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Changes in Family Structure, Childbearing, and Employment: Implications for Poverty

This analysis explores how shifts in family structure and changes in the labor market have influenced poverty levels in the United States since the 1960s. Key factors include the decline of marriage and the rise of non-marital births, leading to more children in single-parent households. Additionally, changing employment patterns, like declining earnings for low-wage workers and increased work hours for women, play a significant role in shaping poverty trends. The interaction between these demographic and labor market changes offers insights into the rising child poverty rates.

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Changes in Family Structure, Childbearing, and Employment: Implications for Poverty

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  1. Changes in Family Structure, Childbearing, and Employment: Implications for Poverty Debbie ReedPublic Policy Institute of California Maria CancianUniversity of Wisconsin

  2. Poverty Has Fluctuated With No Clear Trend Since the 1960s

  3. Child Poverty Has Grown Since the 1960s

  4. Do Demographic and Labor Market Changes Explain Poverty Trends? • Changes in family structure push poverty higher • Decline in marriage • Growth in non-marital births • Children more likely to be raised in single-parent families • Labor market changes also increased poverty • Declining earnings of low-wage workers • Recent decline in men’s work hours • Growth in women’s work hours reduces poverty

  5. Outline • Changes in family structure • Changes in wages and work • Implications for poverty

  6. Data Sources • Need large samples to consider patterns by race/ethnicity, education, and family type • Census (1970-2000) • American Community Survey (2006) • Poverty rates differ slightly from official measures which use the Current Population Survey

  7. Decline in Marriage

  8. Growth in Cohabitation Does Not Fully Off-set Marriage Decline

  9. Childbearing Declined (and Delayed)

  10. Growth in Non-Marital Childbearing

  11. Growth in Single-Mother Families

  12. Single-Mother Families Less Likely To Live Alone

  13. Outline • Changes in family structure • Changes in work and wages • Implications for poverty

  14. Declines in Work for Men

  15. Growth in Work for Women

  16. Growth in Paid Work of Mothers

  17. Growth in Share of Workers with Low Wages

  18. Outline • Changes in family structure • Changes in wages and work • Implications for poverty

  19. Poverty Rates Are Strongly Related to Family Structure

  20. Measuring the Poverty Effects of Demographic and Labor Market Factors • Use shift-share approach • Linear regression, poverty as a function of • 6 family types • Low-wage family head(s) by gender • Annual work hours of family head(s) by gender

  21. Changes Do Matter for Poverty Trends

  22. Changes Explain Growth in Child Poverty

  23. Summary • Changes in family structure push poverty higher • Decline in marriage • Growth in non-marital births • Children more likely to be raised in single-parent families • Labor market changes also increased poverty • Declining earnings of low-wage workers • But not decline in men’s work hours • Growth in women’s work hours reduces poverty

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