Child Poverty and Gender Pay Gap Rise in the U.S.
The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) report on child poverty and the gender pay gap in the United States for 2023 reveals a series of major concerns.
The U.S. Census Bureau paints a troubling picture of child poverty and wage inequality in 2023. Despite a slight increase in median household income, here are the key points from the report:
Increase in Child Poverty:
The child poverty rate rose from 12.4% to 13.7% between 2022 and 2023. This increase coincides with the expiration of many assistance programs that were in place during the pandemic, suggesting that the reduction in government aid has had a direct impact on the most vulnerable families.
Gender Pay Gap:
The pay gap between men and women has also widened. Women earned 83 cents for every dollar earned by men, compared to 84 cents in 2022. This gap is especially pronounced among women of color. Black women earned 66 cents per dollar compared to non-Hispanic white men, a decrease from 69 cents the previous year.
Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM):
The SPM, which includes government assistance in its calculation, showed a 1.3 percentage-point increase in child poverty, placing the overall poverty rate at 12.9% in 2023, a 0.5-point rise from the previous year. This contrasts with the official poverty rate, which dropped to 11.1%.
Median Household Income:
Real median household income rose by 4% in 2023, reaching $80,610. This is the first significant increase since 2019. However, this increase was more pronounced in white and non-Hispanic white households, with rises of 5.4% and 5.7% respectively, while the incomes of Black, Asian, and Hispanic households showed no significant changes.
Health Insurance:
The rate of children under 19 without health insurance increased from 5.4% to 5.8% in 2023, indicating a setback in access to healthcare coverage for minors.
Emily Martin of the NWLC emphasizes that these trends reflect a lack of adequate political action to address these critical issues. She advocates for investments in policies that support families, such as child tax credits, affordable childcare, equal pay laws, and the restoration of abortion rights and access, as ways to reverse these troubling statistics.
Image: LaOpinion
