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Changes in Family Structure, Childbearing, and Employment: Implications for Poverty. Debbie Reed Public Policy Institute of California. Maria Cancian University of Wisconsin. Poverty Has Fluctuated With No Clear Trend Since the 1960s. Child Poverty Has Grown Since the 1960s.
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Changes in Family Structure, Childbearing, and Employment: Implications for Poverty Debbie ReedPublic Policy Institute of California Maria CancianUniversity of Wisconsin
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
Outline • Changes in family structure • Changes in wages and work • Implications for poverty
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
Growth in Cohabitation Does Not Fully Off-set Marriage Decline
Outline • Changes in family structure • Changes in work and wages • Implications for poverty
Outline • Changes in family structure • Changes in wages and work • Implications for poverty
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
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