Great recession didn't have much effect on L.A. poverty

Interesting USC study finds that the area's poverty rate rose just 1.4 percent from 2007 to 2009 (the years of the downturn), compared with an 8.7 percent increase during the 1990s recession. Actually, L.A.'s poverty rate of 16 percent in 2009 was only slightly higher than the 14.3 percent national rate. This is really weird, considering that the L.A. unemployment rate was so much higher than the national rate during that 2007-2009 stretch. From the USC study, which part of a larger report from the Haynes Foundation:

Soaring poverty was a major crisis in Los Angeles during the long 1990s recession, leaping from 15.1 percent in 1990 to its peak level of 23.8 percent in 1993 and only slowly moderating thereafter. By 2000, poverty had nearly returned to its 1990 level (15.9%) but then rose again with the 2001 recession. With the 2000s boom fully underway the Los Angeles poverty rate finally fell to a new low of 14.6 percent by 2007. The effect of the Great Recession on poverty in Los Angeles has been minor compared to the 1990s long recession.

Here's something else that's strange: Despite the very high jobless rate during the most recent recession, median household income fell more moderately than during the 1990s recession - and way more moderately than for the nation as a whole during the 2007-2009 recession.

While Los Angeles experienced a meager $189 decline in median household income--a .3 percent decline--between 2007 and 2009, the United States experienced a $1,534 decline--a 3.0 percent decline.

These are remarkable numbers that run counter to the many downbeat reports about how hard L.A. was hit during the recession. Let's not jump the gun on a single report, but the findings would seem to confirm what other recent studies have suggested: That putting aside the severe housing and construction slowdown, the overall L.A. economy has actually held up reasonably well. Healthy economy? No. Healthier than generally assumed? Apparently so.