Work-Family Challenges for Low-Income Parents and Their Children

by Crouter; Ann C.

• ISBN13: 9780805850772
• ISBN10: 0805850775
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2003-12-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The area of work and family is a hot topic in the social sciences and appeals to scholars in a wide range of disciplines. There are few edited volumes in this area, however, and this may be the only one that focuses on low-income families--a particularly important group in this era of welfare-to-work policy. Interdisciplinary in nature, the volume brings together contributors from the fields of psychology, social work, sociology, demography, economics, human development and family studies, and public policy. It presents important work-family topics from the point of view of low-income families at a time in history when welfare to work programs have become standard. Divided into four parts, each section addresses a different aspect of the topic, consisting of a big picture lead essay which is followed by three papers that critique, extend, and supplement the final paper. Many of the chapters address important social policy issues, giving the volume an applied focus which will make it of interest to many groups. Serving to organize the volume, these issues and others have been encapsulated into four sets of anchor questions: *How has the availability, content, and stability of the jobs available for the working poor changed in recent decades? How do work circumstances for low-income families vary as a function of gender, family structure, race, ethnicity, and geography? What implications do these changes have for the widening inequality between the haves and have-nots? *What features of work timing matter for families? What do we know about the impacts of shift work, long hours, seasonal work, and temporary work on employees, their family relationships, and their children's development? *How are the child care needs of low-income families being met? What challenges do these families face with regard to child care, and how can child-care services be strengthened to support parents and to enhance child development? *How are the challenges of managing work and family experienced by low-income men and women? The primary audience for the book is academicians and their students, policy specialists, and people charged with developing and evaluating family-focused programs. The volume will be appropriate for classroom use in upper-level undergraduate courses and graduate courses in the fields of family sociology, demography, human development and family studies, women's studies, labor studies, and social work.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
PART I How Has the Availability, Content, and Stability of the Jobs Available for the Working Poor Changed in Recent Decades?
1 The Low-Wage Labor Market: Trends and Policy Implications	3	(32)
Jared Bernstein
2 Labor Market and Family Trends and Public Policy Responses	35	(10)
Paula England
3 Beyond Low Wages: Underemployment in America	45	(10)
Leif Jensen and Timothy Slack
4 Changing Families, Shifting Economic Fortunes, and Meeting Basic Needs	55	(28)
Lynne M. Casper and Rosalind B. King
PART II What Features of Work Timing Matter for Families?
5 Employment in a 24/7 Economy: Challenges for the Family	83	(24)
Harriet B. Presser
6 The Time and Timing of Work: Unique Challenges Facing Low-Income Families	107	(10)
Maureen Perry-Jenkins
7 Exploring Process and Control in Families Working Nonstandard Schedules	117	(10)
Kerry Daly
8 Using Daily Diaries to Assess Temporal Friction Between Work and Family	127	(12)
David M. Almeida
PART III How are the Childcare Needs of Low-Income Families Being Met?
9 Childcare for Low-Income Families: Problems and Promises	139	(26)
Aletha C. Huston
10 The Crisis of Care	165	(14)
Barrie Thorne
11 Childcare as a Work Support, a Child-focused Intervention, and a Job	179	(12)
C. Cybele Raver
12 Childcare for Low-Income Families: Problems and Promise	191	(12)
Martha Zaslow
PART IV How are the Challenges of Managing Work and Family Experienced by Low-Income Men and Women?
13 "Making a Way Out of No Way": How Mothers Meet Basic Family Needs While Moving from Welfare to Work	203	(40)
Susan Clampet-Lundquist, Kathryn Edin, Andrew London, Ellen Scott, and Vicki Hunter
14 Should Promoting Marriage be the Next Stage of Welfare Reform?	243	(8)
Benjamin R. Karney and Shauna H. Springer
15 Making Our Way Together: Collaboration in the Move from Welfare to Work	251	(14)
Lynne A. Bond and Amy M. Carmola Hauf
16 The Growing Compliance Burden for Recipients of Public Assistance	265	(8)
Andrew J. Cherlin
17 Balancing Work and Family: Problems and Solutions for Low-Income Families	273	(14)
Daniel N. Hawkins and Shawn D. Whiteman
Author Index	287	(6)
Subject Index	293