Work and Family Policies for a Changing Work Force (1991) / Chapter Skim
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2 The Family and the Workplace
2 The Family and the Workplace
Pages 18-41
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From page 18... ...
We review changes in the labor market in terms of the extent to which jobs are available, where and in what occupations and industries, earnings in various occupations, incomes of different types of families, and future trends. CHANGING FAMILIES In all societies, those who work, in or out of the home, collectively produce the output that is then available to maintain them as well as those who do not work.
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From page 19... ...
In this century as well, immigrant groups to the United States have often bonded together in extended family constellations (Hareven, 1982~. Perhaps the most self-sufficient family existed in peasant societies, in which family farms were the basic unit of ownership, production, consumption, and social life (Shamir, 19871.
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From page 20... ...
Under these conditions the concept of a "living wage," adequate to enable a male worker to maintain not only himself but also his wife and children, became a common goal of unions in collective bargaining in many industries, especially among the emerging large corporations. All too often men did not receive a wage large enough to support their families; hence, in many less affluent families, in particular nonwhite and immigrant families, women worked for pay to supplement family income.
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From page 21... ...
Employer concern with family issues is by no means unprecedented. Wage and benefit packages linked to assumptions about the family status of employees began early in the industrial revolution.
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From page 22... ...
By 1936, the base of a federal social insurance system most particularly Social Security was established. During World War II, employers again provided some family services, with government help; the major reason was to attract women into the war industries.
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From page 23... ...
There were no major recessions in those years; they were members of relatively small birth cohorts; most of them achieved job security before the long-term rise in unemployment began in the 1970s; and labor market opportunities for women were improving. They were also the first generation that was largely relieved of the financial burden of taking care of their parents, most of whom received at least partial support through Social Security.
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From page 24... ...
Women with better job opportunities are likely to postpone marriage and have fewer children and to get more education and training, which in turn further increases their labor market opportunities. In the 1970s, the situation changed when inflation and recession reduced the rate at which women's wages increased; men's wages even declined at times in that period.
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From page 25... ...
Since women have also been acquiring more years of schooling and retiring at younger ages than earlier, the rise in women's labor force participation rate in their middle years has been even greater than is suggested by the data for the total adult population: more than 70 percent of all women between the ages of 18 and 50 are now in the labor force (Bureau of Labor Statistics, l990b)
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From page 26... ...
. the labor force participation rate for women ages 25-64 ranged from about 60 percent for those with less than 4 years of high school to almost 90 percent for those with 4 or more years of college (Bureau of Labor Statistics, l990b)
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From page 27... ...
. With this influx of married women and mothers into the labor market, there has also been a substantial increase in part-time workers, who often make such an arrangement by preference.
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From page 28... ...
Table 2-4 shows that over 56 percent of families headed by black women fall below the poverty level (measured in 1988 as $12,091 for a family of four, counting money income only) ; more than 59 percent of those headed by Hispanic women do.
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From page 29... ...
The labor force participation rate of divorced women is 70 percent. Among families headed by women, how TABLE 2-5 Distribution of Family Income, 1950-1987 Total Income, by Quintiles (percentage)
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From page 30... ...
Whatever the occupation of wives, for whites and Hispanics husbands are generally in the labor force, and for blacks they are only slightly less so. Even among men who are not employed, it appears that few are likely to be homemakers: only 2 percent of men compared with 57 percent of women cite homemaking as a reason for not working for pay (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1990b)
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From page 31... ...
The effects of family pressures, discussed in more detail in Chapters 4 and 5, continue to be greatest for women. Despite substantial increases in women's labor force participation, changes in men's participation in housework have been very slow.
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From page 32... ...
Similarly, almost 15 percent of white men and 11 percent of white women are in the executive and managerial category, compared with only 6 percent of black men and 7 percent of black women (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1990b)
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From page 33... ...
Of course the majority of husband-wife families today have two wage earners, but persons in low-income occupations tend to have spouses who also earn little. According to the Bureau of the Census (1989b)
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From page 34... ...
tary at Work Workers Total 99,754 4.1 13.5 39.3 43.3 Mining 642 2.5 2.3 45.8 47.0 Construction 5,930 6.1 4.4 40.5 42.8 Manufacturing 20,258 2.3 3.3 42.2 43.4 Durable goods 11,978 1.6 2.3 42.7 43.6 Nondurable goods 8,280 3.4 4.7 41.5 43.2 Transportation and public utilities 7,297 2.7 6.0 42.3 44.3 Wholesale and retail trade 21,322 6.3 23.4 37.1 44.1 Finance, insurance, and real estate 7,038 1.8 9.6 40.1 42.6 Service industries 31,985 4.7 19.3 37.4 43.0 Private household 1,057 18.0 44.1 26.4 45.6 All other service industries 30,928 4.3 18.4 37.8 43.0 Public administration 5,282 0.9 4.9 40.8 42.2 aIncludes reasons such as slack work or could only find part-time work. SOURCE: Adapted from Bureau of Labor Statistics (199Ob:Table 32)
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From page 35... ...
This fact may explain the discrepancy between jobs created and employment status. A recent analysis of the May 1988 Current Population Survey found that 38 percent of nonfarm wage and salary workers in the private sector were in firms with fewer than 100 employees, a decrease from 43 percent in 1983 (Piacentini, 1990~.
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From page 36... ...
There is evidence that this is true by ethnicity as well, although detailed data are not readily available. Although the difference in the labor force participation of men and women has declined considerably and occupational segregation has declined somewhat, the gender earnings gap has been closing only very slowly.
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From page 37... ...
Economists who believe in the efficient operation of the competitive labor market explain occupational segregation by sex largely in terms of women's lesser labor market attachment, presumably due in large part to family responsibilities, which cause them to seek out jobs that involve less investment in human capital (such as specialized education, training, and on-thejob experience) and impose lower penalties for work interruptions (Mincer and Pola
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From page 38... ...
Alternative explanations emphasize habit, discrimination, and the rigidity of internal work structures as intentional and unintentional factors that contribute to both occupational segregation and the earnings gap. While not denying that differences in education, training, and experience play a role, proponents of these views point out, first, that none of the numerous studies using a wide variety of human capital variables is able to account for more than 50 percent of the total difference in earnings (Treiman and Hartmann, 1981; Michael et al., 1989~.
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From page 39... ...
tentatively conclude that immigrants do not have a negative effect overall on native minority workers, as some fear. Somewhat more conjectural is the question of to what extent women's labor force participation will continue to rise.
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From page 40... ...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also projects shortages of workers for technical and skilled craft jobs that require some postsecondary education or training but less than a 4-year college degree. This expected shortage in large part reflects continuing low completion rates for high school, especially among black and Hispanic youths.
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From page 41... ...
We conclude that the economic well-being of most families is increasingly dependent on having two wage earners; at the same time, employers, particularly those in the growth areas, increasingly depend on women and minority workers. The combined labor force and labor market trends over the past several decades and projections for the future raise important questions.
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