|
CONSTRUCTS OF POVERTY AND
DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE WORKING POOR |
Social Empathy: A Tool to Address the Contradiction of Working but Still
Poor
Elizabeth A. Segal
Surveys show that most Americans, more than 80%, believe there is
“plenty of opportunity and anyone who works hard can go as far as they
want.” Contrary to this
belief is the fact that millions of people work every day
and are still poor. How can a person work hard and still be poor?
Although social service providers are more familiar with
the existence of the working poor, most Americans believe that it is not
a social problem. This paper explores the phenomenon
of the working poor in the United States and provides a model for
developing social empathy to address the
problem of people who work but remain poor.
Parents’
Work, Depressive Symptoms, Children, and Family Economic Mobility: What
Can Ethnography Tell Us?
Roberta Rehner Iversen &
Annie Laurie Armstrong
Low-income work, job training, depressive symptoms or depression, and
children’s school performance. These topics have
occupied the attention of scholars and policy makers in recent years,
particularly as they pertain to single mothers in the
context of welfare reform. Broadening this landscape, findings from
longitudinal, multicity ethnographic research reveal
that low-income fathers also experience depression or depressive
symptoms that hinder family economic mobility. Further,
repeated scores from a community-based depressive symptoms measure
embedded in the ethnographic inquiry show
that the timing of parents’ training and employment pathways, economic
conditions, and policies in firms and children’s
schools intersect with parents’ depressive symptoms or depression to
affect mobility. Program and policy supports seem
to mediate these intersecting mobility challenges.
Working
and Poor: A Panel Study of Maturing Adults in the U.S.
Richard K. Caputo
This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and
highlights the extent of poverty and working
poverty between 1986 and 2004. Over one third of the
study sample lived in a poor family at least
one year, and nearly one fourth lived in a working poor family
at least one year. In addition, almost three fourths
of those who lived in a poor family at least one year also lived
at least one year in a working poor family. Differences
were found by gender and race/ethnicity. Findings suggest that poverty
as a social problem is better formulated in
terms of working rather than nonworking poverty and that gender and
race/ethnicity disparities are prevalent. Policy
options, such as expansion of the earned income tax credit and
implementation of a basic income guarantee, are explored.
Structural Reinterpretation of Poverty by Examining Working Poverty:
Implications for Community and Policy Practice
Philip Young P. Hong &
Stephen P. Wernet
This exploratory research focused on the structural context of working
poverty, thereby transcending its individual or
behavioral aspects. Two major questions guided this study: (1) How are
the working poor different compared to the working
nonpoor? (2) How do structural conditions affect the chances of one
being working poor? Using a sample of working
adults from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), we
conducted a series of logistic regression analyses
of working poverty on human capital, employment barriers, labor market
positions, and demographic variables. Central
findings were that all four sets of factors—demographic, human capital,
employment barriers, and labor market positions—
contribute to an individual’s likelihood of being among the working
poor. The structural factors—employment
barriers and labor market positions—significantly contributed to the
effects of human capital and demographic variables
on the likelihood of one being working poor. All four factors require
attention in community and policy practice to
improve the lot of all Americans in an increasingly global marketplace.
|
|
CRITICAL ISSUES IN WELFARE
REFORM AND WORK READINESS |
|
Bootstrap Capitalism: Sequel to Welfare Reform
David Stoesz
Since the 1935 Social Security Act, the nation’s response to poverty has
consisted of an array of stigmatizing public assistance
programs that have provided benefits well below the poverty level, and
which are so unpopular that many of the
poor eligible for benefits avoid them altogether. The take-up rate of
public assistance programs is about 50 percent, meaning
half of those eligible fail to receive benefits. The quintessential
example was Aid to Families with Dependent Children
(AFDC), which, despite its reinvention as Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF), continues to thwart the aspirations
of low-income Americans; families accumulating sufficient income or
assets above the means test are terminated
from assistance. In contrast, Bootstrap Capitalism promises to
mainstream the welfare- and working-poor, not only offering
them the same financial services most Americans take for granted but
also leveraging capital for community development
projects. For example, the take-up rate for the Earned Income Tax Credit
is about 85 percent. Accordingly, advocates
of social and economic justice should propose scrapping Public Welfare
and replacing it with Bootstrap Capitalism, a concept
that would accelerate the upward mobility of low-income Americans.
Barriers to Employment Among TANF Applicants and
Their Consequences for Self-Sufficiency
Amy Dworsky &
Mark E. Courtney
This article examines the prevalence of potential barriers to employment
using data from a longitudinal study of 1,075
Milwaukee County parents who applied for assistance from Wisconsin’s
TANF program in 1999. It also examines whether
those potential barriers were related to their subsequent employment and
earnings. We find that many of these TANF
applicants faced significant and often multiple barriers to employment.
