Child Poverty During the Years of the Great Recession: An Analysis of Racial Differences Among Immigrants and US Natives

Abstract

Although the consequences of the Great Recession are extensively discussed in previous research, three critical issue need to be addressed in order to develop a full portrait of the economic experiences of children during this period. First, given the changing immigrant composition of the US child population, new studies are needed for examining the implications of immigrant status for exposure to child poverty during the recession. Second, it is important to understand how traditional patterns of racial inequality among were transformed during the years of the recession. Finally, it is not clear whether recession-related changes in socioeconomic inequalities continued to have implications for child well-being in the post-recession period. Results from this analysis indicate that the adverse effects of the recession were most intense in states with significant changes in their populations of Black and Latino immigrant children. The results further show that declines in parental work opportunities were more consequential for poverty among Whites and Asians. The analysis also finds differential implications of family contexts for child poverty among Black immigrant and natives during the recession. Finally, the results indicate that increases in racial child poverty disparities during the recession did not disappear in the years following the downturn.

Keywords: Children; Families; Immigration; Poverty; Race.

Fig. 1

Child poverty trends in US households with children

Fig. 2

Racial child poverty trends in US native households

Fig. 3

Racial child poverty trends in US immigrant households with children