Policy (Brief) Final on Unemployment amongst African Americans
I. Executive Summary
Unemployment brings many problems towards a person’s life. Some factors that tend to occur in a person are: (a) "stress work or from being unemployed, (b) a person’s mental health depression concerns, and (c) drugs and alcohol from the depression" (Brown et al, 2009, Taris, 2002, & Broman, 2001). Some stress factors began from being overwhelmed at work of being overworked to coming back home to tend to house chores and cooking (Broman, 2001). Many people have children and get burnt out from hearing children whining, playing, or having a conflict with another sibling. When a person comes home from work they are tired and don’t want to hear any noise with a child or spouse if married. At work, some individuals are overworked by staying later, being scolded for not handing in an work project on time to the supervisor, and being put more work on his/her desk that seems to be impossible to complete in one day (Broman, 2001). When a person cannot complete these tasks and might have to take off of work quite often from a child being sick, they miss too many days and become fired (Broman, 2001). Some parents, who are hard workers and miss vacation times with their family, tend to miss quality time with their children. Some parents cannot afford a babysitter so they have to voluntarily quit taking care of their child. This usually starts when a grandparent, neighbor, relative, or friend is not available and not around at the time the parent calls to get help (Broman, 2001).
The definition of unemployment is “a person who is considered unemployed if he or she is not working but is available for work and has made recent efforts to find a job. Also included as unemployed are people who are not working or seeking employment but who are waiting to be recalled to a job from which they have been laid off, or are waiting to report to a new job within thirty days. The civilian labor force includes all persons aged sixteen and over (fourteen and over prior to 1947) who are working, who are unemployed, or who are temporarily absent for such reasons as an illness or a strike” (Williams, 1979). This proves that unemployment has been a controversial issue for over forty years. It has become worse by a recession in the labor force (Williams, 1979). The race that this issue targets the most is the African Americans (Williams, 1979). The socioeconomic status is that they are living in poverty/welfare and are low-income families who are struggling while they were working and now being unemployed.
African Americans are the race that is unemployed more than any other race. They are “overrepresented in unskilled occupations with low wages, poor working conditions, and job instability. They are disproportionately vulnerable to unemployment with rates twice that of Whites, and are more likely to experience prolonged unemployment and greater economic hardship as a result of joblessness. Last, African Americans are more vulnerable to job displacement due to recessions and economic changes. As a result, of the change from a manufacturing to a service economy, income wages over the past two decades have declined for African Americans, particularly African American men” (Broman, 2001).
As a result of many African American men whom are unemployed are due to being incarcerated from drugs and when they get out of jail, it’s hard for them to get jobs (Brown et al, 2009). Many women who are African American tend to work outside the home, go to school, and are the breadwinners and single-parents of the community. These women have no choice but to take on the roles of the father and the mother, because they are by themselves. Single-parent families usually are the ones whom are at risk to live in poverty and children tend to be vulnerable and sad from not having adequate clothing, food, and school supplies (Broman, 2001). Many of them are low-income families because many mothers don’t have a high school diploma and are dropouts from middle or high school. Some women have children at a young age and are on assistance from the State of Michigan or Department of Human Services (Broman, 2001). “Due to poverty, there has been links to socio-emotional problems in African American children such as depression, strained peer relationships, an overall psychological disorder. Children are more vulnerable to negative outcomes such as poorer academic achievement, lower earnings in young adulthood, higher rates of poverty, and higher rates of drug and alcohol use. Other research has shown that African American adults suffer poorer mental health as a consequence of economic hard times” (Broman, 2001).
Besides depression, there are more mental health concerns. There are psychosomatic complaints, and self-efficiency. "The cause for this ill-health presumably lies in the fact that unemployed have lower access to valued resources (such as respect from others, financial resources, order in life, and the like) than employed people. Mental ill-health is characterized by recurrent feelings of powerlessness, hopelessness, apathy, low self-esteem, and so forth. A longitudinal study on the effects of worker depression of their work environment was found that depressive workers changed jobs less often than others; and if they found a different job, they were less able to improve their work outcomes (e.g., in terms of variation, autonomy, and prestige) than others” (Taris, 2002). Usually people who have been unemployed for a long period of time tend to have the most mental health problems and who were unhappy while they were working.
