
          The Poverty of Reaganomics
          By StaffStaff
          Vol. 9, No. 4, 1987, pp. 1-2
          
          In its twilight years the Reagan Administration is returning to its
extravagant rhetoric about having created the "opportunity society."
According to Administration officials--proud of low inflation and a
proposed treaty with the Russians--President Reagan will leave office
with the world safer and the American people richer than ever
before.
          Braggadocio, of course, is nothing new among politicians of both
parties nowadays, but these claims go beyond
self-congratulations. They are reckless and alarming misstatements
that invite the American people to ignore dangerous trends within this
country. They call cruel realities "opportunities" and enlarged
poverty "riches."
          A recent report from the Children's Defense Fund in Washington
amply illustrates the unreality of these claims. Its report on the
declining status of young men tells vividly that no societal group in
this country is assured of a future that is safe or enriched. The key
findings are summarized below:
          
            Young Men's Earnings
          
           Between 1973 and 1984, the average real annual earnings among
males ages twenty through twenty-four fell by nearly thirty percent
(from $11,572 to $8,072 in 1984 dollars). This sharp drop affected
virtually all groups of young adult males, athough young
black_men suffered the most severe losses (nearly fifty percent).
          Nearly sixty percent of all males ages twenty to twenty-four were
able to earn enough to lift a family of three out of poverty in
1973. During the 1980s, however, the ability of young men to support a
family plummeted, leaving only forty-two percent with earnings above
the three-person federal poverty line by 1984.
          
            Earnings, Education and Basic Skills
          
           Young men between the ages of twenty and twenty-four who had
not completed high_school suffered the largest percentage drop in
their real annual earnings during the 1973-1984 period--forty-two
percent.
           The percentage of all male dropouts ages twenty 

through
twenty-four with earnings above the three-person poverty line dropped
by nearly half, from fifty-nine percent in 1973 to thirty-two percent
in 1984. Only four in ten white male dropouts, fewer than three in ten
Hispanic dropouts, and a shockingly low one in nine black dropouts
earned enough in 1984 to support a family of three.
           The level of basic academic skills makes a difference even
among young adults with the same amount of schooling. High school
dropouts with strong basic skills have average earnings more than
twice as great as dropouts with weak basic skills. Similarly, high
school graduates with basic skills ranking in the top fifth among
their peers have earnings nearly double those of graduates falling in
the lowest fifth.
           In 1973 young male college graduates earned twenty-five
percent more than dropouts; by 1984 their average earnings were nearly
twice those of dropouts.
           Because they are disproportionately poor and frequently reside
in communities with inferior schools, minority teenagers are
particularly likely to leave school without the basic academic skills
they need. Despite substantial gains that have narrowed the
black/white achievement gap over the past decade, the average black
seventeen-year-old now reads at the same level as the average white
thirteen-year-old.
           Youths who by age eighteen have the weakest reading and math
skills (in the bottom fifth when compared to those with above-average
basic skills) are nine times more likely to drop out of school before
graduation; and five times more likely to be both out of work and out
of school.
          Young black male dropouts experienced a stunning sixty-one percent
drop in real annual earnings between 1973 and 1984. Young black high
school graduates fared only slightly better, suffering a fifty-two
percent loss in real earnings. In contrast, young black college
graduates actually increased their earnings.
           The percentage of young black_men working year-round has
fallen by one-third, from forty-eight percent in 1973 to thirty-two
percent in 1984. Only twelve percent of black male high_school
dropouts ages twenty through twenty-four had no earnings in 1973. By
1985 nearly half--forty-three percent--of all black male dropouts ages
twenty through twenty-four failed to obtain any employment
whatsoever.
           Among young black_men who had dropped out of school, the
proportion with earnings above the three-person poverty line fell from
forty-four percent in 1973 to twelve percent in 1984. The percentage
of young black male high_school graduates with such earnings also
plunged from sixty-eight percent to thirty percent during this
period.
          
            Earnings and Marriage Rates
          
           As recently as 1974, roughly two in five young men ages twenty
through twenty-four were married. Over the next decade, however, the
rate for such young men fell by half.
           Regardless of their race or level of educational attainment,
young men ages twenty through twenty-four with earnings above the
poverty threshold for a family of three remain three to four times
more likely to marry than young adult males with below-poverty
earnings.
           The decline in real earnings and resulting drop in marriage
rates have been most severe among high_school dropouts and graduates
not going on to college--those young_people who have tended in the
past to marry and bear children earliest.
           As a result of declining marriage rates, a larger percentage
of children now are born out-of-wedlock. In 1984, fifty-six percent of
all births to teens and twenty-five percent of all births to women
ages twenty through twenty-four were to unmarried women--a dramatic
increase from 1970's thirty percent and nine percent respectively.
           Youths ages eighteen through twenty-three who have the weakest
reading and math skills (in the bottom fifth when compared to those
with above-average basic skills) are eight times more likely to have
children out-of-wedlock.
          
            Poverty Rates
          
           The poverty rate for families headed by a person younger than
twenty-five has nearly doubled since 1973, reaching thirty percent by
1985. Poverty rates among young white families more than doubled, from
twelve percent in 1973 to twenty-five percent in 1985. Poverty rates
among young black families were higher to begin with but still
increased by nearly half, from forty-three percent in 1973 to
sixty-two percent in 1985.
           Nearly one-half (forty-eight percent) of all children living
in young families in 1985 were poor--nearly double the twenty-six
percent rate in 1973.
        
