Mich. poverty rate climbs amid job losses

DETROIT, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Michigan was the only state to experience a poverty rate hike last year, something experts blame on declining manufacturing jobs in the state.

Census figures show Michigan was the only state where the median family income also declined in 2007, The Washington Post reported. The poverty rate there has increased every year since 2000, when it was 9.7 percent. Now about a third of residents in Detroit, Flint and Kalamazoo live in poverty.

In suburbs, the loss of jobs at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have taken a toll of communities. The companies have trimmed thousands of white-collar and blue-collar jobs, and auto suppliers have cut even their workforces even more in recent years.

"Throughout the last six or seven years, Michigan has done worse economically than the United States, going from unemployment rates that were below the national average to unemployment rates which are among

the highest in the nation," said Sheldon Danziger, director of the University of Michigan's National Poverty Center.