STRAFFORD COUNTY COMMUNITY NEEDS

INEQUALITY

The five clusters are based upon:

1993 Income per Capita

1989 Median Family Income - the best available measure of family income (excludes college students and other single persons).

% of Children in Families Below Poverty - the best measure of the presence of very poor children in a community.

% of Persons Below 185% of Poverty - the best measure of the presence of the “working poor” in a community.

The five clusters are based upon:

1999 Income per Capita

1999 Median Family Income - the best available measure of family income (excludes college students and other single persons).

% of 0-17 Year Olds Below Poverty Level

% of Persons Below 185% of Poverty Level

Note to users of the 1996 Kids Count Wealth Clusters: Town comparisons between clusters derived from 1990 census data and those from 2000 census data should be assessed with caution. Only those towns that have shifted by at least two cluster groups (e.g. from cluster 1 in 1990 to cluster 3 in 2000) can be interpreted as having undergone some substantial change over the 10-year period.

INCOME INEQUALITY HAS INCREASED IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
OVER THE PAST TWO DECADES

The United States was built on the ideal that hard work should pay off, that individuals who contribute to the nation's economic growth should reap the benefits of that growth. Over the past two decades, however, the benefits of economic growth have been skewed in favor of the wealthiest members of society. In New Hampshire, the incomes of the richest families climbed substantially, while the incomes of the middle- and lower-income families saw only modest increases.

In the early 2000s, the richest 20 percent of farnilies had average incomes 6.0 times as large as the poorest 20 percent of families. This is up from a ratio of 4.6 in the early 1980s. This growth in income inequality was the 31st largest in the nation.

In the early 2000s, the richest 20 percent of families had average incomes 2.4 times as large as the middle 20 percent of families. This is up from a ratio of 2.0 in the early 1980s. This growth in income inequality was the 33rd largest in the nation.

In the early 2000s, the income gap between the richest 20 percent of families and the poorest 20 percent was 37th largest in the nation. The income gap between the richest 20 percent of families and the middle 20 percent was 35th largest in the nation.

Between the early 1980s and the early 2000s, in dollar terms

• The average income of the poorest fifth of families increased by $6,382, from $16,747 to $23,128. This is roughly an increase of $305/yr.

•The average income of the middle fifth of families increased by $20,113, from $38,254 to 558,367. This is roughly an increase of $960/yr.

The average income of the richest fifth of families increased by $61,176, from $76,729 to $137,905. This is roughly an increase of $2,910/yr.

The chart shows these dollar changes in percentage terms.

Source: Falling Apart: A State-by-State Analysis of Income Trends,
Economic Policy Institute/Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, January 2006

NEW HAMPSHIRE WOMEN'S PAY 70% OF MEN'S

Women working in New Hampshire are paid about one-third less than men, according to U.S. Labor Department statistics. The Bureau of Labor Statistics figures for 1999 show New Hampshire median weekly earnings for both sexes was $599. It was $492 for women and $698 for men, giving women 70.6 percent of men’s median earnings. Nationally, women earned 76.5 percent as much as men.

Source: Foster's Daily Democrat,May 7, 2001

In 1997, it took a woman in New Hampshire 15 months to earn the same amount of money an equally well-educated man earned in a year. Minority women fared worse, earning 77 cents for each dollar earned by white women.

Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 1999

80% of working-age women in New Hampshire are working and, on average, contribute 77% of their families' income growth.

Source: MassINC, January, 2004

UPDATE: NEW HAMPSHIRE WOMEN'S PAY 80% OF MEN'S

Compared to the other five New England states, New Hampshire performs relatively well on measures of gender equity. Second only to Vermont, the state had a high female labor force participation rate (65 percent) and a low female unemployment rate (4 percent) in 2005. Ihirty-five percent of female workers worked part-time, the lowest percentage of any New England state but higher than the national figure of 30 percent.

Women workers in New Hampshire benefited from the highest growth rate in median wages in the New England region (15 percent). Growth in women's median wages in the state has been positive over the last two decades, outpacing men's wage growth. Yet female workers still earned about 80¢ for every dollar earned by men in New Hampshire. In New England, only Connecticut had a lower female-to-male earnings ratio (76 percent).

Source: Carsey Institute, The State of Working New Hampshire 2006

N.H. IS DEAD LAST IN NATIONAL GIVING INDEX

New England continues to lag the nation in charitable giving, with New Hampshire coming in dead-last and upper-income Vermonters and Mainers showing a decline in generosity during the decade ending in 2004, according to a study based on federal tax data.

Tthe Catalogue for Philanthropy, which compiles an annual "generosity index," issues its annual ranking of states and their residents' charitable giving by using Internal Revenue Service data showing average adjusted gross incomes and average itemized charitable giving.

In 2004, the most recent year for which data were available, New Hampshire ranked at the bottom among states for charitable giving. All other New England states were in the bottom 10, with the exception of Maine, which ranked 33rd.

Not everyone agrees with the group's consistent finding that New England states tend to be less generous than the nation as a whole.

Last year, a group of philanthropic groups around the region issued its own report based on survey data, painting a more positive picture of giving by New Englanders. It said only about a third of taxpayers itemize charitable contributions, so a study based on IRS data presents an incomplete picture.

The New England charities' report said the main difference between residents of the region and people nationally is that New Englanders give less to churches and other religious organizations. Based on survey data from the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, the New England charities' report said that "in New England, donors give a lower percentage of their income to religious causes and about the same percentage to secular causes as do donors elsewhere in the U.S. The difference in the total is largely attributable to the difference in religious giving."

The Catalogue for Philanthropy study confirmed that Bible Belt states have been the most generous relative to their residents' incomes, with Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi typically landing in the top five.

This year's report provided statistics for all taxpayers in each state and a separate set for those with an adjusted gross income of more than $200,000.

One thing was striking among the upper income group: Relative to their wealth, they are less generous than the population as a whole. The average upper-income person nationwide donated 3.8 percent of adjusted gross income to charity in 2004; overall, tax filers reported giving 7.9 percent of their adjusted gross income to charity.

In all six New England states, giving as percentage of income for people making more than $200,000 came in at below the national 3.8 percent figure.