Lastly, drugs and alcohol are a factor that can be severe on a person’s health or life. Many unemployed workers had criminal history and drug disorder problems of cocaine (primary substance), alcohol, and opioids. “Cocaine use disorders have been associated with impulsive behavior, which would logically predispose to difficulty with treatment adherence and recidivism. Cocaine use has also been associated attainment, less social support, higher unemployment rates, concurrent alcohol consumption, and use of other illicit drugs. The only experiment study to date which has examined mental health factors among drug court participants found that specifically anti-social personality disorder was associated with a need for more intensive supervision to attain positive outcomes” (Brown et al, 2009). Usually these are African American men and there are more deaths that occur as a result than any other race.
II. Context and Importance of the Policy Issue
This policy is important because even though African Americans are faced with life’s hardships as mentioned above, there are strengths and positive outcomes that help these individuals reduce or stop using drugs, learn how to cope with stress and find more time for their families and children, help these individuals become employed, and help them treat their mental illnesses. “Considerable research has documented the finding that both educational attainment and participation in job training are associated to a significant degree with increasing the employment and income of welfare leavers” (Lee et al, 2009). Other positive outcomes for welfare persons includes: “States should provide cash assistance or noncash safety-net programs using their Maintenance of Effort (MOE) funds, which states have discretion to use for such purposes, and provide appropriate case management, counseling, or treatment programs for people with physical or mental disabilities. States should also provide Food Stamps to people who have reached their lifetime limits without jobs to reduce their economic hardship. This supports permanent reauthorization of the Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA) program and the extension of its eligibility among low-income families” (Lee et al, 2009). Other positive outcomes that are not listed in the journal articles are getting help from: The Department of Human Services (DHS) which also give food stamps and cash assistance (emergency cash assistance), Michigan Works and Work First (that help with resume and job gives job-trainings, trainings for the whole family, treatment programs of Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, family therapy and counseling agencies, and much more.
I chose this policy because it is a major concern in our society today. I wanted to do a topic on a policy I never done before that was interesting to see if there are ways of how a person can leave welfare and become employed. Of course, many people today would say for the person to go out and apply to jobs, send out their resumes, and go to job fairs, but this is not as easy as it seems. I am unemployed and cannot get a job because I am “over-qualified”. I am not looking but happened to get called by posting my resume on the Career Builder.com website. It is usually about the people you know that will help you get jobs quicker.
When I apply for agencies that require a Bachelor’s Degree, I apply and have the experience, but there are hundreds of other qualified, college educated students out there applying for the same jobs. I feel that this policy could help motivate me to continue to try and be positive about the situation. If the job is for me and meant for me to obtain it (primarily from God), then it will happen. Some things in life we just don’t have any control over. Yes we have many hardships and policies we cannot change, but we must turn every bad problem into a positive one no matter how hard it may be. This way, we will not disappoint ourselves and become depressed.
III. Criteria for analyzing the policy
Four criteria of analyzing the policy are: stakeholders,fairness, effectiveness, and applicability.
Stakeholders are the Congress, consumers/workers unskilled or uneducated, businesses, governments, older workers, teenagers, and other minorities. “In 1976 Congress established a National Unemployment Compensation Commission which is currently reviewing the existing system in depth. As consumers, businesses, or governments reduce their spending, many workers in a wide variety of industries may be laid off or have their work week shortened. Much of the unemployment among disadvantaged groups such as the unskilled, the uneducated, older workers, teenagers, and minorities has structural unemployment. Other examples include unemployment caused by a strike, a business failure, or an interpretation of business caused by a fire or some similar peril” (Williams, 1979).
Fairness occurs when African Americans are treated fairly while they are working in the workplace and not discriminated against just because of the color of their skin. African Americans whom were employed at the time felt that they didn’t have time for their families. For example: “Many jobs and employers are simply not family friendly. Jobs are often not designed with families in mind, and this may be an understatement. Often workers are treated as if their families were irrelevant. Thus increasing overtime, shift work, early morning starting hours, extensive travel, minimal vacation time, poor health benefits – these are just a few of the features that ignore worker’s families at best or are actually hostile to families at worst. Job redesign and changing employer policies are the only ways to improve work life for all families at the societal level”(Broman, 2001).
