- Timothy M. Smeeding, Irwin Garfinkel, and Ronald B. Mincy
- Spring/Summer 2011
- Focus-28-1d
- Link to foc281d (PDF)
Young undereducated men and their families are currently experiencing a confluence of unfavorable occurrences, providing a bleak outlook for their future. The recession of 2008 to 2010 has made it very difficult for young men with little education to find jobs. Since nearly two-thirds of these men are parents, many are thus struggling to support their families. A high level of incarceration further restricts employment opportunities and greatly reduces fathers’ time with their children. Most young men who become fathers are not married, and many go on to have at least one more child with another partner. Child support obligations may balloon when fathers are unemployed or in jail, and there are few public policies specifically designed to increase income for this population. As a result of all these forces, poverty rates are rising for young men, and their families are very unstable and struggling financially. An economic recovery sufficient to create enough jobs for these men to regain stable employment is currently forecast to be at least five years and more likely seven years away. By that time, these young parents and their children will have become a truly lost generation
Categories
Child Support, Complicated Families & Multiple-Partner Fertility, Economic Support, Economic Support General, Employment, Family & Partnering, Family Structure, Incarceration, Inequality & Mobility, Justice System, Labor Market, Multiple-Partner Fertility, Orders & Payments, Racial/Ethnic Inequality, Unemployment/Nonemployment
Tags
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Fathers, Great Recession, Race/Ethnicity, SNAP/Food Stamps, Unemployment Insurance (UI), Young Men