1,721,122 research outputs found
U.S. poverty rising again
No full textSheldon Danziger, director of the National Poverty Center at U-M, says poverty levels will exceed 15 percent -- which translates to more than 45 million people.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/84194/1/danziger_sept_10.mp
Essays on marriage and work.
No full textIn 1968 less than half of all married women worked outside the home. Twenty years later, this figure stood at almost three-quarters. Over the same period, growth in wives' earnings accounted for about 30 percent of the growth in total family income for families headed by married couples. These changes raise questions about family labor supply which motivate the three essays in this dissertation. The first essay reviews a variety of models of household decision making. Becker's model of a household with an altruistic head, as well as bargaining models which allow a more explicit recognition of conflicting interests within the household, are discussed. The chapter also outlines a new model of "customized marriage", which provides a framework for analyzing the impact of changing norms on household decision making. The impact of the growth in married women's market work on patterns of assortative mating is analyzed in the second essay. As more married women work, is a woman's position in the marriage market becoming more dependent on her potential market wage? This question is addressed with an analysis of patterns of assortative mating for two cohorts of young women--from the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. While the correlation of spouses' earnings has risen substantially, the analysis suggests a relatively small proportion of the change is due to changes in assortative mating on wages. The final essay analyzes the implications of changing patterns of wives' labor force participation for the distribution of income of married couples. Data from the Current Population Survey are used to examine changes in participation and earnings of white and black married couples since 1968. The paper develops and applies a decomposition of changes in the coefficient of variation over time. The results indicate that despite the disproportionate increase in labor force participation of women with high-earning husbands, married women's earnings equalize the distribution of family income. Moreover, the equalizing impact has increased over time, especially for black married couples.PhDEconomicsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/103554/1/9332026.pdfDescription of 9332026.pdf : Restricted to UM users only
Changing poverty
No full textMore than 37 million people are considered poor. U-M expert Sheldon Danziger says the Obama Administration could have policies in place to lower the poverty rate in the next few years.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/84197/1/danzinger_jun_09.mp
Welfare and poverty: Pathways to adult economic outcomes.
No full textAs a result of federal welfare reform legislation passed in 1996, states are required to impose lifetime limits on federal welfare benefits to low-income families and are allowed to prohibit benefits to unmarried teenagers. Both provisions have been justified as being in the long-run economic interest of children and teenagers. Proponents of lifetime limits argue that children from welfare families become caught up in a cycle of dependency and, as a result, work less, earn less, and become more likely to be on welfare themselves when they become adults. Those who would prohibit assistance to unmarried teenagers argue that these women also compare unfavorably as adults to women who wait until they are married or in their twenties to have children. While it may well be true that both children from welfare families and unmarried teenagers fare more poorly as adults, the pathways by which these results obtain are much less understood. This dissertation explores some of the pathways from poverty, welfare, and single teen motherhood to poor adult outcomes. First, an overview of the theoretical perspectives that have been brought to bear on the intergenerational effects of the Aid to Dependent Families with Children (AFDC) is presented and recent studies of these effects are critiqued. This review finds scant theoretical justification, in either the economic, sociological, or psychological literature, for the belief that welfare, in and of itself, causes poor adult outcomes and concludes that it is difficult to separate the effects of welfare from the effects of poverty. Following this review, two empirical studies examine commonly cited pathways to poor adult outcomes. The first study uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and finds that family welfare receipt during childhood has little effect on measured self-esteem during early adolescence. The second study uses the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to look at the impact of single teen motherhood on later economic outcomes and finds that controlling for unmeasured family background reduces, but does not eliminate, these negative effects. Taken together, these findings suggest that the long-run benefits of placing time limits on welfare and prohibiting aid to teenagers are likely to be overstated.PhDEconomicsPublic policySocial SciencesSocial workUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/130282/2/9722020.pd
Getting out, getting over, or getting by: Social constructs "on the streets".
Get PDFThis dissertation focused on the hypothesis that persons "on the streets" construct their social world in one of three prototypes: (1) Getting Out, who hold mainstream values and norms; (2) Getting Over, who substitute non-mainstream values and norms; (3) Getting By, who reject mainstream values and norms but do not substitute new ones. The greatest influence was thought to be the "hang-out" group. These prototypes were distinguished by attitudes towards: alternative employment, job search strategies, group location, benefit use, service independence, and social group norms. The research took place at the "Street Center", a centralized service coalition in Richmond, Virginia and consisted of four phases: an analysis of the ethnographic literature on social groups in poverty environments, a clinical pretest (thirteen individuals), a close-ended survey of service users (one-hundred and forty-six individuals), and five focus groups drawn from among the survey participants. Using these methods allowed for an exploration of meaning beyond a strictly quantitative approach while allowing for a generalizability greater than in a qualitative study. The results suggest that eighty per cent of the population fit into five clusters--the three "social" prototypes of the original hypothesis and two "loner" ones that emerged from the analysis. The study also found that Getting By represented the most frequently occurring prototype; Getting Out individuals had smaller, more cohesive groups; and that Getting Over persons had more involvement in alternative employment activities and were more likely to be currently using substances. In addition, there was some suggestion that these prototypes emerged prior to first entry onto "the streets". The typology was compared to a structural explanation and an argument was made that the two approaches are complementary--that knowledge of both is superior to knowledge of either separately. Finally, implications for service delivery and practice and methodological implications are presented.PhDSocial Work and PsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/104020/1/9423293.pdfDescription of 9423293.pdf : Restricted to UM users only
I'm 25 and I still live with my parents
No full textIt takes young people longer to complete their schooling, settle into steady employment, and delay marriage and childbearing, according to new findings. Thus, it's become socially acceptable living with parents as an adult.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/84196/1/Danzigerpod_Jan08.mp
U-M experts discuss poverty trends
No full textPoverty has been a major problem in this country during the last several decades. More than 37 million people in the United States live in poverty. More than 37 million people in the U.S. live in poverty. Sheldon Danziger and Bob Schoeni, both with the U-M National Poverty Center, discuss national poverty figures to coincide with the Aug. 28 release of data by the U.S. Census Bureau.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/93427/1/Poverty.mo
Changing labor market opportunities of white and African American women in the 1940's and the 1980's.
