ERIC Number: EJ1454627
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 29
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2377-8253
EISSN: EISSN-2377-8261
Families' Job Characteristics and Economic Self-Sufficiency: Differences by Income, Race-Ethnicity, and Nativity
Pamela Joshi; Abigail N. Walters; Clemens Noelke; Dolores Acevedo-Garcia
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, v8 n5 p67-95 2022
Policy debates about whether wages and benefits from work provide enough resources to achieve economic self- sufficiency rely on data for workers, not working families. Using data from the Current Population Survey, we find that almost two- thirds of families working full time earn enough to cover a basic family budget, but that less than a quarter of low-income families do. A typical low-income full-time working family with wages below a family budget would need to earn about $11.00 more per hour to cover expenses. This wage gap is larger for black, Hispanic, and immigrant families. Receipt of employer-provided benefits varies--health insurance is more prevalent than pension plans--and both are less available to low-income families, and black, Hispanic, and immigrant working families. Findings suggest that without policies to decrease wage inequality and increase parents' access to jobs with higher wages and benefits, child opportunity gaps by income, race- ethnicity, and nativity will likely persist.
Descriptors: Family Income, Wages, Fringe Benefits, Budgets, Low Income Groups, Employed Parents, Poverty, Economically Disadvantaged, Occupational Information, Racial Differences, National Surveys, Welfare Services
Russell Sage Foundation. 112 East 64th Street, New York, NY 10065. Tel: 212-750-6000; e-mail: journal@rsage.org; Web site: www.rsfjournal.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Current Population Survey
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A