Over the last two decades, family scholars have become increasingly interested in the interconnections between paid work and family life. Much of this research, however, has focused on the lives of middle class and professional families and has ignored low-income families and the working poor. This oversight is particularly troubling given recent welfare legislation that has pushed many single mothers into the paid labor force. Here we focus on issues faced by parents struggling to gain a foothold on the economic ladder.
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 implication do these change have for the widening inequality between the haves and have-nots?
Lead Speaker: Jared Bernstein, Economic Policy Institute
Discussants:
Paula England, Northwestern University
Leif Jensen, The Pennsylvania State University
Lynne Casper, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
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?
Lead Speaker: Harriet Presser, University of Maryland
Discussants:
Maureen Perry-Jenkins, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Kerry Daly, University of Guelph
David Almeida, University of Arizona
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?
Lead Speaker: Aletha Huston, University of Texas-Austin
Discussants:
Barrie Thorne University of California-Berkeley
Cybele Raver, University of Chicago
Martha Zaslow, Child Trends
How are the challenges of managing work and family experienced by low-income men and women? What are the implications of employment circumstance for men and women's relationships with each other, their children, other family members, and friends?
Lead Speakers: Kathryn Edin, Northwestern University, and Susan Clampet-Lundquist, University of Pennsylvania
Discussants:
Benjamin Karney, University of Florida
Lynne Bond, University of Vermont
Andrew Cherlin, Johns Hopkins University
Book Citation
Crouter, Ann C. and Alan Booth (2004). Work-Family Challenges for Low-Income Parents and Their Children. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
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