A report detailing levels of childhood poverty nationally and statewide found more children are growing up impoverished than were following the 2008 financial crisis.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, the private charitable organization that released the annual Kids Count Data Book on July 21, concludes that while childhood poverty rose since 2008, there are encouraging signs in the data.
“The recession dealt a heavy blow to family economic security, creating risks for children. The job market has been slow to recover, particularly for the least-educated workers, and new employment opportunities have been disproportionately focused on low-wage and insecure jobs,” the report reads.
“While work-related benefits for low-income families and food assistance continue to lift many children out of poverty — and keep many others from falling into poverty — the weak labor market for workers without a college degree remains one of the primary obstacles to further reducing economic hardship among children and families.” However, there are signs of encouragement in more recent trends. Childhood poverty levels declined in 2013 and the Annie E. Casey Foundation expects the data from 2014 will reflect a decline as well.
The state of New Jersey is no different than the U.S. at large. While New Jersey ranks 8 out of 52 for overall child welfare in the report, the state has seen an increase in childhood poverty of 4 percent since 2008, from 13 percent to 17 percent, or 330,000 children. A child is considered as living in poverty if his or her family’s household income is below the federal poverty line, which is $24,250 for a family of four, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
More of New Jersey’s children are being raised by parents who lack secure employment than in 2008 as well, with the percentage jumping from 23 to 28, or 559,000 children, according to the report.
New Jersey ranked 26 in economic wellbeing for families. The report attributes the rise in childhood poverty to an economic recovery that has not produced enough sufficient paying jobs for low-income, high school educated workers.
“The fact is that the economic recovery has bypassed thousands of families, leaving them without the means to provide for their children,” Cecilia Zalkind, executive director of the Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) said. “This threatens nearly every aspect of child well-being.”
Middlesex and Monmouth counties were among the top 10 counties in the state in terms of child welfare, according to a report compiled by the ACNJ in April.
There were bright spots for the state as a whole in the report as well: New Jersey rang in at the top tier of states in each category except for economic wellbeing.
New Jersey ranked second in education and sixth in health, seeing an improvement in seven out of the eight criteria in those categories.
Dr. Lenna Nepomnyaschy, a professor at the Rutgers University School of Social Work, focuses her research on how poverty and inequality impact children and their families.
According to Nepomnyaschy, children who grow up in poverty are impacted through the rest of their lives, from their health to their education.
“It just becomes a spiraling effect,” she said in an interview. “At every stage, children who grow up poor are at a disadvantage.”
For example, Nepomnyaschy said research shows children born to impoverished parents are more likely to have lower birth weights or be born premature. As they grow, they are more likely to lack access to nutritious foods, lack healthcare and grow up in unsafe neighborhoods.
These factors all impact a child’s academic performance, Nepomnyaschy said, which is compounded by the fact that they are likely to attend schools with less resources than their more affluent counterparts. For these children, Nepomnyaschy said the sooner a helping hand could be extended, the better.
“Intervening at the very earliest shows that the payoffs later are tremendous,” she said.
Nepomnyaschy suggested universal prekindergarten schooling, a higher minimum wage and improved access to childcare programs would all pay dividends for impoverished children. The Annie E. Casey Foundation report concurs, recommending similar public policy prescriptions for addressing the heightened levels of childhood poverty.