hold.

In many ways, Frost is typical of the many middle class people in the current recession who are falling into poverty.

Many of the decisions she made seemed smart at the time. Some of her many debts were accumulated as student loans. She also makes monthly payments for a big car whose value is now less than the amount she owes on it.

Repayments on the car and insurance bills are almost as much as the $850 rent for the modestly furnished two-bedroom apartment she shares with her 11-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter in Washington.

In a move she knows could spell trouble for the future, she has slashed her retirement contributions to $5 per check from $100, partly in response to a drop in the stock market.

And, underneath it all is the economic downturn, which has exacerbated her problems and shattered her financial self-confidence.

"Had I known that things would turn out this bad, I would have done things differently," Frost said.

UNEMPLOYMENT FUELING POVERTY

The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, ignited by the collapse of the U.S. housing market, has sent the U.S. economy into a downward spiral.

Government data shows the unemployment rate jumped to 7.2 percent in December, the highest in nearly 16 years, as companies cut jobs to cope with a shrinking economy.

"My guess is poverty is going to go up from around 12.5 percent now by about half percentage point to 13 percent," said Rebecca Blank, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "The main driving factor is rising unemployment."