Rural workers more likely to work nontraditional shifts

Workers in rural areas have historically worked at different times of the day compared to their counterparts in urban areas, including during less traditional work periods, such as in the early morning, afternoon, and evening hours. This brief presents a snapshot of the rural workforce around the clock

A Transformation in Mexican Migration to the United States

Author Rogelio Sáenz reveals that the shift in migration has coincided with changes in the composition of the Mexican population coming to the United States. Sáenz reports that Mexicans migrating today tend to have higher socioeconomic status than earlier migrants and more women and older individuals are migrating

White Deaths Exceed Births in One-Third of U.S. States

In this brief, authors Rogelio Sáenz and Kenneth Johnson report that there were more white deaths than births in seventeen states in 2014, compared to just four states in 2004. This is the highest number of states with white natural decrease (more deaths than births) in U.S. history. Several of these states are among the nation’s most populous and urbanized. The rising number of older adults, the falling number of women of childbearing age, and lower fertility rates diminished the number of white births and increased the number of white deaths. The authors conclude with a discussion of the major policy implications of this growing incidence of white natural decrease and the increasing shift to a more racially/ethnically diverse U.S. population. Their work is based on data from the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control

Rural People, Rural Places: The Hidden Costs of Hurricane Katrina

This brief shows how the characteristics of rural Gulf Coast families place them at higher risks during natural disasters and make them far less able to recover from such calamities. Although few realize it, nonmetro residents represented the majority (55%) of the population affected by Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi. They also constituted 17% of the people living in Alabama's disaster-stricken area, and about 12% of the affected population in Louisiana. These are not inconsequential numbers; they represent thousands of inhabitants living in small communities dotting the tri-state region. This Rural Realities brief draws much needed attention to nonmetro areas affected by Hurricane Katrina and outlines the key features of the rural people and places that have been impacted by this major disaster. Most important, it offers a series of policy recommendations that can assist in rebuilding the region's nonmetro counties and parishes. The hope is that these policy ideas can offer a meaningful set of strategies for lessening the future vulnerability of rural areas within and outside this region of the country. This brief is from Rural Realities; Volume 1, Issue 2. Rural Realities is published by the Rural Sociological Society. It is a peer-reviewed, web-based series that is published four times a year. Each issue is devoted to a single topic

A Profile of Latinos in Rural America

The rural Latino population continues to spread to points beyond the traditional Southwest where they have been clustered in the past. The rural Latino population is young and faces social and economic challenges associated with low levels of education and high rates of poverty. This is also a population that has high levels of employment in jobs that typically offer no -- or at best, limited -- benefits such as health insurance. Given that many rural communities are growing in numbers largely due to the Latino population, rural policymakers and community leaders need to develop routes for upward mobility to ensure that Latinos prosper in their communities

Earning Patterns of Mexican Workers in the Southern Region: A Focus on Nonmetro/Metro Distinctions

The last few years have witnessed a tremendous change in the geographic location patterns of the Mexican population in the United States. The rural South represents one of the areas that have seen a noticeable growth in the Mexican population over the last few years. Unfortunately, data necessary to examine the social and economic adjustment of Mexicans in this area are not available at this time. This analysis uses data from the 1990 Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) to examine the earnings patterns bf Mexican-origin workers in the South. The sample used to conduct the analysis includes 9,509 Mexican-origin workers living in the South. For comparative purposes, the analysis is conducted separately by gender and nativity status. The results of the analysis suggest that nonmetro Mexican workers have lower earnings compared to metro Mexican workers even after control variables are taken into account. However, the findings show that nonmetro and metro Mexican workers do not differ significantly on their economic returns to their human capital endowments. The results of this study may serve as a benchmark for future studies that use data from the 2000 decennial census to assess the labor market experiences of Mexican newcomers to the South

Traditional sex roles, ethnic integration, marital satisfaction, and psychological distress among Chicanas

