Many Women Simply Entered "working Poor" Status

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The 1996 welfare overhaul nudged more single moms off public assistance rolls and into jobs. But many women simply entered "working poor" status, leaving them more vulnerable to the economic slowdown that occurred since the census was taken, said researcher William O'Hare of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a children's advocacy group.
Dortch's job at a community development outreach program pays her $ 22 000 a year. It is enough so that she doesn't have to go back on welfare, which she collected off-and-on between 1990 and 1999, when she graduated from college. "Education was my ticket out of poverty and to gaining my self-respect, " she said. Next year, she plans to move her family —her kids are ages 11 to 16 — out of public housing in St. Albans, W. Va. "When (Congress) considers welfare reform, education needs to be the first priority, not employment, " she said.
The census showed 34% of households led by a single mother with a child under 18 lived in poverty in 1999, an improvement from 42% in 1989. The Census Bureau asks about a person's economic status in the calendar year before forms are distributed. ...
... For all families, poverty rates improved from 10% to 9%, while the rate for all residents improved from 13% to 12%, the Census found.
"But the question is whether these lower rates are sustainable, " said Jill Miller of the advocacy group Women Work! , which coordinates job training and education programs. "Our concern is that we see women who work two or three jobs managed to get themselves out of poverty, but at a very high cost. " Diana Hernandez said things have gotten worse for her in recent years. She divorced in 1996 and raises her 8-year-old son and two teen-age daughters in temporary housing in San Leandro, Calif. Like many other single moms, she struggles to pay for the rent, groceries and utility bills. She said the $ 79 in monthly child support she gets from her ex-husband barely helps pay for food.
Poverty levels differ according to a household's makeup. For instance, in 1999, the poverty threshold for a family of five, including four children, was $ 19 578. The threshold for a three-person household with one child was $ 13 410. Poverty rates for households led by single mothers improved throughout the country except for the District of Columbia, where it worsened slightly, and Hawaii, where it remained relatively unchanged. States in the South and more rural states tended to have higher percentages of single mothers in poverty. By county, urban counties like Los Angeles County and Cook County, had the greatest number of single mother-led homes.
Poverty data for single mothers refer to women -who live with either their own child or a
related child at home. Previous surveys show most of these children are the women's off¬
spring. Income and poverty data come from the 2000 Census long form questionnaire distributed to about one in six American households.