Child Poverty Has Risen Even As Unemployment Falls
Credit: AP
Even as unemployment has gradually declined, the child poverty rate has been on the rise, according to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Between 2010 and 2011, the number of children living in poverty rose from 15.7 million to 16.4 million. The child poverty rate also rose from 19 to 23 percent from 2005 to 2011, representing an increase of 3 million children.
The rates are even worse for younger kids: Children age five and under have a poverty rate of 26 percent. They are also worse for racial minorities: African-American children have a 39 percent poverty rate, almost three times that of white children, who have a rate of 14 percent.
Their families also have high rates of poverty. In 2011, nearly half – 45 percent – of children lived in families with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty line, or $45,622 for a family of four. Families have also taken a hit from the recession. Nearly a third of children in
