Child poverty increasing in U.P.
Like Michigan as a whole, the Upper Peninsula has been losing residents for more than a decade.
But even with the population going down, the number of kids in the U.P. living in poverty is going up.
The 2012 Kids Count In Michigan Data Book has just come out.
It found that in 2011, nearly 13,000 kids in the U.P. were living in poverty.
That was 21.5% of the U.P.’s under-18 population.
In 2006, about 11,000 U.P. children were growing up in poverty, which was an 18% rate.
However, the U.P. is still doing better with child poverty than Michigan as a whole; the entire state’s 2011 rate was 23.4%.
That’s based on the federal poverty level of a little more than $18,000 in income for a single parent of two children or a little under $23,000 for a two-parent household with two kids.
The people behind the survey say programs like unemployment insurance, the minimum wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit need to be protected in state and federal budgets or even more kids will enter poverty.
The Michigan League for Public Policy compiles the Kids Count Data Book each year.
It tracks not only poverty but also health, education and other areas.
The data book can be found online here.