The Changing Demographics of Low-Income Families and Their Children (original) (raw)
Related papers
2003
The federal poverty level, the standard by which the United States determines economic need, was developed 40 years ago. Data collected in the 1950s indicated that, on average, families spent one-third of their income on food. The original poverty level used the costs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "economy food plan" and multiplied those costs by three.* Today, food comprises far less than one-third of a family's expenses, while housing, transportation, and child care costs have grown disproportionately. Yet we still measure poverty by the original standard developed in the early 1960s. The federal poverty level for a family of four is currently $18,400.* There are 12 million children who live in such families in this country. However, the numbers are far worse. Double the income that is considered "poverty" is needed for most families to provide their children with basic necessities like adequate food, stable housing, and health care. Families who live in this gray area between official poverty and minimum economic security have many of the material hardships and financial pressures that officially poor families face. As their income grows, they rapidly lose eligibility __________ * For more information about the federal poverty level, see the web site of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: <aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/03poverty.htm>.
Children in Poverty: Trends, Consequences, and Policy Options. Child Trends Research Brief
2002
The percentage of children living in families with incomes below the poverty line has increased from 16.2 percent in 2000 to 18.0 percent in 2007. 3 Thus, a large number of children-nearly one in five-are poor. a Child poverty merits attention because a substantial body of research links poverty with lower levels of child well-being. For a variety of reasons, when compared with children from more affluent families, poor children are more likely to have low academic achievement, to drop out of school, and to have health, behavioral, and emotional problems. These linkages are particularly strong for children whose families experience deep poverty, who are poor during early childhood, and who are trapped in poverty for a long time. This Research Brief draws on Census data for 2007 to present a statistical portrait of children in poverty in the United States, 4 updating similar briefs Child Trends produced in 1999 and 2002. The brief highlights research on the consequences of poverty for children and suggests program and policy approaches that hold promise for decreasing poverty among low-income children and their families. TRENDS The overall child poverty rate rose significantly. • For children younger than 18, the poverty rate increased from 17.4 percent in 2006 to 18 percent in 2007, the highest rate since 1998. This 18 percent translates into 13.3 million children living in poverty in the United States in 2007, 5 an increase of 497,000 children between 2006 and 2007. 6 The percentage of children living in deep poverty had been declining at the turn of the century but is now on the rise. b • In 2007, 8 percent of children lived in deep or extreme poverty (below 50 percent of the poverty line). 7 The percentage of children living in extreme poverty was 9 percent in 1995 and had decreased to 7 percent by 2000. Since 2003, it has been 8 percent. 8 • Analyses suggest that children experiencing extreme poverty may be even worse off than their counterparts were in the mid-1990s because their families have become less likely to use the social programs for which they are eligible (such as food stamps and Medicaid). 9 a This brief reports on the U.S. official poverty line, which is the measure used in most research studies. Considerable discussion focuses on an improved measure of poverty, recommended a decade ago by the National Research Council. 10 b The 2007 Health and Human Services poverty guidelines list the poverty level at an annual income of 13,690foratwo−personhousehold,13,690 for a two-person household, 13,690foratwo−personhousehold,17,170 for a three-person household, and $34,570 for an eight-person household. The poverty line is drawn at slightly higher income levels for residents of Alaska and Hawaii. Child Trends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center that studies children at all stages of development. Our mission is to improve outcomes for children by providing research, data, and analysis to the people and institutions whose decisions and actions affect children. For additional information on Child Trends, including publications available to download, visit our Web site at www.childtrends.org. For the latest information on more than 100 key indicators of child and youth well-being, visit the Child Trends DataBank at www.childtrendsdatabank.org. For summaries of over 330 experimental evaluations of social interventions for children, visit www.childtrends.org/LINKS.
Employment Alone is Not Enough for America's Low-Income Children and Families
Research Brief: Living at the Edge, #1, 2003
The federal poverty level, the standard by which the United States determines economic need, was developed 40 years ago. Data collected in the 1950s indicated that, on average, families spent one-third of their income on food. The original poverty level used the costs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "economy food plan" and multiplied those costs by three.* Today, food comprises far less than one-third of a family's expenses, while housing, transportation, and child care costs have grown disproportionately. Yet we still measure poverty by the original standard developed in the early 1960s. The federal poverty level for a family of four is currently $18,400.* There are 12 million children who live in such families in this country. However, the numbers are far worse. Double the income that is considered "poverty" is needed for most families to provide their children with basic necessities like adequate food, stable housing, and health care. Families who live in this gray area between official poverty and minimum economic security have many of the material hardships and financial pressures that officially poor families face. As their income grows, they rapidly lose eligibility __________ * For more information about the federal poverty level, see the web site of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: <aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/03poverty.htm>.
