Poverty and its Impact
Poverty is considered to be one of the major issues affecting developing countries. However, it is important to note that is not an issue affecting developing countries in isolation but instead affects developed countries as well. the only difference is that the extent of poverty in developing countries is much critical than in developed countries.
Child Poverty in the United States
The United States, a country famed for its economic power contends with the issue of poverty but that does not undermine its supremacy in various sectors especially considering its relentless efforts to alleviate this problem. Specifically, the US is focused on alleviating child poverty. Research has shown that about one in every five children is on in poverty in the united states. In fact, there have been assertions that child poverty in the united states is much higher than in other developed countries (Hymowitz, 2017). In a bid to gain better insight into this issue, this research will focus on discussing child poverty including statistics, milestones that have achieved so far and provided possible solutions to alleviate this problem completely.
Summary of Child poverty in the US
The federal government maintains a threshold upon which the wealth of households is measured. According to NCCP.org, (2018), about 15 million of children in the united states are born and live in families that have incomes that fall below the federal poverty threshold. This is estimated to be about 21% of all the children in the united states. Notably, these children do not live like that because they lack guardians. To the contrary. The reasons condemning these children to this kind of life include low wages and unstable employment for their guardians. These can be attributed to ills such as discrimination, lack of equal opportunity and unavailability of quality education among others. While poverty in itself is a critical issue that needs to be addressed what’s worse is the adverse effects that poverty has on children living in poor families. Poverty can get in the way of a child’s ability to learn, affect their emotional well-being, social skills and even cause them to develop behavioral problems to mention but a few. Children who have experienced deep persistent poverty from a very young age are considered to be most prone to these problems. A continuous cycle of poverty tampers with a child’s cognition making them think and even believe that things can’t get better regardless of the effort one puts in.
The Extent of Child Poverty in the US
Among all of the things that threaten a child’s wellbeing, poverty is thought to be the greatest and assertion that is backed by empirical evidence. The extent of child poverty in the US calls for urgent action especially considering that there are more children living in poverty in the country than adults. Notably, while it is estimated that 1 in every 5 children live in poverty, it is estimated that about 1 out of 8 adults live in poverty (Children.org, 2018). Furthermore, research has shown that among the developed nations, Mexico, Greece, Turkey, and Israel are the only countries that have higher child poverty rates than the US. In addition to that, it is estimated that about 40% of children in the US are forced to live in poverty for at least a year before they hit the age of 18 (Children.org, 2018). One might argue that the government has many pressing issues that should get priority over child poverty but again satisfying such issues will not make any sense if there will be no future generation to carry on the work. The value offered by children is unparalleled but that is dependent on how well they are taken care of from attender age to a point that they can fend for themselves.
The Role of the Government and Private Institutions
There are some private institutions that have relentlessly rallied efforts to help alleviate child poverty globally and even in the US specifically. One such organization is the Child Poverty Action Group. This notwithstanding, the biggest contributor to alleviating child poverty ought to be the government, something that has not be witnessed in some years in the past. during the period between 2012-2014, the level of government spending on child nutrition, social services, and education declined. Moreover, it is estimated that the government spends only 10% of its national budget as its contribution to children welfare (Children.org, 2018). In comparison, this is a mere fraction of what other developed countries spend on children which explains the extent of child poverty in the US. It goes without saying that children subject to poverty are highly likely to experience huger which is extremely risky considering that hunger is considered to have lifelong effects on the victims. Some of these long-term effects include frequent metal and health problems, behavioral and emotional challenges and even low scores in mathematics.
Milestones in Alleviating Child Poverty
Despite the significance of child poverty in the US, it is only fitting to highlight some of the milestones that have been achieved so far. The government has been targeting an unemployment rate of about 6.5% as at 2017, the economy was nearing full employment.in addition, the rate of child poverty reached a record low in 2016, a significant milestone considering the need to alleviate this problem (Lowrey, 2017). Specifically, the child poverty rate dropped to about 15.6% in 2016 implying that about 11.5 million children are living in poverty (Children.org, 2018). Notably, the drop is child poverty in the US is attributed to the establishment of a tighter labor market. To this end, more parents have been able to secure more jobs and the competition in the labor market has consequently driven the wages higher even for those who initially earned low incomes. The significant decrease in child poverty in about half a century cannot be attributed to improved economic conditions. In fact, the stagnation of low wages for years and reduced bargaining power has held back low-income families and income inequality has only benefitted the families enjoying higher incomes. Thus the decrease in child poverty is largely attributed to the expansion of the safety net through provisions such as Child Tax Credit, Income Tax credit, and food stamp programs.
Recommendations
While statistics show that child poverty has declined over the last number of years, the fact that there is still a large number of children living in poverty means more measures need to be implemented. One of such measures could be creating a welfare kitty specifically to cater for children living in low-income families. In this way, the children will be guaranteed of good education despite the hardships at home. Secondly, labor unions should seek for the reinforcement of equality in employment and fair and equitable remuneration. To this end, every employed person should be paid a salary that effectively places them above the federal poverty threshold.
References
Children.org, C. (2018). Facts About Child Poverty in the U.S.A. | Children International | US Poverty Facts. Children's International. Retrieved 4 March 2018, from https://www.children.org/global-poverty/global-poverty-facts/facts-about-poverty-in-usa
Hymowitz, K. (2017). The hidden driver of high US child-poverty rates. New York Post. Retrieved 4 March 2018, from https://nypost.com/2017/10/30/the-hidden-driver-of-high-us-child-poverty-rates/
Lowrey, A. (2017). America's Child-Poverty Rate Has Hit a Record Low. The Atlantic. Retrieved 4 March 2018, from https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/10/child-poverty-rate-record-low/542058/
Nccp.org, N. (2018). NCCP | Child Poverty. Nccp.org. Retrieved 4 March 2018, from http://www.nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html
