1,721,006 research outputs found
Lynn S Chancer, Martín Sánchez-Jankowski and Christine Trost (eds), Youth, Jobs, and the Future: Problems and Prospects
No full textNowadays, the US labor market is characterized by the persistence of high youth unemployment. During the Great Recession, which in the United States covered the period 2007–2009, the unemployment rate rose to a peak of more than 25% for 16- to 19-year-olds and over 15% for 20- to 24-year-olds. Over the following decade, it remained significantly high – even if the overall unemployment rate dropped to the ‘natural level’ (about 5%)
Reformed American Dreams: Welfare Mothers, Higher Education, and Activism
No full textCross-country studies on poverty show that in the United States, compared to other developed countries, single mothers currently have an extremely high risk of being poor—a risk that is about 35 percent. Many studies about poor single mothers in the United States have emphasized that policy-makers and prevailing societal ideology are likely to depict them as women that are irresponsible, since they had children in hard economic conditions (see, e.g., Furstenberg 2007). Social science literature is critical of this narrow viewpoint. Indeed, numerous studies have shown a multitude of similarities between poor and middle-class mothers in terms of aspirations, values, and orientations (e.g., Edin and Kefalas 2005)
COVID-19 and relationship quality: Emotional, paid work and organizational spheres
Full text linkThis study contributes to the growing literature on the repercussions of the COVID- 19 pandemic for family functioning, with a special focus on couples’ relationship quality. We advance an analytical model that emphasizes the role of three main stressors of relationship quality during the pandemic: namely, emotional, paid work-related and organizational stressors. To outline such an approach, we analyze whether the onset of the pandemic – and the home confinement that followed – has reduced relationship quality in France, Italy and Spain using survey data collected in April 2020. We show that relationship quality decreased for a non-negligible part of the population, and that this result was driven mostly by the emotional stressor. These negative effects on relationship quality appeared to be relatively stable across genders, different levels of network support and countries; which suggests that the severity of the lockdown measures outweighed the traditional moderating factors usually accounted for in family research
Time Preferences and Fertility: Evidence from Italy
No full textObjective Time preferences, also referred to as impatience, is a personal characteristic that has been found to influence different types of decisions, from financial investments to schooling decisions. The present study is the first that empirically explores whether this trait represents a determinant of human reproductive choices.
Background Fertility decisions, as all life actions, imply a balancing of anticipated costs and benefits whose expectations are formed under uncertainty. Fertility research has addressed the backward reasonings (socio-economic, psychological, biological factors) influencing fertility decisions. Yet, the role of forward factors, such as the preference for immediate but lower benefits versus future but higher benefits, in influencing fertility decisions has been overlooked.
Method Data are from the Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) carried out by the Bank of Italy every two years on a sample of about 8000 households. In particular, we make use of a question included in the 2004, 2008, 2010 and 2012 waves to examine whether, controlling for backward factors, impatience affects parity progressions.
Results Results from logistic regression models indicate an inverse U-shape association between impatience and the transition to the first and the second child during the observation period, meaning that for very impatient and very patient individuals the probability of having a first and a second child is lower than for individuals within intermediate levels of impatience.
