Economic Well-Being

John Holahan and Vicki Chen use the Current Population Survey to examine trends in health insurance coverage during the "Great Recession" of 2007-2010, as well as over the past decade. The uninsured have increased since 2000 with nonelderly adults shouldering the entire burden. Generous Medicaid coverage for children was able to offset falling ESI coverage, which caused the overall uninsured number of children to decrease. 2010 saw the continuation of many trends from 2007; ESI rates continued to fall, the share and number people who are low-income continued to grow, and unemployment continued to rise. Patterns of insurance coverage were similar across groups of all race/ethnicity, citizens and non-citizens, and all geographic areas. The one exception to recent trends in private coverage is coverage for young adults (ages 19-25). This group had an increase in private coverage while all other age groups experienced a decline in private coverage.

This report updates and extends the Economic Security Index (ESI), an integrated measure of the share of Americans who experience large declines in their "available household income"-their household income after paying for medical care and servicing their financial debts. Americans are still coming to grips with the effects of the "Great Recession" on their economic security. Despite a number of valuable examinations of the downturn's effects, surprisingly little is known about the dynamic experiences of Americans as their economic standing has changed from year to year amid a turbulent economy. This report fills this gap.

This workshop discussed issues surrounding the potential development of a Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) at the state level using the American Community Survey (ACS). Academics and researchers from around the country participated, including experts that have implemented the SPM for eight different areas. The discussion summarized recent experiences and challenges in implementing the SPM on the ACS and geographic adjustments to the poverty thresholds. The summary highlights the key issues and ideas for next steps.

Safety net policies can dramatically reduce poverty. A full assessment requires use of a Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) that adds near-cash benefits and tax credits to cash income, deducts necessary expenses, and uses up-to-date, geographically-sensitive poverty thresholds. This analysis implements the SPM in Georgia, Illinois, and Massachusetts to examine the effects of the key safety net programs on poverty. The results show that safety net policies in these three states have substantially different effects on poverty, but federal programs narrow the differences across the states.

In the sluggish recovery, less-educated workers, especially those with a high school degree or less, continue to lose jobs at a substantial rate. This factsheet presents employment changes in the recession and recovery by skill level and industry showing that those with less than a high school degree were hit hardest, even in low wage industries. Gains in the recovery have been concentrated among workers with a college education.

The ripple effects of the foreclosure crisis have created increased instability for children and families. In this brief we focus on two such sources of instability in the lives of public school students in Washington, D.C.: moving homes and switching schools. We find high rates of residential and school mobility for students in general, and even higher rates associated with students who lived in buildings that entered the foreclosure process. These mobile students tended to stay in the same neighborhood or move to areas that were similarly poor and high-crime. In this policy brief, we make a series of low-cost recommendations to school districts and nonprofit housing counseling agencies in order to minimize the harm of additional instability on children.

The 17th annual Fact Book is a comprehensive data source for indicators of child well-being in the District of Columbia. It tracks the progression of child well-being over time, as well as differences in child well-being across wards and races/ethnicities. It is organized to reflect the six citywide goals for children and youth in DC: children are ready for school; children and youth succeed in school; children and youth are healthy and practice healthy behaviors; children and youth engage in meaningful activities; children and youth live in healthy, stable, and supportive families; and all youth make a successful transition to adulthood.

Child poverty generates serious long-term economic costs not only for those children (when they become adults), but for the U.S. economy as a whole. This paper argues that these long-term costs will rise because of the Great Recession, as child poverty rises substantially and remains elevated for years to come. Children growing in newly poor families, and/or those whose parents suffer permanent job loss, will likely have worse educational and employment outcomes. Those young people who enter the labor market during this period will suffer reduced earnings as well. This will impose fiscal as well as economic costs on the U.S. in the future. Investments to reduce child poverty in both the short and long-terms thus make economic sense for the U.S., despite the nation’s ongoing fiscal crisis.