Today, the Census Bureau released information on poverty in 2013, which showed how the overall poverty rate fell from 15 percent in 2012 to 14.5 percent in 2013, as the number of poor individuals fell from 46.5 million in 2012 to 45.3 million in 2013.  But buried within this short-run good news were several troubling long-run trends, including the fact that the poverty rate for working-age women remains unacceptably high at 15.3 percent in 2013.  In fact, as depicted below, the poverty rate for working-age women has been higher in the last four years than at any time since the Census began collecting this data in the 1960s.

This is yet another reason why the House is acting this week to pass a package of jobs bills designed to help millions of women and men go to work, achieve higher incomes and lift themselves out of poverty. It’s also another reason why the Senate should act on the 40 jobs bills the House has already passed, because the Obama economy clearly isn’t working—especially for millions of low-income women.

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