Jobs Aren't Enough

by Iversen, Roberta Rehner; Armstrong, Annie Laurie

• ISBN13: 9781592133567
• ISBN10: 1592133568
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-07-28
• Publisher: Temple Univ Pr

Summary

In this gripping ethnographic account, Roberta Iversen and Annie Laurie Armstrong examine the obstacles to economic mobility for low- and increasingly middle-income families in 21st century America. The 'voices' of twenty-five families in Milwaukee, New Orleans, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Seattle and of hundreds of people who are linked to the families' lives, show that the historic myths about opportunity, merit, and 'bootstraps' are outdated and, in some cases, downright dangerous for many urban workers and their families. Iversen and Armstrong show that the social institutions of family, education, labour market and policy all intersect to influence mobility. Jobs Aren't Enough proposes a new mobility paradigm grounded in cooperation, collaboration, mutuality and revitalization of the 'public will' to maximize both "household and profit."

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
SUSAN GEWIRTZ
Acknowledgments	xi
1 Are Jobs Enough for Economic Mobility?	1	(12)
2 From the Old to the New Economic Mobility	13	(16)
3 The Parents: Their Backgrounds, Lives, and Locations	29	(31)
4 The Children: Their Lives and Worlds	60	(28)
5 Workforce Development: Systems and Networks	88	(31)
6 Yesterday's Firms and Today's Families: Connects and Disconnects	119	(56)
WITH MICHELE BELLIVEAU
7 Children's Schools, Parents' Work, and Policy: Alignment and Misalignment	175	(25)
8 Jobs Aren't Enough: Toward an Agenda for Family Economic Mobility	200	(14)
Afterword: What Lies Ahead for the New Orleans Families after Hurricane Katrina?	214	(5)
Appendix A: Frequently Asked Questions about the Research in this Book: Research Design	219	(10)
Appendix B: Industry, Firm, Occupation, and Wage Information and Projections	229	(22)
Appendix C: Resident Family Composition and Family Story References	251	(4)
Notes	255	(2)
References	257	(20)
Index	277