Effectiveness of this policy is the “stress management techniques that help this race learn to cope with stressful job environments” (Broman, 2001). “Society is more secure because workers have better protection against unemployment. Tools of alleviation can reduce the economic consequences. “The major sources under public assistance are Aid to Families (AFDC) with Dependent Children, food stamps, and general assistance. AFDC, a state program supported by federal grants, helps unemployed mothers with dependent children who are poor because the father has died, become mentally or physically disabled, or is continually absent from the home because he has divorced his wife or deserted his family. It contributes to families in which the father is unemployed. The federal food stamp program provides poor families with coupons that can be exchanged at retail stores for groceries” (Williams, 1979).
More effectiveness to this policy are as follows: “The newest approach is privately administered and financed Supplemental
Unemployment Benefit plans which pay unemployed workers the difference between some objective, such as 80 percent of gross wages, less state unemployment insurance benefit. Less than three million employees are covered under these plans which were initiated by unions and are concentrated in a few industries such as automobiles, glass, rubber, and steel” (Williams, 1979).
Applicability: “In 2001, the lifetime rate of prison time for African American males was nearly 17%, over six times higher than lifetime rate for Caucasian males” (Brown et al, 2009). “The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA) of 1996 was to increase the self-sufficiency, and it eliminated the Aid to Families with Dependent Children’s (AFDC’s) fixed the funding amounts to each state. The federal government, the lifetime limit policy, welfare programs and the welfare reform” (Lee et al, 2009). “Employers, employees, nonwhites, teenagers, single-parent mothers, blue collar workers, part-time workers, farmers, butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, presidents, senators, the Employment Act of 1946, economists, Federal Reserve Banks, dependents, and expansionary policies” (Williams, 1979).
IV. Critique recommendations
“Drug treatment courts (DTCs) provide substance abuse treatment and case management services to offenders with substance use disorders as an alternative to incarceration. Treatment plans for DTC participants should incorporate services
addressing needs specific to African Americans, who are over-represented in the U.S. correctional system. Vocational skills assessment, job placement services, mental health assessments, follow-up, and therapies” (Brown et al, 2009). “The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program, safety net programs, community resources such as transportation and transportation vouchers, child care, job training or education programs, Medicaid, welfare-to-work programs, employment services, and food programs (vouchers)” (Lee et al, 2009). “The Social Security Act of 1935, monetary and fiscal policy,
unemployment insurance, and private employee benefit plans, private placement firms, colleges and universities, manpower development programs, Work Incentive Program in 1971, U.S. Treasury’s trust fund, state programs, the Employment Security Amendments of 1970, agricultural workers, domestic and family workers, nonprofit organizations, the emergency extended benefit program, self-employed workers, company unions, and counseling and testing services” (Williams, 1979).
Sources consulted or recommended
Sources consulted or recommended were from getting help with friends and family. “Others aided them by private charities, local public relief, and private employee-benefit plans” (Williams, 1979). I would recommend this population to Alcoholics Anonymous (www.aa.org/) self-help group, Narcotics Anonymous (www.na.org/) self-help group, and Community Mental Health (www.ceicmh.org/) to get help for treatment of alcohol and drugs, and to deal with work and home stress, and their mental health depression issues as well as other mental health problems.
Appendices (All are used to describe my brief and how this population was measured)
Appendix A
TABLE 1 Descriptive Statistics
Variable M SD Range
Age 44.23 12.83 25-86
Sex (1 = male) 0.43 0.50 __ a
Education 11.83 3.10 1-17
Job type 3.72 2.43 1-8
Psychosocial demands 4.08 1.52 1-8
Decision latitude 9.24 2.13 3-12
Physical demands 8.02 2.54 1-12
Bothered by job 2.54 0.95 1-5
Enjoy job 4.04 1.18 1-5
Chronic financial stress 6.83 2.38 2-13
Marital harmony 12.90 2.89 4-16
Parental well-being 11.58 2.15 3-15
NOTE: ns range from 467 to 557, except for marital harmony (n = 288). a. Dummy variable.
(Broman, 2001)
Appendix B
Mental health
Number or months unemployed
Satisfaction with being unemployed
Intention to look for a job
Job searching
Found employment?
Presence of positive characteristics present state of unemployment
Powerlessness
Graph 1: “Graphical representation of the model to be tested. The “+” and “-”signs indicate the expected direction or effects. In the analyses, this model is extended with effects of gender and age” (Taris, 2002).
