What do the single-parent numbers look like when broken down by race and ethnicity? In terms of cross-country comparisons, are rates of single-parent trending up in other nations?
Thanks for your answer... I guess I will try another question.
Is there any source that attempts to assess, in actual dollar amounts, the full range of government aid that would be available to an individual living in poverty/near poverty, taking into account differences between states?
I haven't seen this, but I'd definitely be interested to take a look if you ever came across something that showed this! I imagine it would be quite hard to show, in part because it depends on so many things. For example, the EITC can be a huge sum for families, but it is on a sliding scale depending on how much you make; the CTC depends on how many children you have; SNAP eligibility criteria varies by state, etc.
Perhaps the old fashioned idea of not having kids before marriage is not so stupid after all. The welfare state replaced men as the traditional financial support to their children. Men who commit the kinds of crimes which cause them to be incarcerated may not be the best choice of partners.
Absolutely. This is why we specifically call out single mothers in the every section of this article (like how single mothers face higher poverty rates, unemployment rates) and how the impacts of the overturn of Roe v. Wade disproportionately impact mothers. In the Path Forward section I also address how the incarceration rates of Black men leave many more single mothers in America. It's an important distinction so thank you for calling it out specifically Chandra!
good research well done
Thanks John
Agreed! And thank you to Jeremy Ney for this important work!
What do the single-parent numbers look like when broken down by race and ethnicity? In terms of cross-country comparisons, are rates of single-parent trending up in other nations?
Roughly 3 in 10 single-parents are Black, which is more than double what we would expect based on the overall Black population of the US. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2018/04/25/the-changing-profile-of-unmarried-parents/
Compared to other similar countries (like OECD) the US often has both higher rates of single-parent homes and higher increasing rates as well https://ourworldindata.org/marriages-and-divorces
Thanks for your answer... I guess I will try another question.
Is there any source that attempts to assess, in actual dollar amounts, the full range of government aid that would be available to an individual living in poverty/near poverty, taking into account differences between states?
I haven't seen this, but I'd definitely be interested to take a look if you ever came across something that showed this! I imagine it would be quite hard to show, in part because it depends on so many things. For example, the EITC can be a huge sum for families, but it is on a sliding scale depending on how much you make; the CTC depends on how many children you have; SNAP eligibility criteria varies by state, etc.
Will keep searching... thanks again, very much enjoying the 'stack.
Download the data and check out the insights here: https://www.americaninequality.io/single-parent-homes
Thanks for this. You bring a lot of great stuff together very concisely.
Thanks for the kind words Jeff
Perhaps the old fashioned idea of not having kids before marriage is not so stupid after all. The welfare state replaced men as the traditional financial support to their children. Men who commit the kinds of crimes which cause them to be incarcerated may not be the best choice of partners.
Absolutely. This is why we specifically call out single mothers in the every section of this article (like how single mothers face higher poverty rates, unemployment rates) and how the impacts of the overturn of Roe v. Wade disproportionately impact mothers. In the Path Forward section I also address how the incarceration rates of Black men leave many more single mothers in America. It's an important distinction so thank you for calling it out specifically Chandra!