Press Release - October 2, 2002
University Park, Pa. --- Recent welfare legislation pushing many single mothers into the paid labor force has sparked renewed interest and debate concerning the plight of low-income and working poor families. Family scholars and policy experts from across the nation will be at Penn State on Oct. 10-11 for the Annual Family Symposium where they will examine the interconnections between paid work and family life in low-income families.
Held at the Nittany Lion Inn, this year's symposium, "Work-Family Challenges for Low-Income Parents and their Children," will concentrate on the oft-ignored family concerns of low-income and working poor families. Four key areas will each feature a presentation from a nationally recognized expert and discussion from family issues scholars. Organizers are Alan Booth, distinguished Penn State professor of sociology, human development and demography, and Ann Crouter, professor of human development and family studies, and director of Penn State's Center for Work and Family Research.
Jared Bernstein, Economic Policy Institute, will analyze how the availability, content, and stability of jobs for the working poor have changed in recent decades and the implications these changes hold for the widening inequality between haves and have-nots. The effects of work timing, such as shift work, long hours, seasonal and temporary work on employees and their family relationships will be the focus of a presentation by Harriet Presser, University of Maryland. Aletha Huston of the University of Texas-Austin will discuss how well the childcare needs of low-income families are being met. Kathryn Edin, Northwestern University, and Susan Clampet-Lundquist, University of Pennsylvania, will explore the ways that men and women experience the challenges of managing work and family.
Discussants will include Paula England, Northwestern University; Leif Jensen, Penn State; Lynne Casper, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; Maureen Perry-Jenkins, University of Massachusetts-Amherst; Kerry Daly, University of Guelph; David Almeida, University of Arizona; Barrie Thorne, University of California-Berkeley; Cybele Raver, University of Chicago; Martha Zaslow, Child Trends; Benjamin Karney, University of Florida; Lynne E. Bond; University of Vermont; and Andrew Cherlin, Johns Hopkins University.
The symposium is sponsored by the following Penn State units: Population Research Institute, Children, Youth, and Families Consortium, Prevention Research Center, Center for Human Development and Family Research in Diverse Contexts, Child Studies Center, Center for Work and Family Research, and the Departments of Economics, Human Development and Family Studies, Labor and Industrial Relations, Psychology, Sociology, Crime Law and Justice Program and Women's Studies Program; and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.