Paid family leave policies are increasingly being debated at the national level as more states adopt such programs. This thesis focuses on the question of what relationship a paid family leave program has with mothers labor market outcomes in the mediumterm, defined as 5 years after giving birth. The outcome variables I focus on include labor force participation status, part-time status, and real earnings. Existing research on the topic has limited information on the relationship between access to paid family leave and mothers medium and long-term labor market outcomes. I use CPS March Supplement data from 2000-2014 in a difference-in-difference regression exploiting the 2004 implementation of Californias Paid Family Leave program. I find that exposure to the treatment (paid family leave access) is not associated with any of the outcomes variables at a statistically significant level. Further research would be needed to establish more robust results, and provide insights into associations with longer-term outcomes.

How migration affects labor markets in receiving countries is well understood, but less is known about how migration affects labor markets in sending countries, particularly the wages of workers who do not emigrate. Most studies find that emigration increases wages in the sending country but only for non-emigrants with substitutable skills similar to those of emigrants; non-emigrants with different (complementary) skills lose. These wage reactions are short-term effects, however. If a country loses many highly educated workers, the economy can become less productive altogether, leading to lower wages for everyone in the long term.

This thesis examines how potential accessibility (A(P)) through transportation over the time span of this study (1830-2010) affected population growth by county for the state of Tennessee. It focuses on shifts in transportation networks from waterways to rail, and rail to roadways, using decennial census data and likewise temporally adjusted county boundaries. The span of this study was broken into four individual time periods to best measure major transitions in transportation: waterways (1830 - 1850), railways (1860 - 1920), historic roads (1930 - 1970), and modern roads (1980 - 2010). Potential accessibility, which was anticipated to have influenced the population change taking place within the state over time, was measured using Esri ArcMap geographical information system (GIS) and a series of network datasets. Calculations of population sums, geographic measurements, and network accessibility were accomplished using both Microsoft (MS) Excel and Esri ArcMap. Linear regression modeling was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The results suggest that the variable influence was dependent on the study period, and although conclusively correlated at times, other variables in addition to or other than transport accessibility also proved significant in several of the study periods. Specifically, the waterways study period showed a direct correlation with the population growth and transport networks during this time, though additional variables could have contributed to population change as well. The railway network did not significantly contribute to population changes going on during this time, likely directly related to the onset of the civil war which hindered the development and growth of this transport system. While starting population share proved to be significant, with higher growth in counties that started out with larger populations, again additional variables could help explain population growth during the railway study period. Potential accessibility and starting share collectively explained almost 90% of the variance within the historic road model, proving significant and likewise leaving very little of the change in population unexplained during that time period. Oddly, while the potential accessibility was significant, unlike theorized within this study counties less accessible to transport networks actually grew more quickly than those with higher accessibility. Finally, modern roads were found to be significant in population change as well and highly correlated. Additional steps to improve on this study in the future would include considering connections outside of the state, particularly in non-Tennessee peripheral localities with high populations. Secondly, investigation of additional variables such as economic data over a shorter overall time span, or using dasymetric allocation methods, could also provide further explanation behind population changes taking place over time.

After reaching a 40-year low for two consecutive years (2020 and 2021 at 14.0 divorces per 1,000 married women), divorce rates have risen slightly in 2022 to 14.6 divorces per 1,000 married women ( FP-23-24). Among recently divorced individuals, many may be parents with resident children. Using the American Community Survey (ACS) data from 2022, we estimate whether minor children (either biological, stepchildren, or adopted) are present in the household among recently divorced (within the last year) parents aged 18-55. Currently, the ACS does not capture divorced individuals with nonresident children and thus these figures underestimate the percentage of recentlydivorcedindividualswhohaveminorchildren.Wefirstpresentcomparisonsofrecentlydivorcedparents to their counterparts, namely, married parents who did not experience a divorce in the last year. Additionally, we investigate the prevalence of minor children among recently divorced individuals by race/ethnicity, educational attainment, and age of the child. This profile is an update of two prior profiles,

