	Introduction

Family and work structure most Americans' lives. Work provides the principal means by which most families support themselves, and public policies directed at low-income families with children have generally attempted to encourage and support work. Family structure also has become a focus of public policy since an increasing number of children live with a single parent, and poverty rates for such children are much higher than for those in married-couple families. Families with children, regardless of marital status, are at risk of poverty; child poverty rates are higher than those for the aged or nonaged adults. In 2004, an estimated 13% of all parents worked at a wage rate that would have produced below-poverty income (for a family of three) even if they worked full-time, all year; an estimated 45% of all parents worked at a wage rate that would have produced incomes of less than 200% of poverty. Many single-parent families, having only one earner, have earnings that leave the family either poor or near poor. Though the likelihood that a family with children will be poor is much greater for those headed by a single mother than those headed by a married couple, married couples with children account for a nontrivial share of poor and low-income families with children. Parents' Work and Family Income Status

Earnings are the primary means by which most parents support their families. Parents' Wages and Educational Attainment

As is commonly known, wage rates tend to be higher for workers with higher levels of educational attainment. Figure 5 shows that while 3 out of 10 working parents with less than a high school diploma would have full-time full-year earnings too low to support a three-person family above the poverty level, only about 1-in-6 parents with a high school diploma, and about 1-in-20 parents with a bachelor's degree, have wages too low to support a benchmark family above poverty. Thus, though the table shows no occupation employing more than 500,000 parents with an hourly wage that would produce an annual income below the poverty level for the benchmark family of three (at full-year, full-time work), some parents in the occupations shown on this table did earn less than poverty-level wages. Weeks Worked and Work Schedules by Family Type

Most families with children (92%) had one parent who worked at some point in 2004. Among those families who were near-poor (incomes above poverty but below 125% of the poverty line) based on the parents' earnings, 83% had a parent who worked full-time all year, and among families with earnings between 150% and 200% of poverty, the percentage with a full-time full-year worker rose to 90%. Whether one or both parents are fully engaged in the workforce affects the economic status of families with children headed by a married couple. Given that wage rates of many parents' jobs would leave a family in low-income status, it often takes two parents working for a family's earnings to attain a modest income level, above the low-income threshold of 200% of poverty used in this report. Rates of poverty and low income for single-parent families are higher than in married-couple families. Based on the earnings of both parents, 27% of married-couple families with children are low-income; however, based solely on the earnings of the family's principal earner, 39% of such families would be low-income.
Family and work structure most Americans' lives. Work provides the principal means by which most families support themselves, and public policies directed at low-income families with children have generally attempted to encourage and support work. Family structure also has been a focus of public policy because an increasing number of children live with a single parent, and poverty rates for such children are much higher than for those in married-couple families. Families with children, regardless of marital status, are at greater risk of poverty, with child poverty rates higher than those for either nonaged or aged adults.
Based on nuclear family income in 2004, 17.1% of families with children had total incomes below the poverty line; 21.5% had incomes of less than 125% of the poverty line (poor or near-poor); and 34% had incomes of less than 200% of poverty (low-income). Most low-income families had a parent who worked during the year.
Many parents work at jobs that produce low incomes for their families. In 2004, 13% of parents worked at a wage rate that would have produced below-poverty income for a family of three, and 45% of parents worked at a wage rate that would have produced incomes below 200% of the poverty level, even assuming full-year, full-time work—a level designated as low-income in this report. Thus, families with children headed by a single parent—with only one potential earner—are more likely to be poor than those headed by a married couple. However, married couples with children and one working parent sometimes struggle to attain even a modest income above 200% of poverty; it often takes both parents working for a family to exceed low-income levels. Moreover, for many families, if one parent's earnings are lost, the economic status of many married-couple families would suffer.
Parents' characteristics (e.g., education and work experience) and the occupations in which they are employed affect wage rates, and therefore the possibility that a family is poor or low-income. Those with lower levels of educational attainment are more likely to earn low wages and be in low-income families. We estimate that 17% of working parents with just a high school diploma earn wages that are too low to support a family of three at the poverty line—assuming full-time, full-year work—and 60% would be unable to support such a family at twice that level. Among working parents with a bachelor's degree, only about 6% earn wages too low to support a family of three at the poverty line, but 24% lack the earnings capacity to support such a family at twice the poverty line. Additionally, younger parents typically earn less than older parents, who have had more time to accumulate work experience. This puts the families of young parents, who tend to have young children, particularly at risk for poverty and low income.
Annual earnings and economic status also depend on number of hours worked per week and the number of weeks worked during the year. In married-couple families, strong attachment to the workforce of both parents is associated with higher income levels. However, among poor married-couple families, only half of all poor families had one earner working full-time all year. This report will not be updated.