Single moms in college have ‘a lot to juggle’ and a new report says they need more help

Susan Snyder││December 18, 2019

There are a lot of single moms across the country striving to earn a degree and run a household, says a new report by the Washington-based Institute for Women’s Policy Research. And they aren’t getting nearly enough support to complete their education, leading many to leave school. Of the 1.7 million single moms enrolled as undergraduates nationwide, the institute estimates more than 53,000 are in Pennsylvania and more than 31,000 are in New Jersey. They represent about 8.5% of undergraduates in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey, compared with 9.5% nationally, the institute estimated.

Citing: Investing in Single Mothers’ Higher Education in New York: Costs and Benefits to Individuals, Families, and Society by Lindsey Reichlin Cruse, M.A., Jessica Milli, Ph.D., Susana Contreras-Mendez, M.A., Tessa Holtzman, Barbara Gault, Ph.D. at Institute for Women's Policy Research

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Do companies really suffer by offering paid parental leave? These economists believe they’ve found an answer

Andrew Keshner│ │January 7, 2020

A study that analyzed tax data between 2001 and 2015 released this month by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, which advocates for more women’s rights at home and in workplace, found that in California and New Jersey — two states with paid family leave — 20% fewer women left their jobs in the first year after pregnancy, and approximately 50% fewer first-time mothers left their job after five years.

Citing: Paid Family Leave Increases Mothers’ Labor Market Attachment by Kelly Jones, Ph.D. at Institute for Women's Policy Research

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Men Call Their Own Research ‘Excellent’

Anupam B. Jena, Marc Lerchenmueller and Olav Sorenson││December 17, 2019

Women are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at the highest levels. Only one out of four full professors at American research institutions is a woman, despite the fact that equal numbers of men and women earn doctoral degrees in science each year. In the life sciences, women are less likely either to receive major grant funding or to be promoted to full professor — and they are paid less even when they produce the same amount of scholarly output as men. We’ve identified another, much less discussed component of gender disparity in science: Men are much more likely than women to heap praise on their own research and emphasize its importance.

Citing: Gender differences in how scientists present the importance of their research: observational study by Anupam B. Jena, Marc Lerchenmueller and Olav Sorenson at The BMJ

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Store closings: Who are the biggest victims of the retail apocalypse

Aimee Picchi││December 17, 2019

Women outnumber men in brick-and-mortar retail jobs at a ratio of 2-1, according to a new report from The Mom Project, a career service for mothers. Although the retail industry is creating jobs, they tend to be focused in traditionally male roles such as warehouse work and delivery services, giving a hiring advantage to men, the report says. “Women tend to be more representative at the store level and in face-to-face roles, and those are the roles being impacted the most by store closings,” says Pam Cohen, president of The Mom Project’s MP Labs, its research division, and the author of the report.

Citing: Who’s Driving the Cart? by Pamela Cohen, PhD at MOM PROJECT LABS

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The Myth of the Two-Parent Home

Christina Cross││December 9, 2019

It is a near truism that the best family structure to raise a child in is a two-parent family. We’re repeatedly told by policymakers, social commentators, religious leaders and a host of others that children raised by both biological parents stand the best chance of success in life. Society routinely blames family structures that deviate from this model for many of its problems. Just think about the last time you heard someone use the term “broken home” or “single-parent household” to explain the misbehavior or misfortune of a person in your social circle. But what if common knowledge is wrong, especially about a group whose family structures have long been used to explain their social and economic disadvantages — black Americans? Research I recently conducted on the relationship between family structure and children’s education throws conventional “wisdom” into serious question.

Citing: Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Association Between Family Structure and Children's Education Christina J. Cross at Harvard University

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Researchers Find A Remarkable Ripple Effect When You Give Cash To Poor Families

Nurith Aizenman││December 2, 2019

Over the past decade there has been a surge of interest in a novel approach to helping the world’s poor: Instead of giving them goods like food or services like job training, just hand out cash — with no strings attached. Now a major new study suggests that people who get the aid aren't the only ones who benefit. Edward Miguel, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, and a co-author of the study, says that until now, research on cash aid has almost exclusively focused on the impact on those receiving the aid. And a wealth of research suggests that when families are given the power to decide how to spend it, they manage the money in ways that improve their overall well-being: Kids get more schooling; the family's nutrition and health improves.

