Not since the coming of the "horseless carriage" has the American labor force undergone such dram... more Not since the coming of the "horseless carriage" has the American labor force undergone such dramatic change as it has in the past two decades and nowhere more pronounced than in Massachusetts. The 1970 US Census reported that 45% of adult women were in the "civilian labor force". By the 1990 census, that number had increased to almost 60% of adult women in the "civilian workforce". Over the same period, adult male participation declined somewhat. It is important for decision makers, both in the public sector and the private sector, to know as much as possible about the composition and conditions of this major part of the Massachusetts economy.
Although hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is the only curative therapy for many advanced ... more Although hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is the only curative therapy for many advanced hematologic cancers, little is known about the financial hardship experienced by HCT patients nor the association of hardship with patient-reported outcomes. We mailed a 43-item survey to adult patients approximately 180 days after their first autologous or allogeneic HCT at 3 high-volume centers. We assessed decreases in household income; difficulty with HCT-related costs, such as need to relocate or travel; and 2 types of hardship: hardship 1 (reporting 1 or 2 of the following: dissatisfaction with present finances, difficulty meeting monthly bill payments, or not having enough money at the end of the month) and "hardship 2" (reporting all 3). Patient-reported stress was measured with the Perceived Stress Scale-4, and 7-point scales were provided for perceptions of overall quality of life (QOL) and health. In total, 325 of 499 surveys (65.1%) were received. The median days since HCT was 173; 47% underwent an allogeneic HCT, 60% were male, 51% were > 60 years old, and 92% were white. Overall, 46% reported income decline after HCT, 56% reported hardship 1, and 15% reported hardship 2. In multivariable models controlling for income, those reporting difficulty paying for HCT-related costs were more likely to report financial hardship (odds ratio, 6.9; 95% confidence interval, 3.8 to 12.3). Hardship 1 was associated with QOL below the median (odds ratio, 2.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.7 to 4.9), health status below the median (odds ratio, 2.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.3 to 3.6), and stress above the median (odds ratio, 2.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.3 to 3.5). In this sizable cohort of HCT patients, financial hardship was prevalent and associated with worse QOL and higher levels of perceived stress. Interventions to address patient financial hardship-especially those that ameliorate HCT-specific costs-are likely to improve patient-reported outcomes.
Low-wage workers have always faced difficulties earning enough to meet their basic needs in the c... more Low-wage workers have always faced difficulties earning enough to meet their basic needs in the context of the complex financial tradeoffs between receiving public benefits and taking on any or more employment. However, welfare reform and skyrocketing housing and medical costs have exacerbated these challenges to low income families, policy makers, and the providers and agencies that serve them. Employment – often at low-wages – is imperative for most families and, even with supplementary public benefits, financial independence is not easy to achieve for many working families. Wages are too often too low to meet the high cost of living in the state, many benefits are sometimes difficult to get even when eligible, and eligibility for benefits phase out at relatively low earnings.
In the mid-1980s, the popularity of Charles Murray's anti-welfare treatise Losing Ground sign... more In the mid-1980s, the popularity of Charles Murray's anti-welfare treatise Losing Ground signaled the rising influence of the right-wing critique of welfare. In Lost Ground: Welfare Reform, Poverty and Beyond, a respected array of social scientists buck the conservative trend established by Murray and his cohorts, exposing welfare reform as a sham and positing new strategies to end poverty. Since
In Massachusetts, as in every other place in the world, all children need to be cared for and edu... more In Massachusetts, as in every other place in the world, all children need to be cared for and educated, everybody has physical and mental health needs that require attention, and some individuals need assistance with the daily tasks of life because of illness, age, or disability. The labor of meeting these needs – which we call care work – is a complex activity that has profound implications for personal, social and economic well-being. Care work is not just a cornerstone of our economy – it is a rock-bottom foundation. Care work provides the basis for our human infrastructure, and we need it to navigate through life as surely as we need our roads and bridges. This report measures the role of care work in the Commonwealth in 2007 by examining in detail three intersecting spheres: paid care work, unpaid care work, and government investment in care. We include in the care sector the labor and resources devoted to the daily care of Massachusetts residents, especially children, the elde...
