A report by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve looks at county poverty rates in 2008, in the early part of the recent downturn, and compares that to rates from 2000, the peak of the last major expansion.

The paper examines how households in the three states in the three states covered by the Philly Fed- Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware- have been affected by the recent economic downturn. It looks at overall poverty rates in the three states, and at areas where poverty is the most severe.

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