More than 20% of
California children live in poverty, while the childhood poverty rates among
Latinos and blacks are higher at about 33%, according to a report released
Monday by the Center for the Next Generation.
The authors of
the report, “Prosperity Threatened: Perspectives on Childhood Poverty in
California,” noted that childhood poverty became more pronounced as a result of
the economic crisis that started in 2008.
a separate
report by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health found that that
the number of California children decreased by about 200,000 between 2000 and
2010 and is on track to fall by another 100,000 by 2020.
Declining
migration and falling birthrates have led to a drop in the number of children in
California just as baby boomers reach retirement, creating an economic and
demographic challenge for the nation's most populous state, according to the
Wall Street Journal.
In 1970, six
years after the end of the baby boom, children made up more than one-third of
California's population. By 2030, they will account for just one-fifth,
according to projections by lead author Dowell Myers, a USC
demographer.
California's
demographic shift mirrors that of many Northeast and Midwest states, including
New York, Massachusetts, Illinois and Michigan, where the percentage of children
fell even more sharply from 2000 to 2010.
As California
diversifies, it will face serious economic struggles if it fails to pay
attention to widespread childhood poverty, according to a report released on
January 7 by the Center for the Next Generation. As countries
such as China and India ramp up investment in education, U.S. funding has
stagnated. The Next America Studies have
suggested that youngsters who live in poverty are less likely to successfully
climb the economic ladder as adults. National Journal Children who
grow up poor are more likely to have low earnings as adults; in turn, that lower
workforce productivity results in direct loss of good and services to the
overall economy, according to a Center for American Progress
report.
AHT/ARA
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