Work, Family and Job Loss Prior research on women who left welfare for work has shown that although many recipients are able to find employment, keeping the jobs they find is a more challenging problem to overcome. Although studies have shown that families on welfare are more likely to have health limitations, little was known about how family health affects the ability of poor single mothers to remain employed. In addition to the challenges of working with a health limitation of one’s own, mothers who have been on welfare often must address other family members’ health care needs. Our research has shown that poor single mothers on welfare are significantly more likely than other mothers to have the additional responsibility of caring for children with chronic health conditions or limitations. All children experience common and acute illnesses that cause their parents to disrupt their work or find substitute care. Parents of children with special health care needs have even more disruptions. In addition to taking their children to frequent medical appointments, parents of children with health limitations must also obtain and administer medicine and other treatments on an ongoing basis and often need time off from work to do this. If parents take time off during the school and work week to participate in their children’s treatment, employers may view these parents as less productive workers or penalize them for increased absences. These parents may thus be at higher risk of being fired. Using a nationally representative probability sample from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, our studies demonstrate that both having a health limitation and having a child with a health limitation were associated with significantly increased risk of job loss among women previously on welfare. Having a health condition increased a woman’s probability of job loss by 57 percent in any given month. Having a child with a health limitation increased a woman’s probability of job loss by 33 percent in any given month. The effects remained significant after adjustment for age, education, marital status, race, age and number of children, and economic conditions. Families in which parents or children are coping with health limitations already face many challenges in their daily lives. Because the parents in these families are at higher risk of job loss and public assistance to supplement their families’ income is limited, the health and well-being of these families is further threatened. Policies that support their ability to succeed at work and that provide income through programs such as SSI or TANF programs when they are unable to work are essential. For more information on this topic, please see: Earle A and Heymann SJ. What causes job loss among former welfare recipients? The role of family health problems. JAMWA. 2002; 57. Back to U.S. Initiatives
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