State and Local Data Impacting Self ‐ Sufficiency for Hoosiers Jessica Fraser, Director, Indiana Institute for Working Families
Good Good New News: Poverty decreased from 14.1% in 2016 to 13.5% in 2017 Bad Bad New News: Poverty is still higher than in 2007 or 2000
Economic Self ‐ Sufficiency Is More Than the Absence of Poverty. And at 31.5%, Indiana’s rate of low ‐ income families is still far above its pre ‐ recession level.
But jobs aren’t enough to for Hoosiers to be self ‐ sufficient. At 31.8%, Indiana has the highest proportion of working poor families among all 12 Midwestern states, up from 5th ‐ highest in the Midwest since 2007.
The problem: basic costs have increased by an average of 31.9% for a family of 3 since 2009, but household incomes have only increased 6.3%.
Indiana’s low ‐ wage jobs problem will take all of us working together to overcome! • Strategic initiatives • Innovative Programs • Data Driven Policy Change • Partnerships (stranger the bedfellows the better)
The state’s own projections show the rate of low ‐ wage occupations will increase to 69.1% in 2026, up from 63.1% in 2017.
A path forward: focus efforts on opening pathways to high ‐ demand, high ‐ wage, middle ‐ skill occupations
Removing Barriers to Post ‐ Secondary Attainment is Critical to Reducing Poverty and Opening Pathways to Higher ‐ Wage Jobs Non ‐ Academic Barriers to Career Pathways CHILD CARE IS THE LARGEST COST FOR WORKING FAMILIES, and the cost and lack of access prevents many new parents from starting training programs. The attending rate for adults with children under 5 is only 8.3 percent, but is 31.4 percent for those with kids ages 5 ‐ 17 (school ‐ age). HOUSING INSECURITY AND HOMELESSNESS: Affordable housing is a barrier for would ‐ be adult students, many of whom are low ‐ income. 43.9 percent of Indiana renters spend 30 percent or more of their income on rent and utilities on housing and utilities, a major risk factor for housing insecurity. Across the Midwest, 48 percent of community college students are housing insecure, and 12 percent are homeless.
Why coordinated Workforce, Higher Ed, and Supportive Services policy matters! Poverty has not returned to pre ‐ recession levels! Basic Costs have grown faster than wages. Low ‐ income adults lack educational attainment… … and yet have many barriers to improving their educational attainment Employers need a skilled workforce. The opportunities for Low ‐ income adults to get sub ‐ baccalaureate training that leads to family ‐ sustaining wages are immense.
A Closer Look… Suburban Counties experience much less poverty than the State Poverty Rate Average. 5.20% Boone Hamilton 3.50% Hancock 4.90% Black or Hispanic or Hendricks 4.50% African Poverty By White alone Latino origin American Race Johnson 10.10% (of any race) alone Marion 17.10% Hamilton 3.30% 4.20% 17.20% Morgan 9.70% Marion 17.10% 24.40% 25.90%
Deep Poverty Poverty Rate Below SS Some Suburban Counties have higher than expected rates of residents between the Poverty 5.20% Boone 2.68% 14.01% line and self ‐ sufficiency. Hamilton 3.50% 1.73% 10.86% Hancock 4.90% 1.59% 18.12% This is the benefit cliff population, the population that is struggling but for whom there Hendricks 4.50% 1.57% 16.65% may not be government supports. Johnson 10.10% 4.68% 20.80% Marion 17.10% 8.36% 39.39% Morgan 3.92% 9.70% 24.40% More than 30 ‐ 34 % of 35% of All of these counties have 30% or MORE of renters Income on Income on spending more than 30% of their monthly income on rent. Rent Rent This is the definition of Housing Cost Burdened and is a Boone 11% 24% metric of Housing Insecurity. Hamilton 8.50% 27.60% Hancock 7.80% 38% We will take a closer look at some of this data coming Hendricks 10.20% 31.00% up…. Johnson 10.50% 21.90% Marion 10.10% 41.20% Morgan 8.80% 22.40%
A Deep Dive… While Suburban counties have much lower poverty Rates overall, than their urban and even rural counter Parts… They do still have pockets of poverty that should Be addressed. In the two census tracts in dark green, the poverty rate Is higher than the state average for 2016.
Questions… Discussion….. Contact Us…. jfraser@incap.org
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