The adequate provision of quality care to the elderly, children, and those who are ill or disable... more The adequate provision of quality care to the elderly, children, and those who are ill or disabled is one of the pressing social problems of our time. Despite the far-reaching formulations of care in the theoretical realm, advocacy and policy-making efforts around care work remain largely atomized. Translating the wide-ranging insights of care scholarship into tools for public policy solutions requires a practical application of the concept as well as empirical measurement. In this article, we integrate the insights of care theory with feminist economic analysis to conceptualize care as a single sector at the foundation of the state's human infrastructure. We then measure the scope of care work across paid work, unpaid labor, and government investment in one U.S. state. We estimate that the care sector in Massachusetts comprises 22 percent of the paid labor force, 20 percent of the average resident's daily time, and 57 percent of state and local government spending. Such data gives policy makers and advocates an empirical foundation to make a case for the human and economic impact of the care sector and to build on framing a broader vision of care policy. Strengthening the human infrastructure in Massachusetts and elsewhere is an economic and ethical imperative, and our goal is to provide both empirical data and a practically useful conceptual frame that can be used as tools by those working towards the social transformation of care.
The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 1999
Women's poverty rates are higher than men's, with single mothers having extremely high poverty ra... more Women's poverty rates are higher than men's, with single mothers having extremely high poverty rates. This article first briefly examines poverty measures and U.S. poverty rates among men and women. The author then describes and evaluates three categories of economic research on poverty: the lack or inadequacy of employment and earnings; family structure and welfare; and earnings capacities, care-giving responsibilities and employment. Finally the author assesses the policies to alleviate women's poverty derived from these explanations.
This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or sy... more This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
... Assuming that centrally planned economies would do a better job at socializing the costs of r... more ... Assuming that centrally planned economies would do a better job at socializing the costs of raising children, McKinney finds that lone ... Like Kjeldstad and Rønsen, Shireen Kanji mobilizes longitudinal data, in her case from Russia, to investigate the situation of lone mothers there ...
This Dialogue presents the views of four authors, from the US, the UK, and Norway, on the best po... more This Dialogue presents the views of four authors, from the US, the UK, and Norway, on the best policies to help lone mothers. Lone mothers face an inevitable dilemma in allocating their time between earning income and caring for their children. The low-earning capacity of women in an unequal labor market exacerbates the problem, causing material hardship for many lone mothers and their families. The policy solutions proposed lie along a spectrum, ranging from those that seek to enable all lone mothers to take employment to those that aim to let mothers choose whether to take employment or care for their children themselves. Other policies discussed concern ways to value and support caregiving, improve the low-wage labor market for women, and provide a set of income supports that would both boost income and provide time to care for children.
In the United States, it is generally assumed that people who hold a steady job are able to make ... more In the United States, it is generally assumed that people who hold a steady job are able to make ends meet. But, in today's labor market, where nearly a quarter of jobs pay low wages and do not offer benefits such as health insurance and retirement plans,1 this could not be further ...
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2001
This paper draws on a longitudinal ethnographic study conducted at one of the largest municipal j... more This paper draws on a longitudinal ethnographic study conducted at one of the largest municipal jobcenters in Denmark. It investigates what happens when welfare-to-work policies meet the complex lived realities of unemployed citizens. I examine the nature of welfare policies, and show how these inscribe neoliberal economic discourse, which are not easily applicable to the lived reality of unemployed citizens. Findings from this study illustrate that there are incongruences between the nature of policies and the policies-in-use. I argue that these incongruences are a result of myriad of assumptions that are inscribed in the welfare apparatus, constituting tools, people, policies, and practices. I, therefore, unpack assumptions about caseworkers as well as benefit recipients, appointments they must attend, and activation programs assigned to them. This way, the paper aims at initiating a discussion about finding ways to develop policies that are better applicable to the citizen's lived realities.
The Great Recession is affecting everyone in one way or another, but not everyone is affected i... more The Great Recession is affecting everyone in one way or another, but not everyone is affected in the same way. Women's and men's work (both in and out of the labor force) still differs, so we can expect that the economic crisis has had a distinct impact on women as well as their ...
