Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Full Report | Page 15

?

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
high because the economic recovery from the Great Recession has been sluggish. When a
household’s breadwinner is out of work or can’t find full-time work, everyone living under the
same roof is put at risk of hunger. Child hunger is directly related to the poverty that results
from parents being unemployed or underemployed. Food insecurity is more common among
children than any other age group—affecting more than one in five children in our country.
Food is a basic need, as are
shelter, transportation to and from
Figure ES.2 Poverty Rates by Race and Hispanic Origin: 1959
work, care for children and elderly
to 2012
family members, and medical
Recession
Percent
expenses such as prescription
70%
drugs and doctor’s visits. How
much these cost are usually not
60%
55.1%
negotiable. But food is one that can
50%
be negotiated on a daily basis, with
oneself and/or one’s family mem40%
bers—by purchasing cheaper, less
Black
nutritious items, by cutting back on
30%
portion sizes, or by skipping meals
27.2%
22.8%
25.6%
altogether. This is how families
20%
Hispanic (any race)
in poverty cope: some members,
Asian
16.1%
generally the adults, endure spells
11.7%
10%
9.7%
of hunger. Parents live with the
7.5%
Non-Hispanic White
constant stress of food running
0%
1959
1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
2012
out, of exhausting their wages and
whatever assistance they can secure
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 1960 to 2013 Annual Social and
before the end of the month.
Economic Supplements.
A strong recovery capped by a
return to full employment would improve U.S. food security levels by 25 percent. The last time
the economy was at full employment was in 2000, at which time the household food insecurity
rate was 10.5 percent. That’s 28 percent lower than today’s 14.5 percent rate of food insecurity.
Full employment by 2017 is possible if the president and Congress can overcome budget
brinksmanship and agree on investments to spur faster job growth. The Federal Reserve
manages the country’s monetary policy; it has a dual mandate of controlling inflation and
promoting full employment. Since the start of the Great Recession, the Fed has prioritized full
employment. As a new chair of the Federal Reserve succeeds Ben Bernanke in January 2014,
she will need to use her influence to maintain the Fed’s focus on full employment.

While children make
In 2012, the poverty rate for African American
children was 37.5 percent, for Hispanic
children 33 percent, and for non-Hispanic
3
White children 12 percent.

up roughly

24 percent

of our total population,
they comprise

one third

of the nation’s poor.

4

www.bread.org/institute?

n

2014 Hunger Report? 5