One-fourth of all children born in the United States will be on welfare some time in their lives. A Federal study in 1988 estimated there were only enough low-skill job openings in the Nation to employ one out of six AFDC recipients who might be expected to work under the Family Support Act of 1988. The needs of the American workplace and the needs of the disadvantaged may be merging for the first time in recent history. The educational level of parents is closely associated with child poverty. Parents who have not completed high school are less likely to be employed steadily than parents with more education.
Poverty is associated with social circumstances that influence health.
These may include limited parental education, extramarital births or single parenthood, adolescent parenthood, and, for minority groups, racial or ethnic discrimination.