Workforce and Family Program: Policy Papers

Today, Senator John Kerry announced new after-school and child care tax credit initiatives. His speech is part of a renewed focus on easing the "middle class squeeze." Yesterday, Senator Edward Kennedy and Representative Rosa DeLauro introduced a bill guaranteeing employees paid time off for their own or a family member's illness.

The emphasis on families and the pressures on them is exactly right. American families are experiencing a "family budget shock" as a result of three reinforcing trends: stagnating incomes, increasing… more

The American family changed dramatically overthe last decades of the twentieth century. In1960, 70 percent of families had a parent homefull-time. Today, this is reversed. Fully 70percent of families with children are now headedby two working parents or by an unmarriedworking parent. The breadwinner and homemaker have been replaced by “juggler parents” with responsibility for both makingends meet and caring for the family. And thisfamily can now include elderly relatives. Morethan… more