Causes of Poverty: Findings from Recent Research

Over the past 25 years significant structural changes have occurred in the United States that have influenced poverty, making current-day poverty different in some ways from poverty just a few decades ago. These structural changes include transformations in our economic structure such as the shift from manufacturing employment to service-sector employment; the deinstitutionalization of people with mental illnesses into community settings; welfare reform, which resulted in a an emphasis on work over welfare; changes in immigration patterns; and skyrocketing rates of incarceration. Given these considerable changes, the vast majority of theliterature referenced in this summary is from the mid-1990s through 2007 to capture what has been learned about poverty within this new context. Studies prior to this time period are referenced when they are the most recent available and/or are landmark studies that are still applicable to the issue being addressed.The majority of the literature referenced here on each specific poverty-related issue is primary research that used rigorous econometric or statistical methods and robust nationally representative data sets. Included are studies and findings that surface throughout high quality literature reviews on the specified issues. Most have been published in journals or at poverty institutes affiliated with universities. The assessment of the methods of analysis used in the referenced research was rooted in peer reviews, frequency of citations, and perceived quality; for the purposes of this summary the methods were not re-analyzed or tested. Though there is a large body of international research on issues related to poverty, the research addressed here is almost exclusively focused on findings within the context of the United States.What follows is an analysis of these characteristic causes of poverty as well as research on issues that impact income, earnings, and poverty, some of which can be considered proximate determinants of poverty. These issues include characteristics and life experiences that put people at risk of not working or not working enough to prevent entry into poverty, such as race and gender of head of household, strength of the economy, quality of wages, human capital (education) of working age adults, health or disability status of household members, having acriminal record, being an immigrant, having experienced domestic violence, and neighborhood conditions. Certain events are more influential for various subgroups within the at-risk-of poverty population than they are for others

Supported Employment in Maine: Youth in Foster Care

This report describes the employment experiences of 35 Maine youth in foster care. The study methods used included a quantitative analysis of the employment experiences of youth in care and a qualitative component that included interviews with five youth from the sample and four adults (a program job coach, a vocational case manager, a foster/adoptive parent, and a representative from a First Jobs business partner

Workers with Disabilities: The Role of Workplace Flexibility

A fact sheet for Workers with Disabilities: The Role of Workplace Flexibility covering the following: 1) What are the trends in workforce participation of individuals with disabilities? 2) How does the structure of work limit the employment of people with disabilities? 3) What is the role of workplace flexibility in the employment of individuals with disabilities? 4) The need for flexibility among people with disabilities matches the growing interest in flexibility for all workers

Need for Human Services in Illinois

This report aims to support the Illinois Human Services Commission in its effort to fulfill its charge to "undertake a systematic review of human services programs with the goal of ensuring their consistent delivery in the State of Illinois" and to "make recommendations for achieving a system that will provide for the efficient and effective delivery of high quality human service" by outlining basic population and demographic trends that impact human services and by diving deeper into seven human services categories to identify who is in need of services and how current realities and trends may impact the level and type of need going forward. The seven categories of human services were chosen based on their diversity, vulnerability in the state budget, and their potential to be impacted by emerging and likely trends. **More than simply a compendium of data on need, this report demonstrates how relatively simple data can inform program and policy decisions, which are far too often made in information voids. With Illinois human services plagued by increasingly scarce resources, cutbacks in services, and program closures in the last few years, such data-driven decision making is more critical than ever. To that end, the report concludes with a detailed account of how all need estimates in the report were developed and practical recommendations for how the state can incorporate this type of analysis into regular planning

Assimilation and emerging health disparities among new generations of U.S. children

This article shows that the prevalence of four common child health conditions increases across generations (from first-generation immigrant children to second-generation U.S.-born children of immigrants to third-and-higher-generation children) within each of four major U.S. racial/ethnic groups. In the third-plus generation, black and Hispanic children have higher rates of nearly all conditions. Health care, socioeconomic status, parents’ health, social support, and neighborhood conditions influence child health and help explain third-and-higher-generation racial/ethnic disparities. However, these factors do not explain the generational pattern. The generational pattern may reflect cohort changes, selective ethnic attrition, unhealthy assimilation, or changing responses to survey questions among immigrant groups.assimilation, child health, disparities, immigration, race/ethnicity

Mental Health in the Workplace: Situation Analyses, United States

Mental illness constitutes one of the world\u27s most critical and social health problems. It affects more human lives and wastes more human resources than any other disabling condition. The ILO’s activities promote the inclusion of persons with physical, psychiatric and intellectual disabilities into mainstream training and employment structures. The ILO’s primary goals regarding disability are to prepare and empower people with disabilities to pursue their employment goals and facilitate access to work and job opportunities in open labour markets, while sensitising policy makers, trade unions and employers to these issues. The ILO\u27s mandate on disability issues is specified in the ILO Convention 159 (1983) on vocational rehabilitation and employment. No. 159 defines a disabled person as an individual whose prospects of securing, retaining, and advancing in suitable employment are substantially reduced as a result of a duly recognised physical or mental impairment. The Convention established the principle of equal treatment and employment for workers with disabilities

The expression and assessment of emotions and internal states in individuals with severe or profound intellectual disabilities

The expression of emotions and internal states by individuals with severe or profound intellectual disabilities is a comparatively under-researched area. Comprehensive or standardised methods of assessing or understanding the emotions and internal states within this population, whose ability to communicate is significantly compromised, do not exist. The literature base will be discussed and compared to that within the general population. Methods of assessing broader internal states, notably depression, anxiety, and pain within severe or profound intellectual disabilities are also addressed. Finally, this review will examine methods of assessing internal states within genetic syndromes, including hunger, social anxiety and happiness within Prader-Willi, Fragile-X and Angelman syndrome. This will then allow for the identification of robust methodologies used in assessing the expression of these internal states, some of which may be useful when considering how to assess emotions within individuals with intellectual disabilities

Surveying Persons with Disabilities: A Source Guide (Version 1)

As a collaborator with the Cornell Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. has been working on a project that identifies the strengths and limitations in existing disability data collection in both content and data collection methodology. The intended outcomes of this project include expanding and synthesizing knowledge of best practices and the extent existing data use those practices, informing the development of data enhancement options, and contributing to a more informed use of existing data. In an effort to provide the public with an up-to-date and easily accessible source of research on the methodological issues associated with surveying persons with disabilities, MPR has prepared a Source Guide of material related to this topic. The Source Guide contains 150 abstracts, summaries, and references, followed by a Subject Index, which cross references the sources from the Reference List under various subjects. The Source Guide is viewed as a “living document,” and will be periodically updated