Citing: General Equilibrium Effects of Cash Transfers: Experimental Evidence from Kenya by Dennis Egger, Johannes Haushofer, Edward Miguel, Paul Niehaus, and Michael Walker at The University of California at Berkeley

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Geographic Mobility, Gender, and the Future of Work

Chandra Childers, Ph.D., Ariane Hegewisch, M.Phil, Tanima Ahmed, and Amy Burnett Cross at Institute for Women’s Policy Research│December 19, 2019

Geographically, economic opportunity is unequally distributed across the United States. A disproportionate share of all private-sector jobs—one in five—are located in just four metropolitan areas: New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Seattle. This uneven distribution of jobs—and related variation in unemployment rates—mean that large numbers of Americans live in economically depressed communities with few jobs or other opportunities. These trends are occurring during a time when the economy has been in recovery for a decade, unemployment rates are low, and employers are complaining that they cannot find the workers that they need—all factors that have historically been associated with an increase in geographic mobility. However, the data in this report show that geographic mobility generally, and mobility for work in particular, has declined substantially over the last several decades.

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Measuring Student Poverty

Erica Greenberg, Kristin Blagg, Macy Rainer│Urban Institute│December 13, 2019

For decades, the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) has provided students free or reduced-price meals while equipping school administrators with data on students’ socioeconomic status. Counts of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL) have long been used to allocate school funding, monitor for accountability, understand opportunity and achievement gaps, and ensure students receive the social services they need. Before 2010, families filled out paper forms to report their household income to school administrators and become eligible for FRPL. Researchers valued these data as relatively unbiased, universal, and inexpensive to collect. Since 2010, however, changes to NSLP have made these data less reliable as a proxy measure of student poverty.

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Why Equity Matters for Adult College Completion

Ann E. Person, Julie Bruch, and Lisbeth Goble│Mathematica│December 12, 2019

There is a growing movement across the country to get more adults to enroll in college and complete higher education programs. Fewer than half of the nearly 170 million U.S. residents between the ages of 25 and 64 have obtained a postsecondary degree or certificate. The statistics for adult students of color who have attained higher education are even lower. In this issue brief, Mathematica researchers highlight how Adult Promise grantees support adult learners of color complete college through state-level goal setting, outreach and recruitment, financial supports, and completion strategies. They also offer some overarching reflections for stakeholders in postsecondary education seeking to engage in similar efforts.

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What To Make of Declining Enrollment in Teacher Preparation Programs

Lisette Partelow│Center for American Progress│December 3, 2019

The state of the teaching profession is an urgent topic for policymakers and the public, especially against the backdrop of increased teacher strikes and walkouts across the country in the past two years. Teacher salaries are far too low, which has led many teachers to work second jobs or qualify for public assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). For the first time in years, a majority of parents surveyed by PDK International in 2018 said that they do not want their children to become teachers. Due to low salaries, difficult working conditions, and a lack of career pathway opportunities, the teaching profession as a whole cannot compare with other high-status professions such as medicine and law.

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Worker Voices: Technology and the Future for Workers

Molly Kinder, Amanda Lenhart│New America│November 21, 2019

Technological change will disproportionately affect those who are already struggling to secure a stable foothold in the economy. Without concerted effort to redesign the rules of the game, most workers will continue to be excluded from prosperity. Narratives around the future of work often center on the risks to workers in male-dominated and machine-heavy professions like truck driving and manufacturing. But our research and other recent publications suggest that substantive changes are ahead for sectors like food service, retail, and clerical work and have the potential to disproportionately impact women and African American and Hispanic workers. We went directly to a diverse group of workers who are at the forefront of change, but who are all too often absent from these discussions. We asked them about their lives, their experiences with their jobs and their dreams and fears for themselves and for a technology-altered future in general.

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