scholarly journals Labor Markets in Crisis: The Double Liability of Low‐Wage Work During COVID‐19

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-531
Author(s):  
Kourtney Koebel ◽  
Dionne Pohler
Keyword(s):  
Labor Markets ◽  
Wage Work ◽  
Low Wage Work

Moving Beyond Poverty: Effects of Low-Wage Work on Individual, Social, and Family Well-Being

2020 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-259
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Shook ◽  
Sara Goodkind ◽  
Rafael J. Engel ◽  
Sandra Wexler ◽  
Kess L. Ballentine
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Wage Work ◽  
The Social ◽  
Working Families ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Low Wage Work

Social work has long been committed to eliminating poverty, which is at the root of many of the social issues and challenges we address. Over 40% of the U.S. workforce makes less than $15/hour, and the accumulating evidence suggests this is not enough to meet basic needs. In this introduction to a special issue about low-wage work, we describe what is known regarding the experiences and well-being of low-wage workers, as well as promising policy and practice ideas to better support working families. We provide an overview of the included articles and conclude with encouragement for social workers to move beyond a narrow focus on poverty and more broadly consider the struggles and well-being of low-wage workers and their families.

“Your Kids or Your Job”

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Miller-Day
Keyword(s):  
Family Life ◽  
Wage Work ◽  
Cumulative Disadvantage ◽  
Government Mandates ◽  
Work Family ◽  
Low Wage Work

Contexts of poverty seem to magnify vulnerabilities in mothers, especially women who have few resources for coping and little support in parenting. Adding to the challenges of poverty are government mandates to move women off of welfare into the workforce. Focusing on the experiences of four mothers who moved from welfare into the low-wage workforce and then back to unemployment, this study offers a description of how these mothers and their adolescent children navigate and make sense of low-wage work, family life, and cumulative disadvantage.

Organizing for Good Jobs

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Bernhardt ◽  
Paul Osterman
Keyword(s):  
Political Power ◽  
Economic Justice ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wage Work ◽  
Low Wage Work

Over the past several decades, there has been a remarkable surge of economic justice organizing across the country. The goal of this article is to examine these efforts and provide a framework for understanding their potential, their limitations, and their future. In what follows, the authors first describe five distinct organizing movements focused on low-wage work that have flourished in recent years. The authors then develop a framework for thinking about these movements. They distinguish among these efforts along the two dimensions of goals and strategies, assessing relative strengths and weaknesses. With these distinctions in hand, they then take up the question of the scalability of the movements and analyze the challenges they face in terms of growth strategy, sustainability, constituencies, and cohesion. This overall framework yields a picture of significant promise in America’s economic justice organizing—but one that will take equally significant resources and political power to realize.

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