The Influence of a Recession on Child Poverty

While poverty has many negative implications for the well-being of our community, one of the most tangible is a long-term reduction in our economic productivity. New research suggests that childhood poverty in our community will worsen because of the current economic crisis. In this brief, we estimate that the current recession will cause an additional 8,388 children in Shelby County to fall into poverty and will reduce the future GDP of the metro area by nearly $230 million a year, every year of these children's working lives.