Story at a glance
- A newly published analysis by Child Trends found the U.S. child poverty rate has drastically improved over the past quarter century.
- Improvements in unemployment, single mothers’ labor force participation and higher state minimum wages all contributed to the decrease in child poverty.
- Hispanic children experienced an increase in child poverty, attributed to discrimination in the labor market and restricted access to social safety net programs.
The U.S. has made significant strides in reducing child poverty over the past quarter century, with a new analysis finding a multitude of economic factors have benefited families and lifted children across demographics out of poverty.
Child Trends, a nonpartisan research group, published the results of an in-depth analysis of the history of child poverty in the U.S. It found improvements in unemployment rates, single mothers’ labor force participation and state-level minimum wage laws all contributed to a 59 percent decline in child poverty from 1993 to 2019.
Over the past quarter century, the U.S. went through an “unprecedented decline in child poverty rates,” with researchers finding that magnitude of decline is unequaled in the history of poverty measurement in the U.S.
Researchers found unemployment rates were much lower in 2019 than in 1993 and could explain as much as 18 percent of the total decline in child poverty. Single mothers’ labor force participation could explain about 9 percent, and higher state minimum wages could account for about 7 percent.
Those factors also played a role in lifting median household incomes. In their analysis, researchers found real median household income increased by about 26 percent — from $54,600 in 1993 to $68,730 in 2019.
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That went hand in hand with minimum wage increases. While the real value of the federal minimum wage, which currently stands at $7.25, declined from 1993 to 2019, the average minimum wage increased by 23 percent thanks to state-level increases. Currently, 30 states and Washington, D.C., have set higher minimum wages than the federal amount along with other cities across the country.
Then came single mothers’ labor force participation, which notably jumped in the mid-to-late 1990s. Researchers found it increased by 17 percent from 1993 to 1999, at the same time the federal government expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit and reformed its welfare program.
In total, single mother labor force participation increased 15 percent from 1993 to 2019.
However, there were demographic disparities, with researchers finding that the share of children who are Hispanic or who live in immigrant families grew from 1993 to 2019. That shift was associated with increases in child poverty rates, with researchers explaining that’s likely, “reflective of Hispanic and immigrant parents who face discrimination in the labor market and restricted access to the social safety net, both of which limit efforts to reduce child poverty.”
Black children experienced decreases in child poverty, but researchers noted the shift’s contribution to the overall national decline was small.
Researchers noted that the U.S. has a well-documented history of persistent disparities in child poverty rates by race and ethnicity, which stems from systemic discrimination. That’s created fertile ground for Hispanic and Black workers in particular to receive unequal pay, fewer benefits, lower job quality and disparate outcomes within employment.
“Without broad reforms to systemic discrimination and structural barriers that can trap immigrants in poverty, growing populations of immigrants can contribute to higher poverty rates,” wrote researchers.
Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy has studied the Black-white child poverty gap and it found that from 2017 to 2019, before government benefits or tax credits were accounted for, 46 percent of Black children under the age of 18 were living in poverty. That made Black children’s poverty rate 2.7 times that of white children who had a poverty rate of 17 percent.
Researchers from Child Trends hope their latest research will, “invigorate policy discourse on child poverty and renew a national commitment to reduce child poverty even more.”
The Census Bureau found that in 2020 the national poverty rate was 11.4, the first increase after five consecutive annual declines and the year the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on Sep. 12, 2022 to better clarify the description of Child Trends.
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