Social Assistance, Custody and Child Poverty: Cross-National Comparisons

The prevalence of low income for children, especially for children in lone-parent families, varies considerably across countries. This paper considers five sets of hypotheses that may be relevant to the cross-national variability of child poverty. The tentative conclusion from this analysis in 20 countries is that reducing child poverty, and in lone-parent families in particular, requires several approaches. Provisions that would discourage teenage childbearing would have their importance, as would opportunities for lone mothers to work. More important is the generosity of social expenditure applying to individuals and especially to families. The present analysis also shows the advantages of encouraging joint custody, along with special provisions for lone parents, and child support through advance maintenance payments

Models of Earning and Caring: Evidence from Canadian Time-Use Data

Family models can usefully consider the production and reproduction roles of women and men. For husband-wife families, the breadwinner, one-earner, or complementary-roles model has advantages in terms of efficiency/specialization and stability, but it is a high risk model for women and children in the face of the inability or unwillingness of the breadwinner to provide for (especially former) spouse and children. The alternate model has been called two-earner, companionship, “new families” or collaborative in the sense of spouses collaborating in both the paid and unpaid work needed to provide for and care for the family. When there are children, this can be called the co-provider and co-parenting model. Adopting the common metric of time-use to study both paid and unpaid work, the Canadian national surveys of 1986, 1992 and 1998 show that the traditional or neo-traditional models remain the most common, and the “double burden” is the second most frequent, but there is some evidence of change in the direction of more symmetric arrangements, especially for younger couples with children, when both are employed full-time. Patterns over the life course clearly indicate that women carry much more of the burden in terms of accommodating the meshing that needs to occur between productive and reproductive activities. Policies that would modernize families are discussed, including those that would reduce dependency in relationships

Family Change and Economic Well-Being in Canada: The Case of Recent Immigrant Families with Children

This paper examines the relationship between family change and economic well-being among recent immigrant families with children to Canada over the 1977-1997 period. Defining recent immigrants as those having migrated within the past decade, this study documents a substantial decline in the average level of economic well being of immigrants who migrated during the 1990s relative to those who migrated in the 1970s and 1980s. Whereas the average income to needs ratio of all Canadian families with children is up modestly over this period, this same generalization is not true when shifting our emphasis to recent immigrants. In this context, to the extent that change in family circumstances is relevant, an increased incidence of lone parenthood has had a net negative effect on the economic well-being of recent immigrants - in a manner that is analogous to other Canadian families. Other changes in family structure and living arrangements appear to be of lesser importance in shaping recent trends, including change in the average number of children per family, the age distribution of the parents of children and the tendency of immigrants to co-reside with family members beyond the immediate nuclear family

Children, Social Assistance and Outcomes: Cross-national Comparisons

The prevalence of low income for children, especially for children in lone-parent families, varies considerably across countries. This paper considers five sets of hypotheses that may explain this cross-national variability of child poverty. The tentative conclusion from this analysis in 20 countries is that reducing child poverty, and in lone-parent families in particular, requires several approaches. Provisions that would discourage teenage childbearing would have their importance, as would opportunities for lone mothers to work. More important is the generosity of social expenditure applying to individuals and especially to families. The present analysis also shows the advantages of encouraging joint custody, along with special provisions for lone parents, and child support through advance maintenance payments

Models of Earning and Caring: Trends, Determinants and Implications

Families may be defined as people who share resources and care for each other. These earning and caring activities have undergone change, especially in terms of the de-linking of gender to their division in families. After considering the basis of change in families, in the economy and in models of earning and caring, this paper updates the average hours of paid and unpaid work of women and men, based on the Statistics Canada time use surveys of 1986, 1992, 1998 and 2005. The focus is on gender as well as marital, parental and employment status over the life course. We also identify five models of the division of work: complementary-traditional, complementarygender reversed, women’s double burden, men’s double burden, and shared roles. While the complementary-traditional model is declining, it still represents a third of couples. Women’s double burden is the second largest category, representing 27% of couples in 2005, with men’s double burden representing another 11%. The shared roles account for about a quarter of couples. We show that life course considerations, as well as structural and cultural factors, are determinants of these alternative models of earning and caring. In particular, the complementary-traditional and women’s double burdens are more likely for older persons, and for persons with young children. Alternative models are more common when women have higher relative resources, for younger persons, and for persons living in Quebec and in urban areas. The indicators of well-being and social support show mixed results across models. Nonetheless, the shared roles model is high on measures of happiness and life satisfaction for both women and men. We propose that equal opportunities in the broader society are relevant to the relative predominance of models of earning and caring, as is social policy and the aspirations for relationships based on mutuality and sharing rather than complementary roles

Models of Earning and Caring: Trends in Time-use

Families may be defined as people who share resources and care for each other. These earning and caring activities have undergone change, especially in terms of the de-linking of gender to their division in families. After considering the basis of change in families, in the economy and in models of earning and caring, this paper updates the average hours of paid and unpaid work of women and men, based on the time use surveys of 1986, 1992, 1998 and 2005. The focus is on gender as well as marital, parental and employment status over the life course. Total productive activity, increases for both men and women over the categories of “unmarried no children” to “married no children” to married parent.” We also identify five models of the division of work: complementary-traditional, complementary-gender reversed, women’s double burden, men’s double burden, and collaborative (or shared roles). While the complementary-traditional model is declining, it still represents a third of couples. Women’s double burden is the second largest category, representing 27% of couples in 2005, with men’s double burden representing another 11%. The shared roles account for about a quarter of couples. We propose that equal opportunities in the broader society are relevant to this change, as is social policy and the aspirations for relationships based on mutuality and sharing rather than complementary roles. Besides the push for equality of opportunity in access to education and work, there has been push for change at work in the direction of work-life balance, and change in men’s involvement in housework and child care

Research Brief No. 2 - Models of Earning and Caring: Trends, Determinants and Implications

Families in Canada have undergone changes regarding the ways in which they earn a living and care for each other. Data taken from Statistics Canada time use surveys of 1986, 1992, 1998, and 2005 show changes in the average number of hours of paid and unpaid work completed by men and women

Low Income Status by Population Groups, 1961-2001

Abstract not availabl

Behavior of concrete-filled double skin steel tubular columns under eccentric compression after fire

[EN] To analysis the behavior of the mechanical properties of concrete-filled double skin steel tubular (CFDST) columns under eccentric loads after fire, the finite element analysis was used. The established FEA modeling was verified by the experimental results which has a good agreement. The FEA modeling was then used to perform the temperature field and the full-range load-deformation relations of the CFDST subject to eccentric compression after exposed to fire. The results indicate that: with the time of fire increasing, the eccentric distance increasing, the steel ratio decreasing, the yield strength decreasing and compressive strength decreasing, the bearing capacity of CFDST in circle section under eccentric loads is showing a decrease trend, and the stiffness of component decreases with the time of fire increasing, the eccentric distance increasing and the steel ratio decreasing. The ductility of CFDST became better with the time of fire increasing and the eccentric distance increasing.Liu, X.; Xu, J.; Wang, B. (2018). Behavior of concrete-filled double skin steel tubular columns under eccentric compression after fire. En Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Advances in Steel-Concrete Composite Structures. ASCCS 2018. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 803-810. https://doi.org/10.4995/ASCCS2018.2018.7008OCS80381

Children and Youth in Canada: Recent Demographic Changes

Abstract not availabl