Overlooked and Undercounted - Insight Center for Community ...

10 — OVERLOOKED AND UNDERCOUNTED
adequate income. Most striking, over two thirds of single
mother households lack adequate income (68%) (See
Table 4). Although the presence of children is associated
with higher rates of income inadequacy for each
household type, being a single parent results in higher
levels of income inadequacy than that of married parents
regardless of gender. However, the impact of single
parenthood on inadequate income is much greater for
women than men. The higher rates of income inadequacy
for single mothers compared to single fathers suggests
that it is the combination of gender and the presence of
children—being a single mother with children—that is
associated with the highest rates of income inadequacy.
The factors behind these high levels of income
inadequacy are many, including the fact that married
couples are more likely to have one or more workers
than single parents of either gender, the higher expenses
associated with children—particularly child care for
young children, as well as gender-specific factors such as
pay inequity and gender based discrimination. We will
further explore several of these factors later in this report.
A single parent heads about one out of five households
in Mississippi. However, not only are single mother
households disproportionately more likely to lack
adequate income than single father households, there are
four times as many single mother households as single
father households in Mississippi, so that single mothers
maintain four out of five single parent households
in Mississippi. Because of their high rates of income
inadequacy, of all households in Mississippi below the
Standard, 33% are single mother households while 5% are
single father households.
Household Type and Race/Ethnicity. As previously
discussed, the combination of being a woman, having
children, and solo parenting are associated with high
rates of income inadequacy. At the same time, rates of
…IT IS THE COMBINATION OF GENDER AND
THE PRESENCE OF CHILDREN—BEING A SINGLE
MOTHER WITH CHILDREN—THAT IS ASSOCIATED
WITH THE HIGHEST RATES OF INCOME
INADEQUACY.
income adequacy vary considerably by race/ethnicity.
In this section, we explore the ways these demographic
and racial/ethnic status factors interact together. (Note:
Due to their small numbers, this analysis of race/
ethnicity combines male maintained households with no
spouse present with the larger group of married couple
households.) When these two factors—household type
and race/ethnicity—are examined together, there is an
even greater disparity between groups in rates of income
adequacy. That is, within racial groups, household type
differences remain, with single mother households
having the highest rates of income inadequacy. At the
same time, among households of the same composition,
racial/ethnic differences remain, with African-American
households having the highest rates of income
inadequacy. The patterns of income inadequacy by
household type and race/ethnicity are outlined below and
shown in Figure 5.
Within each household type, White households have
lower income inadequacy rates than households headed
by African Americans.
Among household types without children, the
proportion of married couple and male maintained
households in Mississippi with insufficient incomes
ranges from 15% for White households to 33% for
African-American households; significantly lower
than the rates of 31% for White women-maintained
households to 50% for African-American womenmaintained
households (data shown in Appendix Table
B-7). As Figure 5 shows, when all household types
without children are combined, income inadequacy
ranges from 19% among White childless households to
39% among African-American childless households.
For households with children, rates of income
insufficiency range from 19% among White to 48%
among non-White and non-African-American
married couple and single father households. For
single mother households, the proportion of income
inadequacy reaches 50% or above for each racial/ethnic
group shown in this comparison. The rate of income
inadequacy for single mothers ranges from 52% for
White householders to 75% for African-American
householders. These ranges contrast sharply with the