cover the cost of childbirth, maternity and paternity leaves,
and day care or babysitting services, and provide a small
monthly stipend for each child. In the United States, par-
ents are expected to provide full financial support for their
children. Federal programs like ADC (Aid to Dependent
Children) are available for low-income single parents, but
the support is far from adequate.
Health Care
In the United States, nearly 12 percent of children and ado-
lescents under 18 have no health insurance (Allegretto,
2006). The percentages are much higher for African Amer-
icans (14 percent), Hispanics (20 percent), and people liv-
ing in poverty (20 percent).
After age 18, children are no longer eligible under their parents’ health care, and
so health care costs hit young adults especially hard—just at the moment they are
starting out. In 1999, 52.9 percent of Americans age 18 through 21 had no health
insurance at all, a striking statistic when compared with those 35 to 44 (16.5 per-
cent) and 45 to 54 (13.4 percent). Another 12.9 percent were covered by Medicaid
or other public insurance, but only 8.8 percent were covered by their employer. Most
18- to 21-year-olds work at low-wage, temporary jobs without health benefits, or they
are dependent on their parents (but 60 percent of employers who provide health insur-
ance do not cover children once they reach 18 or 19). About a third of Americans
under age 35 spent the whole of year 2002 without health insurance; half were unin-
sured for part of the year (Holahan, 2007). Forty percent of eligible uninsured chil-
dren are Hispanic, just over a third are White, and 18 percent are Black.
Having no health insurance means doing without checkups, immunizations, and
necessary medical procedures. It means an increased risk of accident and devastating
disease.
Child Labor
In the United States, we tend to think of child labor as a relic of the distant past,
appearing only in Victorian novels like David Copperfield. Teenagers may take part-
time jobs at McDonald’s to supplement their allowances, but strict laws ensure that
no job can be hazardous or time consuming or interfere with their “carefree” child-
hood. Children under the age of 14 cannot work at all (with a few exceptions, like
delivering newspapers, performing, or working for parents). If they are 14 or 15, they
can work only 18 hours per week when school is in session (full time in summer),
and they must go home no later than 7:00 p.m. (9:00 p.m. in summer). And if they
are under 18, they cannot perform many hazardous tasks, including roofing,
meatpacking, demolition, manufacturing explosives, and driving a car.
These are the federal guidelines. State laws can be even stricter. For instance, in
Connecticut, 16- and 17-year-olds with no school the next day can work until 10:00
p.m. in manufacturing and retail establishments, bowling alleys, pool halls, or
photography establishments. They can work until 11:00 p.m. in restaurants and
recreational, amusement, and theater establishments, and if they happen to land jobs
in supermarkets of 3,500 square feet or more, they can work until midnight.
In the United States, teenagers (aged 14 to 17) seem to be working for extra money
rather than to contribute to household income: 30 percent of the teenagers in the
highest-income households but only 15 percent in the lowest-income households have
YOUTH AND INEQUALITY 373TABLE 11.3
Children under 18 Living in Poverty in the United
StatesNUMBER
CATEGORY (IN THOUSANDS) PERCENTAll children under 18 15,500 20.7
White only, non-Hispanic 4,507 10.5
Black 4,049 33.2
Hispanic 4,102 28.9
Asian 334 9.8Source:U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage
in the United States: 2009, Report P60, n. 238.