High employment cited as factor in low N.H. child poverty rate.

From Foster’s Daily Democratic:

“On average, rates are persistently higher in rural parts of the country relative to suburban areas and share similar rates with many central cities,” said Sarah Savage, a research assistant with the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.

The state with the lowest rural child poverty rate in the nation is Connecticut, at 7.5 percent. New Hampshire has the second lowest, at 8.8 percent. The inner city child poverty rate, which includes Nashua and Manchester, in New Hampshire is at 17.5 percent.

Maine ranks 21st in the nation, with a rural and urban child poverty rate of 18.5 percent. The state with the highest rate of child poverty is Mississippi, at 35 percent in rural areas and 29 percent overall.

Savage said the Granite State’s relatively strong economy is the main reason its child poverty rates are low.

There is job availability and a variety of employment structures, Savage said.

According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, New Hampshire was among the top 10 states with average unemployment rates under 4 percent from the July 2007 to July 2008 fiscal year.

Mississippi, meanwhile, had the nation’s second-highest average unemployment rate, 7 percent, for the 2007-08 fiscal year.

“Employment is stronger in New Hampshire than in many other parts of the country, and that could certainly play a part in the low rates of child poverty,” Savage said.