Economic Stability

Economic stability is the ability to earn enough income to support basic health needs. Access to affordable healthy food, safe and quality housing, and healthcare services support health. Income and employment rates can show how easy it is for people to afford basic needs that support a healthy life.

Historical Spotlight on Health

Poverty in Rock County can have lasting impacts on families. Lack of good paying jobs and quality employment can negatively affect health that can lead to Adverse Childhood Experiences called ACES. 

The likelihood of experiencing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) for children and adolescents in families with incomes less than 200% of the poverty threshold is significantly higher than in families with incomes greater than 200% of the poverty threshold. 20.7% of children raised below the 200% poverty threshold experienced at least one specified ACE, compared to 12.6% of children above the poverty threshold.¹ ACES are associated with poor adult health outcomes, with higher incidences of chronic health problems in adulthood including depression, asthma, cancer, diabetes, mental illness, and substance misuse.  

Historically, there have been several economic downturns impacting ACES of Rock County residents who lived through them as children, including the high unemployment of the 1980s², the Great Recession of 2008³, and the COVID Lockdown⁴. Rock County’s Black and Hispanic families are approximately three times more likely to be experiencing poverty as White families, with 38.7% Black, 32.9% Hispanic, and 12.1% white families experiencing poverty in 2017.⁵ 

  1. QuickStats: Percentage* of Children and Adolescents Aged 0–17 Years Who Have Experienced a Specified Stressful Life Event,† by Type of Event and Poverty Status — National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2019.  (Weekly) August 27, 2021, 70(34);1181  https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7034a7.htm 

  2. Dupre.  Century of Stories, p196.  [In 1982, the Janesville-Beloit metropolitan area had a 24.4% unemployment rate.  Unofficial rate may have been as high as 30%.] 

  3. Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Local Area Unemployment Statistics. Janesville-Beloit, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area.  https://www.bls.gov/data/  [March 2009, Rock County’s unemployment rate was 14.4%] 

  4. [unemployment rate to 14.1% in April 2020.]  Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.  Rock County 2023 Workforce Profile, p 2 https://jobcenterofwisconsin.com/wisconomy/wits_info/downloads/CP/rock_profile.pdf  

  5. Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council, Inc.  Analysis of impediments to fair housing, City of Beloit, City of Janesville, and Rock County, Wisconsin (draft) 2019, p 17.