April 2003

IWPR’s Research News Reporter is distributed monthly, highlighting inventive, informative, and innovative research relating to women and their families.  Each selection includes a short description of the research and either a link to the report itself or a citation of where the report can be accessed. 

The Cost of Universal Access to Quality Preschool in Illinois
April 2003
Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Stacie Golin, Anne W. Mitchell, and Margery Wallen

This report details the results of a study, commissioned by the Illinois Governor’s Task Force on Universal Access to Preschool, to design a plan and estimate the cost for implementing universal preschool.  The authors conclude that instituting high-quality preschool for three- and four-year-olds will involve a substantial investment of funds; and as a result, they detail a phase-in plan with coverage and price increasing incrementally until universal coverage is achieved in Year 10. 

http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/preschoolIL.pdf

Built to Last: Why Skills Matter for Long-Run Success in Welfare Reform
April 2003
Center for Law and Social Policy
Karin Martinson and Julie Strawn  

This report provides further evidence of the importance of educational credentials and skills training in helping to expand employment opportunities for disadvantaged populations.  It includes specific TANF policy recommendations aimed at the federal, state, and local levels that are meant to spur employment success among low-income workers and welfare recipients alike.

http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1051044516.05/BTL_report.pdf

How Are Children Affected by Employment and Welfare Transitions?
April 2003
Joint Center for Poverty Research
P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, Robert A. Moffitt, Brenda J. Lohman, Andrew J. Cherlin, Rebekah Levine Coley, Laura D. Pittman, Jennifer Roff, and Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal 

Since welfare reform was first proposed, opposing sides have argued about the effects of the welfare-to-work model on the children of low-income mothers.  This study seeks to discover what, if any, effects changes in mothers’ employment and welfare transitions have on children of different ages.  The authors find no negative or positive effects on preschool children and only a few positive effects for adolescents, indicating that no there is no simple relationship between income and child outcomes.

http://www.jcpr.org/policybriefs/vol5_num3.html


Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Confronting the Failure of State UI Systems to Serve Women and Working Families
March 2003
National Employment Law Project
Rebecca Smith, Rick McHugh, and Andrew Stettner

The current Unemployment Insurance (UI) systems in place throughout the 50 states fail to take into account the changes which the workforce has undergone since UI was first implemented.  This has specifically affected women who, as a result, are less likely to receive UI than men in 41 states and, among workers who quit their jobs, are 32 percent less likely than men to qualify for UI benefits.  This report examines the ways in which the UI system does not cover women and men equally.

http://www.nelp.org/ui/initiatives/family/between.cfm

 
Unemployment Watch: Mixed Unemployment Signals Amid Job Loss in March
April 4, 2003
Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Vicky Lovell and Meghan Salas

This report analyzes the March 2003 unemployment data for trends in women’s joblessness and concludes that the unemployment rate among women heads of families remained much higher than rates among most other workers in March.  The authors also find that the rate for all adult women remained the same in March as in the previous month and that women of color continue to experience very high unemployment.

http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/UEanalysismar03.pdf

Abortion Legalization and Adolescent Substance Abuse
March 2003
National Bureau of Economic Research
Kerwin Kofi Charles and Melvin Stephens, Jr.

In this study, the authors seek to examine the impact of abortion availability on child outcomes, specifically by studying the rates of substance abuse among adolescents born after abortion was legalized.  The authors, examining data prior to national legalization in 1973, find that the rates of substance abuse among teens born in states where abortion was already legal was significantly lower than adolescents born in other states.  The authors also note that there was no change in teenage substance abuse after 1973.

You can purchase this paper online at:http://papers.nber.org/papers/w9193


Also of interest:

A new resource for issues surrounding reproductive rights is Our Voices, Our Choices: Broadening the Conversation on Reproductive Rights, published by the Chicago Foundation for Women.  The report examines perceptions of reproductive choice by women of different racial, religious, and ethnic backgrounds and also looks at different organizations working for reproductive equality.

www.cfw.org

Research News Reporter is one of the many benefits to sustaining members of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.  For membership information, please contact Rebecca Sager at Rebecca@iwpr.org.