New Report Address Work-Life Conflict Across Income Levels

The Center for American Progress and the Center for WorkLife Law has released its findings from a report, The Three Faces of Work-Family Conflict, which analyzed millions of American families struggling to balance their work and life responsibilities.  

In comparison to other developed countries Americans work the most number of hours.

Summary of report findings:

-Typical American middle-income families put in an average of 11 more hours a week in 2006 than in 1979.

-Work-family conflict is the highest in the U.S than anywhere in the developed world.

-90% of American mothers and 95% of American fathers report work-family conflict.

-America has fewer government-mandated family support laws than the rest of the developed world.  

-The support laws that do not exist include: paid maternity-leave laws, paid sick days, limits on mandatory overtime, and the right to request work-time flexibility.

Three key groups were identified in the report and they include:  low-income families, professional-managerial families, and the “missing middle”.

Families who belonged to the low-income families category struggled the most with work-family conflict because they did not have the money to hire others to help them out.  Usually these families have a member of the family who is ill.

Families in the professional-managerial families category consisted of 80% of women who were married and employed.  These women worked more hours and were twice as likely as middle-income women to work more than 50 hours a week.  

Families in the “missing middle” were those employed in public sector jobs.  For example, firefighters or police, construction and factory workers, medical technicians, office managers, receptionists, and bookkeepers.  These are “rigid, highly supervised jobs”, there is no flexibility.

The report stated that the workplace does not reflect the needs of 21st century families.  Most people who are employed are in a family, have children who need to be care for, and have parents in their 80s and 90s who need to be cared for as well.               

The report suggests four basic policies that can help address work-family conflicts at all income levels:

-  Workplace flexibility

-  Short-term, episodic, and extended time

-  Childcare, after-school care and adult care

-  Addressing family responsibilities discrimination

Read more here

Posted by: suhujitha on 2010-02-17 22:28:27

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