Appendix C
Table 1.
~Means and Standard Deviations of the Sample on All
Variables Employed in this Study
Variables M SD
Job-searching behaviors
Applies widely 2.45 .79
Number of strategies 3.08 2.19
Number of applications 17.39 4.68
Job-searching intention 2.43 1.27
Satisfaction with current state of unemployment 3.33 .96
Mental health
General health 1.90 .49
Depression 7.99 5.05
Self-esteem 4.00 1.00
Powerlessness 3.76 .58
Characteristics situation 3.69 .59
Months unemployed 19.53 15.11
% Males 54
Age (years) 22.60 3.02
(Taris, 2002)
Appendix D
TABLE
2: Coefficients of Logistic Regression for the Unemployment of Welfare Leavers Who Have Reached Their 5-Year Lifetime Limits
(n = 276)
Ba SEb Exp(B)c
Mental problem 3.035*** .775 20.809
Physical disability 1.218* .534 3.381
No transportation .900* .445 2.459
No child care 1.271* .575 3.563
Domestic violence −.096 .675 .908
No high school
degree/GED 1.123* .439 3.075
African American .839 .682 2.315
Unemployment rate .069 .062 1.071
Constant −1.243* .565
Model Chi-square
(8 d.f.) 63.361***
p ≤ .05. **p≤ .01. ***p ≤ .001.
aStandardized coefficients; bStandard errors; cOdds ratios.
(Lee et al, 2009).
Appendix E Figure 1: Theoretical model guiding addition of variables to logistic regression model.
Maximum possible
Jail time
Criminal charges
Treatment program # of sanctions
Program year
Primary Outcome
-Treatment completion (yes/no)
Gender
Age
Race
Marital Status Employment
Status Education
Drug Use History
Criminal history
(Brown et al, 2009)
Appendix F
TABLE 2 UNEMPLOYED PERSONS BY REASON FOR UNEMPLOYMENT JUNE, 1978
CLASS PERCENT OF TOTAL
Lost their job 40.6%
Voluntarily left their last job 14.7
Reentered labor force 30.6
Looking for first job 14.1
Source: Monthly Labor Review, CI, No. 8 (August 1978), 67.
(Williams, 1979).
Bibliography
Broman, C.L. (2001, Jul 6). Work Stress in the Family Life of African Americans. Journal of Black Studies, 31, (6), 835-846. Sage
Publications, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2668049
I chose this journal article because it was interesting to see how African Americans are coping with day to day stressors and if there are
different alternatives that they can use to help with their stress.
Brown, R.T., Zuelsdorff, M., Gassman, M. (2009, Apr 15). Treatment Retention Among African Americans in the Dane County Drug
Treatment Court. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 48, (4), 336-349. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10509670902851042
I chose this journal article because it was interesting to see how many treatment programs are out there to help treat drugs and alcohol. I also wanted to know if the African American race would take advantage of the treatment programs offered in the article, as well as how many used these resources. I understood how drugs and alcohol started mainly from depression and was glad to see that there are other programs out there for people besides Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous.
Lee, K.H. & Yoon, D.P. (2009, Mar 04). Determinants of Unemployment and Economic Hardship of Welfare Leavers Who Have
Reached Their Lifetime Limits. Journal of Social Service Research, 35, 125-134.
Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01488370802678850
It was quite interesting to see how many years a person is allowed to be unemployed before their Tier is exhausted. This article gave me insight to how many months to how many years a person was unemployed and resources that helped them to get a job as a positive outcome.
Taris, T.W. (2002, Jan). Unemployment and Mental Health: A Longitudinal Perspective. International Journal of Stress Management,
9, (1), 43-57. Human Sciences Press, Inc.
This article was interesting because it gave a history of mental illnesses and disorders that tend to affect a person from depression and life’s stressors. It taught me a great deal about mental illnesses and how to help this clientele once I graduate and become licensed.
Williams, A.C. Meeting the Risk of Unemployment: Changing Societal Responses. (1979, May). Annals of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science, 443, 12-24. Risks and Its Treatment: Changing Societal Consequences. Sage Publications, Inc.
Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1042232
This article was the most interesting to me because it gave me a historical description on how unemployment first developed, how it helped the unemployed, and how things have changed from over forty years. The unemployment rate, by reading the article doubled each year, which is sad to see how things have not been better since the 1970s.
