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Introduction The Project on Global Working Families is currently exploring the experiences of working families through analyses of large, nationally-representative, closed-ended, publicly available household-level surveys of more than 55,000 households from countries around the world. To date, surveys from Botswana, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the United States, and Vietnam have been analyzed. These countries were selected based on two criteria. First, they represent a broad range of geographic, political, and social conditions. Specifically, the countries come from different regions of the world, represent different national income levels, they have economies driven variously by natural resource extraction, manufacturing, services, and agriculture, and they include both capitalist and socialist economies. Second, these countries exhibit the demographic conditions and transitions which make understanding the conditions faced by working families crucial. Taken together, these countries provide a broad sample of the challenges facing working families around the world. Measures analyzed The analyses conducted included an assessment of caretaking burden (as indicated by household composition, including the age and number of children, the number of adults older than sixty-five, and whether the employed adult was caring for children, elderly parents, or disabled family members) and the dependency ratio (the ratio of dependents to working-age adults). We assessed indicators of work burden (as measured by the number of working household members, the average hours per week worked, parental work schedules and shifts, and the household labor force participation rate), and the association between work and caregiving burdens. We also examined social supports (as measured by the availability of a grandparent in the household, frequent contact with or support given by family, friends and co-workers), and working conditions (availability of paid leave, flexibility and job autonomy). Finally, we examined the relationship between socioeconomic status (as measured by household per capita income, education level, urban residence) and work and caregiving burdens.
All these analyses were conducted for a variety of households which ranged in number of adults that worked as well as number and age of children and other dependents. For example, in surveys outside the United States, we looked at households in which all adults worked, households that had a child younger than five, and households with a child younger than fourteen. In the United States surveys, we have examined households with children under 18, children with school-age children, and households where employed adults are have at least one child younger than 18 in the household or are providing 8 or more hours of unpaid assistance to a parent or parent-in-law. We also examined single working-parent households, dual-earning households, two-parent households with a single worker, single-parent households in which the parent did not work, and, finally, households that included members outside a single nuclear family, termed “extended-family households.” For more information, please see: Heymann SJ. Forgotten Families: Ending the Growing Crisis Confronting Children and Working Parents in the Global Economy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Heymann SJ, Earle A, and Hanchate A. Bringing a Global Perspective to Community, Work and Family: An Examination of Extended Work Hours in Families in Four Countries. Community, Work and Family. 2004; 7(2):247-272. |
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This page is maintained by The Project on Global Working Families. Copyright 2002 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College |
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