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Path to job can be rocky for women
University of Michigan researchers document persistent barriers to employment
Port Jobs Reports, Fall 2005/Winter 2006
The following article is excerpted from Mott Memo, the magazine of the
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The complete text can be read
here.
By Sheila Beachum Bilby
Shortly after federal welfare reform took effect in 1996, experts nationwide
began speculating about how the thousands of poor who relied on government aid
to help sustain their families would fare making the required transition to
work.
At the time, the economy was robust and diverse job opportunities were
available. But what would become of those who faced daunting, persistent
barriers to stable employment? And what, exactly, were those barriers?
Researchers from the University of Michigan (UM) in Ann Arbor set out to find
some answers, producing cutting-edge research by identifying the multiple
barriers that mothers who received cash assistance encountered in trying to move
from welfare to work.
For 79 months — from late 1997 through late 2003 — UM researchers followed about
750 single mothers who in February 1997 were receiving welfare in an urban
Michigan county. This period covered an economy that was dynamic in the late
‘90s but slipped into recession in 2001.
The women agreed to lengthy, in-person, anonymous interviews each fall in the
years 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2003, conducted by the Survey Research Center
at UM’s Institute for Social Research.
Results surprise researchers
The UM researchers found many “typical” barriers such as a lack of high
school completion, low work experience, few job skills and credentials, or
experiences of discrimination and harassment.
But they also found that mental health problems were common. Two-thirds of the
mothers met the diagnostic screening criteria for one of six mental health
disorders at least once during the study period.
More than half of the women met the criteria for major depression in at least
one survey wave. In addition, at least once, almost 40% met the criteria for
post-traumatic stress disorder, almost 30% for generalized anxiety disorder,
about 20% for social phobia, and less than 10% each for alcohol dependence and
drug dependence.
Another unexpected finding was the sizeable number of women who reported health
problems for themselves or their children. Yet another surprise was that
domestic violence is a contributing factor for some in trying to establish
stable, wage reliant households.
Common employment barriers:
• Alcohol dependence
• Child health problem
• Criminal conviction
• Domestic violence
• Drug dependence
• Fewer than four job skills
• General anxiety disorder
• Five or fewer work norms known
• Learning disability
• Less than high school education
• Low reading score
• Low work experience
• Major depressive disorder
• Mother’s health problem
• Perceived discrimination
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Social phobia
• Transportation problems |
The prevalence of these problems is higher for current and former welfare
recipients than for women in the general population, and these factors
affect employment even after accounting for the effects of factors like low
education and prior work skills.
Some positive changes, much room for improvement noted
Most of the women in the study who were able to leave welfare for work
experienced some measurable improvements in their lives, from modestly
higher family incomes to an unexplained upsurge in the percentage of
respondents who owned their own homes.
In the fall of 1997, just 7.6% of the women held a “good job” (defined as
working 35 or more hours a week and paying either at least $7 an hour with
health benefits or $8.50 an hour without benefits). By 2003, almost 29% of
the women reported having good jobs.
Furthermore, the women experienced wage increases over the six years, with
inflation-adjusted median hourly wages rising from $6.66 in 1997 to $8.35 in
2003.
However, despite these gains many of the women and their families remain
economically vulnerable. Almost 42% of the women in the fall of 2003 had
gross monthly incomes below the federal poverty line, compared with 56% in
the fall of 1997. In 2003, the poverty line for a single mother with two
children was $14,824 annually.
The increase in home ownership among the women puzzled the researchers. Just
13.4% of the women reported owning their own homes in 1997. By 2003, 33% had
become homeowners.
Without more specific information, the researchers could only speculate that
perhaps women had inherited family homes or had received help to obtain
loans with low down-payments.
The study also highlights other areas of improvement. The proportion of jobs
covered by a union contract, which typically offers better wages, benefits
and job security, increased from 11 to 17 percent over the six years. And
there was a decline from 20% to 8% of those in temporary jobs.
However, half of all respondents in 2003 worked in service-sector jobs, such
as nurses’ aides, home health aides, restaurants and hotel workers, janitors and
housekeepers, child-care workers, or hairdressers, up slightly from 42% at the
beginning of the study.
In spite of gains in income, home ownership and access to a vehicle, many of the
women in the study still experienced hardships, as measured by high financial
stress, not having enough food, or being homeless or evicted.
Policy, program changes could make a difference
Even with ongoing state and federal budget constraints, the researchers say,
welfare-to-work programs need to do more comprehensive assessments and screening
for possible barriers, make referrals for needed services, and offer ongoing
supports to help women on welfare both get and retain jobs.
“Current state welfare programs typically focus on job search and pay little
attention to factors that could influence employment retention, including health
and mental health needs, experiences of employer discrimination, and human
capital development of recipients,” writes Sandra Danziger, principal
investigator of the study and director of the Michigan Program on Poverty and
Social Welfare Policy at UM’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
Danziger continues, “We think that there are many ways that states could focus
on the hard-to-employ recipients and provide more help within the
welfare-to-work system.”
For instance, they could exempt a welfare recipient with a diagnosis of
depression from work requirements while she pursued counseling. Alternatively,
the time in counseling could be considered work-related activity and counted as
hours that meet work requirements because it helps prepare the recipient for
work.
“We’re saying the programs have not focused on many of the hardships that people
experience and the barriers they have,” says Danziger, “and that those factors
help explain why many people have been left behind in the move from welfare to
work.”
Related information:
  Gaining
Traction- How Working Wheels Helps Working Families Move Ahead
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