I. Executive Summary
Unemployment brings many problems towards a person’s life. Some factors that tend to occur in a person are: (a) "stress work or from being unemployed, (b) a person’s mental health depression concerns, and (c) drugs and alcohol from the depression" (Brown et al, 2009, Taris, 2002, & Broman, 2001). Some stress factors began from being overwhelmed at work of being overworked to coming back home to tend to house chores and cooking (Broman, 2001). Many people have children and get burnt out from hearing children whining, playing, or having a conflict with another sibling. When a person comes home from work they are tired and don’t want to hear any noise with a child or spouse if married. At work, some individuals are overworked by staying later, being scolded for not handing in an work project on time to the supervisor, and being put more work on his/her desk that seems to be impossible to complete in one day (Broman, 2001). When a person cannot complete these tasks and might have to take off of work quite often from a child being sick, they miss too many days and become fired (Broman, 2001). Some parents, who are hard workers and miss vacation times with their family, tend to miss quality time with their children. Some parents cannot afford a babysitter so they have to voluntarily quit taking care of their child. This usually starts when a grandparent, neighbor, relative, or friend is not available and not around at the time the parent calls to get help (Broman, 2001).
The definition of unemployment is “a person who is considered unemployed if he or she is not working but is available for work and has made recent efforts to find a job. Also included as unemployed are people who are not working or seeking employment but who are waiting to be recalled to a job from which they have been laid off, or are waiting to report to a new job within thirty days. The civilian labor force includes all persons aged sixteen and over (fourteen and over prior to 1947) who are working, who are unemployed, or who are temporarily absent for such reasons as an illness or a strike” (Williams, 1979). This proves that unemployment has been a controversial issue for over forty years. It has become worse by a recession in the labor force (Williams, 1979). The race that this issue targets the most is the African Americans (Williams, 1979). The socioeconomic status is that they are living in poverty/welfare and are low-income families who are struggling while they were working and now being unemployed.
African Americans are the race that is unemployed more than any other race. They are “overrepresented in unskilled occupations with low wages, poor working conditions, and job instability. They are disproportionately vulnerable to unemployment with rates twice that of Whites, and are more likely to experience prolonged unemployment and greater economic hardship as a result of joblessness. Last, African Americans are more vulnerable to job displacement due to recessions and economic changes. As a result, of the change from a manufacturing to a service economy, income wages over the past two decades have declined for African Americans, particularly African American men” (Broman, 2001).
As a result of many African American men whom are unemployed are due to being incarcerated from drugs and when they get out of jail, it’s hard for them to get jobs (Brown et al, 2009). Many women who are African American tend to work outside the home, go to school, and are the breadwinners and single-parents of the community. These women have no choice but to take on the roles of the father and the mother, because they are by themselves. Single-parent families usually are the ones whom are at risk to live in poverty and children tend to be vulnerable and sad from not having adequate clothing, food, and school supplies (Broman, 2001). Many of them are low-income families because many mothers don’t have a high school diploma and are dropouts from middle or high school. Some women have children at a young age and are on assistance from the State of Michigan or Department of Human Services (Broman, 2001). “Due to poverty, there has been links to socio-emotional problems in African American children such as depression, strained peer relationships, an overall psychological disorder. Children are more vulnerable to negative outcomes such as poorer academic achievement, lower earnings in young adulthood, higher rates of poverty, and higher rates of drug and alcohol use. Other research has shown that African American adults suffer poorer mental health as a consequence of economic hard times” (Broman, 2001).
Besides depression, there are more mental health concerns. There are psychosomatic complaints, and self-efficiency. "The cause for this ill-health presumably lies in the fact that unemployed have lower access to valued resources (such as respect from others, financial resources, order in life, and the like) than employed people. Mental ill-health is characterized by recurrent feelings of powerlessness, hopelessness, apathy, low self-esteem, and so forth. A longitudinal study on the effects of worker depression of their work environment was found that depressive workers changed jobs less often than others; and if they found a different job, they were less able to improve their work outcomes (e.g., in terms of variation, autonomy, and prestige) than others” (Taris, 2002). Usually people who have been unemployed for a long period of time tend to have the most mental health problems and who were unhappy while they were working.