Moreover, these potential barriers were associated
with both a reduction in their likelihood of being employed and lower
earnings when they worked. The implications of
these findings for welfare policy and practice are discussed.
Pathways to Employment: The Experiences of TANF
Recipients With Employment Services Agencies
in the Journey From Welfare to Work
David Beimers &
Robert L. Fischer
The passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996 by the U.S. Congress
required welfare recipients to quickly move into the workforce.
Employment services agencies perform a key role in this
process by providing welfare recipients with work readiness and job
search skills. This article reviews the findings of an
empirical study of the experiences and employment outcomes of Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients
referred to contracted employment services agencies. The study involves
a random-sample survey of 151 TANF
recipients in a large, urban, north-central county. The findings suggest
that generic work readiness activities may be of
limited utility unless they include job leads to actual employment
opportunities. The article concludes with a discussion
of critical issues for practitioners.
The Work Lives of the Low-Income Welfare Poor
David I. Siegel &
Ann Abbott
The work lives of the low-income welfare poor are considered with
reference to samples of leavers and returners to welfare.
They vary greatly from those in the primary job market with respect to
barriers to employment, availability of child care,
workplace conditions, wages and hours of work, job stability, industries
of employment, and health benefits provided at
work. Returners have a pattern of consistently greater barriers to
employment, reflective of their gender, racial, and single
parent status and their neighborhood environments, and consistent with
lower reported employment. Both groups appreciate
job training and job search activities and could benefit from greater
offerings in this area, especially efforts geared to
their specific barriers and workplace issues. In conclusion, the work
lives of the low-income welfare poor are a product of
our economic system and social structure, and they can be improved by
supplementation of wages, increases in the earned
income tax credit (EITC) and minimum wage, enhanced child care, and
neighborhood development programs.
|
|
ECONOMIC POLICIES AS
BARRIERS TO SELF-SUFFICIENCY |
|
The “Poverty Tax” and America’s Low-Income
Households
Howard Jacob Karger
This article looks how a poverty tax is extracted from low-income and
functionally poor middle-class families in the form
of high prices for goods and services and enmeshment in a fringe economy
made up of check-cashers, payday lenders, buy-here/pay-here used car lots, pawnshops, tax-refund lenders, subprime
mortgages (with interest rates higher than the prime
rate given to good customers), and so forth. The article provides an
overview of the fringe economy, its ownership by large
publicly-traded corporations, and its profitability. Finally, this
article examines some strategies for mitigating the effects of
the fringe economy and the poverty tax on low-income and functionally
poor families.
When Working Harder Does Not Pay: Low-Income
Working Families, Tax Liabilities, and Benefit Reductions
Jennifer L. Romich,
Jennifer Simmelink, &
Stephen D. Holt
Under some circumstances, recent reforms to policies that affect the
working poor create a barrier to workers who try to
increase their families’ financial well-being through greater earnings.
As earnings rise, benefits are reduced and taxes
increase. Together these two factors may mean that accepting a raise or
working more hours may not make a worker’s family
better off financially. This article presents an analysis of the extent
of implicit taxation and describes how low-wage
workers experience this phenomenon. We address three areas: how benefit
programs and the tax system together create
high combined tax rates, the implications of this system for low-income
families’ well being, and finally, suggestions for
practice and reform.
The Difficulty of Obtaining a Child Care
Subsidy: Implications for Policy and Practice
Mona Basta
Single mothers leaving welfare face a web of obstacles in accessing
child care subsidies. This paper develops a model of
child care selection and subsidy use among welfare leavers. Findings
suggest that the level of trust between parents and
child care providers and the availability of information about
facilities were important decision-making criteria. Efforts to
work with this population need to address their lack of information
about subsidies to increase the range of child care
alternatives and quality and also to promote trusting relationships
between social workers and welfare leavers. Specific recommendations
include combining ongoing case management with education about child
care alternatives and subsidies.
However, child care information services should be separated from
subsidies to promote trust in relationships with clients.
|
|
BUILDING FINANCIAL
STABILITY |
The Living-Wage Movement: Potential Implications for The Working Poor
Fred Brooks
The living wage movement may be the most potent current effort of
grassroots organizations and the working poor to
challenge the economic trends of stagnant wages and the increasing gap
between rich and poor. In addition to winning
substantial wage increases for tens of thousands of workers covered by
the 140 living wage ordinances passed since 1994,
the living wage movement has spawned numerous permanent economic justice
coalitions. Collectively, these diverse coalitions
are challenging the hegemony of neoliberal ideology over government and
corporate policy making. If the living
wage movement is able to sustain its nascent growth trajectory, it might
be in a position in the near future to halt the trends
of rising inequality and increasing numbers of working poor families.
