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Objective This study examined associations between workplace policies and maternal depression in the context of mothers' relationship status and job characteristics. Background The associations between workplace policies and postpartum depressive symptoms may differ based on contextual factors that have received little attention in the literature. In this study, these questions are addressed in an understudied sample of low‐income working mothers. Method Participants included 95 employed, low‐income mothers who were recruited from prenatal classes in southern New England. Mothers' self‐reported data was collected at five time points from the third trimester of pregnancy through 12 months postpartum. Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to test all study hypotheses. Results Length of parental leave and negative spillover interacted to predict levels of depressive symptoms, such that longer leave mattered more in the context of high spillover. A moderated mediation was found, whereby schedule flexibility related to less of an increase in depressive symptoms for single mothers, whereas partnered mothers with greater schedule flexibility experienced an increase in spillover, with no net benefit to depression. Conclusion Contextual factors, such as mothers' relationship status and the level of spillover on the job, can influence whether and how much different types of workplace policies can benefit maternal postpartum mental health. Implications Employers also may ease the transition back to work after parental leave by taking steps to minimize negative work‐to‐family spillover for new mothers. More work needs to be done to enable partnered mothers to experience the mental health benefits of schedule flexibility policies.

Research on time poverty is nascent, and has focused more on unpaid household production and gender differences. Using survey data of 1,620 workers aged 21 to 38 in Singapore, we found that work-based time poverty affects the psychological well-being of young workers. First, factor analysis of time-related work quality indices led to a work-based time poverty measure along two dimensions: (i) long and late working hours, and (ii) nonstandard and uncontrollable working hours. Then, through a structural equation model, we found that individuals in low-wage work are more time poor in terms of nonstandard and uncontrollable hours. These hours worsen work-to-family conflict and together, they mediate the relationship between low wage and two psychological well-being outcomes: generalised anxiety disorder and self-efficacy. Our findings have implications on low-wage young workers’ ability to invest time in their families and on training. They suggest the need to work with policymakers and employers to address workplace time poverty challenges that are beyond what young workers themselves can control.

Over one million women are employed in child care and are among the lowest wage workers in the US. The health and working conditions of 674 child care workers (118 administrators and 556 staff) from 74 centers is described using baseline data from a larger intervention trial. Participants were 39.9 (±13.0) years old; 55.4% African American, 37.1% Caucasian, and 5.3% of Hispanic ethnicity. Seventy-six percent reported having an Associate’s degree or less; 42% were classified as at or below poverty (<$20,000); and exhibited many health risks such as excess weight, insufficient activity, poor diet, and inadequate sleep. We investigated potential differences by income and job category. Lower income participants were significantly more likely to be current smokers (19.9% vs. 11.7%), drink more sweetened beverages (1.9 vs. 1.5), and report higher depressive symptoms (15.5 vs. 12.6). Administrators worked more hours weekly compared to staff (46.4 vs. 40.6), are less active (100 vs. 126 min/week), more sedentary (501 vs. 477 min/day), and reported higher job demands (13.3 vs. 12.5). Given the numerous health issues and challenging work conditions, we hope our results serve as a call to action for addressing low wages and the work environment as a means of influencing the health and well-being of child care workers.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the affordable housing crisis is forcing households to seek lower cost housing in the outer reaches of major metropolitan areas, helping to explain recent increases in commute distance. To test this relationship, we use spatial regression to examine the relationship between the availability of affordable housing in close proximity to jobs (jobs-housing fit) and commute distance in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The analysis draws on 2015 Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) Origin–Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) by workplace supplemented with data from the 2013–2017 5-Year American Community Survey on affordable housing units. We find substantial variation in jobs-housing fit across Los Angeles neighborhoods. The imbalance is greatest in higher-income neighborhoods located along the coast and in Orange County, south of Los Angeles. Controlling for other determinants of commute distance, a higher ratio of jobs to affordable housing is associated with longer distance commutes. To address growing commute distances, policymakers must greatly expand and protect the supply of long-term rental housing particularly in job-rich neighborhoods.

Background Many organizational interventions aim to improve working conditions to promote and protect worker safety, health, and well-being. The Workplace Organizational Health Study used process evaluation to examine factors influencing implementation of an organizational intervention. This paper examines the extent to which the intervention was implemented as planned, the dose of intervention implemented, and ways the organizational context hindered or facilitated the implementation of the intervention. Methods This proof-of-concept trial was conducted with a large, multinational company that provides food service through contractual arrangements with corporate clients. The 13-month intervention was launched in five intervention sites in October 2018. We report findings on intervention implementation based on process tracking and qualitative data. Qualitative data from 25 post-intervention interviews and 89 process tracking documents were coded and thematically analyzed. Results Over the 13-month intervention, research team representatives met with site managers monthly to provide consultation and technical assistance on safety and ergonomics, work intensity, and job enrichment. Approximately two-thirds of the planned in-person or phone contacts occurred. We tailored the intervention to each site as we learned more about context, work demands, and relationships. The research team additionally met regularly with senior leadership and district managers, who provided corporate resources and guidance. By assessing the context of the food service setting in which the intervention was situated, we explored factors hindering and facilitating the implementation of the intervention. The financial pressures, competing priorities and the fast-paced work environment placed constraints on site managers’ availability and limited the full implementation of the intervention. Conclusions Despite strong support from corporate senior leadership, we encountered barriers in the implementation of the planned intervention at the worksite and district levels. These included financial demands that drove work intensity; turnover of site and district managers disrupting continuity in the implementation of the intervention; and staffing constraints that further increased the work load and pace. Findings underscore the need for ongoing commitment and support from both the parent employer and the host client. Trial registration This study was retrospectively registered with the Clinical Trials. Gov Protocol and Results System on June 2, 2021 with assigned registration number NCT04913168 .

