graphic changes can explain trends in the poverty rate (Cancian and Reed, 2001;
Blank and Card, 1993). Here we update that literature.
Table 3 presents the results of our analysis. The first two columns of Table 3
show the distribution of individuals in 1967 and 2003, by family type. We categorize
individuals by one of six different family types: married individuals with and without
children; single females with and without children; and single males with and
without children. Table 3 shows that in 2003, 67 percent of persons lived in married
couple families, down from 86 percent in 1967. In contrast, the percentage of
persons living in unmarried parent families increased from 7 percent in 1967 to
14.4 percent in 2003. In columns 3 and 4, we provide the actual poverty rates for
persons in each family type. While poverty rates decreased between 1967 and 2003
for all groups, there are persistent differences across groups—with the highest
poverty rates for persons in single parent families and the lowest poverty rates for
persons in married couple families.