This study analyzed the individual and joint influences of social, urban, and physical drivers on patterns of county-scale municipal water consumption (MWC) the for the state of Texas using a cross-sectional research design on three distinct temporal slices (1990, 2000, and 2010). Global multiple linear regression models and measures of global and local spatial association were combined to determine which drivers significantly influenced county-scale per capita MWC, whether or not the statistically significant drivers varied over time, and to assess the degree to which the patterns and drivers of MWC exhibited spatial stationarity. Overall results suggested the social, urbanized, and physical environments contributed significantly to the patterns of per capita MWC to varying degrees in each year. The social and urbanized environments consistently exerted the strongest influences on per capita MWC, while the physical environment was generally less important. The social environment had the greatest cumulative influence in all three years, and the urbanized environment singly accounted for the majority of the variation in per capita MWC when the joint influences of the other significant drivers were considered. Spatial analysis of MWC patterns and drivers suggested that they both exhibited weak to moderate degrees of spatial non-stationarity in each year, as well as that MWC patterns and drivers may be sensitive to regional and climatic boundaries. Identification of temporally consistent MWC drivers merged with longitudinal and cross-sectional research designs can improve water management strategies by offering managers greater insight into the relationships between landscape change and water consumption patterns.

Employment is a major factor underlying im/migration patterns. Unfortunately, lower diet quality and higher rates of obesity appear to be unintended consequences of moving to the US. Changes in food preparation practices may be a factor underlying dietary acculturation. Hispanic women have identified work-related time constraints as barriers to meal preparation and frequent family meals. However, the relationships between employment, acculturation, and food-related time use in Hispanic families have received relatively little attention. We used cross-sectional data collected from Hispanic mothers (ages 1865) with at least one child <13 years old participating in the 20032011 American Time Use Survey (n=3622) to estimate the relationship between employment, acculturation (defined in terms of nativity US-born vs. im/migrant), and time spent in food preparation and family dinner. Regression models were estimated separately for the employed and the non-working and were adjusted for Hispanic origin group, sociodemographic and household characteristics. Working an eight-hour day was associated with spending 38 fewer minutes in food preparation (38.0SE 4.8, p<001). Although being US-born was associated with spending fewer minutes in food preparation, this relationship varied by origin group among working mothers: overall, being US-born was associated with spending 27 (27.1SE 8.5) fewer minutes in food preparation among MexicanAmericans, whereas time spent in food-preparations did not differ by place of birth among Puerto Ricans. Acculturation did not appear to modify the relationship between hours worked and time spent in food preparation or family dinner. Mothers who worked late hours spent less time eating the evening meal with their families (9.8SE 1.3). Although an eight-hour workday was associated with a significant reduction in food preparation time, an unexpected result is that, for working mothers, additional time spent in paid work is not associated with the duration of family dinner later that day.

In the United States fringe benefits are now more than 30% of compensation. While many studies have focused on the impact of trade with developing countries on U.S. wages, not much attention has been given to the impact of such trade on other components of compensation. But if trade aects the share of benefits in compensation, the studies which focus on wages and ignore fringe benefits likely give us biased estimates of the eect of trade on workers total compensation and consumption. I use data about individual workers fringe benefits from the NLSY79. I focus on workers who worked in manufacturing in 1991 and I follow them up to 2006. I then combine this individual level dataset with a measure of exposure to Chinese imports at the industry level and with an instrument for it, as in Autor et al. (2014). I estimate the eect of Chinese import competition on fringe benefits to be positive and economically and statistically significant. The results are robust to the inclusion of several individual and industry level control variables. Dierently from previous studies, my results suggest a more optimistic view of the eect of trade with China on U.S. workers overall compensation.

