Growing numbers of older Americans are spending their retirement years in poverty, according to a recent Employee Benefit Research Institute study. The proportion of older people living below the poverty line has been growing steadily since 2005, and many of those people are falling into poverty as they age and spend down their savings.
 

A new analysis by the forecasting firm IHS Global Insight shows which states have returned to their peak prerecession employment levels (Alaska, Texas, Louisiana, North Dakota) and offers a forecast of how soon the rest will do so. The optimistic report says that 16 states will regain peak employment by the end of next year, and that all but eight will do so by the end of 2015. Nevada, Michigan and Rhode Island are expected to be the laggards, not achieving peak employment until after 2017.
 

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows President Obama and Mitt Romney are locked in a dead heat over who could fix the country's economic problems, 47% to 47%. When asked where they stand financially compared with when Obama took office, 30% say they are worse off, and only 16% say they are better off. "There is not a widespread sense that things would be better had Romney been president for the past three-plus years, but for the incumbent it is a critical measure. On this question, Obama's numbers continue to resemble those of George H.W. Bush, who lost his bid for reelection in 1992 amid a flagging economy." However, in a general election match up, Obama still leads Romney, 49% to 46%.

An alarming new study shows more New Jersey residents than ever are struggling to provide for their families. A record 885,000 people in the state lived below the poverty line in 2010, according to the study released Sunday by the Legal Services of New Jersey Poverty Research Institute.  The poverty rate increased from 9.4 percent in 2009 to 10.3 percent in 2010, based on the latest census figures available. Among the poor were 300,000 children, the state’s most vulnerable and neediest residents. Unemployment, especially among young adults ages 18 to 24, coupled with the sluggish economic recovery following the longest recession since World War II, contributed to the rise in poverty.
“The report shows more and more people dropping out of the middle class to a place where they are now scrambling every day,” said Melville Miller, president of Legal Services of New Jersey.