Lastly, drugs and alcohol are a factor that can be severe on a person’s health or life. Many unemployed workers had criminal history and drug disorder problems of cocaine (primary substance), alcohol, and opioids. “Cocaine use disorders have been associated with impulsive behavior, which would logically predispose to difficulty with treatment adherence and recidivism. Cocaine use has also been associated attainment, less social support, higher unemployment rates, concurrent alcohol consumption, and use of other illicit drugs. The only experiment study to date which has examined mental health factors among drug court participants found that specifically anti-social personality disorder was associated with a need for more intensive supervision to attain positive outcomes” (Brown et al, 2009). Usually these are African American men and there are more deaths that occur as a result than any other race.
II. Context and Importance of the Policy Issue
This policy is important because even though African Americans are faced with life’s hardships as mentioned above, there are strengths and positive outcomes that help these individuals reduce or stop using drugs, learn how to cope with stress and find more time for their families and children, help these individuals become employed, and help them treat their mental illnesses. “Considerable research has documented the finding that both educational attainment and participation in job training are associated to a significant degree with increasing the employment and income of welfare leavers” (Lee et al, 2009). Other positive outcomes for welfare persons includes: “States should provide cash assistance or noncash safety-net programs using their Maintenance of Effort (MOE) funds, which states have discretion to use for such purposes, and provide appropriate case management, counseling, or treatment programs for people with physical or mental disabilities. States should also provide Food Stamps to people who have reached their lifetime limits without jobs to reduce their economic hardship. This supports permanent reauthorization of the Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA) program and the extension of its eligibility among low-income families” (Lee et al, 2009). Other positive outcomes that are not listed in the journal articles are getting help from: The Department of Human Services (DHS) which also give food stamps and cash assistance (emergency cash assistance), Michigan Works and Work First (that help with resume and job gives job-trainings, trainings for the whole family, treatment programs of Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, family therapy and counseling agencies, and much more.
I chose this policy because it is a major concern in our society today. I wanted to do a topic on a policy I never done before that was interesting to see if there are ways of how a person can leave welfare and become employed. Of course, many people today would say for the person to go out and apply to jobs, send out their resumes, and go to job fairs, but this is not as easy as it seems. I am unemployed and cannot get a job because I am “over-qualified”. I am not looking but happened to get called by posting my resume on the Career Builder.com website. It is usually about the people you know that will help you get jobs quicker.
When I apply for agencies that require a Bachelor’s Degree, I apply and have the experience, but there are hundreds of other qualified, college educated students out there applying for the same jobs. I feel that this policy could help motivate me to continue to try and be positive about the situation. If the job is for me and meant for me to obtain it (primarily from God), then it will happen. Some things in life we just don’t have any control over. Yes we have many hardships and policies we cannot change, but we must turn every bad problem into a positive one no matter how hard it may be. This way, we will not disappoint ourselves and become depressed.
III. Criteria for analyzing the policy
Four criteria of analyzing the policy are: stakeholders,fairness, effectiveness, and applicability.
Stakeholders are the Congress, consumers/workers unskilled or uneducated, businesses, governments, older workers, teenagers, and other minorities. “In 1976 Congress established a National Unemployment Compensation Commission which is currently reviewing the existing system in depth. As consumers, businesses, or governments reduce their spending, many workers in a wide variety of industries may be laid off or have their work week shortened. Much of the unemployment among disadvantaged groups such as the unskilled, the uneducated, older workers, teenagers, and minorities has structural unemployment. Other examples include unemployment caused by a strike, a business failure, or an interpretation of business caused by a fire or some similar peril” (Williams, 1979).
Fairness occurs when African Americans are treated fairly while they are working in the workplace and not discriminated against just because of the color of their skin. African Americans whom were employed at the time felt that they didn’t have time for their families. For example: “Many jobs and employers are simply not family friendly. Jobs are often not designed with families in mind, and this may be an understatement. Often workers are treated as if their families were irrelevant. Thus increasing overtime, shift work, early morning starting hours, extensive travel, minimal vacation time, poor health benefits – these are just a few of the features that ignore worker’s families at best or are actually hostile to families at worst. Job redesign and changing employer policies are the only ways to improve work life for all families at the societal level”(Broman, 2001).
