New York, NY —

New numbers released by the Census Bureau show poverty in New York City dipped slightly in 2007.

The federal data show the drop is less than one percent, or about 39,000 people.

Citywide, about 1.5 million people live below the poverty line. Pete Jones, who lives at a homeless shelter in midtown, is one of them. He was waiting in line at a nearby food pantry, and said steady work is hard to find.

JONES: The job situation comes on and off. You know sometimes it's good sometimes it's bad that's why I'm here. I do maintenance. I do delivery. I was a head porter for 12 years before they sold the company. Actually I just got laid off Monday. Back to the drawing board.

REPORTER: The Bloomberg Administration attributed the slight decline to gains made in education, job expansions, and moving people from welfare to work.

But Joel Berg of the Coalition Against Hunger is cautious about any decrease. He says the numbers could also reflect more poor people being pushed out of the city and into the suburbs.