No full textThis dissertation explores changing labor opportunities of white and black women in both the 1940's and 1980's in the United States. The decade of WWII was one of increasing earnings equality of workers and dramatic short-term alterations in the position of women in the labor market. In contrast, the 1980's was a decade of increasing income inequality, significant advance in the labor market position of women, and declining relative earnings of black workers. In Chapter II, I investigate the extent to which wartime disruption of local labor markets led to increases in black and white women's labor force participation across the 1940's. Data is drawn from the War Production Board, the War Manpower Commission and the 1940 and 1950 Censuses. While women's opportunities advanced in specific and identifiable cities during WWII, I find that these wartime disruptions did not lead to long-run participation or wage advances for white women. Among older white women, whose participation grew dramatically over the decade, WWII explains almost none of participation advances. There is evidence that wartime contracts directed the migration of African Americans throughout the decade. Thus, war spurred migration may have led to labor market advances of black women. These results support a growing body of literature showing the limited effects of WWII on white women's labor force participation. Chapter III draws on nineteen years of Current Population Survey data (1973-1991) to investigate changes in the earnings and employment of young black women relative to young white women. The relative earnings of young black women, in the total population and in each regional and educational group investigated, fell significantly across the period studied. Black college graduates and black women in the Midwest experienced the most significant earnings erosion. The declining relative experience of black women accounts for part of the increases in the wage gap. The widening gap in educational attainment and the increase in returns to education also worked against black women. Additionally, the decline of central cities, the loss of manufacturing jobs, and declines in union density underlie the erosion of the relative earnings of black women with a high-school education, particularly those in the Midwest.PhDEconomic historyEconomic theorySocial SciencesSocial workWomen's studiesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/129440/2/9513345.pd
The disadvantaged labor market status of an ethnic minority: Puerto Rican women in the United States, 1970-1990.
No full textThis dissertation explores the causes for the deterioration of employment prospects for Puerto Rican women in the United States. Specifically, it examines the links between changing economic and personal characteristics and the labor force participation outcomes and economic well-being of Puerto Rican women and their families since 1970. Data are from the 1970, 1980 and 1990 Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) of the U. S. Census of Housing and Population and ethnographic research conducted by the author in 1993 in New York City. Findings from the quantitative analysis of census microdata show an increasing within group differentiation of labor market outcomes for Puerto Rican women, depending on marital status, and a continuing gap between them and non-Hispanic blacks and whites. In addition, immigrant Puerto Rican women appear to have lost their comparative advantage over their U.S.-born and educated counterparts. The study also involves the collection of primary data, in the form of oral histories of a sample of primarily Island-born, poor or working-class Puerto Rican women living in New York City. Qualitative analysis of these personal narratives corroborates a story of economic restructuring and ethnic realignment in the New York metropolitan area. It is also the story of a seemingly increasing association between ethnicity and labor market outcomes and between marital status and labor market outcomes. The ethnographic material gathered in this study challenges the common depiction of female migrants as passive followers of men. The first person narratives of New York Puerto Rican women portray females as active agents in migration, in many cases autonomous migrants themselves or the initiators of networks of exchange, not only of goods, services and information, but of people as well. Findings strongly suggest that the proximate determinants of migration and employment are highly familiarized and gendered. Combining both, quantitative and qualitative sources of data enhances our understanding of the timing and characteristics of the paths to employment and social mobility among this group. Findings also reaffirm the importance of adopting a historically-specific approach and invite further inquiry into the role that gender and family ideology play in poor people's strategies for economic survival.PhDEthnic studiesLabor economicsSocial SciencesWomen's studiesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/129513/2/9527603.pd
Family structure, father involvement and adolescent behavioral outcomes.
No full textRecent changes in the demographics of American families have led to a striking increase in the number of families headed by a single parent. As fewer children spend most or all of their childhood living with two biological parents, concern has risen about the consequences of various family structures for children's development and well-being. This dissertation examines the effects of family structure on adolescent behavioral outcomes and the mechanisms by which those effects operate. Regression analyses are conducted using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth for adolescents ages 10 to 14 in 1996. Dependent variables include measures of externalizing and internalizing behaviors such as delinquency, substance use, school suspension and negative feelings. A range of mediating factors is assessed, with emphasis on the role of father involvement. Consistent with previous research, results from this dissertation show significant deleterious effects of single-parent families for children and adolescents. The findings also indicate that most of the effects of family structure can be accounted for by a range of intervening factors and background characteristics. Family structure operates through mediating factors which include the father-child relationship, economic status, and negative peer influence. Father involvement is a particularly important mediator that partially explains the greater behavioral problems observed among adolescents in single-parent families. Variations with respect to the effects of father involvement are explored. Involvement by biological fathers is associated with improved behavioral scores for all adolescents regardless of living arrangements, although involvement by residential fathers appears to have a greater effect than involvement by non-residential fathers; these conclusions, however, are tentative and require further analysis using a larger sample of adolescents. Initial evidence indicates that involvement by step fathers does not improve adolescent behavior, although the small number of cases living in step families prevents definitive conclusions from being drawn. The level of biological father involvement is strongly associated with the quality of relationship between the mother and the father, particularly for adolescents who live with their biological, married parents.PhDBehavioral psychologyDemographyIndividual and family studiesPsychologySocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/132087/2/9959716.pd
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