Children are disproportionately represented among the poor, and their plight has grown worse since the summer, according to James Sullivan, an economics professor at the University of Notre Dame who’s tracked poverty rates during the pandemic.
The CARES Act, a $2.2 trillion relief measure, helped poverty rates fall in the early days of the pandemic, blunting what would have otherwise been the worst rise in poverty in 50 years.
Yet the poverty rate spiked 2.4 points between June and November last year, to 11.7%, after families spent stimulus checks and their extra unemployment relief lapsed, according to research co-authored by Sullivan.