Clifford Krauss' June 9 New York Times article "Rural U.S. Takes Worst Hit as Gas Prices Top $4 Average" named two Southern counties where gas prices are eating up the greatest percentage of family income - Holmes County, Mississippi and Wilcox County, Alabama.
These heightened fuel costs, combined with a lack of public assistance for childcare, could lead to a dramatic swell in welfare rolls.
Take Wilcox County, for instance, where people are spending a greater percentage of their incomes on gas than they do anywhere else in the United States. The median annual family income in Wilcox County is $22,200. According to a 2006 survey performed by the U.S. Census Bureau, the median cost of full-time daycare for an infant in Alabama ia $5,356 per year. Thus, if a family in Wilcox County is paying the median Alabama cost for day care for an infant child, they would be spending 24% of their income for day care. Tack on another 16% of income for fuel prices, as noted in Krauss' article, and the family has only $13,320 per year to spend on food, housing, clothing and other expenses. This figure is for families with only one infant child.
The outlook is even more bleak for single-family households. According to census data, 27% of Wilcox County families are headed by a female with no husband present. The median income for a single mother in Alabama is $17,311. After child care and gas expenses are paid, a single mother in Wilcox County with one infant child would have only $9,186 per year to cover the cost of food, housing, clothing and all other expenses.
Wilcox County residents find little help in covering childcare costs. In Alabama, he maximum income a single mother with one child can earn and still receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) daycare subsidies is $2,280 annually. The Family Guidance Center of Alabama, a non-profit organization that helps provide childcare to low-income families that do not qualify for TANF, currently has a two-year waiting list in most counties, as does Head Start. And that list is getting longer every day.
With the combined costs of fuel and child care, work simply isn't paying for many people in these rural areas.
The most reasonable option for some families in rural areas, particularly those headed by single mothers, may be to forgo the cost of childcare and fuel by leaving the workforce and relying solely on public assistance for food (food stamps), housing (public housing) and other expenses (TANF). By leaving the workforce, these families will distance themselves even further from the mainstream and further dimming their hopes of rising out of poverty.
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Constance- How many of these people were on welfare before soaring gas prices? I would imagine the numbers are extremely high. This problem won't stop until people are educated enough to realize they shouldn't have children when they can't support themselves. It is extremely frustrating to me. I feel for the children. I feel good about paying taxes to aid those children. They didn't ask to be born into a life of poverty.
I find myself frustrated with people who abuse the federal aid system "just because they can". I don't believe that is the case for everyone, but I do feel that it is misused more than we realize.
It would be interesting to see statistics on the children who are born into these situations. I imagine that a staggering number find themselves in similar predicaments later in life.
I totally agree. This is a very controversial opinion, but I believe that all adult women should be required to be on long-term birth control such as CUD's or IUD's (barring any health problems that prevent it, of course). These birth controls are implanted in the uterus and last five years, although they can be taken out at any time. Once a family, or a single mother that wants a child, proves that they have at least a five-year history of steady income and long-term prospects for that income to continue, and perhaps meet some other requirements, then they should receive a license to have ONE child. After that, the birth control goes back in, and they can apply for the next child (with a two-three child limit on each family). Population control is the most important issue facing our planet right now. But people are just too squeamish to talk about it. It reminds them of eugenics and forced sterilization and they get the heebie jeebies.
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