VOLUME 25 | ISSUE 1 | SPRING2018
Poverty isn't a static condition. New research is showing how unstable life is for many low-income families.Forthem, poverty is a roller coaster,marked by uncertain and irregularemployment, erratic workschedules, fluctuating publicbenefits, shifting householdcomposition, frequent housingmoves, and other changesthat undermine not only theirprecarious finances but also,evidence suggests, the health andwell-being of their children.
The September 2017 issueof theSocial Service Reviewfocuses on the problem of economicinstability, its consequencesfor low-income families, and itsimplications for public policy. Theresearchers shine a light on theeveryday struggles of families asthey try to feed themselves withSNAP (Supplemental NutritionAssistance Program) benefits thatrun out before the end of themonth and struggle to arrangechild care that fits irregular andunpredictable work schedules.Finally, they take stock of ways inwhich public policy and the socialsafety net both alleviate and worseninstability, and how they mightdo better.
By devoting an entire issueto economic instability the SSRhopes to draw attention to anaspect of poverty that researcherssay has been overlooked andunder appreciated. “We thinka lot about how people don’thave enough,” said MarybethMattingly, Director of Researchon Vulnerable Families at theUniversity of New Hampshire’sCarsey School of Public Policy andone of the issue’s guest editors.“We don’t know a lot about howthat fluctuates over time.”
In a study of 235 low- andmedium-income households,Jonathan J. Morduch, Professorof Public Policy and Economics,at New York University’s WagnerGraduate School of Public Service,and Julie Siwicki, now at theAspen Institute’s Financial SecurityProgram, report that almostall households with an annualincome that lifted them above thefederal poverty level—between100 and 150 percent of it—fellback into poverty for at leastone month of the year; a thirdof households earning twice thepoverty level also experienced atleast one month of poverty. Theirarticle, “In and Out of Poverty:Episodic Poverty and IncomeVolatility in the U.S. FinancialDiaries,” suggests that the maincause of this volatility is the variabilityof pay within jobs. Moreand more, researchers say, lowwageworkers are subject not onlyto changeable work schedules butalso to widely varying hours withineach pay period.
One obstacle for researcherswho want to study economicinstability has been a paucity ofdata. Data on families often focuson yearly averages or on a singlemoment in time, both of whichmask week-to-week and month-to-
month variability. Morduchand Siwicki use the U.S. FinancialDiaries, an innovative surveyin which researchers followedhouseholds for a year, to see howthey managed their finances. Thediaries offer a detailed look atmonthly spending and earningpatterns, as well as the formal andinformal coping strategies thatfamilies use to smooth consumptionand compensate for changesin income.
The most common strategy,Morduch and Siwicki say, is borrowingfrom relatives and friends.Families also make use of publicbenefits, especially SNAP, childcare subsidies, and Social Securityfor disabilities, or seek help fromnon-profits.
The interplay between publicbenefits and economic instabilityis far from simple. Consider SNAPbenefits. Research shows that theyplay an important role in reducingeconomic instability for low-incomefamilies. But because themonthly payments are insufficientto meet a family’s monthly needs,the program creates its own instability.In a study of 351 low-incomefamilies in North Carolina, AnikaSchenck-Fontaine, a researcher atDuke University’s Sanford Schoolof Public Policy; Anna Gassman-Pines, associate professor at theSanford School; and Zoelene Hilla post-doctoral researcher at NYU,found that as time passed familiesturned increasingly to their socialnetworks for help. Their article,“Use of Informal Safety Nets duringthe Supplemental NutritionAssistance Program BenefitsCycle: How Poor Families Copewith Within-Month EconomicInstability,” concludes that familieswere six times as likely to borrowmoney three weeks after receivingSNAP benefits as they were oneweek after. The overall level ofwhat the authors call “food hardship”remained constant over themonth but at a high level. This,they say, suggests that “SNAPbenefit amounts may not be sufficientto lift families out of foodhardship, even in combinationwith earned income and the useof informal supports.”
Another important issue isthe connection between economicinstability, child care, andchild care support. Child careallows parents to work, and yetirregular and non-standard workhours—hours outside the normal work and school day—havemade arranging it increasinglyproblematic for low-income parents.In detailed interviews with25 parents in the San FranciscoBay area, a team of researchersfrom the University of California,Berkeley, and the University ofCalifornia, San Francisco, foundthat parents resorted to threemain strategies.
Some two-parent familiespracticed “tag-team” child care,alternating a parent with regulardaytime work hours and a parent with non-standard work hours.
For other families, theinstability of work was reflectedin the instability of child care.Parents were forced to improvise,seeking help from family,neighbors, or friends.
In contrast, some parentshad a single “go-to” helper onwhom they could rely.
Economic instability mattersnot only because it causes hardshipfor low-income families. Itmay hurt children by disruptingfamily routines and affecting parenting.One study has suggestedthat their test scores drop thelonger it’s been since their familiesreceived their SNAP benefits.
In an article “EconomicInstability, Food Insecurity, andChild Health in the Wake ofthe Great Recession,” Sharon Wolf, Assistant Professor in theGraduate School of Educationat the University of Pennsylvania,and Taryn Morrissey, AssociateProfessor in the School of PublicAffairs of American University,suggest that economic instabilityalso may harm children byundermining their health andfood security.
A recurring theme in thespecial issue is that changes inthe social safety net might helpreduce economic instability. “Ifstability is a goal there is a waywe could do our programs differentlyto support stability,”Mattingly says. For example, shesays that administering SNAPbenefits at shorter intervals thana month could help lessen theweek-to-week instability that familiesnow experience.
Researchers also suggestthat administrative changes atagencies that disperse federalchild care subsidies could makeit easier for parents to accessthe subsidies and obtain qualitychild care.
The SSR’s special issue is aneffort to shift the conversationabout poverty toward its episodicnature. It also offers a foretaste ofa subject we’re likely hear moreof. Mattingly says economicinstability is attracting growinginterest among researchers, whoare finding new ways to analyzeand understand it.
“There are a lot of things happening that are on the cutting edge,” she said.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Morduch, Jonathan, and Siwicki, Julie, “In and Out of Poverty: Episodic Poverty and Income Volatility in the U.S. Financial Diaries,”Social Service Review91: (3) 390-421.
Schenck-Fontaine, Anika; Gassman-Pines, Anna; and Hill, Zoelene, “Use of Informal Safety Nets during the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Benefit Cycle: How Poor Families Cope with Within-Month Economic Instability,”Social Service Review91: (3) 456-487.
Wolf, Sharon, and Morrissey, Taryn, “Economic Instability, Food Insecurity, and Child Health in the Wake of the Great Recession,”Social Service Review91: (3) 534-570.
