N.C. lags in insurance, pay, wealth

By several measures of social and economic well-being, North Carolina made strides last year.

Incomes rose. Poverty fell. And the percentage of people without health insurance declined.

Despite the improvements, the state lagged the nation in all three categories, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The federal agency released two surveys Tuesday that give a snapshot of the quality of people's lives across boundaries of sex, race and geography. They are important for understanding progress among classes of people and places.

But last year's data need to be considered in context, economists cautioned. They don't take into account the worst of the economic downturn that has been defined by higher unemployment, lower wages and higher inflation.

With that caveat, here's how the state and Triangle compared with the nation.

Insurance

The portion of people in North Carolina without health insurance fell to 16.4 percent in 2007, compared with 17.9 percent in 2006.

That's a significant decline, three times larger than a drop logged nationally.

But the actual number of North Carolinians without health insurance was almost flat at 1.5 million.

While the national decline was attributed to government programs that covered more people, in North Carolina, a surge in population also contributed.

Though the uninsured rate fell, it gives some pundits cause for alarm: It's higher than at the start of the decade, when 13.1 percent of the state population lacked health insurance. It's above the national rate, which was 15.3 percent last year.

Only 12 states had uninsured rates higher than North Carolina's.

"We're a state that's near the bottom," said Adam Searing, director of the N.C. Justice Center's Health Access Coalition, which advocates for the poor.

A high percentage of uninsured people is "inefficient, immoral and unfair," he said. Triangle-specific data were not available.

Income

Median household income, adjusted for inflation, rose 1.9 percent statewide to $44,670.

That was better than the 1.3 percent increase recorded nationally but not enough to put North Carolina households on par with the nation. The midpoint of U.S. household income was $50,233. In the Triangle, only Wake and Orange counties had median household incomes above the national figure.

A closer look at the numbers reveals troubling trends. For example, inflation-adjusted U.S. median income for working-age households was $1,100 lower in 2007 than in the recession year of 2001.

Poverty

Last year's national poverty rate was also higher than the 11.7 percent rate in 2001. In 2007, the national poverty rate stayed statistically flat at 12.5 percent.

The rate in North Carolina dipped to 14.3 percent from 14.7 percent.

Wake County had the lowest poverty rate in the Triangle at 8.3 percent. Durham County had the highest at 16.2 percent.