Work, Income and the American Family

Three years ago, the unem­ploy­ment rate among U.S. par­ents hit a post-reces­sion low of 4%, and this sta­tis­tic has held steady ever since. At the same time, the medi­an income of fam­i­lies with chil­dren has inched upward in house­holds across America.

Despite these two very pos­i­tive trends, there’s room for improve­ment. For instance:

• More than 14 mil­lion kids — 19% of all chil­dren nation­wide — are still liv­ing in poverty.
• The medi­an income for an African-Amer­i­can fam­i­ly with kids falls 55% short of what their white coun­ter­parts are earning.

Across the nation, parental unem­ploy­ment rates vary wide­ly. This sta­tis­tic dips to a low of 2% in Col­orado, Hawaii, Ida­ho, Maine, Nebras­ka, New Hamp­shire, North Dako­ta and Wis­con­sin. It peaks — at 8% — in Alaska.

All states should work to ensure that par­ents have the req­ui­site resources to pro­vide for them­selves, their chil­dren and their fam­i­lies. Sup­port on this front can include pro­mot­ing a liv­ing wage as well as devel­op­ing pro­grams and poli­cies that can nar­row the nation’s wide racial wage gap.

Access more eco­nom­ic well-being data on the KIDS COUNT Data Center:

• Unem­ploy­ment rate of parents
• Medi­an fam­i­ly income among house­holds with chil­dren by race and ethnicity
• Chil­dren with at least one unem­ployed parent
• Female-head­ed fam­i­lies receiv­ing child support
• Chil­dren with­out a vehi­cle at home
• Chil­dren age 6 to 12 with all avail­able par­ents in the labor force