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University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

Month: July 2013

June 2013 US Metro Unemployment

Unemployment rates rise in 90 pct. of US cities as college students, graduates look for work, Associated Press, July 30, 2013, Washington Post: “Unemployment rates rose in nearly all large U.S. cities in June as college graduates and many of those still in school began searching for jobs. The Labor Department said Tuesday that unemployment rates rose in 347 large metro areas in June compared with the previous month. They fell in 12 and were unchanged in 13. In May, rates fell in 109 cities and rose in 243…”

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

House plan on food stamps would cut 5 million from program, By Ron Nixon, July 30, 2013, New York Times: “Nearly half a million people who receive food stamps but still do not get enough to eat would lose their eligibility for the program under proposed cuts that are expected to be taken up again by Congress. An additional 160,000 to 305,000 recipients who do get enough to eat would also lose their eligibility and the ability to adequately feed themselves. In total, about 5.1 million people would be eliminated from the program, according to a new report…”

Low-Income Families and Diaper Need

  • Diaper crisis among poor families endangers children, study finds, By Eryn Brown, July 29, 2013, Los Angeles Times: “There have been days, since her son Ezekiel was born 11 months ago, that Los Angeles mom Beth Capper has gone without food to keep up her supply. One friend was arrested for stealing some. It’s not drugs or alcohol or even baby formula that has put her in such a bind. It’s diapers. ‘There’s no way around buying them,’ said Capper, a 41-year-old single mother who doesn’t work because of a disability. Across the country, mothers like Capper are facing the same predicament. According to a report published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, diaper need — the inability to afford to keep a child in clean diapers — affects a ‘substantial’ number of low-income Americans, with nearly 30% of mothers questioned in New Haven, Conn., reporting that they did not have enough for their children…”
  • Affording diapers a problem for 30 percent of moms, study suggests, By Ryan Jaslow, July 29, 2013, CBS News: “Many low-income families receive government assistance to help them purchase food and housing. Diapers are another story, a new study suggests. In what they are calling the first peer-reviewed study to quantify diaper need, Yale University researchers have found nearly a third of mothers cannot afford to purchase their infants diapers, raising health risks for not only babies but for moms who become stressed over the finances…”