As Seniors Climb From Poverty, Young Fall in
Living in rural North Carolina, Linda Sue Jones doesn’t see her teenage son as the archetype of a national trend.
But 15-year-old Josh, as a boy who lives in the South in a household headed by a single woman, is characteristic of the exploding numbers of children in the USA living in poverty — numbers exacerbated by the recession that has pushed many families into poverty for the first time.
Twenty miles away, Kenneth Moody, 70, and his wife, Margie, 65, say they, too, are struggling, especially because of high out-of-pocket medical bills. They stay off the poverty rolls because of the $2,000 they receive from Social Security every month. They pay more than $300 a month for prescription drugs but say their medical costs would be even higher if they didn’t have Medicare.
“It’s life,” says Margie Moody. “That pays our bills, buys our food, pays for the doctor.”
The two families highlight a national trend over the past three decades as child poverty steadily rises and poverty among seniors, aided by social programs, steadily drops.
By Steven Exum for USA TODAY
Volunteer Margaret Jones passes out cornbread at a senior center in Asheboro, N.C. Margie and Ken Moody go to the center every day for a free lunch and fellowship.
The ratio of senior-to-child poverty was close in 1980: There were three counties with more than 20% of children living in poverty for every four counties with 20% of seniors in poverty.
Now the two are reversed, and the gap has widened considerably. Eight counties have high child poverty for every one that has high senior poverty.
Nationally, official Census numbers show 9% of seniors in poverty. Among children, 22% — 15.6 million — live in poverty.
The official numbers show the poverty trend among seniors and children over time and by county. Geographically, counties in the South and Southwest show the highest concentrations of poor children.
The recession has added to the numbers of poor children as parents lost jobs and families lost homes to foreclosures.
Beth Mattingly, who researches family poverty at the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire, says child poverty is spreading.
“This seems to be a story of social policy,” she says. “Social Security and Medicare are keeping seniors out of poverty.”
The same is not happening for children, she says, even though they benefit from programs and tax credits designed to help low-income families with children.