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Rural America in Transition: Poverty and Welfare at the Turn of the 21st Century

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  • Dan Lichter
  • Leif Jensen

Abstract

Rural mothers, especially poor single mothers, face serious barriers to employment. At the same time, new legislation requires welfare recipients to find work and mandates time limits on receipt of public assistance. In this paper, we document changing rates of poverty, sources of income, including welfare income, and employment among rural female-headed families with children. We focus on the period before and after passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996. Pooled files from the March annual demographic supplement (1989 through 1999) of the Current Population Survey are used for this purpose. During the past decade, especially since welfare reform legislation was passed, rural poverty rates (including deep poverty) have declined among female-headed families and their children. Rates of welfare receipt also have dropped dramatically and labor force participation has increased along with average earnings. Moreover, the income of all rural female-headed families with children increased on average over the past few years. Our data, nevertheless, also tell a familiar story of persistent rural-urban inequality: more than four in 10 rural female-headed families were poor, and about one-half of these had income that was less than one-half of the poverty income threshold. This happened even though the share of rural female heads who were employed grew and average earnings rose. The problem today is that one-third of working rural female heads are in poverty, a rate higher than at any time during the period examined here. Moreover, the rise in the proportion with earnings has not kept pace with the large decrease since the passage of PRWORA in the proportion with welfare income. Neither unbridled optimism nor pessimism about future trends in rural poverty is warranted, especially as the "hardest cases" and other nonworking welfare-dependent mothers run up against time limits for welfare receipt.

Suggested Citation

  • Dan Lichter & Leif Jensen, 2000. "Rural America in Transition: Poverty and Welfare at the Turn of the 21st Century," JCPR Working Papers 187, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:wop:jopovw:187
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Richard V. Burkhauser & Timothy M. Smeeding & Joachim Merz, 1996. "Relative Inequality And Poverty In Germany And The United States Using Alternative Equivalence Scales," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 42(4), pages 381-400, December.
    2. Jill L. Findeis & Leif Jensen, 1998. "Employment Opportunities in Rural Areas: Implications for Poverty in a Changing Policy Environment," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1000-1007.
    3. Schoeni, R.F. & Blank, R.M., 2000. "What Has Welfare Reform Accomplished? Impacts on Welfare Participation, Employment, Income, Poverty, and Family Structure," Papers 00-02, RAND - Labor and Population Program.
    4. Steven Garasky, 2000. "Understanding the Employment Experiences and Migration Patterns of Rural Youth and Young Adults," JCPR Working Papers 143, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    5. Shirley L. Porterfield, 1998. "On the Precipice of Reform: Welfare Spell Durations for Rural, Female-Headed Families," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(5), pages 994-999.
    6. Douglas Massey, 1996. "The age of extremes: Concentrated affluence and poverty in the twenty-first century," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 33(4), pages 395-412, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sheila Mammen & Jean Bauer & Leslie Richards, 2009. "Understanding Persistent Food Insecurity: A Paradox of Place and Circumstance," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 92(1), pages 151-168, May.
    2. Leigh Simmons & Bonnie Braun & David Wright & Scott Miller, 2007. "Human Capital, Social Support, and Economic Well-being among Rural, Low-income Mothers: A Latent Growth Curve Analysis," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 635-652, December.
    3. Tim Slack & Leif Jensen, 2008. "Birth and Fortune Revisited: A Cohort Analysis of Underemployment, 1974–2004," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 27(6), pages 729-749, December.
    4. Neil G. Bennett & Hsien-Hen Lu & Younghwan Song, 2002. "Welfare Reform and Changes in the Economic Well-Being of Children," NBER Working Papers 9399, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Davis, Elizabeth E. & Weber, Bruce A., 2002. "How Much Does Local Job Growth Improve Employment Outcomes of the Rural Working Poor?," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 32(2), pages 255-274, Summer/Fa.
    6. Debra A. Strong & Patricia Del Grosso & Andrew Burwick & Vinita Jethwani & Michael Ponza, "undated". "Rural Research Needs and Data Sources for Selected Human Services Topics, Volume 1: Research Needs," Mathematica Policy Research Reports a194fdd8e178411cb2a5c4c40, Mathematica Policy Research.
    7. Anastasia Snyder & Diane McLaughlin, 2006. "Economic Well-being and Cohabitation: Another Nonmetro Disadvantage?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 562-582, September.
    8. Lindsay M. Monte, 2015. "In the Absence of Leave: The Financial Coping Strategies of Disadvantaged New Mothers in the Great Recession," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 7(4), pages 420-435, December.
    9. Mills, Bradford F., 2002. "Changes In The Well-Being Of Nonmetropolitan Single-Mother Families: A Semi-Parametric Analysis," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 27(2), pages 1-24, December.
    10. Mammen, Sheila & Bauer, Jean W. & Lass, Daniel A., 2009. "Life Satisfaction Over Time Among Rural Low-income Mothers," Working Paper Series 47511, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Department of Resource Economics.
    11. Bruce Weber & Mark Edwards & Greg Duncan, 2004. "Single Mother Work and Poverty under Welfare Reform: Are Policy Impacts Different in Rural Areas?," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 30(1), pages 31-51, Winter.
    12. Rebecca Glauber & Justin Young, 2015. "On the Fringe: Family-Friendly Benefits and the Rural–Urban Gap Among Working Women," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 97-113, March.

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