One of the most alarming social trends in the past 40 years is the increasing educational disadvantage of children raised in low-income families. Differences between low- and high-income children in reading and math achievement are much larger now than they were several decades ago, as are differences in college graduation rates. What might…

The Food Stamp Program allows low-income households to purchase a nutritionally adequate diet through normal channels of trade. Because of the generally low income of hired farmworkers, food stamp assistance is an important addition to the economic and nutritional status of these workers and their families. This report presents a socioeconomic…

This report examines the housing characteristics and needs of Hispanic households in the United States, drawing on information from the 1980 Census and the 1983 Annual Housing Survey. Among the conclusions are the following: (1) housing quality is a major problem for more than one in six Hispanic families; (2) among Hispanic subgroups, Puerto…

This first of two volumes presents an investigation of the determinants of the level of family economic well-being and of its changes over time. Both overall well-being and some of its principal components -- family size and composition, earnings, labor force participation, transfer income, income instability, and educational attainment -- are the…

Changes in students' participation in higher education and in the federal aid they received are examined for 1969, 1974, and 1981 in order to relate the pattern of federal student aid disbursements to changes in the enrollment patterns among selected student groups. The following federal aid programs are examined: Pell Grants (Basic Educational…

This report presents social and economic characteristics of the population below the poverty level in 1986 based on the March 1987 Current Population Survey. Among the highlights are the following: (1) the number of persons below the poverty level was 32.4 million; (2) the poverty rate was 13.6 percent; (3) Whites represented 69 percent of the…

The report presents data on selected social, economic, and demographic characteristics of women of Spanish origin in the United States. Derived from the population reports of the U.S. Census Bureau and the March 1973 Manpower Report of the President, the statistical data pertain to age, residence, marital status, heads of families and households,…