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Receipt of public benefits and private support among low-income households with children after the Great Recession

Individual Author: Allard, Scott; Danziger, Sandra; Wathen, Maria

Reference Type: Report

Year: 2012

The Great Recession has led to record job losses, persistently high rates of unemployment, and lower earnings for many households, all of which have led to increased poverty. A number of public and private sources of support may help low-income families cope with the effects of the recession. Cash and in-kind safety net programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps), the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), public health insurance programs, such as Medicaid, and Unemployment Insurance (UI) delivered more than $300 billion in benefits to tens of millions of low-income households in 2009.

In addition, private charitable nonprofit organizations and informal private social support provide assistance both to households that receive public benefits and to those not eligible for public benefits. Private supports help families cope with job loss, diminished earnings, and related hardships. Some nonprofit charities provide programs that address barriers to employment and promote greater self-...

The Great Recession has led to record job losses, persistently high rates of unemployment, and lower earnings for many households, all of which have led to increased poverty. A number of public and private sources of support may help low-income families cope with the effects of the recession. Cash and in-kind safety net programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps), the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), public health insurance programs, such as Medicaid, and Unemployment Insurance (UI) delivered more than $300 billion in benefits to tens of millions of low-income households in 2009.

In addition, private charitable nonprofit organizations and informal private social support provide assistance both to households that receive public benefits and to those not eligible for public benefits. Private supports help families cope with job loss, diminished earnings, and related hardships. Some nonprofit charities provide programs that address barriers to employment and promote greater self-sufficiency, including job search, education and skill development, literacy, housing assistance, emergency cash, temporary food assistance, and health-related services. Similarly, families, friends, and social networks often provide informal social support for finding a job, paying bills, addressing food or shelter needs, childcare, or otherwise reducing hardship.

Although some public programs such as SNAP, UI and Medicaid have greatly expanded caseloads and expenditures in response to rising need following the Great Recession, few studies have explored how low-income families have drawn on help from both formal and informal sources of private social support during this period.

This policy brief examines the sources of support received by households with children and with income near or below the federal poverty line in the Detroit Metropolitan Area during the wake of the Great Recession. We compare use of public and private programs by race and by respondents’ experiences of unemployment during the prior year. We focus on supports potentially available to low-income families through public programs, assistance from charitable nonprofits, and informal sources of private support. Roughly three-quarters of poor and near-poor households with children in the Detroit Metropolitan Area have received some type of public safety net benefit in the previous year and a comparable share reported drawing upon private sources of support during that time. Slightly more than half of all low-income households combined public and private sources. Receipt of public and private sources of support is most prevalent among households with respondents experiencing prolonged periods of unemployment. (author abstract)
Economic hardship and children's behavioral health in the wake of the Great Recession: Findings from the Michigan Recession and Recovery Study-Child and Youth Study

Individual Author: Kalil, Ariel; Leininger, Lindsey

Reference Type: Report

Year: 2012

The Great Recession and its aftermath represent a major social transformation in American life and understanding its consequences on children's health and behavior is vitally important. Researchers and policy makers have long been concerned that economic distress may negatively impact child well-being, in part through family stress and reduced investments in child health and development. However, evidence is scarce because most population-based studies do not include the necessary measures of child health and behavior, family economic conditions, and the potential mediators linking the two. Our new study—the Michigan Recession and Recovery Study Child and Youth Study (MRRS-CYS) represents an important addition to the literature and is one of the few representative studies that will allow us to track the health and well-being of a wide range of children in the aftermath of the Great Recession. In this policy brief, we present preliminary evidence from the first wave of data on children and youth and examine the prevalence of perceived economic hardship and its link with key...

The Great Recession and its aftermath represent a major social transformation in American life and understanding its consequences on children's health and behavior is vitally important. Researchers and policy makers have long been concerned that economic distress may negatively impact child well-being, in part through family stress and reduced investments in child health and development. However, evidence is scarce because most population-based studies do not include the necessary measures of child health and behavior, family economic conditions, and the potential mediators linking the two. Our new study—the Michigan Recession and Recovery Study Child and Youth Study (MRRS-CYS) represents an important addition to the literature and is one of the few representative studies that will allow us to track the health and well-being of a wide range of children in the aftermath of the Great Recession. In this policy brief, we present preliminary evidence from the first wave of data on children and youth and examine the prevalence of perceived economic hardship and its link with key indicators of children's behavioral health, and their access to food and medical care, both of which may in turn affect health and behavior. (Author introduction)
Effects of welfare and antipoverty programs on participants’ children

Individual Author: Duncan, Greg J.; Gennetian, Lisa; Morris, Pamela

Reference Type: Report

Year: 2007

This article contributes to the literature on parental self-sufficiency and child well-being in two ways. First, we bring a novel interdisciplinary perspective to formulating hypotheses about the pathways by which policy-induced changes in the environments in which children are embedded, both within and outside the home, facilitate or harm children’s development. These hypotheses help to organize the contradictory assertions regarding child impacts that have surrounded the debate over welfare reform. Second, we draw on a set of policy experiments to understand the effects of reforms targeting parents’ self-sufficiency on both parents and their children. The random-assignment design of these evaluations provides an unusually strong basis for identifying conditions under which policy-induced increases in employment among low-income and mostly single parents can help or hurt young children’s achievement. (Author introduction)

This article contributes to the literature on parental self-sufficiency and child well-being in two ways. First, we bring a novel interdisciplinary perspective to formulating hypotheses about the pathways by which policy-induced changes in the environments in which children are embedded, both within and outside the home, facilitate or harm children’s development. These hypotheses help to organize the contradictory assertions regarding child impacts that have surrounded the debate over welfare reform. Second, we draw on a set of policy experiments to understand the effects of reforms targeting parents’ self-sufficiency on both parents and their children. The random-assignment design of these evaluations provides an unusually strong basis for identifying conditions under which policy-induced increases in employment among low-income and mostly single parents can help or hurt young children’s achievement. (Author introduction)
Childcare subsidies and the transition from welfare to work

Individual Author: Danziger, Sandra K.; Ananat, Elizabeth O.; Browning, Kimberly G.

Reference Type: Journal Article

Year: 2004

We address how childcare subsidies help in the welfare-to-work transition relative to other factors. We examine how the policy operates, whether childcare problems differ by subsidy receipt, and the effect of subsidy on work. Data are from a random sample panel study of welfare recipients after 1996. Findings show that subsidy receipt reduces costs but not parenting stress or problems with care. It predicts earnings and work duration net of other factors. Increased use of subsidies by eligible families and greater funding for child care would help meet the demand for this important support for working-poor families. (author abstract)

This article is based on a working paper published by the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan.

We address how childcare subsidies help in the welfare-to-work transition relative to other factors. We examine how the policy operates, whether childcare problems differ by subsidy receipt, and the effect of subsidy on work. Data are from a random sample panel study of welfare recipients after 1996. Findings show that subsidy receipt reduces costs but not parenting stress or problems with care. It predicts earnings and work duration net of other factors. Increased use of subsidies by eligible families and greater funding for child care would help meet the demand for this important support for working-poor families. (author abstract)

This article is based on a working paper published by the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan.

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