From CLASP (http://www.clasp.org/):
Child, Young Adult Poverty Rates Stagnate
New Census data paint a bleak picture for low-income families struggling to make ends meet. After several years of sharply declining poverty rates, progress came to a screeching halt in 2017.
A brief from CLASP breaks down the numbers, connecting them to the reality of working people’s lives. It also explains policy implications for supporting economic security.
Last year, nearly 40 million people (12.3 percent of the U.S. population) lived in poverty, roughly the same as in 2016. The story is even more bleak for children (ages 0-17) and young adults (ages 18-24). Their poverty rates were 17.5 percent and 16.1 percent respectively.
Children and young adults of color are particularly vulnerable. Almost one in three black children, and fully one in four Hispanic children, experiences poverty, even though most of them live with someone who works.
CLASP’s Olivia Golden noted in a Huffington Post article: “At a time of economic recovery, when you’d expect to see some of those gains going to people who are struggling, they didn’t in 2017.” And In a New York Times article, she said: “There’s a precariousness to the recovery and a fragility in the lives of poor people right now.”
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