Third of Young Families Living at Poverty Level : Income Drop Severe for Those Without Degrees

WASHINGTON —  Left behind in America’s economic expansion, nearly a third of the 20 million families headed by young people who did not attend college live beneath the poverty line, a proportion that has doubled since 1967, a study released Thursday showed.

The federal poverty line for a family of four is $11,611.

The report, prepared by a private commission on youth and America’s future, said that families headed by youths 20 to 24 have experienced a steady 27% decline in median income since 1973. It noted that non-college-educated youths are more likely to be unemployed.

“We’re seeing a pattern of real decline and suffering,” said pollster Daniel Yankelovich, a member of the panel that conducted the two-year study with a grant from the William T. Grant Foundation.

High Unemployment

“This is another factor that has been covered over by statistics showing relatively high unemployment,” Yankelovich said at a press conference.

The study showed a sharp contrast between the family income of non-college-educated youths and that of the entire population. While the median income for all families dropped 1% from 1973 to 1986, the median income for the youths’ families fell 27% during the same period.

In 1967, families headed by young people without college educations earned an average of 77% of the nation’s family median income level. In 1986, the young families’ income equaled 52% of the overall level, according to the report.

Young families headed by single women or minorities have fared even worse, the report states. The earnings of young black families have dropped almost 47% since 1973, and the income of families headed by single women fell 32% in the same period.

Harold Howe II, chairman of the commission, charged that non-college-bound young people have been “forgotten” by the American public and school system and said that the lack of services available to them has served to worsen their economic standing.

“Too often, we think of (non-college-bound youths) as failures, as second-rate, simply because they do not attend college. They must be viewed as our hope for the future rather than as a generation of misfits,” he said.

The report proposes several recommendations for providing the young people heading families with a better chance to compete in the job market. It suggests that $5 billion in federal funding be allocated to such successful programs as Head Start, the Job Corps, and other job training programs and that schools place greater emphasis on vocational education.

The report also calls for Congress to spend $1.25 billion for a five-year program to provide post-secondary education and job training programs for youths who are no longer in school. Commission members said they will propose the legislation to Congress in January.