Effectiveness of this policy is the “stress management techniques that help this race learn to cope with stressful job environments” (Broman, 2001). “Society is more secure because workers have better protection against unemployment. Tools of alleviation can reduce the economic consequences. “The major sources under public assistance are Aid to Families (AFDC) with Dependent Children, food stamps, and general assistance. AFDC, a state program supported by federal grants, helps unemployed mothers with dependent children who are poor because the father has died, become mentally or physically disabled, or is continually absent from the home because he has divorced his wife or deserted his family. It contributes to families in which the father is unemployed. The federal food stamp program provides poor families with coupons that can be exchanged at retail stores for groceries” (Williams, 1979).
More effectiveness to this policy are as follows: “The newest approach is privately administered and financed Supplemental
Unemployment Benefit plans which pay unemployed workers the difference between some objective, such as 80 percent of gross wages, less state unemployment insurance benefit. Less than three million employees are covered under these plans which were initiated by unions and are concentrated in a few industries such as automobiles, glass, rubber, and steel” (Williams, 1979).
Applicability: “In 2001, the lifetime rate of prison time for African American males was nearly 17%, over six times higher than lifetime rate for Caucasian males” (Brown et al, 2009). “The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA) of 1996 was to increase the self-sufficiency, and it eliminated the Aid to Families with Dependent Children’s (AFDC’s) fixed the funding amounts to each state. The federal government, the lifetime limit policy, welfare programs and the welfare reform” (Lee et al, 2009). “Employers, employees, nonwhites, teenagers, single-parent mothers, blue collar workers, part-time workers, farmers, butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, presidents, senators, the Employment Act of 1946, economists, Federal Reserve Banks, dependents, and expansionary policies” (Williams, 1979).
IV. Critique recommendations
“Drug treatment courts (DTCs) provide substance abuse treatment and case management services to offenders with substance use disorders as an alternative to incarceration. Treatment plans for DTC participants should incorporate services
addressing needs specific to African Americans, who are over-represented in the U.S. correctional system. Vocational skills assessment, job placement services, mental health assessments, follow-up, and therapies” (Brown et al, 2009). “The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program, safety net programs, community resources such as transportation and transportation vouchers, child care, job training or education programs, Medicaid, welfare-to-work programs, employment services, and food programs (vouchers)” (Lee et al, 2009). “The Social Security Act of 1935, monetary and fiscal policy,
unemployment insurance, and private employee benefit plans, private placement firms, colleges and universities, manpower development programs, Work Incentive Program in 1971, U.S. Treasury’s trust fund, state programs, the Employment Security Amendments of 1970, agricultural workers, domestic and family workers, nonprofit organizations, the emergency extended benefit program, self-employed workers, company unions, and counseling and testing services” (Williams, 1979).
Sources consulted or recommended
Sources consulted or recommended were from getting help with friends and family. “Others aided them by private charities, local public relief, and private employee-benefit plans” (Williams, 1979). I would recommend this population to Alcoholics Anonymous (www.aa.org/) self-help group, Narcotics Anonymous (www.na.org/) self-help group, and Community Mental Health (www.ceicmh.org/) to get help for treatment of alcohol and drugs, and to deal with work and home stress, and their mental health depression issues as well as other mental health problems.
Appendices (All are used to describe my brief and how this population was measured)
Appendix A
TABLE 1 Descriptive Statistics
Variable M SD Range
Age 44.23 12.83 25-86
Sex (1 = male) 0.43 0.50 __ a
Education 11.83 3.10 1-17
Job type 3.72 2.43 1-8
Psychosocial demands 4.08 1.52 1-8
Decision latitude 9.24 2.13 3-12
Physical demands 8.02 2.54 1-12
Bothered by job 2.54 0.95 1-5
Enjoy job 4.04 1.18 1-5
Chronic financial stress 6.83 2.38 2-13
Marital harmony 12.90 2.89 4-16
Parental well-being 11.58 2.15 3-15
NOTE: ns range from 467 to 557, except for marital harmony (n = 288). a. Dummy variable.
(Broman, 2001)
Appendix B
Mental health
Number or months unemployed
Satisfaction with being unemployed
Intention to look for a job
Job searching
Found employment?
Presence of positive characteristics present state of unemployment
Powerlessness
Graph 1: “Graphical representation of the model to be tested. The “+” and “-”signs indicate the expected direction or effects. In the analyses, this model is extended with effects of gender and age” (Taris, 2002).
Appendix C
Table 1.
