NEWS Release - Welcoming Remarks by Chair Janet L. Yellen - At "Strong Foundations: The Economic Futures of Kids and Communities," the 10th Biennial Federal Reserve System Community Development Research Conference, Washington, D.C.
I would like to welcome all of you and thank you for joining us to discuss a set of topics of considerable importance to our country. This is the Federal Reserve's 10th biennial community development research conference, dedicated as always to issues of significance to people and communities around the country.
The conference is cosponsored by, and includes substantive contributions from, the community development offices of all 12 Federal Reserve Banks as well as the Board of Governors. That united effort and level of commitment reflects how consequential we consider these issues to be. This conference is intended to present and highlight rigorous research that I am confident will inform how you think about your own work, whether from the perspective of policymaking, community development practice, or research.
Our last conference, two years ago, explored various aspects of economic mobility, largely among adults. This year, we gather to discuss "The Economic Futures of Kids and Communities," and, in part, I see this topic as an extension of that earlier conversation about mobility.
Today and tomorrow, we focus on research about the foundation or building blocks for economic success that are laid even before young people enter the workforce and assume responsibility for their own finances.
We will hear from leading experts on a range of issues related to how children, youths, and young adults are shaped in ways that may ultimately affect their ability later to productively contribute to the economy and manage their finances. We can learn from what the data and analysis tell us, and our hope is that making use of this information will lead to more effective programs and policies and thus better outcomes.
Considerable evidence shows that growing up poor makes it harder to succeed as an adult, and new research by the Fed likewise shows the strong connection between the typical experiences of poverty in childhood and economic challenges later as an adult. The data come from the Board's latest Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), which will be published later this spring.1 In the most recent survey, we asked some of the younger respondents--aged 25 to 39--to think about their childhoods. We asked those young adults whether, during their childhoods, they found themselves worrying about having enough food to eat, having a stable caregiver, or about their personal safety. About 10 percent said they regularly worried about one or more of these concerns, and an additional 19 percent said they sometimes worried about them.
We were then able to compare responses about their experiences in childhood to what these young adults told us about their current circumstances. Some pretty clear patterns emerged. Of those young adults who regularly had one or more of these childhood concerns growing up, more than one-half say that they are currently facing challenges in getting by financially. This fraction compares to just over one-fourth of those who said they never, or only rarely, worried about these concerns as children that now experience this level of financial challenge. Young adults who regularly or sometimes worried when they were children about their care, safety, or having enough to eat are also less likely to be employed, less likely to have consistent income month-to-month, and less likely to be able to pay all of their current monthly bills in full, compared with those who never or rarely worried about these concerns as children.2
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