Improving
the Knowledge and Attitudes of Low-Income Families About Banking and
Predatory Financial Practices
Steven G. Anderson,
Min Zhan, &
Jeff Scott
Research has found that low-income families often do not access the
mainstream banking services used by financially better-off families, and that they correspondingly are subject to predatory
financial practices. This article evaluates a training
program intended to improve the banking and related financial practices
of low-income persons. Pre-training surveys
found low initial knowledge about banking and predatory practices, and
trainees were skeptical about the costs and difficulties
associated with bank use. Post-training surveys found significant
knowledge improvements in these respects, as well
as attitude changes favorable to the use of mainstream financial
institutions. The implications of these findings for social
work involvement in financial training development are discussed.
Improving
the Retirement Prospects of Lower-Wage Workers in a Defined-Contribution
World
Judith G. Gonyea
Lower-wage workers have always faced challenges in saving for their
retirement years. As U.S. businesses increasingly
adopt defined-contribution pension plans and emphasize individual
responsibility and choice, what is the impact of this
shift on the working poor? Lack of pension coverage is a significant
concern because Social Security alone will not assure
a comfortable retirement for lower-income workers. Our survey of more
than 300 lower-wage service workers revealed
that significant predictors of retirement savings behavior included
greater financial literacy as well as greater job stability,
stronger workforce attachment, and higher income. Employer-sponsored
pension plans were the most frequently
used savings option. Based on the findings, we explore the potential
impacts of the Pension Protection Act of 2006
(PPA) on lower-wage workers’ retirement security and propose policy
steps to reduce the risk of poverty being recycled
into postretirement years.
Perceived
Effects of Participation in an Asset-Building Program on Construction of
Future Possibilities
Margaret Lombe,
Von Nebbitt, &
Jessie Buerlein
Acknowledging the inadequacy of traditional welfare policies in moving
households from poverty to economic self-sufficiency,
we examine the psychological effects of participating in an
asset-building intervention. We use a sample of 840
respondents who were enrolled in a community action program and assess
whether or not participating in an Individual
Development Account (IDA) program predicts a respondent’s construction
of future possibilities. Results show support
for the hypothesized relationships. Certain respondent
characteristics—e.g., age and income—are significantly associated
with the dependent variable. These findings may have important
implications for social policy. Participating in an IDA
program may empower program participants to think and act on future
possibilities, influencing their outcomes as well
as the overall socioeconomic development of their communities.
|
|
INNOVATIONS THROUGH PUBLIC
AND PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS |
|
Promising Practices in the Development and
Distribution of Asset-Building Products and Programs
John S. Hoffmire
This commentary describes how the author, director of the Center
on Business and Poverty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, forged a
partnership with Staples, the world’s largest office products company,
to support the company’s low-income workers. By working with the
company’s executives and human resources department, they were able to
help their low-income employees take advantage of the Earned Income Tax
Credit (EITC), a direct deposit of their payroll checks with automatic
contributions to a 401(k) account, and a financial literacy program.
Additional suggestions for working poor advocates in facilitating
similar corporate collaborations are discussed.
The Collaboration Between Welfare and Advocacy
Organizations:
Learning From the Experiences of Domestic Violence Survivors
Judy L. Postmus &
Sur Ah Hahn
The intertwined relationship between poverty and violence, especially in
the lives of women on welfare, has been receiving
critical attention since welfare reform. The Family Violence Option (FVO),
an amendment to the Personal Responsibility
and Work Reconciliation Act of 1996, gives states the flexibility to
offer more time for battered women to seek safety.
Kansas created the Orientation, Assessment, Referral, and Safety (OARS)
program, in which the state’s welfare system contracts
services with advocacy organizations that provide on-site services for
women who qualify to participate under the
FVO. This study explored the interagency collaboration model used in
Kansas by talking directly with domestic violence
survivors about their experiences. The results from this study challenge
practitioners to think differently about collaboration
to meet the needs of domestic violence survivors on welfare.
Protecting Vulnerable Workers: A Framework for
Understanding How Public Policy and Private Employers Shape the
Contemporary Low-Wage Work Experience
Anna Haley-Lock &
Melissa Ford Shah
This paper presents a conceptual approach to understanding how
government and private employers shape the employment
experiences of contemporary low-wage workers. After reviewing recent
changes in employment conditions that have disproportionately affected
poor working families, we present two perspectives on the structural
vulnerability for low-wage workers: policy and organizational
stratification. The stratification approach suggests that public policy
and private workplace
practices interact with workers’ personal and family circumstances to
shape the outcomes of low-wage employment. Applying
these lenses to restaurant workers, we examine why and how some workers
may be uniquely disadvantaged by emerging
proposals to change minimum wage laws. The article concludes with a
discussion of promising directions for intervention. |