It has been argued that the devaluing of the traditional housewife role in industrial and postindustrial societies has had an impact on women\u27s mental well-being. More traditional women tend to experience higher levels of psychological distress than their less traditional peers;A model is proposed to explain the effects of traditional sex roles on psychological distress among Chicanas. It is hypothesized that women holding less traditional roles receive more help with housework from their husbands than more traditional ones. Those who receive more help from their spouses with these chores are expected to experience higher levels of marital satisfaction. But, employment and more children in the home are predicted to have negative effects on satisfaction with one\u27s spouse. Less traditional women and those reporting more positive marital relationships are hypothesized to experience lower levels of psychological distress;Data were available from the 1979 Chicano Survey to examine this model. The data were gathered from a sample of persons of Mexican origin living in five southwestern states and in the Chicago area. The sample used in this analysis consists of 372 currently married women. LISREL analysis is used to examine the model;The findings show mixed support for the model. While employed women and those living with fewer children tend to receive more help from their husbands with housework, more educated Chicanas obtain less help with these chores than less educated women. Those who receive more help from their spouses report higher levels of marital satisfaction. However, education and employment have negative effects on the degree to which Chicanas are pleased with their spouses. And, marital satisfaction has the strongest impact on psychological distress; Chicanas who are happier with their husbands experience lower levels of psychological distress. Similarly, working Chicanas tend to encounter fewer psychological problems. But, women who receive more help from their husbands with housework report marginally higher levels of psychological discomfort;The results have implications for social scientists working in both applied and basic settings. Recommendations for programs designed to provide women with useful skills are discussed. The contributions of these findings to the understanding of the impact of changing sex roles on mental well-being among a minority group in a bicultural setting are also noted

The Inequities of Job Loss and Recovery Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this policy brief, authors Rogelio Sáenz and Corey Sparks discuss the wide variations in unemployment and the level of job loss during the COVID-19 pandemic across the nation’s demographic groups that have historically suffered disparities in the workforce, including persons of color, women, and immigrants. It is particularly unfortunate that the calamity of the pandemic comes on the heels of major improvements in job prospects that these groups made over the last decade, as the workforce emerged from the Great Recession. The benefits associated with the CARES Act of March 2020 expired in July, leaving tens of millions of unemployed people in dire straits. Implications of the inequality in both joblessness and job recovery will likely have far-reaching effects for other aspects of life. Some obvious implications of prolonged joblessness related to COVID-19 are potential spikes in defaults on mortgages and rent payments, especially as rent assistance programs phase out of operation. Other implications of joblessness are food insecurity. As people of color continue to bear the brunt of the ravage of the pandemic, it exposes profound racial divides in this country that policymakers will need to address with an equity lens

Inequities in Job Recovery During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Year Later

In this brief, authors Rogelio Sáenz, Corey Sparks, and Asiya Validova report that in April 2020, after the first two months of significant spread of COVID-19 in the United States, nearly 25 million fewer people had a job. In June 2021, there were still 5.9 million fewer people employed, representing a drop of 3.7 percent in workers since before COVID. Workers of color, women, and those with lower levels of education have consistently had the highest unemployment rates, a trend that persisted through June 2021. The recovery of the workforce has not been equal, with dramatic differences based on race/ethnicity, gender, nativity, and level of education. During COVID, working from home has been a highly segregated opportunity, limited mostly to persons with college degrees. White workers are approximately 1.5 times more likely to be able to work from home than are Blacks and Latinos. While the employment situation has improved noticeably since the economic abyss of the shutdown of the economy in April 2020, the United States is still a long way from job recovery. The authors’ findings have important policy implications for the short- and long-term as, and after, the pandemic recedes. Many people are still without employment due to the loss of jobs that have not yet returned, the obligations they have for child care and elder care, and other situations. Many are on the verge of losing their homes as eviction bans expire. Many families continue to face hunger. There is a major need for the creation of policy to ensure that people have their basic necessities met and that they are able to make necessary adjustments, including job retraining, to begin the process of rebuilding their lives in the coming months and years

Poverty in the Texas borderland and lower Mississippi Delta: A comparative analysis of differences by family type

We provide a comparative analysis of county-level poverty in the two poorest regions of the United States - the Texas Borderland and the Lower Mississippi Delta - with a special focus on differences by family type. Our results reveal important regional variation in both the prevalence of poverty and the composition of the poor population across major family types. Using OLS regression models of family type-specific poverty we demonstrate three key findings: 1) There are no significant regional differences in poverty levels by family type between the Borderland and the Delta, net of important structural factors that characterize the regions; 2) with the exception of the employment rate, the structural factors associated with poverty among married couple and single female-headed families are quite different; and 3) paradoxically, areas in the Borderland with high in-migration are especially likely to suffer from high married-couple family poverty. Our results suggest the need for regionally targeted and demographically tailored anti-poverty policies.family structure, Mississippi Delta, persistent poverty, poverty, regional poverty, Texas Borderland