The Times West Virginian

Local News

November 2, 2008

State has more low-income children than national average

By Jessica Legge

FAIRMONT — The status of West Virginia’s low-income children and families was put up against the nation in a report by the National Center for Children in Poverty.

NCCP recently looked into the impact that economic hardship can have on families and the actions that states are taking to help. The study was called “Staying Afloat in Tough Times: What States Are and Aren’t Doing to Promote Family Economic Security.”

To accompany this paper, the NCCP released individual state profiles. The West Virginia Family Economic Security Profile, a four-part document, reported that the state is made up of 231,280 families that have 387,233 kids.

“State policies that promote the economic security of our nation’s families can help offset larger economic and social conditions that make it difficult for families to get by and get ahead,” the profile stated.

Based on the information gathered for West Virginia, NCCP found that the rate of children that live in low-income families in the state is higher than the national average, said Sarah Fass, policy associate with the Family Economic Security team at NCCP. Forty-six percent of children in West Virginia are low-income, compared to 39 percent nationally. Low income means that the family income is less than twice the federal poverty threshold.

On the national level, 17 percent of children are poor, which means that the family income is below the federal poverty threshold. In West Virginia, 20 percent of kids are considered poor.

Also, the median income is lower in West Virginia than it is nationwide, Fass said. The state median annual income for a family of four is $55,920, while the national average is $70,354.

Nine percent of children and 18 percent of adults in the state are without health insurance coverage, and these statistics are lower than the national numbers. She said West Virginia has decent income eligibility limits for public health insurance for children.

Also in West Virginia, 9 percent of households are categorized as food insecure and 48 percent are housing insecure. These percentages are slightly below the national rate as well.

Compared to states with similar demographics and resources, West Virginia is not an outlier, Fass said.

According to the study, many families have inadequate income because of low wages and no higher education. Across the country, 55 percent of kids in low-income families have one or more parents who work full time all year long. That amount is 48 percent in West Virginia.

The report said that 29 percent of children in the state whose parents have gone beyond a high school degree are low-income. Sixty-one percent of kids are low-income whose guardians have only achieved a high school degree.

The profile stated that “children with foreign-born parents are also more likely to be low income than children of native-born parents.”

In addition, the report examined state choices to promote work attachment and advancement, income adequacy, and asset development and protection.

The West Virginia Family Economic Security Profile is available online at www.nccp.org/profiles/fes.html.

E-mail Jessica Legge at jlegge@timeswv.com.

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