Job Volatility of Rural, Low-income Mothers: A Mixed Methods Approach

Abstract

Human capital, Job volatility, Low-income, Rural, Women’s employment,

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“…(Bauer & Braun, 2002). Mothers reported waitressing at family-owned restaurants, being nurse's aides, produce managers at co-ops, and real estate agents (Berry, Katras, Sano, Lee, & Bauer, 2008). These positions offered schedule flexibility and allowed mothers to prioritize parenting activities, such as being part of their child's first pumpkin patch visits.…”

“…Most jobs in rural communities tend to be service industry jobs, which are by nature labor-intensive, low paying, unpredictable, lack job security, and require work at nonstandard times Bauer et al, 2003;Berry, Katras, Sano, Lee, & Bauer, 2008;Braun et al, 2002;Reschke, 2006). Furthermore, these jobs have few formal benefits, including access to health insurance, overtime, and paid sick leave (Dolan et al, 2011;Dolan et al, 2005b;Mammen et al, 2009b).…”

“…Furthermore, these jobs have few formal benefits, including access to health insurance, overtime, and paid sick leave (Dolan et al, 2011;Dolan et al, 2005b;Mammen et al, 2009b). Other workplace barriers that mothers noted included low flexibility and lack of supportive supervisors who would accommodate transportation or childcare scheduling conflicts Bauer & Katras, 2007;Berry et al, 2008;Dolan et al, 2011Dolan et al, , 2009). …”

“…Having children younger than preschool-age or with poor health (Bauer et al, 2003) Bauer & Katras, 2007;Berry et al, 2008;Bird & Bauer, 2009). The more children one had, the greater the caregiving responsibilities that conflicted with work (Bird & Bauer, 2009;Dolan et al, 2011;Mammen et al, 2009b).…”

“…Aside from family responsibilities, stressful situations such as domestic violence, incarceration, unexpected deaths, and periods of homelessness interfered with sustained employment (Dolan et al, 2005a;Mammen et al, 2009b), especially in the face of little or no family support (Dolan et al, 2008). All of the aforementioned family factors made it difficult for mothers to achieve work-family balance (Berry et al, 2008), which is important for work, family, and individual well-being.…”