Not since the coming of the "horseless carriage" has the American labor force undergone such dram... more Not since the coming of the "horseless carriage" has the American labor force undergone such dramatic change as it has in the past two decades and nowhere more pronounced than in Massachusetts. The 1970 US Census reported that 45% of adult women were in the "civilian labor force". By the 1990 census, that number had increased to almost 60% of adult women in the "civilian workforce". Over the same period, adult male participation declined somewhat. It is important for decision makers, both in the public sector and the private sector, to know as much as possible about the composition and conditions of this major part of the Massachusetts economy.
Although hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is the only curative therapy for many advanced ... more Although hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is the only curative therapy for many advanced hematologic cancers, little is known about the financial hardship experienced by HCT patients nor the association of hardship with patient-reported outcomes. We mailed a 43-item survey to adult patients approximately 180 days after their first autologous or allogeneic HCT at 3 high-volume centers. We assessed decreases in household income; difficulty with HCT-related costs, such as need to relocate or travel; and 2 types of hardship: hardship 1 (reporting 1 or 2 of the following: dissatisfaction with present finances, difficulty meeting monthly bill payments, or not having enough money at the end of the month) and "hardship 2" (reporting all 3). Patient-reported stress was measured with the Perceived Stress Scale-4, and 7-point scales were provided for perceptions of overall quality of life (QOL) and health. In total, 325 of 499 surveys (65.1%) were received. The median days since HCT was 173; 47% underwent an allogeneic HCT, 60% were male, 51% were > 60 years old, and 92% were white. Overall, 46% reported income decline after HCT, 56% reported hardship 1, and 15% reported hardship 2. In multivariable models controlling for income, those reporting difficulty paying for HCT-related costs were more likely to report financial hardship (odds ratio, 6.9; 95% confidence interval, 3.8 to 12.3). Hardship 1 was associated with QOL below the median (odds ratio, 2.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.7 to 4.9), health status below the median (odds ratio, 2.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.3 to 3.6), and stress above the median (odds ratio, 2.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.3 to 3.5). In this sizable cohort of HCT patients, financial hardship was prevalent and associated with worse QOL and higher levels of perceived stress. Interventions to address patient financial hardship-especially those that ameliorate HCT-specific costs-are likely to improve patient-reported outcomes.
Low-wage workers have always faced difficulties earning enough to meet their basic needs in the c... more Low-wage workers have always faced difficulties earning enough to meet their basic needs in the context of the complex financial tradeoffs between receiving public benefits and taking on any or more employment. However, welfare reform and skyrocketing housing and medical costs have exacerbated these challenges to low income families, policy makers, and the providers and agencies that serve them. Employment – often at low-wages – is imperative for most families and, even with supplementary public benefits, financial independence is not easy to achieve for many working families. Wages are too often too low to meet the high cost of living in the state, many benefits are sometimes difficult to get even when eligible, and eligibility for benefits phase out at relatively low earnings.
In the mid-1980s, the popularity of Charles Murray's anti-welfare treatise Losing Ground sign... more In the mid-1980s, the popularity of Charles Murray's anti-welfare treatise Losing Ground signaled the rising influence of the right-wing critique of welfare. In Lost Ground: Welfare Reform, Poverty and Beyond, a respected array of social scientists buck the conservative trend established by Murray and his cohorts, exposing welfare reform as a sham and positing new strategies to end poverty. Since
In Massachusetts, as in every other place in the world, all children need to be cared for and edu... more In Massachusetts, as in every other place in the world, all children need to be cared for and educated, everybody has physical and mental health needs that require attention, and some individuals need assistance with the daily tasks of life because of illness, age, or disability. The labor of meeting these needs – which we call care work – is a complex activity that has profound implications for personal, social and economic well-being. Care work is not just a cornerstone of our economy – it is a rock-bottom foundation. Care work provides the basis for our human infrastructure, and we need it to navigate through life as surely as we need our roads and bridges. This report measures the role of care work in the Commonwealth in 2007 by examining in detail three intersecting spheres: paid care work, unpaid care work, and government investment in care. We include in the care sector the labor and resources devoted to the daily care of Massachusetts residents, especially children, the elde...