Conclusion The empirical finding points to the importance of considering time discounting preferences (as well as other forward-looking factors) in fertility research to gain a more complete understanding on fertility behaviours
Does love laugh at locksmiths? Partnership quality during the lockdown in Italy, France and Spain. Some descriptive findings
Full text linkThis study contributes to the growing strand of research on the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The home confinement imposed as part of nationwide movement restrictions in many countries represents an exceptional setting for the study of intimate relationships. Did the lockdown reduce partnership quality? In this study, we present some descriptive findings based on a recent online survey conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in France, Italy and Spain. Around 12% of those interviewed in the three countries reported that their relationship with their partner had worsened during the lockdown. In addition, we show that negative emotions – such as feeling lonely – and deterioration of income/work conditions are associated with a worsening of partnership quality. In all, we suggest that the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic are not only economic; couples and intimate relationships are also vulnerable. This study plants first a seed that will – we hope – germinate in future studies on the topic
Industrial Robots and Regional Fertility in European Countries
No full textIn this study, we examine whether the long-term structural changes in the labour market, driven by automation, affect fertility. The adoption of industrial robots is used as a proxy for these changes. It has tripled since the mid-1990s in the EU, tremendously changing the conditions of participating in the labour market. On the one hand, new jobs are created, benefitting largely the highly skilled workers. On the other hand, the growing turnover in the labour market and changing content of jobs induce fears of job displacement and make workers continuously adjust to new requirements (reskill, upskill, increase work efforts). The consequences of these changes are particularly strong for the employment and earning prospects of low and middle-educated workers. Our focus is on six European countries: Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the UK. We link regional data on fertility and employment structures by industry from Eurostat (NUTS-2) with data on robot adoption from the International Federation of Robotics. We estimate fixed effects linear models with instrumental variables in order to account for the external shocks which may affect fertility and robot adoption in parallel. Our findings suggest robots tend to exert a negative impact on fertility in highly industrialised regions, regions with relatively low educated populations and those which are technologically less advanced. At the same time, better educated and prospering regions may even experience fertility improvements as a result of technological change. The family and labour market institutions of the country may further moderate these effects
Discriminazione e rischio di basso salario dei lavoratori temporanei in Italia
No full textThe aim of this article is to analyse wage discrimination among temporary workers in comparison to permanent workers in Italy during the last decade. Flexible jobs reflect an important change that has a wide range of consequences pertaining to social dimensions that sociologists study. The analysis focuses on the cost of partial and segmented deregulation of the Italian labour market and its impact on temporary workers' wage. Three types of analysis are proposed: via quantile decomposition it is shown that the differences between the two groups' observable characteristics do not explain the wage differential in the lowest part of the wage distribution, where it can be stated that there is discrimination against temporary workers; secondly, the risk of low income assessed via event history analysis shows that there is a greater probability of low income among temporary workers and, finally, that there is a higher probability of having an episode of downward wage mobility for the same group. Temporary jobs, which are widespread among the youngest cohorts of Italian workers, could become a smoking gun for the future generations of adults if this discrimination persists
Trends in fertility preferences among Italian young adults
No full textIn examining Italy’s low fertility, recent studies have emphasized the role played by socio-economic factors, uncertainty, and the welfare state. Meanwhile, emerging research is highlighting a potential downward revision of fertility ideals among more recent generations. Our study analyses trends in fertility desires and expectations among young adults in Italy from 2012 to 2022. Findings reveal growing tendencies to: (1) not desire children, among more recent cohorts; and (2) to not expect to have children during the lifetime, in more recent years. Specifically, this indicates a nuanced demographic gradient: we observe a decline in fertility desires and expectations with age and a significant increase in the likelihood of not desiring children for women across birth cohorts. Our study highlights the need for robust, harmonized cross-national surveys to better understand new fertility ideals across different socio-demographic contexts
COVID-19 and Relationship Quality. Emotional, Working and Organizational Spheres
Full text linkThis study contributes to the growing literature on the repercussions of the COVID- 19 pandemic for family functioning, with a special focus on couples’ relationship quality. We advance an analytical model that emphasizes the role of three main stressors of relationship quality during the pandemic: namely, emotional, paid work-related and organizational stressors. To outline such an approach, we analyze whether the onset of the pandemic – and the home confinement that followed – has reduced relationship quality in France, Italy and Spain using survey data collected in April 2020. We show that relationship quality decreased for a non-negligible part of the population, and that this result was driven mostly by the emotional stressor. These negative effects on relationship quality appeared to be relatively stable across genders, different levels of network support and countries; which suggests that the severity of the lockdown measures outweighed the traditional moderating factors usually accounted for in family research
The institutional and cultural framing of the educational stratification in fertility. A review of the role of labor market institutions and attitudinal orientations
Full text linkThe aim of this article is to overcome the incomplete explanation of previous research findings on the societal determinants of the educational fertility differentials in Europe. Our analysis draws on two overlooked factors, the role of labour market setting and the diffusion of new values. Combining ESS, EVS and WVS data for 2004–2009 with contextual indicators on labour market setting and cultural orientations, our multilevel analysis shows that labour market conditions in terms of share of part time jobs, dimension of public sector employment and strictness of EPL do not systematically modify the gradient of fertility by parities. But instead, we observe a clear moderator effect of attitudinal orientations. Results show that in societies where postmodernism is widespread, both high and low educated women are less likely to have children. A high diffusion of gender egalitarianism is associated with a reduction of the gradient through an increase of the likelihood of having a child especially for higher educated women. This article concludes by highlighting some responses to societal polarization of fertility related to both structural and cultural factors and indicates avenues for future research on the social stratification of fertility
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