Report shows how recession hit families

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (UPI) —

The number of U.S. households with an unemployed parent and a child under 18 living at home soared from 2005 to 2011, a Census Bureau report says.

The report titled, "America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2012" says that there were 2.4 million households in 2005 with an unemployed parent and at least one child under 18 in 2005 By 2011, that number had grown 33 percent to 3.2 million, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.

"During the recession, economic well-being worsened for families with children. Home ownership among families declined, while food stamp receipt and parental unemployment increased. Even after the recession officially ended in 2009, these measures remained worse than before it began," said report co-author Jamie Lewis, who is a demographer in the Census Bureau’s Fertility and Family Statistics Branch.

In some states, the statistic escalated dramatically, including Nevada with a 148 percent increase, Hawaii at 95 percent, Florida at 93 percent and Connecticut, New Jersey and California each with gains of more than 60 percent.

In the same period, the number of households with children less than 18 who owned their own homes plummeted, dropping by 15 percent to 20.8 million.

The largest declines were in Michigan, Arizona and California, with drops of 23 percent in Michigan and 22 percent in Arizona and California.

In Ohio the decline was 20 percent. In New Hampshire and Florida it was 19 percent, the Census Bureau said.

In another statistic that could be related to economics, the report said a higher percentage of young adults, ages 25 to 34, were living in their parents’ home in 2012 than they were in the early 2000s.

Among young adult men, the percentage rose from 13 percent to 17 percent from 2000 to 2012. For young adult women, the percentage rose from 8 percent to 10 percent, the report said.