in VOA Special English.A new report saysthe poverty ratein the United States last yearwas the highestsince nineteen ninety-three.The official ratewas 15.1 percent,up from 14.3 percentin two thousand nine.Poverty meant yearly income,or earnings, of less thantwenty-two thousandthree hundred dollarsfor a family of four.The recession lasted from December of two thousand sevento June of two thousand nine.Since two thousand seven,the poverty rate has increasedmore than twoand a half percentage points.The new findings did comeas a surprise to Michael Ferrellof the Coalitionfor the Homeless in Washington, DC.MICHAEL FERRELL: "Unless there'sa turnaround within the economyin the very near future,it's most likely to get worse."The Census Bureau saysmedian household incomefell more than two percentfrom two thousand nineto two thousand ten.Median means half earned moreand half earned less.Last year, the median income wasabout forty-nine thousand dollars.The Census Bureau saysmore than forty-six million peoplewere living in poverty.It was the largest numbersince estimates beganin nineteen fifty-nine.They included more thanone-fourth of blacks and Hispanics,twelve percent of Asiansand about ten percentof non-Hispanic whites.Some economic measureswere unchanged.Women in full-time,year-round jobs continuedto earn an averageof seventy-seven percentas much as men did.The number of peoplewithout health insurancerose from forty-nine millionto almost fifty million last year.But the rate -- 16.3 percent-- was about the sameas in two thousand nine.Most Americanswho have health insuranceget it through their employers.Elise Gould at the EconomicPolicy Institute sayspeople age eighteen to twenty-fourare the least likelyto get insurance plansthrough their employers.But she says young peopleare facing fewer barriersbecause of the nation'snew health care law.ELISE GOULD: "Health reformplayed a key role in stemmingthe fall of workplacecoverage for young adults.The Patient Protectionand Affordable Care Act,commonly known as health reform,included provisionsthat allowed young adultsup to age twenty-sixto secure health insurance coveragethrough their parents'employer-sponsoredhealth insurance policies."Experts say the biggestdriving force of povertyis unemployment.About fourteen million Americansare unemployed.Millions more have stoppedlooking for work or wish theycould work more hours.Las Vegas, Nevada, is famousfor its casinos and hotels.But the city was hit hardby the recessionand the housing market crashthat helped cause it.Former construction workerRichard Scanlon is disabled,but he says many able-bodiedfriends are out of work.RICHARD SCANLON: "Ten,fifteen years ago,if you couldn't get a job in Vegas,you weren't looking for one.Now it's tough."Family Promise is a national groupthat helps people get jobs and housing.Director Terry Lindemann saysFamily Promise of Las Vegasworks with religious organizationsthat offer short-term housing.TERRY LINDEMANN: "We bringtogether Catholics, Protestants,Jewish congregations, Muslims,to open up their congregationsat night to be overnight shelters."Cassendra Waller is a mother of two.She got help to moveinto a new apartment.CASSENDRA WALLER: "When youget a job and you're makinga minimum wage,how do you pay a babysitterfor two kids every day?I wound up homeless several times.And this is the worstI've seen the homeless in Vegas."Stephen Brown is an economistwith the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.He says the city is startingto get more visitors again.But he says that will not solvethe bigger economic issues.STEPHEN BROWN: "So what we really needis for the forces that were pushingpopulation to Las Vegasin the past to resume.And that really meansthat the whole US economyneeds to get moving again."And that's IN THE NEWSin VOA Special English.