Three Decades Since Making Ends Meet: How Single-Mother Families Survive Today

Supplemental-Measure Poverty by Race and Household Structure

Source: Center for Poverty and Social Policy, Columbia University; US Census Poverty and Historical Supplemental Poverty Data.

Note: SPM = Supplemental Poverty Measure.

Poverty Rates Among Children in Single-Mother Households, Twenty-Eight High-Income Countries

Source: LIS Inequality and Poverty Key Figures, http://www.lisdatacenter.org (July 26, 2024). Luxembourg: LIS. Reprinted with permission.

Share of Poor Families with Children Receiving TANF

Source: Data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

SNAP Households with Children Reporting No Other Source of Income at Time of Application or Recertification (Administrative Records)

Source: Edin and Shaefer’s analysis of annual reports, Characteristics of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Households. USDA Food and Nutrition Service.

Note: These households report no cash income at SNAP certification, under penalty of law. Data not collected for fiscal years 2020 and 2021.

Share of Mothers Employed, 1990–2003

Source: Office of the Assistant Secretary of Policy and Evaluation 2005.

Note: Unpublished tabulations of data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey. http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/05/unemp-receipt/.