Child Poverty More Than Doubled in 2022

On September 12, the Census Bureau released new statistics measuring poverty, income, and health insurance rates from 2022. The Supplemental Poverty Measure shows that the child poverty rate more than doubled, going from 5.2 percent in 2021 to 12.4 percent in 2022, which is the largest one-year increase on record. This unfortunate outcome reflects a policy choice by federal lawmakers, who allowed the expanded child tax credit (CTC) from 2021—the policy credited with reducing child poverty to an all-time low—to expire. As CLASP President and Executive Director Indi Dutta Gupta notes in our statement, “As the expanded CTC revealed in 2021, we have the tools to end child poverty in this country. We just need the political will to use them.” 

• Read our blog series leading up to the Census poverty announcement.
• Over on Tik Tok, watch Indi give his take on the data and chat with policy experts Suma Setty and Lorena Roque.   
• Read Peter Coy’s New York Times column on poverty measurement featuring Indi and a Voice of America story with quotes from Elizabeth Lower-Basch, deputy executive director for policy.

Workplace Surveillance: Overwork’s Racist Roots

Technological innovation has always been a central determining factor of job quality. It is essential that strong public policy prevents technology from insidiously claiming control over a worker’s body, time, and autonomy.

Making Copayments Affordable As Child Care Emergency Funding Expires

COVID-19 child care relief funding and related waiver authority allowed many states to temporarily waive family copayments, but this authority and funding is set to expire soon. Copayments must be more affordable and the system must be clearer to help families access child care, but this is only possible with increased and sustained public investment.

Equity Matters: Addressing Poverty, Racial Injustice, and Threats to Multiracial Democracy

The new report Unified, Safe, and Well: Building Life-Affirming Systems for Justice-Impacted Families identifies and analyzes challenges across existing policy reforms created to address family separation through incarceration. It includes recommendations for harm reduction and systems transformation to address family separation.