The Economics of Work and Family

Introductory chapter | Table of Contents

Conflicts arise daily among American families over how to balance the demands of work and family. At risk is nothing less than the economic security of the family and the bonds between parents and children that are so important and rewarding. The issues fueling the work/family struggle attract researchers interested not only in spotting and tracking trends that highlight the difficulties families face, but in finding policy solutions to those difficulties that are effective and economically sound.

Jean Kimmel and Emily P. Hoffman present a set of topical, non-technical papers authored by nationally known experts in this field. Using an economic perspective, they confront work/family issues including child care (potentially the biggest obstacle to parents successfully integrating work and family priorities), how parents balance time between work and family obligations, links between women's childbearing and their economic outcomes, the success of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the relationship between family structure and labor market outcomes. They also argue for specific policies designed to alleviate the stresses related to these issues. Included are:

• Federal Child Care Policy, David M. Blau, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
  Blau begins by pointing out the sources of failure in the child care market. He then offers a set of goals that he feels federal child care policy should address, and his vision (and expected costs) for achieving those goals.
• Thinking about Child Care Policy, Barbara Bergman, American University and the University of Maryland.
  Taking a broader look at the government's role in child care, Barbara Bergman espouses the importance of affordable, quality child care to lower-income families. She summarizes the costs of care and affordability for families at different income levels, and projects-and justifies- the costs of three new child care policy plans with increasing subsidy eligibility for more families.
• Parents' Work Time and the Family, Cordelia W. Reimers, Hunter College and the Graduate School of the City University of New York.
  Reimers summarizes the evolution over time in the way parents divide their time between family and work. Demographic trends are examined in detail, along with the impact of these trends on parental time devoted to their children. She espouses policies such as enhanced flex-time and increased opportunities to work from home as means of alleviating the family "time crunch."
• Fertility, Public Policy, and Mothers in the Labor Force, Susan Averett, Lafayette College.
  The links between women's childbearing and their labor market outcomes are explored by Averett in this chapter. She outlines the relationship between public policy and fertility behavior, discusses employment behavior surrounding childbirth for mothers with professional jobs, and compares the earnings of working mothers with working women without children. Averett concludes that, despite having no explicit policies to affect fertility rates, past and existing policies have had subtle impacts on fertility decisions.
• How Family Structure Affects Labor Market Outcomes, Joyce P. Jacobsen, Wesleyan University.
  Jacobsen summarizes trends in family structure and labor market outcomes, and the reasons the two may not be related. She also reviews important research conducted in this area and considers whether the findings of this research have policy implications.
• Working for All Families? Family Leave Policies in the United States, Katherin Ross Phillips, The Urban Institute.
  The FMLA is landmark legislation that has the explicit goal of promoting economic security for all families. Phillips summarizes the existing evidence on the utilization of FMLA leaves and analyzes its impact on family economic security. She concludes with several policy recommendations aimed at making FMLA leaves more accessible and affordable to working families.

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