Families of the Recession: Unemployed Parents & Their Children

One in seven (10.5 million) American children under age 18 are living with an unemployed parent as a result of the current recession, according to a report from the bipartisan First Focus Campaign for Children. These children are almost twice as likely to be affected by unemployment than adults. Young people with an unemployed parent have a greater chance of experiencing homelessness, suffering from child abuse, failing to complete high school or college, and living in adult poverty than other children. The report also finds that a record number of young people (3.3 million) ages 16 to 24 who are seeking jobs are unemployed.

The report, issued by the First Focus Campaign for Children, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization, combined monthly unemployment statistics with data on the family status of unemployed men and women from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey. The analysis was conducted by Phillip Lovell and Julia Isaacs, First Focus Fellow and scholar at the Brookings Institution.

“We can’t afford a lost generation. Right now, millions of children are living in families torn apart by the recession. These young people may find themselves poor, even homeless as a result,” said Bruce Lesley, president of the First Focus Campaign for Children. “This economic collapse has doubled the number of children with an unemployed parent.  Congress must address the impact of today's unemployment rate on our nation's children by enacting jobs bill that puts parents to work and supports our children. It’s time we put Americans back to work, not just for the workers of today but for the workers of tomorrow.  There’s no better cure for poverty than a good job, and that’s the best investment we can make today in our people and our future.”

Entitled Families of the Recession: Unemployed Parents & Their Children, the report also finds the following:

• The recession has nearly doubled the number of children with an unemployed parent, with the number rising from 5.5 to 10.5 million kids since December 2007.
• Almost half of unemployed women and one-third of unemployed men are parents.
• Children are disproportionately impacted by unemployment. 14 percent of children have an unemployed parent. This percentage is double that of working-aged adults, 7.4 percent of whom age 18 to 64 were unemployed in December 2009.
• The youth unemployment rate of summer 2009 was the highest on record. Data was first collected in summer, 1948.