The adequate provision of quality care to the elderly, children, and those who are ill or disable... more The adequate provision of quality care to the elderly, children, and those who are ill or disabled is one of the pressing social problems of our time. Despite the far-reaching formulations of care in the theoretical realm, advocacy and policy-making efforts around care work remain largely atomized. Translating the wide-ranging insights of care scholarship into tools for public policy solutions requires a practical application of the concept as well as empirical measurement. In this article, we integrate the insights of care theory with feminist economic analysis to conceptualize care as a single sector at the foundation of the state's human infrastructure. We then measure the scope of care work across paid work, unpaid labor, and government investment in one U.S. state. We estimate that the care sector in Massachusetts comprises 22 percent of the paid labor force, 20 percent of the average resident's daily time, and 57 percent of state and local government spending. Such data gives policy makers and advocates an empirical foundation to make a case for the human and economic impact of the care sector and to build on framing a broader vision of care policy. Strengthening the human infrastructure in Massachusetts and elsewhere is an economic and ethical imperative, and our goal is to provide both empirical data and a practically useful conceptual frame that can be used as tools by those working towards the social transformation of care.
The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 1999
Women's poverty rates are higher than men's, with single mothers having extremely high poverty ra... more Women's poverty rates are higher than men's, with single mothers having extremely high poverty rates. This article first briefly examines poverty measures and U.S. poverty rates among men and women. The author then describes and evaluates three categories of economic research on poverty: the lack or inadequacy of employment and earnings; family structure and welfare; and earnings capacities, care-giving responsibilities and employment. Finally the author assesses the policies to alleviate women's poverty derived from these explanations.
This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or sy... more This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
... Assuming that centrally planned economies would do a better job at socializing the costs of r... more ... Assuming that centrally planned economies would do a better job at socializing the costs of raising children, McKinney finds that lone ... Like Kjeldstad and Rønsen, Shireen Kanji mobilizes longitudinal data, in her case from Russia, to investigate the situation of lone mothers there ...
This Dialogue presents the views of four authors, from the US, the UK, and Norway, on the best po... more This Dialogue presents the views of four authors, from the US, the UK, and Norway, on the best policies to help lone mothers. Lone mothers face an inevitable dilemma in allocating their time between earning income and caring for their children. The low-earning capacity of women in an unequal labor market exacerbates the problem, causing material hardship for many lone mothers and their families. The policy solutions proposed lie along a spectrum, ranging from those that seek to enable all lone mothers to take employment to those that aim to let mothers choose whether to take employment or care for their children themselves. Other policies discussed concern ways to value and support caregiving, improve the low-wage labor market for women, and provide a set of income supports that would both boost income and provide time to care for children.
In the United States, it is generally assumed that people who hold a steady job are able to make ... more In the United States, it is generally assumed that people who hold a steady job are able to make ends meet. But, in today's labor market, where nearly a quarter of jobs pay low wages and do not offer benefits such as health insurance and retirement plans,1 this could not be further ...
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2001
This paper draws on a longitudinal ethnographic study conducted at one of the largest municipal j... more This paper draws on a longitudinal ethnographic study conducted at one of the largest municipal jobcenters in Denmark. It investigates what happens when welfare-to-work policies meet the complex lived realities of unemployed citizens. I examine the nature of welfare policies, and show how these inscribe neoliberal economic discourse, which are not easily applicable to the lived reality of unemployed citizens. Findings from this study illustrate that there are incongruences between the nature of policies and the policies-in-use. I argue that these incongruences are a result of myriad of assumptions that are inscribed in the welfare apparatus, constituting tools, people, policies, and practices. I, therefore, unpack assumptions about caseworkers as well as benefit recipients, appointments they must attend, and activation programs assigned to them. This way, the paper aims at initiating a discussion about finding ways to develop policies that are better applicable to the citizen's lived realities.
The Great Recession is affecting everyone in one way or another, but not everyone is affected i... more The Great Recession is affecting everyone in one way or another, but not everyone is affected in the same way. Women's and men's work (both in and out of the labor force) still differs, so we can expect that the economic crisis has had a distinct impact on women as well as their ...
Uploads
Papers by Randy Albelda