Access to paid time off in the United States is limited compared to most other nations due to lacking federal paid leave policies. Within the labor market access is unequal, with workers with less racial, class, and gender privilege having less access. In the absence of federal policy, most research compares the experiences of those with and without paid time off, building an argument for this important policy. However, research examining the experiences of workers with paid time off who are relatively unlikely to have it is lacking. Applying a critical ecological framework, the current study draws from interviews with 21 single parents working low paying healthcare jobs to extend the literature by examining how they experience workplace paid leave policies. The findings illustrate how the power of a beneficial workplace paid leave policy can be limited by interaction with other workplace policies, policy implementation practices, and the broader social ecology. This interaction transforms this universal policy into a racialized, gendered, and classed policy that can punish low-paid single mothers, who are primarily Black women, for using their earned time for caregiving, thereby contributing to employment instability. The findings of this study add nuance to the available literature and suggests that examining marginalized workers’ experiences of workplace policy implementation can reveal mechanisms by which institutional discrimination is maintained in workplaces.

Occupational training and credentialing requirements for direct care workers were in place for consumers’ health and safety, but their effects on job qualities and labor shortages in the direct care industry have been controversial. Using a nationally representative sample of psychiatric, nursing, and home health aides, a series of Average Treatment Effect models were analyzed to examine the effects of occupational credentials on various measures of job qualities. The findings revealed that credential-holding was related to higher annual earnings and increased probability of working full-time, year-round, and having access to employer-provided health insurance and retirement savings plans. The positive effects, however, were modest in size and suggested that, given the current wage and benefit levels for direct care workers, training and credential requirements cannot be the key to resolving job quality and labor shortage issues in the direct care industry. Implications of these findings and alternative ways to address the issues were discussed.

This research investigates the heterogeneous effects of the minimum wage policy on hours worked and real wages among low-wage workers in Indonesia. By employing repeated cross-sectional data from the National Labor Force Survey spanning 2020 to 2023, a fully flexible difference in differences (DID) method indicates that the policy resulted in a decrease in average hours worked within the treatment group, while simultaneously increasing real wages. The results demonstrate heterogeneous effects based on economic sector, gender, and region. Across sectors, the impact on hours worked and real wages varies across sectors. Among the 17 sectors analyzed, 8 sectors exhibited significant effects and satisfied the common trend assumption. The analysis by gender shows that women were more prone to experiencing a decrease in hours worked, while men gained more from the rise in real wages. Regionally, the impact of the policy varied between urban and rural workers and evolved over time, reflecting local dynamics in policy acceptance. A robustness test confirmed the consistency and statistical significance of these findings across all model specifications, even with changes in the wage thresholds used to define the treatment and control groups.

Purpose>The purpose of this paper is to expand the empirical literature on the association between non-compete agreement (NCA) enforceability and entrepreneurship by investigating how NCA policies affect different types of entrepreneurship with incorporated and unincorporated businesses.Design/methodology/approach>The authors estimate difference-in-differences regressions based on individual-level data. This allows to control for heterogeneity at the individual level. Additionally, the authors provide graphical evidence using the synthetic control method (SCM).Findings>The authors' findings show that the decrease in the enforceability of NCAs in Massachusetts resulted in a higher rate of unincorporated entrepreneurship among low-wage workers. At the same time, there was no sizable effect on the rate of incorporated entrepreneurship. For Utah, the authors' results indicate that the reform increased both types of entrepreneurship. The findings imply that states can promote entrepreneurial activity by reducing the enforceability of NCAs. The way of changing the enforceability of NCAs matters, as different provisions encourage different types of entrepreneurship in a given state.Originality/value>The authors contribute to the literature on NCA enforceability effects on entrepreneurship in three ways. First, the authors utilize two quasi-experiments, the NCA policy changes in Utah in 2016 and Massachusetts in 2018, limiting NCAs to one year for all workers. Second, to the authors' knowledge, this is the first individual-level analysis that separates self-employment with incorporated and unincorporated businesses as two different types of entrepreneurship to analyze potentially heterogeneous effects of NCAs. Third, this is the first study to utilize American Community Survey (ACS) data in this literature.

How the Other Half Works solves the riddle of America's contemporary immigration puzzle: why an increasingly high-tech society has use for so many immigrants who lack the basic skills that today's economy seems to demand. In clear and engaging style, Waldinger and Lichter isolate the key factors that explain the presence of unskilled immigrants in our midst. Focusing on Los Angeles, the capital of today's immigrant America, this hard-hitting book elucidates the other side of the new economy, showing that hiring is finding not so much \"one's own kind\" but rather the \"right kind\" to fit the demeaning, but indispensable, jobs many American workers disdain.