Texas has a long history of supporting its military veterans and it has provided substantial support in assisting veterans to obtain the post-service skills needed to work in competitive jobs. Support for veterans in expanding their levels of education extend back to 1923 when the 38th legislature instructed public education institutions to exempt veterans from paying certain fees and charges. This support was enhanced with the passage of the Hazlewood exemption in 1943. 1 Today, veterans can use the Hazlewood exemption to obtain 150 hours of college credit at a public institution or transfer unused hours of that exemption to a dependent they designate who is less than 26 years of age. A Hazlewood exemption can also be obtained for the spouse or child of a military service member killed in action, deceased during military service or seriously disabled (a 100 percent disability rating). The number of recipients of Hazlewood exemptions increased from 9,882 in 2009 to 38,946 in 2014 and the value of the awards increased from $24.7 million in 2009 to $169.1 million in 2014 (Legislative Budget Board 2014). Much of this increase has been due to the growth in the Legacy program, although all of the categories of exemptions have experienced growth. Prior to 2012, both the number and expenditures in support of recipients by category of exemption were difficult to adequately measure because of differences in systems of accounting in different educational institutions. Data from 2012 to date are more complete because of consolidation of the accounting process in the Texas Higher Educational Coordinating Board. From 2012 to 2014 the number of veterans receiving exemptions increased from 15,732 in 2012 to 17,290 in 2014 (a numerical increase of 1,558) and for dependents and spouses the increase was from 751 in 2012 to 1,513 in 2014 (an increase of 762). The growth in recipients through the Legacy program was from 12,288 in 2012 to 17,153 in 2013 (an increase of 4,865 from 2012 to 2013) to 19,715 in 2014 (an increase of 2,562 from 2013 to 2014). The value of waived tuition and fees increased substantially as well with the overall increase in fees increasing from $110.2 million in 2012 to $169.1 million in 2014. Approximately $6.4 million of the $58.9 million increase was due to veteran exemptions, $3.8 million was due to dependent and spouse exemptions and approximately $48.7 million to recipients of Hazlewood benefits through the Legacy program. As a result, much of the concern with the rising number of recipients and related costs has concentrated on factors impacting Legacy recipients. Overall the dilemma for state decision-makers is how to ensure that the services of our veterans are adequately recognized and supported through financial assistance in obtaining advanced levels of education while at the same time ensuring that the financial effects of the Hazlewood exemption do not have deleterious impacts on the economic viability of state institutions of higher education. Critical to this analysis is the determination of how many veterans and their dependents are likely to be using resources resulting from the Hazlewood exemption in the coming years. It is an analysis of alternatives for addressing this issue that is the primary focus of this report.

Survey non-response has risen in recent years which has increased the share of imputed and underreported values found on commonly used datasets. While this trend has been well-documented for earnings, the growth in non-response to government transfers questions has received far less attention. We demonstrate analytically that the underreporting and imputation of transfer benefits can lead to program impact estimates that are substantially overstated when using instrumental variables methods to correct for endogeneity and/or measurement error in benefit amounts. We document the importance of failing to account for these issues using two empirical examples.

Objectives Excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) is associated with higher body mass index (BMI) later in life. Increased BMI is associated with health problems, but there is limited evidence linking GWG directly to later health in black women. We examined the association between GWG and health conditions 18 years after a first birth. Methods This study was a secondary data analysis of 467 urban black women, enrolled during pregnancy (1990–1991). GWG was the difference between self-reported pre-pregnancy weight and measured weight at delivery. Hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and self-reported health were assessed with self-report and measurements of blood pressure, height, and weight, approximately 18 years after first childbirth. Results Higher pre-pregnancy BMI was associated with increased probability of each health condition. Higher GWG was associated with hypertension for women with a pre-pregnancy BMI under 21.3 kg/m2 (P < .05) and obesity for women with a pre-pregnancy BMI under 25.9 kg/m2 (P < .05). Diabetes and poor health were not associated with GWG. Conclusions GWG may impact a mother’s hypertension and obesity status 18 years after childbirth for underweight and normal weight women.

This paper analyzes the connection between two concurrent trends since 1950: the narrowing and reversal of the educational gender gap and the increased labor force participation rate (LFPR) of married women. We hypothesize that the education production for boys is more adversely affected by a decrease in the mothers time input as a result of increasing employment. Therefore, an increase in the labor force participation rate of married women may narrow and even reverse the educational gender gap in the following generation. We use micro data from the Norwegian registry to directly show that the mothers employment during her childrens childhood has an asymmetric effect on the educational achievement of her own sons and daughters. We also document a positive correlation between the educational gender gap in a particular generation and the LFPR of married women in the previous generation at the U.S. state level. We then propose a model that generates a novel prediction about the implications of these asymmetric effects on the mothers labor supply decisions and find supporting evidence in both the U.S. and Norwegian data.

