Community Corner

Report: CT Child Poverty Remains High

Families in Connecticut and elsewhere are still recovering from the recession.

 

The rate of children living with unemployed parents went up 88 percent at the onset of the recession in 2007 to today, and while there are some positive trends, 9 percent of children are still expected to have jobless parents.

A new report titled “The Recession’s Ongoing Impact on Children, 2012: Indicators of Children’s Economic Well-Being” tracks how children throughout the country fared in the past few years.

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Researchers found that:

  • The number of children with parents unemployed for more than six months in Connecticut went up 197 percent since 2007.
  • Nationally, 2.7 million more children lived with an unemployed parent during a typical month in 2012, compared to 2007 (an increase of 71%), bringing the 2012 total to 6.3 million children;
  • 2.8 million (44 percent of those living with an unemployed parent) lived, during a typical 2012 month, with a parent unemployed six months or longer;
  • 8.8 million more additional children relied upon SNAP for food in 2012, compared to 2007, bringing the total number of children receiving SNAP to 21.6 million (one in four) nationwide;
  • 16 million children (more than one in five) currently live in poverty; and
  • The number of states that are high child poverty states (where more than one-in-five children live in poverty) has nearly doubled during the recession, from 14 in 2007 to 27 in 2011

“The numbers tell us two critical things: first, the recession continues to hit America’s children hard; and second, smart investments in children’s health and well-being can mitigate the harm, “said First Focus President Bruce Lesley.”

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These indicators became less severe in 2012, but remain well above the 2007 figures.


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