Lack of protections for home care workers: overtime pay and minimum wage

This brief examines overtime hours and hourly wages among home care workers (home health aides and personal care aides) and compares them with hospital and nursing home aides. These aides engage in similar work for their clients, even though they work in different institutional settings. Yet, home health aides and personal care aides have higher poverty rates (20 percent and 28 percent, respectively) than hospital aides and nursing home aides (about 12 percent for both). In addition, they typically work fewer hours per week, have lower rates of health insurance coverage, rely on public assistance to a greater extent, and receive lower hourly wages. Author Kristin Smith discusses the impact of the Department of Labor\u27s issued proposed rule changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 that would narrow the companionship exemption so that most home care workers would no longer be exempt from overtime pay and minimum wage requirements

Job Protection and Wage Replacement: Key Factors in Take Up of Paid Family and Medical Leave Among Lower-Wage Workers

In this brief, author Kristin Smith discusses two key factors—job protection and sufficient wage replacement—that influence take up of paid family and medical leave among lower-wage workers. She reports that lower-wage workers have substantially less access to employer-provided paid family and medical leave than higher-earning workers. More than nine in ten New Hampshire residents support guaranteed job protection for all workers taking paid family or medical leave. Eighty-eight percent of New Hampshire workers believe that a wage replacement rate of 60 percent or more for a worker taking leave is the right amount. She concludes that if state and federal policymakers intend to increase access to and decrease inequity in paid family and medical leave, they would do well to consider job protection and a scaled wage replacement scheme that allows lower-wage workers to maintain most of their wages. A worker’s financial stability should not be put in question when taking paid family and medical leave

As Opioid Use Climbs, Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Rises in New Hampshire

In this brief, author Kristin Smith analyzes inpatient hospital discharge data (2012–2015) to assess the prevalence of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) in New Hampshire; describes one hospital’s successful program for treating pregnant women and newborns; discusses how comprehensive and coordinated care and home visiting services provided through community based organizations can support new mothers and families; and discusses how a recent change to New Hampshire law intended to support child protection may be having unintended consequences. She reports that in the 10 years from 2005 to 2015, the number of infants diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) in New Hampshire increased fivefold, from 52 to 269. In 2015, 2.4 percent of New Hampshire births were diagnosed with NAS, and that number is projected to rise, with implications for early intervention programs, early education programs, and primary schools. Children born drug-exposed are at increased risk for behavioral health problems, especially if their parents continue using. Policies and programs should not consider opioid addiction in isolation, but rather as one interconnected symptom within a larger context. Both alcohol and tobacco use during pregnancy have proven negative health consequences for children, and the adverse effects on children are magnified when combined with opiates. Getting mothers on a path to recovery is a formidable challenge facing our state, but one that ultimately will help children and promote family unity

Paid sick time helps workers balance work and family

In New Hampshire, workers fare better than workers nationally, yet one-quarter of Granite State workers do not have paid sick days. The lack of paid sick days places workers in a bind. They are forced to choose between caring for a sick family member or themselves and losing pay. This brief suggests that the long-term benefits of workers having paid sick days out way the cost for employers because it promotes less contagion among coworkers, increased productivity, and reduced turnover

Increased reliance on wives as breadwinners during the first year of the recession

Among low-income families, the wages of employed wives account for the majority of family earnings, according to this Carsey brief. The analysis finds that in 2008, women contributed 56 percent of total family earnings, up from 51 percent in 2007. Also, husbands\u27 education level and race are factors in how much wives contribute to family earnings

Employment rates higher among rural mothers than urban mothers

As men\u27s jobs in traditional rural industries, such as agriculture, natural resource extraction, and manufacturing disappear due to restructuring of rural labor markets, the survival of the family increasingly depends on women\u27s waged labor. Rural mothers with children under age 6 have higher employment rates than their urban counterparts but have higher poverty rates, lower wages, and lower family income, placing rural mothers and their children in a more economically vulnerable situation than urban mothers

Wives as breadwinners: wives\u27 share of family earnings hits historic high during the second year of the great recession

In the second year of the recession, wives\u27 contributions to family earnings leapt again, jumping two percentage points from 45 percent in 2008 to 47 percent in 2009. This rise marks the largest single-year increase in 15 years. This is not due to an increase in their earnings but rather to a decrease in husband’s employment, as the economy disproportionately shed male-dominated jobs during the recession

Support for Paid Family and Medical Leave in New Hampshire

In this data snapshot, author Kristin Smith reports that 78 percent of New Hampshire residents stated support for a program that would provide a portion of wages to workers taking leave for personal or family medical reasons in October 2018. Women registered higher levels of support for paid family and medical leave insurance than men, and those with a liberal or moderate political ideology reported higher support than those with a conservative ideology. Levels of support did not vary significantly between regions in the state. Related to whether a program should require participation or be voluntary: more than two-thirds of New Hampshire workers supported the inclusion of a requirement that all workers participate and pay into a paid family and medical leave insurance program

After a Parent Left Employment, One in Five Children Lost Private Insurance

This brief focuses on children’s loss of private health insurance after a parent left his or her job voluntarily or involuntarily between May 2008 and the end of 2012. Author Kristin Smith reports that more than one in four privately insured children had a parent leave employment voluntarily or involuntarily between 2008 and 2012. Within eighteen months after a parent transitioned out of employment, 19 percent of privately insured children lost their private health insurance; of this 19 percent, 11 percent moved to public health insurance and 8 percent became uninsured. Children living in the highest income quintile more often transitioned to no insurance, while children living in the lowest income quintile more often transitioned to public health insurance. Hispanic children were more likely to transition to public health insurance than to become uninsured. Children in rural and urban areas were equally likely to have a parent leave employment; they were also equally likely either to become uninsured or to gain public health insurance