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Absence of Monthly Child Tax Credit Leads to 3.7 Million More Children in Poverty in January 2022.
Poverty and Social Policy Brief
Parolin, Zachary.
Collyer, Sophie.
Curran, Megan A.
Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University.
Briefing Materials
Copyright
Published: 2022
Poverty and Social Policy Brief
Vol. 6, No. 2
, p. 1-5
View: https://www.povertycenter.columbia.edu/publication/monthly-poverty-january-2022
Download: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/610831a16c95260dbd68934a/t/620ec869096c78179c7c4d3c/1645135978087/Monthly-poverty-January-CPSP-2022.pdf
This brief explains the monthly child poverty rate increased from 12.1% in December 2021 to 17% in January 2022, the highest rate since the end of 2020, and notes the 4.9% (41%) increase in poverty represents 3.7 million more children in poverty due to the expiration of the monthly Child Tax Credit payments. Latino and Black children experienced the largest percentage-point increases in poverty (7.1% and 5.9%, respectively). Information is provided that indicates for the first half of 2021 (before the rollout of the monthly Child Tax Credit), additional forms of COVID-19 economic relief were available at various points, however, after the expiration of the stimulus checks and expanded unemployment benefits, the new monthly Child Tax Credit payments and increased food assistance represented the central components of economic relief available to families with children in the second half of 2021. In June 2021, just prior to the rollout of the new monthly Child Tax Credit, the child poverty rate was 15.8%. By July 2021, there was a sharp drop in the child poverty rate – from 15.8% to 11.9% – that accompanied the first payments. The brief notes that the U.S. Congress has not currently acted to extend monthly Child Tax Credit payments into 2022 and the potential impact of the second half of the Child Tax Credit on monthly child poverty in 2022 is explored. 5 references.
Keywords:
Low income families; Poverty; Federal laws; Welfare; Racial disparity; Families of color; COVID-19; Federal disaster response; Funding; Statistics; Data analysis