BY

Oregon has had the highest hunger rate among all U.S. states for four of the last five years. In this report, we re-examine the data on which these rankings were computed and explore how Oregon’s food insecurity and hunger rates vary across demographic groups. Households are considered “food insecure ” if they “were uncertain of having, or unable to acquire, enough food to meet basic needs for all household members because they had insufficient money and other resources for food. ” A subset of food insecure households were “food insecure with hunger. ” That is, they “were food insecure to the extent that one or more household members were hungry, at least some time during the year, because they couldn’t afford enough food.” This report identifies food insecurity and hunger rates among clusters of households with different workforce, income, and demographic characteristics. We use the most recent Current Population Survey data (1999 and 2001) that allow for assessment of these household characteristics and hunger. Compared with similar households in other states(a), we find: * Significantly higher hunger rates among Oregon households with no unemployed adults. * Significantly higher hunger rates among Oregon’s households with at least one full-year, full