Hawaii has relatively low rate of working poor

Compared to other states, Hawaii has a low percentage of working-poor families and the state leads the nation in health insurance coverage for those families, a recent report found, according to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The report's authors and local experts say the statistics can be deceiving, however.

Although the report indicates 22 percent of isle families qualify as working poor, which is less than the national average of 28 percent, "Hawaii should not rest on its laurels," said Brandon Roberts, a co-author of the study for the Working Poor Families Project. The report, released last week, is based on an analysis of Census data.

Low-income working families are defined as those earning less than twice the poverty level. In Hawaii, where the poverty level is higher than the mainland, a low-income family of four would have made less than $46,000 in 2006.

"If you look beyond the figures in the report, maybe Hawaii's families aren't doing that well," said Sylvia Yuen, the director of the University of Hawaii Center on the Family.

Yuen said the federal poverty level for Hawaii is too low and a family with two children needs to make $57,893 in Honolulu to survive on a "bare-bones budget" with Hawaii's higher cost of living.

About 64 percent of Hawaii's working poor pay more than one-third of their income for housing, slightly higher than the U.S. average of 60 percent. Click here to read the rest of the story.