The purpose of "Focus" is to provide coverage of poverty-related research, events, and issues, and to acquaint a large audience with the work of the Institute for Research on Poverty by means of short essays on selected pieces of research. This issue contains the following articles: (1) The new global labor market (Richard B. Freeman);…

This paper assesses the influence of welfare payments and other socioeconomic factors on age-specific white and nonwhite illegitimate birth rates. For nonwhite younger women, the regression results suggest that larger welfare payments are associated with higher illegitimate rates. (Author)

Using data from the Survey of Adults and Youth, the authors examine the effect of economic status on youths' involvement in both school- and nonschool-related extracurricular activities. Specifically, they assess the association between four alternative measures of economic status--recipiency of food stamps, Aid to Families with Dependent…

Congress justified the recent reform of federal welfare policy in part by citing the increase in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) caseload since the late 1960s. The caseload, i.e., the number of families using AFDC, is determined by the number of families eligible to participate and by the proportion of these families who use the…

This Kids Count report examines statewide trends in the well-being of Pennsylvanias children. The statistical portrait is based on trends in 19 indicators of child well being: (1) early prenatal care; (2) low birth weight; (3) infant mortality; (4) child deaths; (5) child violent deaths; (6) births to single mothers under age 20; (7) mothers with…

This Kids Count report examines statewide trends in the well-being of Pennsylvania's children. The statistical portrait is based on trends in 17 indicators of child well being: (1) birth weight; (2) early prenatal care; (3) infant mortality; (4) substantiated cases of child abuse or neglect; (5) out-of-home placements; (6) delinquent children…