Changing Numbers, Changing Needs American Indian Demography and Public Health (1996) / Chapter Skim
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8 American Indian Poverty on Reservations, 1969-1989
8 American Indian Poverty on Reservations, 1969-1989
Pages 172-195
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From page 172... ...
A1though the reservations began the period with large differences in pov I would like to thank the staff of the Institute for Native Americans at Northern Arizona University, Bill Hildred for discussions on gaming, Michael Yellow Bird and other participants in the workshop for helpful comments, the anonymous reviewers, and the National Indian Policy Center for 1980 and 1990 census data extracts in its Indian Country Data System.
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From page 173... ...
Other measures of well-being, such as per capita income, median family income, the unemployment rate, and the labor force participation rate, followed similar patterns. Casual observation suggests that these trends parallel trends in real federal expenditures on Indian reservations.
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From page 174... ...
10,429 12,240 14,420 0.17 0.18 Whites 11,011 13,095 15,687 0.19 0.20 Blacks 6,040 7,623 8,859 0.26 0.16 American Indians 5,226 7,844 8,328 0.50 0.06 Percent of Families in Poverty Population1969 19791989 Total U.S.10.7 9.610.0 Whites8.6 7.07.0 Blacks29.8 26.526.3 American Indians33.3 23.727.0 SOURCES: U.S. Bureau of the Census (1972, 1983, 1993b)
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From page 175... ...
As shown in Table 8-3, although 5 reservations had an increase in per capita income in the second decade, 2 of these 5 had an increase in poverty rates among families during that same time. The patterns for unemployment and for labor force participation are not as dramatic as for income and poverty, but are similar: more improvements in the first decade of comparison than in the second.
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From page 177... ...
177 oo oo ~ ~ o ~ ~ o .
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From page 178... ...
The range of poverty rates across reservations was great in each of the observation years. In all three years, the Laguna Pueblo had the lowest poverty rate: 24 percent in 1969, 12 percent in 1979, and 28 percent in 1989.
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From page 179... ...
Although individual reservation data are not provided here, the pattern of change for persons in poverty is similar to that for families in poverty. The Flathead and Northern Cheyenne reservations were the only ones to have an increase in poverty rates in the first decade.
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From page 180... ...
Spatial Variations in Income and Poverty The data in Table 8-3 show that reservations varied tremendously in their poverty rates and levels of per capita income in each of the years under consideration. The scope of this discussion does not include consideration of the causes of different levels of income across reservations at any one time.
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From page 181... ...
That expansion created inflationary pressure that was exacerbated by the subsequent OPEC oil price shock. By 1980, national policymakers were very concerned about high inflation and had started holding unemployment rates up in order to hold inflation in check.
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From page 182... ...
Migration and Changes in Self-identification Two of the most important candidate trends for explaining the changes in poverty rates are migration and changes in self-identification, which cannot be distinguished in census data. To examine these changes, disaggregation of population data by age cohorts is helpful.
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From page 183... ...
Median ages increased on 21 reservations from 1970 to 1980 and on 22 reservations from 1980 to 1990. An increase in median age presumably means fewer 2Because per capita income is average income, one can use population data to calculate aggregate reservation income, add income over all reservations, and divide by total population to determine per capita income on all 23 reservations combined.
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184 CD U 5o o of on V)
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From page 187... ...
Changes in Federal Expenditures Federal spending priorities changed from preservation of the social safety net during the 1970s to military spending and tax cuts during the Reagan years after 1980. Figure 8-1 shows the trends in real budget amounts for the total Indian budget and for components of the budget from the mid-1970s to 1991.
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From page 188... ...
NOTES: BIA, Bureau of Indian Affairs; Health, Indian Health Service; Administration, Administration for Native Americans; Housing, Indian Housing Program for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs; Education, Indian Education Office in U.S.
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From page 189... ...
provides Gini coefficients based on median family income for 1969, 1979, and 1989, showing that inequality as measured by family income increased in both the 1970s and 1980s, with a greater increase in the 1980s. Trends in inequality in wage income are less easily observed at the overall level; however, Levy and Murnane (1992)
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From page 190... ...
Unfortunately, no data are available for federal expenditures by reservation for each of the years observed. Such data would directly test the influence of changes in the federal budget on income and poverty rates.
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From page 191... ...
Migration and changes in self-identification are measured by two age ratios that showed significant average changes across the reservations in the results reported in Table 8-4. The "20s age ratio" is the numbers of persons aged 20 to 29 divided by the number of persons aged 10 to 19 in the previous census.
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From page 194... ...
Increases in age and decreases in family size, both of which worked to reduce poverty, did not have a large enough impact to counteract negative effects on American Indian income. A more complete analysis would draw on disaggregated data on federal expenditures which would be difficult to assemble and would control for variables such as education and occupation.
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From page 195... ...
McDonnell, J.A. 1991 The Dispossession of The American Indians:1887-1934.
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