Fewer Kings County people living in poverty

Kings County's poverty rate last year took a sharp nose dive from 21.6 percent to 15.1 percent, one of the steepest drops in decades, according to 2007 census data released this week. A surge in farmwork hiring has pushed down what was once a stubbornly sky-high poverty rate, according to one expert. Another says Kings County's five largest employers -- retail, manufacturing, government, agriculture and health care -- have ballooned, helping the poverty rate tumble to a historic low this decade.