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Appendix C: Who Are Needy Wokers?
- Brookings Institution Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
This appendix describes the individuals, families, and households in our sample. The March supplement of the 2002 Current Population Survey (CPS) had 15,879 households that met the criteria specified in our definition. As explained in chapter 7, households were included in the sample if they contained a family with an income below 200 percent of the federal poverty standard and at least one household member was a worker. Of these households, approximately one-quarter contained multiple families . The most common family type was the female-headed family, which was the primary family in 48.8 percent of all households. Husband-and-wife families, the next most common type, constituted 35.9 percent of primary families in all households. Strong majorities of households containing needy working families also contained children and only one worker. Children were present in 64.2 percent of households. Although most households had children, large families were uncommon; most households with children contained two or fewer children. A lone worker provided earned income to support 69.0 percent of all households. Although the remaining households contained a second worker, more than two workers were present in only a very small proportion of households. A strong majority of families in our sample were not poor. Only 5,106 households (32.2 percent of all households) contained families with incomes below the federal poverty standard for their size. The remaining 10,773 households (67.8 percent of all households) contained families with incomes between 100 percent and 199 percent of the federal poverty standard. Femaleheaded families were more heavily concentrated in poverty, and the 192 Appendix C: Who Are Needy Workers? 12-8191-1 App C 11/2/05 4:23 PM Page 192 proportion of female-headed families increased consistently as poverty became more severe.Although female-headed families were the primary family type in 48.8 percent of all households, they comprised 62.4 percent of those in severe poverty (below 50 percent of the poverty level) and only 42.6 percent of the relatively affluent (150–99 percent of the poverty level). Conversely , the proportion of husband-and-wife families declined as poverty became more severe. Husband-and-wife families constituted 42.0 percent of the relatively affluent, but only 20.5 percent of the severely poor. Several characteristics of husband-and-wife families explain their relative affluence: compared to others, they had more earners, worked more hours, and earned higher wages. The median number of hours worked in husbandand -wife families was 2,240; that was 12 percent more than the median for female-headed families and 16.7 percent more than the median for maleheaded families. Moreover, 50.5 percent of husband-and-wife wife families were supported by a single worker, compared to 77.7 percent of femaleheaded families and 84.9 percent of male-headed families. And dividing the median hours worked by the median income earned, households with husband-and-wife families averaged $9.62 per hour, while households with female-headed families averaged $6.50 per hour and those with male-headed families averaged $6.25 per hour. Among all households, labor force participation was significant. Most households (13,185, or 83.0 percent) had at least one worker who worked 1,000 hours per year, while 17.4 percent of the households had two or more workers who worked 1,000 hours per year. The typical number of hours worked in a household was 2,080, the equivalent of full-time, year-round work. All of the households in our sample had at least one worker. We analyzed the characteristics of the income earners (“breadwinners”) in each household . The “primary breadwinner” is the individual in the household who has the greatest earned income; this does not necessarily mean that the primary breadwinner earns the majority of the household’s income. A “secondary breadwinner” is an individual with lesser earned income; a few households have several secondary breadwinners. There are 16,172 primary breadwinners and 13,289 secondary breadwinners in the sample. (There are slightly more primary breadwinners than households, because in 293 households two individuals tied as the top contributors of earned income.) Although the primary breadwinner is equally likely to be male or female, secondary breadwinners are more likely to be female. Most primary breadwinners (70.5 percent) are of prime working age, between 25 and 54 years old. Who Are Needy Workers? 193 12-8191-1 App C 11/2/05 4:23 PM Page 193...