Child Poverty

in MinnesotaTrends, Consequences,

and Opportunities

Andi Egbert, Research Director, Children’s Defense Fund Minnesota

Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota by 2020

September 5, 2007

Children’s Defense Fund Minnesota

• Nonpartisan, nonprofit organization– CDF does not seek nor accept any

government funds– MN is one of 12 state and regional

offices

• The mission of the Children’s Defense Fund is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring

families and communities.

CDF Minnesota Initiatives

Child advocacy:Legislative and grassroots

Outreach: Helping eligible families access public benefits

and claim tax credits

Research: Analysis and information regarding child and

family well-being

What is KIDS COUNT?

• A national and state-by-state effort to track the well-being of children, based upon reliable national and state-level data sources

– Funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation

• CDF Minnesota is the Minnesota KIDS COUNT grantee. We provide:

– State-level and county-by-county data on the well-being of Minnesota's children and families – An annual data book and other periodical reports to provide a statistical profile of Minnesota's children and suggestions for action on their behalf

Presentation Overview

• Definitions of poverty• Who are Minnesota’s poor children

and families?• Trends in child, family poverty• Adverse effects of poverty for

children and society– Education risks– Health and developmental risks– Economic impacts

• Alleviating poverty: outcomes and opportunities

• Questions

Data and Definitions

Data Sources:• State-level data from U.S. Census

Bureau’s American Community Surveys (ACS), 2000-2006– No group quarters in pre-2006 surveys: No

foster, homeless, institutionalized children

• County-level data from the Census Bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE), 2000-2004

• Children defined as those under age 18• Families defined as households with at

least one child present

Defining Child Poverty

• “Official poverty”– Family income below the federal

poverty threshold– Less than 100% poverty– About $20,500 for a family of 4 in 2006

• “Extreme poverty”– Less than 50% poverty– Annual income of less than half of poverty

threshold, or $10,250 for a family of 4

Defining Child Poverty

• “Low-income” poverty – Less than 200% poverty threshold– Annual income below $41,000 for family of

4– Families need more than twice poverty

level to meet basic needs including housing, child care, food, and health insurance• 2/3rds of low-income children live in families

that pay more than 30% of income for housing costs (2005)

– Vulnerable families who experience eviction, utilities shutoffs, severe debt, hunger, unstable child care arrangements, foregone medical care

– With few assets, they are often one crisis away from becoming officially poor

– Less likely to qualify for public programs to assist

Source: National Center for Children in Poverty

Who Are Minnesota’s Families in Poverty?

In 2006, there were 86,000 families in poverty in Minnesota (6.5% of families)

Majority are working• Nearly 3/4ths of families in poverty

(63,700) have one or more workers in the family– About 1 in 5 families in poverty have 2 or

more workers

More likely to be headed by an unmarried parent– 34% of families in poverty have married parents– 52% unmarried female-headed households– 14% unmarried male-headed households

In 2006, there were 152,000 children in poverty in Minnesota

More than half are white children

Who Are Minnesota’s Children in Poverty?

Race Count % of total poor children

White children 82,500 54%

Black children 36,500 24%

Asian children 11,600 8%

American Indian children 4,900 3%

Other children of single-race

6,800 4%

Children of two or more races

9,700 6%

Hispanic/Latino children (may be of any race)

18,300 12%

But, children of color have a greater chance of growing up in poverty

Who Are Minnesota’s Children in Poverty?

Race % poor among children of this race

White children 8%

Black children 45%

Asian children 20%

American Indian children 32%

Other children of single-race

24%

Children of two or more races

20%

Hispanic/Latino children (may be of any race)

26%

Who Are Minnesota’s Children in Poverty?

Almost 1/3rd of poor children are under age 5

• 50,300 children age 0-4 in poverty• Poverty rate for children age 0-4 is 14.6%,

compared to 12.2% for all children• Critical developmental window

– Experiencing poverty in early childhood, or experiencing persistent poverty, is most harmful to children

Most children in poverty are U.S. born, but immigrant children have higher poverty rates

• 25% of MN’s immigrant children live in poverty, compared to 10% of children who are U.S. born

Many poor children live in rural areas• About half of state’s children in poverty

live in Greater Minnesota• The 8 counties with the highest child

poverty rates are rural:

Mahnomen 23%

Beltrami 22%

Cass 19%

Clearwater 18%

Aitkin 18%

Wadena 17%

Koochiching 16%

Becker 16%

Who Are Minnesota’s Children in Poverty?

2004 Child Poverty Rates, by County

Shown in Quartiles

Trends in Child Poverty

Nationally• On August 28, Census Bureau released

new data showing overall poverty rate declined for the first time in a decade, to 12.3 % in 2006– Poverty among those 65+ down to 9.4%– Child poverty rate remained statistically

unchanged at 17.4%

• Children are the most likely group of Americans to live in poverty– Youngest children (0-4) have the very

highest rates

Children Are The Most Likely Group To Live In Poverty

Statewide Trends, 2000-2006:Child Poverty Rising

• In Minnesota since 2000 – Child poverty rate increased 35%– Estimated 38,000 more children in

poverty– Extreme poverty rate doubled– Estimated 31,000 more children in

extreme poverty– Rates accelerating faster than national

increases

• Since 2003 especially, more children and families falling to lower rungs of economic ladder

