Economic Insecurity Still A Problem for Connecticut Families

By Davis Dunavin

A Yale study released this week bears some good and some bad news for Connecticut families struggling to make ends meet — the state is one of 11 nationwide in which economic insecurity declined, but more than one in six Connecticut families hit hard times in 2012.

15.6% of Connecticut families saw their available household income — the amount left over after handling medical bills and debts — decline by 25 percent or more from 2011 to 2012. The metric focuses on families who did not have enough savings to make up for this blow.

"The cushioning effect of public benefits have declined." the study's author, Yale Political Science professor Jacob Hacker, told the New Haven Register. "It seems that when people experience big drops, the cushioning is less than it has been in the past."

Nonetheless, the number is down 1.4% from 2011, when 17% of Connecticut residents found themselves in the same position.

Nationwide, economic security is on the rise slowly. The ESI (Economic Security Index) study, produced by Hacker and the Rockefeller Foundation, found a 1.1% drop in economic insecurity, the third consecutive decrease since 2009. Nonetheless, insecurity has risen over time, the study's authors said.

"Given the long-term rise in insecurity, the 'new normal' is likely to be a higher level of insecurity even as the economy continues to recover," they wrote. "Moreover, a significant share of Americans may never reenter the workforce; in this context, lower instability would reflect greater exclusion. America’s leaders will have to monitor these trends closely and should use multiple measures — including the Economic Security Index — to determine the health of America’s economic standing."