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