In 2013, 17.5 million households (1 in 7) experienced food insecurity. That number is down from 17.6 million in 2012. While that's good news for some, it isn't good enough and will possibly rise again for 2014.
What is food insecurity?
The state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
Food insecurity is just what it sounds like. If you aren't sure where your next meal that meets your basic nutrition requirements wil come from, you are experienceing food insecurity.
The USDA just released its report Household Food Security in the United States in 2013. The news isn't good. In fact the bright spot is that it is down .6 % from 2101 to 2013. According to the study 17.5 million US households experienced some degree of food insecurity in 2013.
Here is what it boils down to:
“It’s a matter of interpretation if you think it’s good news or bad news,” said Alisha Coleman-Jensen, lead researcher with the USDA’s Economic Research Service. “We didn’t find anything that got worse. Basically, it seems like things are holding steady or improving a little bit, but it’s not down to those prerecession levels.”
2013 SNAP Cuts Aren't Reflected In These Numbers
It is important to remember that when looking at these numbers. I predict that the numbers for 2014 will rise again.
The Story in Two Graphs
Note that food insecurity falls disproportionately on African-American and Latino households
They Say The Economy Is Improving. What Gives?
Certainly some of the news has been good.
Unemployment fell in both 2012 and 2013 but a study released in June 2014 found that inflation and the price of food relative to other goods and services continued to increase.
These increases offset improvements in food security that might have resulted from the decline in unemployment.
While the number of households reporting food insecurity fell in 2013, the 14.3% is still above the 11% that were reported before the recession in 2007.
The Effect on Children
It is common in households facing food insecurity for parents to shield their children from hunger and skip meals themselves.
However, nearly 3.8 million households reported that food insecurity also affected children.
In addition, 360,000 households reported that children were hungry, skipped a meal or didn't eat for an entire day because there wasn't enough money for food. In some bit of good news that number is down from 463,000.
Make No Mistake
This IS good news. I just don't think its good enough and I fear that the decline is only temporary. Looking into these numbers gives some insight to how hunger exists in the US today. The numbers are too high for me to sleep comfortably tonight. Try to remember these the next time someone brings up cutting SNAP and other benefits. As Democrats, we should be working harder to reduce the numbers to BELOW the 2007 level for a start. We should then work to bring them even lower.