Society For Research in Child Development, 2012
N ow, more than ever, it is crucial to address the topic of children and poverty in the U.S., given current scientific knowledge about poverty's influence on children and ef fective strategies to mitigate its negative impact. In this report, we summarize the best available information on definitions and trends in child poverty, policy responses to child poverty and the impact of poverty on children's health and development. Research suggests that various factors exert upward and downward pressure on child poverty rates. Upward pressure is exerted by declining work rates for men, stagnant wages for low-wage workers, increasing rates of children raised in female-headed households, and growing gaps in educational attainment. Downward pressure is exerted by the U.S. system of antipoverty policies and programs, which appears to be cutting "pre-transfer" poverty rates by more than 50%. Nonetheless, child poverty rates in the United States are high by both historical and international comparison. We then review the emerging science on biological and ecological processes by which poverty affects child development and key findings regarding the efficacy of comprehensive strategies to reduce poverty and to promote the human capital development of poor children. In the final section, we reflect on implications for moving forward in science and policy.
Poverty, Welfare, and Children: A Summary of the Data. Child Trends Research Brief
1999
While most American children are not poor, the proportion of children living in poverty has remained at or near 20 percent since the early 1980s. Childhood poverty can have short-and long-term negative ,consequences for children. Growing up at or near the poverty line can affect the quality of a family's housing, children's access to nutritious food and adequate health care, and parents' ability to provide toys, books, and recreational or educational opportunities for their children. Poor children are also more likely than children who are not poor to experience difficulties in school, to become teen parents, and, as adults, to earn less and be unemployed more often. The effects of being raised in a family with income substantially below the poverty line are correspondingly more damaging. Until 1997, many poor families with children received cash assistance from Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), a 60-year-old entitlement program. Welfare reform legislation enacted in August 1996 replaced AFDC with the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, which, among other changes, sets time limits on families' receipt of welfare. Several studies are currently underway to assess the effects of TANF on children's well-being, but it may be some years before researchers can speak definitively to the long-term effects of welfare reform on children. (KB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Child Trends, 2009
The number of U.S. children living in poverty increased in 2007-continuing an upward trend dating back to 2000: In 2007, 13.3 million children were living in poverty, up from 11.6 million children in 2000. 2 The percentage of children living in families with incomes below the poverty line has increased from 16.2 percent in 2000 to 18.0 percent in 2007. 3 Thus, a large number of children-nearly one in five-are poor. a Child poverty merits attention because a substantial body of research links poverty with lower levels of child well-being. For a variety of reasons, when compared with children from more affluent families, poor children are more likely to have low academic achievement, to drop out of school, and to have health, behavioral, and emotional problems. These linkages are particularly strong for children whose families experience deep poverty, who are poor during early childhood, and who are trapped in poverty for a long time. This Research Brief draws on Census data for 2007 to present a statistical portrait of children in poverty in the United States, 4 updating similar briefs Child Trends produced in 1999 and 2002. The brief highlights research on the consequences of poverty for children and suggests program and policy approaches that hold promise for decreasing poverty among low-income children and their families.
2011
O The release of the most recent official Census poverty data confirms that American families are still reeling from the Great Recession. As would be expected during a period of sharp economic downturn, between 2009 and 2010, rates of poverty and low-income status increased across a wide spectrum of families in the United States, particularly among those headed by women. In 2010, 15.1 percent of the U.S. population lived in poverty, up from 14.3 percent in 2009.i These numbers reflect broad increases in poverty rates experienced by Blacks, Hispanics and Whites, as well as by all age cohorts, with the exception of adults over age 65. The overall rate of poverty masks much higher rates within particular sub-groups, such as single-mother families, with a poverty rate of 40.7 percent in 2010.
Children in Poverty: Trends, Consequences, and Policy Options
The number of U.S. children living in poverty increased in 2007-continuing an upward trend dating back to 2000: In 2007, 13.3 million children were living in poverty, up from 11.6 million children in 2000. 2 The percentage of children living in families with incomes below the poverty line has increased from 16.2 percent in 2000 to 18.0 percent in 2007. 3 Thus, a large number of children-nearly one in five-are poor. a Child poverty merits attention because a substantial body of research links poverty with lower levels of child well-being. For a variety of reasons, when compared with children from more affluent families, poor children are more likely to have low academic achievement, to drop out of school, and to have health, behavioral, and emotional problems. These linkages are particularly strong for children whose families experience deep poverty, who are poor during early childhood, and who are trapped in poverty for a long time. This Research Brief draws on Census data for 2007 to present a statistical portrait of children in poverty in the United States, 4 updating similar briefs Child Trends produced in 1999 and 2002. The brief highlights research on the consequences of poverty for children and suggests program and policy approaches that hold promise for decreasing poverty among low-income children and their families.