Rural America has long been perceived as "left behind" by policies that leave it struggling while benefiting bustling urban cities and suburbs. That narrative holds some truth: rural America has a declining population, along with lower educational attainment and lower workforce participation than urban America. But while rural America…

Estimates are made of absolute poverty and employment under the hypothesis that existing trends continue. Concludes that while the number of people in absolute poverty is not likely to decline by 2000, the proportion will fall. Jobs will have to grow 3.9% per year in developing countries to achieve full employment. (JOW)

This research examined the knowledge base on Pacific and Asian American families and assessed the impact of Federal programs and policies for this population. The thesis of the study was that conventional indicators used by the Federal government as measures of social welfare do not adequately depict the disadvantaged conditions under which many…

In 1992, 12 million families were maintained by women in the United States--a figure that more than doubled since 1970 when there were only 5.6 million such families. They accounted for 14.8 percent of all families in 1980 and 17.6 percent in 1992. Women maintained 3.5 million Black families in 1992; this represented nearly half of all Black…

In 1988, 65% of mothers with children under the age of 18 were in the labor force. Regardless of marital status, mothers are very active in the labor force and contribute significantly to family income. On average, female-headed households earned 56% of the amount married-couple families earn. Families maintained by women represented 52% of all…

In 1998, the Illinois statewide coalition Work, Welfare and Families, in partnership with the Chicago Urban League, undertook a study to assess the effects of welfare reform on low-income families and children across Illinois. The findings were derived from three sources: a self-administered survey of 2,166 low-income clients of Illinois social…

The validity of the notion that welfare receipt is equivalent to "dependency" and work represents "self-sufficiency" was examined in a qualitative study during which 214 recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and 165 low-wage single mothers in 4 U.S. cities were interviewed. The women were contacted…

A recent report from Rand, a think tank in California, titled "The Trend in Inequality among Families, Individuals, and Workers in the United States" by Lynn A. Karoly confirms that the gap between the haves and have-nots is widening and that the middle class in the United States is shrinking. Latinos have been particularly hard hit.…

Reducing poverty and social exclusion is an important objective for all French governments. Even though conventionally measured poverty is in fact lower than in most other countries, it is still higher than can be easily accepted. The current policy approach involves a large number of measures tailored to different circumstances. Some policies…

There have been concerns that employment-enhancing reforms along the lines of the 1994 OECD Jobs Strategy could inadvertently lead to increased income inequality and poverty. This paper focuses on the impact of institutions and redistributive policies on inequality and poverty with the view of assessing whether a trade-off between better labour…

The potential effects of raising the minimum wage on the earnings of mothers moving from welfare to work were examined by analyzing the differences that existed in the late 1980s in the various states' minimum wage rates and data from three waves of the Survey of Income and Program Participation for the years 1985-1990 (during which time 13 states…

The moral and ethical values enunciated by America's leading religious organizations lay much of the groundwork for its major democratic institutions and establish the benchmarks by which U.S. employment conditions and policies should be measured. The public's perception of the economy's relative well-being is based on oversimplified statistical…

The greatest percentage of increase for women participating in the labor force in Oregon was among those between the ages of 25 and 44. The percentage of women with some postsecondary education has more than doubled in two generations. Women now represent 47 percent of full-time postsecondary students in Oregon. Fifty-seven percent of the state's…

A study of female employment in the private sector between 1966 and 1975 was done (1) to measure the progress of women toward fair-share goals in level of employment, job quality, and salary level and (2) to project when employment gaps will close. The data utilized was reported by those employers who are required to and did file Employer…

The characteristics, earnings, employment experiences, and material well-being of California welfare recipients after leaving welfare were examined by comparing the postwelfare experiences of groups who exited welfare before and after institution of California's welfare reform program CalWORKs. The first group (pre-CalWORKs group) exited welfare…