Assumptions that single mothers are time-poor compared to married mothers are ubiquitous, but variation in mothers time use by marital status is less studied than differences between mothers and fathers. We use the 2003-2012 American Time Use Survey to examine variation in mothers time spent in housework, child care, leisure, and sleep by their marital status. We find no difference in time spent on childcare between married and single mothers, suggesting that behavioral propensities to engage in child care are similar for all mothers. Married mothers do more housework and spend less time sleeping than all other mothers. Never married and cohabitating mothers have significantly more leisure time than married mothers, although this time is mostly spent watching television. Differences in demographic characteristics explain two thirds of the difference in sedentary leisure time between married and never married mothers. These results provide no support for the time poverty thesis but offer some support for the doing gender perspective.

Policy-oriented population health targets, such as the Millennium Development Goals and national targets to address health inequities, are typically based on trends of a decade or less. To test whether expanded timeframes might be more apt, we analyzed 50-year trends in US infant death rates (1960–2010) jointly by income and race/ethnicity. The largest annual per cent changes in the infant death rate (between −4 and −10 per cent), for all racial/ethnic groups, in the lowest income quintile occurred between the mid-1960s and early 1980s, and in the second lowest income quintile between the mid-1960s and 1973. Since the 1990s, these numbers have hovered, in all groups, between −1 and −3 per cent. Hence, to look back only 15 years (in 2014, to 1999) would ignore gains achieved prior to the onset of neoliberal policies after 1980. Target setting should be informed by a deeper and longer-term appraisal of what is possible to achieve.

Between 1910 and 1950, more than 3.5 million African Americans migrated from the south, largely to northern, urban areas (Collins 1997). Yet when they arrived, they found themselves often limited in their choice of neighborhoods via racially restrictive covenants (Brooks 2011). This paper follows the dynamic segregation literature of Schelling (1971) and Card, Mas, Rothstein (2008) to explore whether neighborhoods in interwar cities in the United States demonstrated “tipping behavior” and how these tipping points evolved over time. We accomplish this using census-tract data from both the 1930 and 1940 U.S. Census via the NHGIS as well as data collected from various Real Property Inventories from 1934. Preliminary results suggest that tipping behavior did occur, although they were typically lower than those found in the modern era via Card, Mas, Rothstein (2008) with the exception of DC and Chicago.

Purpose: To update and extend a 2000 study on the California Latino physician workforce, the authors examined the Latino physician workforce in the 30-year time frame spanning 1980 to 2010, comparing changes in the rates of physicians per 100,000 population for the Latino and non-Hispanic white (NHW) populations in the United States as a whole and in the five states with (in 2010) the largest Latino populations. Method: The authors used detailed data from the U.S. Census (Public Use Microdata Samples for 1980-2010) to identify total population, total number of physicians, and Spanish-language ability for both the Latino and NHW populations. They examined nativity for only Latinos. Results: At the national level, the NHW physician rate per 100,000 of the NHW population increased from 211 in 1980 to 315 in 2010 while the Latino physician rate per 100,000 of the Latino population dropped over the same period from 135 to 105. With small variations, the same trend occurred in all five of the states examined. At the national and state levels, Latino physicians were far more likely to speak Spanish than NHW physicians. Over the 30-year period, the Latino physician population has evolved from being primarily foreign born to being about evenly split between foreign born and U.S. born. Conclusions: The Latino physician shortage has worsened over the past 30 years. The authors recommend immediate action on the national and local level to increase the supply of Latino physicians.

At the end of his introduction to the December 2009 issue of Contemporary Jewry, former editor-in-chief, Samuel C. Heilman wrote, “We also hope that our readership will not be limited to academics but to a wide spectrum of readers whose intelligence and interest moves them to the pages of the journal” (p. 193). This statement reflects a spirit and type of connection that Heilman and the editorial board at the time believed was possible through the journal. Indeed, Contemporary Jewry’s inaugural research section is intended to embody this spirit. Aside from informing readers of Contemporary Jewryabout all of the exciting and important research being conducted in the United States and worldwide, it is my hope that this section will pave a two-way street for individuals, organizations, and foundations to connect to one another. Perhaps these connections will result in vigorous and on-going debates about particular questions and issues or maybe they will form the foundation of future...