Year Count Rate

2006 152,000 12.2%

2005 140,000 11.6%

2004 130,000 10.7%

2003 116,000 9.4%

2002 144,000 11.7%

2001 125,000 10.6%

2000 114,000 9.0%

MN Children in Poverty

Less than 100% Poverty, or $20,500 for 2 parents and 2 children in 2006

MN Children in Extreme Poverty

Less than 50% Poverty, or $10,250 for 2 parents and 2 children in 2006

Year Count Rate

2006 69,000 6%

2005 62,000 5%

2004 52,000 4%

2003 56,000 5%

2002 71,000 6%

2001 48,000 4%

2000 38,000 3%

MN Low-income Children

Less than 200% Poverty, or $41,000 for 2 parents and 2 children in 2006

Year Count Rate

2006 358,000 29%

2005 348,000 29%

2004 334,000 27%

2003 300,000 24%

2002 330,000 27%

2001 303,000 26%

2000 385,000 30%

Adverse Effects of

Child Poverty

Poverty Damages Children

• Poverty impairs children’s healthy growth and development, now and in the future– Alters developmental trajectories

• Research documents that children who experience poverty are:– Less likely to be healthy, both physically

and mentally– Less likely to gain the education skills they

need to become productive in the workforce

– More likely to become teen parents– More likely to become arrested and

incarcerated

Poverty Fuels School Failure

• Research reveals a linear relationship between family income and children’s achievement

• Achievement gap exists at kindergarten and persists or widens in higher grades– Math and reading scores negatively related

to poverty at kindergarten– National data sets on preschool and child

care show that, at 4 years old, poor children are on average, 18 months below the developmental norm

– By third grade, low-income children with undereducated parents know, on average, 8,000 fewer vocabulary words than their higher income peers

Sources: L. Klein and J. Knitzer. (2007) Promoting effective early learning: What every policymakers should know.National Center for Children in Poverty; E.T. Gershoff (2003) Low-income and hardship among America’s kindergartners (Living at the Edge #3), NCCP; V.E. Lee & D.T. Burkham (2002) Inequality at the Starting Gate: Social background differences in

achievement as children begin school. Economic Policy Institute

Poverty is Unhealthy

• Poor and low-income children are:– More likely to be in fair or poor health– More likely to be uninsured or underinsured– More likely to live in unsafe areas, limiting

time to play outdoors– Less likely to receive preventive health care– Families less likely to receive advice and

education from a physician

– Uninsured children are:• More likely to develop infections, serious dental

problems, asthma, diabetes and lead poisoning• More than 5 times more likely to have had an unmet

need for medical care• Almost twice as likely to have not received a well-

child check-up in the past year• 4 times more likely to use the emergency room

Sources: 2001 National Health Interview Survey; K.T. Young, et. al. (1996) “The Commonwealth Fund Survey of Parents With Young Children” Commonwealth Fund; “The Road Not Traveled” (2006) Children’s Defense Fund Minnesota;

National Center for Children in Poverty

Poverty Jeopardizes Mental Health

• Low-income children are more likely to be exposed to circumstances that impair healthy emotional, social development– Parental depression– Parents’ substance abuse– Domestic violence

• Older children in poverty have higher rates of diagnosable disorders and learning problems– Issues often translates into dropping out of

school, or involvement with child welfare or juvenile justice systems

Source: J. Knitzer and J. Cooper. (2006) “Beyond Integration: Challenges for

Children’s Mental Health.” Health Affairs; National Center for Children in Poverty

Child Poverty Costs Us All• National team of researchers found

costs to the U.S. associated with childhood poverty total $500 billion per year, or nearly 4% of GDP

• Each year, estimated that child poverty:– Reduces productivity and economic

output by $184 billion – Raises the costs of crime by $170 billion– Creates health costs of $184 billion

• Report presented to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee earlier this year

Source: Harry J. Holzer, et. al. (2007) “The Economic Costs of Poverty in the United

States: Subsequent Effects of Children Growing Up Poor.” Center for American Progress

We Can Solve Child Poverty

• The U.S. cut poverty in half between 1959 and 1973

• United Kingdom example – In 1999 Tony Blair committed his

government to ending child poverty in the UK by 2020, cutting it in half by 2010

– UK has reduced child poverty by more than 50%, from 3.4 million children in 1999 to 1.6 million children in 2006• Using absolute measure of poverty

Source: Jane Waldfogel. (2007) “Investing in Our Children: The U.S. Can Learn

From the U.K.” Center for American Progress

Income Alone Affects Children’s Well-being

• More than a decade of research shows that increasing income for families in poverty without any other interventions can positively affect child development

• Welfare experiments that boosted income translated into improved school achievement by children

• Final MDRC longitudinal evaluation of the Minnesota Family Investment Program pilot – Employment gains diminished, but gains in

children’s school performance held Sources: N.K. Cauthen (2002) Policies that improve family income matter for children. National Center for Children in Poverty; E. Dearing, K. McCartney & B.A. Taylor (2001) “Change in family income-to-needs matters more for children with less” Child Development; V. Knox, C. Miller, and L. Gennetian (2000) Reforming Welfare and Rewarding Work: A Summary of the Final Report on the Minnesota Family Investment Program, MDRC.

The Early Years Matter For A Lifetime

• Economists have found that strategic investments in early childhood yield the greatest public return– This is when poverty is most prevalent

and most damaging

• Early years afford the most opportunity to alter the developmental arc of children– Set the stage for healthy, productive,

successful adulthood, citizenship and parenthood

Source: J.J. Heckman and D.V. Masterov (2004). The productivity argument for investing in young children (Invest in Kids Working Group Working Paper No. 5).

Committee for Economic Development

For More Information

• Comprehensive data about Minnesota child trends is available in Seven Basic Needs: 2007 Minnesota KIDS COUNT Data Book– County poverty rates on

pages 38-39– Does not include most recent

2006 poverty and income data

• Visit www.cdf-mn.org• Contact Andi Egbert at

Children’s Defense Fund MN 651-855-1184 egbert@cdf-mn.org