This brief is the third in a series examining timely topics that are relevant to Black families and children in the United States. It presents recent data on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Black families' access to stable housing in the United States and, at the local level, in Newark, New Jersey. First, it highlights national findings…

This paper uses Current Population Survey data to evaluate the initial effects of welfare reform on the economic well-being of low-income and vulnerable families (defined as those with low levels of education or with single mothers). To do so, it examines the changes in New York City policies and administrative procedures, comparing receipt of…

The article presented an overview of Hispanic participation rates in specifically defined "welfare" programs. It was noted that data on national participation rates of Hispanics in these welfare programs is somewhat scattered and at times incomplete. (NQ)

One aspect of the general rise in the number of single parent households is the high proportion of them that are headed by black women. Black families headed by women tend to be larger and are more likely to be impoverished. Contrary to popular belief, many black single mothers considered poor are employed women, not recipients of welfare. An…

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 illustrates how poverty rates vary by selected characteristics (age, race, and Hispanic origin, nativity, family composition, work experience, and geography), using data from the Census Bureau's March 2001 Current Population Survey. The 2000 poverty rate dropped half a percentage point from 1999, to 11.3 percent. This decrease was not…

Federal social programs in the 1960s allowed for the emergence of a Black middle class. Current government proposals for massive budget cuts in social programs limit the traditional avenues of access to the middle class and deny many poor Blacks the opportunity to attain the American dream. (Author/MJL)

Census data on poverty in 1987 indicate that the economic recovery has been uneven, with the poor sharing less fully in the gains than in prior recoveries. Despite a drop in the national unemployment rate from 7 percent in 1986 to 6.2 percent in 1987, the poverty rate of 13.5 percent has remained essentially unchanged. Although 1987 represented…

Patterns of employment in U.S. industry today were studied in order to explore factors behind the low income and lagging occupational status of black women workers. The data collected for this group were contrasted with similar data for white women workers. The study found (1) substantial underrepresention in hiring black women at all income…

The average minority family is economically no better off than it was in 1980. While White families gained 4.1 percent in disposable income (income from all sources net of taxes) after adjusting for inflation, Black families had a decline in real disposable income of 2.1 percent, and Hispanic families had an increase of only 1 percent. The Black…

This volume contains analyses of data from the first eight waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The first part of this volume attempts to evaluate the relative importance of family composition changes, labor force participation decisions, and changes in earnings for the black and white families studied. The second part deals with a variety…

The U.S. Bureau of the Census records how much all families and persons in the nation receive. This is done to provide a systematic measure of our economic standing as a people. The bureau makes its record in two ways. First, every 10 years in the census, people are asked how much income they received in the year before Census Day which came on…

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 document provides an overview of the distribution of minority groups across the economic class structure, examines the concept of a separate underclass, and assesses the potential of strategies based on residential and job mobility for improving the prospects of each of the different classes. A racial comparison of all urban households on the…

This volume focuses on the main issues to which the Panel Study of Income Dynamics was directed--the determinants of the changing economic fortunes of black and white families. The economic status of the families studied, patterns of transition, and changes in the structure of the families and their relationship to changes in economic activity are…