Job loss is an ever-present feature of North American labor markets. Each year, employers eliminate positions, close down branches, or even go out of business as part of routine business decisions. In recent decades, even in times of economic expansion rates of job loss have persisted across a wide range of demographic and labor market groups. This dissertation examines the fluctuations in life people face after losing a job in Canada and the United States. In the first paper I study the relationship between job loss and geographic mobility in Canada. Moving is one way individuals may respond to being laid off, either to relocate to cheaper housing or in search of work. Using data from the 1996-2010 Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, I find that job loss is associated with both short-distance residential mobility and long-distance migration, and triggers selective neighborhood mobility. The findings establish job loss as a key life course transition motivating residential mobility and long-distance migration in Canada, and as an event that initiates entry into high poverty neighborhoods. The second paper explores to what extent job loss triggers geographic mobility in the United States in the period leading up to the Great Recession. Drawing on geocoded data from the 2003- 2007 Panel Study of Income Dynamics, I find that being laid off increases the likelihood of both short- and long-distance moves. Job loss also interrupts the housing career: individuals who lose a job are more than twice as likely as people who remain stably employed to transition from owning to renting a home. For those who began as renters, job loss is associated with a decreased likelihood of making a move into homeownership. Finally, being laid off is associated with selection into a high-poverty census tract for those who lived in a lower poverty tract in the previous wave. The third and final paper examines the short-term income trajectories of displaced workers in the U.S. and Canada. Using data from the 1996-2012 U.S. Survey of Income and Program Participation and Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics I assess to what extent displaced workers experience changes in four important measures of financial well-being: earnings, individual income, pre-tax and transfer household income, and after-tax and transfer household income. Comparing these income sources elucidates the role of labor markets, families, and social safety net programs in determining income mobility following job loss. Results show that in both countries displaced workers experience earnings losses. I further find that total household income falls following displacement, but this deterioration is mitigated by receipt of transfer payments. While the post-tax and transfer income losses in the two countries are similar, the welfare state plays a larger role of replacing income in Canada, as individuals experience larger earnings losses. Taken together, this research elucidates the social and economic consequences of job loss in North America. The first two papers provide novel evidence on the range of geographic mobility people undertake following a job loss by considering not only long-distance migration but also short-distance residential mobility and the outcomes of moves, including exposure to neighborhood poverty and transitions in homeownership. The results indicate that many moves are undertaken locally and often involve losing out on neighborhood quality or homeownership, which may ultimately compound the financial hardships associated with job loss. The third paper is one of the first to evaluate the economic consequences of job displacement, specifically, in comparative perspective. In doing so, I demonstrate how national institutions shape the experience of job loss.

We present and calibrate a dynamic model that characterizes the labor market for computer scientists. In our model, firms can recruit computer scientists from recently graduated college students, from STEM workers working in other occupations, or from a pool of foreign talent. Counterfactual simulations suggest that wages for computer scientists would have been 2.8%3.8% higher and the number of Americans employed as computer scientists 7.0% 13.6% higher in 2004 if firms could not hire more foreigners than they could in 1994. In contrast, total computer science employment would have been 3.8%9.0% lower and consequently output smaller.

As part of the wider range of investigations to produce generally acceptable standards for measuring affective well-being, time diary surveys have tested several approaches to measuring subjective well-being during diary days. As an alternative to asking one or two questions about all activities included in a limited number of time diary surveys conducted since the 1980s, the 2010 module of the American Time Use Survey asked six emotion questions about three activities, as first proposed by Kahneman and Krueger. The perception questions captured how happy, meaningful, sad, tired, stressed, or in pain respondents felt on a 7-point scale. To evaluate this approach, this research examined the reliability and validity of the six emotion questions, and assessed their variability across activities. Using principal component analysis, we assessed the associations among items and obtained two activity-level components with Cronbachs alphas of .68 and .59 and two respondent-level components with Cronbachs alphas of .74 and .65. To test validity, we regressed self-rated health on the underlying components and socio-demographic controls. Both of the respondent level components were significantly associated with better health (Odds Ratio = 1.81, 1.27). Using each of the perceptions individually, we found that happiness, meaningfulness, and lack of fatigue, stress, and pain were related to better health. The average well-being score also significantly predicted better health. Finally, we examined the coefficients of variation to assess the variability in the well-being measures across activities. Implications of the subjective well-being measures and limitations of this study were discussed.