Child Poverty in the American States: The Impact of Welfare Reform, Economics, and Demographics

Abstract

This article identifies the predictors of child poverty rates at the state level before and after the adoption and implementation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. The analysis shows that the most important state-level factors that influence child poverty rates are demographics, the health and viability of the state economy, and often the generosity, inclusiveness, and quality of state welfare programs. States with large numbers of black citizens, and those that score highest on infant mortality, teen births, births to unmarried women, children living with a parent without a high school degree, and children living with a single parent have the highest rates of child poverty. Child poverty rates are lowest in states that suffer less unemployment, and in wealthier states. States that score higher on per capita personal income, tax revenues, and taxable resources have lower child poverty rates. While specific "tough" welfare policies adopted by some states seem to have no impact on child poverty rates, we tested for the first time a sophisticated measure of the overall quality of state welfare programs. The analysis reveals that the global quality of a state's welfare programs is often an independent predictor of child poverty. States with the most generous, inclusive, and supportive welfare programs have done the best job of lowering and containing child poverty.

Social insurance and children: The relationship between Social Security, economic well-being, and family context among child recipients

“…Specifically, children in families headed by widowed and never-married women had significantly greater income dependence on child benefits than those in married families, all other factors being equal. This picture is consistent with broader research linking family structure to children's economic status (Lichter and Eggebeen 2010;Rodgers and Payne 2007), but in our case, family structure was found to mediate the importance of social insurance payments to child recipients' economic status.…”

“…Family structure has proven to be a strong indicator of children's overall economic status (Burkhauser and Duncan 1988;Lichter and Eggebeen 2010;Thomas 2011;Weinshenker and Heuveline 2006). While certain family structures do not cause economic vulnerability, children in singleparent families, particularly those that are female-headed, have a higher probability of economic hardship (Musick and Mare 2006;Neblett 2007;Rodgers and Payne 2007;Wojtkiewicz 1993). According to estimates from the Current Population Survey, children living in female-headed families in 2008 were more than four times more likely to be in poverty (43.5%) than those living in married households (9.9%) (US Census Bureau 2009).…”

“…Much of the research has focused on the effects of the 1996 reform, which gave states more flexibility to implement the program (within federally established goals), added lifetime limits on benefits, and instituted various work-oriented rules. A common finding has been that increasing interstate variation helps explain the program's different effects on child poverty, with more generous state welfare systems associated with lower child poverty (Rodgers and Payne 2007).…”

No Race in Any Direction: State Welfare and Income Regimes

“…The consequences are significant. States that score highest on welfare and income support effort have lower levels of poverty (Rodgers & Payne, 2007; Rodgers et al., 2006).…”

The Multidimensionality of Public Opinion About Poverty and Welfare Populations*

“…Interestingly, this literature has also found that this approach is dysfunctional. Poorly financed, coercive programs are a great deal less effective than well-designed and wellfinanced programs in helping poor adults transition to employment (Schram, 2008;Rodgers and Payne, 2007).…”