2009 Census numbers show recession driving more families into poverty

LITTLE ROCK - The Arkansas child poverty rate jumped to 26.9 percent in 2009, up 2.3 percentage points from 24.6 percent in 2008, according to figures released today by the Census Bureau.

With more than 186,000 Arkansas children living in poverty, the state has the third highest child poverty rate in the nation, after Mississippi and the District of Columbia. The U.S. child poverty rate in 2009 was 19.7 percent. The federal definition of poverty in 2009 was a family of four earning less than $22,050 a year.

"This increase is astounding," said Rich Huddleston, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families Executive Director. "Even with all of the support lines thrown to families by the federal stimulus package, more children fell into poverty last year-and families already living in poverty fell even further."

Arkansas needs to act quickly to help children living in poverty, especially as many of the Recovery Act programs come to an end, Huddleston said. Research shows that the quickest, most effective way to do that is to enact a state Earned Income Tax Credit, he said.

"A state EITC would immediately help working parents," Huddleston said. "It not only offsets the other regressive taxes low-income people pay, but puts cash directly into their hands for housing, food and transportation."

Total poverty in the state also jumped to 18.8 percent in 2009, up from 17.3 in 2008.

The American Community Survey figures are the first detailed look at child poverty, deep poverty and family poverty since the recession began at the end of 2007. Today's numbers are considered more reliable than the preliminary state poverty numbers released earlier this month because they are from a larger sample of residents.

Today's census numbers also show an increase in the number of families living in deep poverty-half of the federal poverty level, or about $11,000 a year. That rate jumped to 7.7 percent in 2009 from 6.9 percent in 2008.

In addition to the state EITC, AACF also recommends the following immediate actions to help stop the child poverty rate from increasing:

• Ensure all working families eligible for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit take advantage of it and don't allow tax return preparation companies cut into it through Refund Anticipation Loans.
• Enroll the 43,000 children eligible for ARKids First health insurance. Research shows that two-thirds of uninsured children are already eligible but aren't enrolled or are pushed out of coverage because of bureaucratic red tape.
• Help 11,000 children of working parents on waiting lists for subsidized child care continue working by moving unused federal welfare money into the child care voucher program.

In the long term, the Legislative Taskforce on Reducing Poverty and Increasing Economic Opportunity will send its policy recommendations to Gov. Mike Beebe in November. Over the past several months the Taskforce has hosted town hall meetings statewide, listening to activists and community leaders talk about how they would like to see their state government address poverty issues. The report will have several recommendations for the Governor to consider as part of his legislative package for the next legislative session.

This is the first commission of its kind, specifically devoted to addressing poverty-related issues in Arkansas.

Read more about child poverty trends in our recent report, "Child Poverty in Arkansas 2010: A Deepening Problem"