~Means and Standard Deviations of the Sample on All
Variables Employed in this Study
Variables M SD
Job-searching behaviors
Applies widely 2.45 .79
Number of strategies 3.08 2.19
Number of applications 17.39 4.68
Job-searching intention 2.43 1.27
Satisfaction with current state of unemployment 3.33 .96
Mental health
General health 1.90 .49
Depression 7.99 5.05
Self-esteem 4.00 1.00
Powerlessness 3.76 .58
Characteristics situation 3.69 .59
Months unemployed 19.53 15.11
% Males 54
Age (years) 22.60 3.02
(Taris, 2002)
Appendix D
TABLE
2: Coefficients of Logistic Regression for the Unemployment of Welfare Leavers Who Have Reached Their 5-Year Lifetime Limits
(n = 276)
Ba SEb Exp(B)c
Mental problem 3.035*** .775 20.809
Physical disability 1.218* .534 3.381
No transportation .900* .445 2.459
No child care 1.271* .575 3.563
Domestic violence −.096 .675 .908
No high school
degree/GED 1.123* .439 3.075
African American .839 .682 2.315
Unemployment rate .069 .062 1.071
Constant −1.243* .565
Model Chi-square
(8 d.f.) 63.361***
p ≤ .05. **p≤ .01. ***p ≤ .001.
aStandardized coefficients; bStandard errors; cOdds ratios.
(Lee et al, 2009).
Appendix E Figure 1: Theoretical model guiding addition of variables to logistic regression model.
Maximum possible
Jail time
Criminal charges
Treatment program # of sanctions
Program year
Primary Outcome
-Treatment completion (yes/no)
Gender
Age
Race
Marital Status Employment
Status Education
Drug Use History
Criminal history
(Brown et al, 2009)
Appendix F
TABLE 2 UNEMPLOYED PERSONS BY REASON FOR UNEMPLOYMENT JUNE, 1978
CLASS PERCENT OF TOTAL
Lost their job 40.6%
Voluntarily left their last job 14.7
Reentered labor force 30.6
Looking for first job 14.1
Source: Monthly Labor Review, CI, No. 8 (August 1978), 67.
(Williams, 1979).
Bibliography
Broman, C.L. (2001, Jul 6). Work Stress in the Family Life of African Americans. Journal of Black Studies, 31, (6), 835-846. Sage
Publications, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2668049
I chose this journal article because it was interesting to see how African Americans are coping with day to day stressors and if there are
different alternatives that they can use to help with their stress.
Brown, R.T., Zuelsdorff, M., Gassman, M. (2009, Apr 15). Treatment Retention Among African Americans in the Dane County Drug
Treatment Court. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 48, (4), 336-349. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10509670902851042
I chose this journal article because it was interesting to see how many treatment programs are out there to help treat drugs and alcohol. I also wanted to know if the African American race would take advantage of the treatment programs offered in the article, as well as how many used these resources. I understood how drugs and alcohol started mainly from depression and was glad to see that there are other programs out there for people besides Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous.
Lee, K.H. & Yoon, D.P. (2009, Mar 04). Determinants of Unemployment and Economic Hardship of Welfare Leavers Who Have
Reached Their Lifetime Limits. Journal of Social Service Research, 35, 125-134.
Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01488370802678850
It was quite interesting to see how many years a person is allowed to be unemployed before their Tier is exhausted. This article gave me insight to how many months to how many years a person was unemployed and resources that helped them to get a job as a positive outcome.
Taris, T.W. (2002, Jan). Unemployment and Mental Health: A Longitudinal Perspective. International Journal of Stress Management,
9, (1), 43-57. Human Sciences Press, Inc.
This article was interesting because it gave a history of mental illnesses and disorders that tend to affect a person from depression and life’s stressors. It taught me a great deal about mental illnesses and how to help this clientele once I graduate and become licensed.
Williams, A.C. Meeting the Risk of Unemployment: Changing Societal Responses. (1979, May). Annals of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science, 443, 12-24. Risks and Its Treatment: Changing Societal Consequences. Sage Publications, Inc.
Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1042232
This article was the most interesting to me because it gave me a historical description on how unemployment first developed, how it helped the unemployed, and how things have changed from over forty years. The unemployment rate, by reading the article doubled each year, which is sad to see how things have not been better since the 1970s.
