Research by Author & Topic

Publications by Karin Martinson on Employment

This report summarizes strategies San Francisco employers used to implement the nation's first law requiring paid sick days for all employees, based on interviews with a sample of businesses. Although employers faced three new policies that affected staff wages and benefits, they were able to implement the paid sick leave requirement with minimal impacts to their business. The report details employer responses to the law in their operations, staffing, employee benefit packages, and reporting requirements. By assessing employers' perspectives on the operational challenges of the law, the study provides lessons to inform future research and policymaking.

The Minnesota Integrated Services Projects focus on improving the delivery of employment, health, and social services to families who receive cash assistance and have serious or multiple barriers to employment. Operating in eight sites, the project seeks to provide comprehensive assessments of participants' barriers, improve access to more complete services that address multiple needs, and coordinate services provided by multiple service systems. This is the final report in an evaluation of the project and describes the changes in the economic outcomes and family-related outcomes of ISP participants over a two-year period, provides estimates of the relationship between ISP participation and participants' employment and MFIP outcomes, and provides conclusions and policy recommendations.

The Census Bureau released its annual report on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage for the U.S. population on August 26, 2008. According to the report, median household income increased by 1.3 percent in 2007, while the overall poverty rate dipped slightly and the number and percentage of people without health insurance decreased. While the overall numbers were positive, not everyone shared in the economic gains. The number and percentage of children in poverty increased, and households in the lowest 40 percent of the income distribution had no significant income gains.

Welfare programs require people to work, but some low-income adults struggle with major personal challenges that make it hard to find or hold down a job. In this essay, Loprest and Martinson recommend both short term changes to current programs and longer term efforts through a program for competitive federal matching block grants to states. These grants would support efforts to integrate programs that alleviate barriers to work with employment services and to evaluate these initiatives so policymakers can better understand what works.

Low-wage adult workers have trouble getting and keeping higher-paying jobs. Most lack the basic skills and education needed to move up, but certain kinds of assistance might give some the edge they need to break the pattern. In this essay, Holzer and Martinson recommend competitive federal matching block grants that reward states for developing new advancement systems which are linked to state workforce development structures. They would also require partnerships with employers and training providers, including community colleges.

Low-wage adult workers have trouble getting and keeping higher-paying jobs. Most lack the basic skills and education needed to move up, but certain kinds of assistance might give some the edge they need to break the pattern. In this summary, Holzer and Martinson recommend competitive federal matching block grants that reward states for developing new advancement systems which are linked to state workforce development structures. They would also require partnerships with employers and training providers, including community colleges.

Welfare programs require people to work, but some low-income adults struggle with major personal challenges that make it hard to find or hold down a job. In this summary, Loprest and Martinson recommend both short-term changes to current programs and longer-term efforts through a program for competitive federal matching block grants to states. These grants would support efforts to integrate programs that alleviate barriers to work with employment services and to evaluate these initiatives so policymakers can better understand what works.

Recent policies encourage the development of programs designed to improve the economic status of low-income nonresident fathers and the financial and emotional support provided to their children. This brief provides ten key lessons from several important early responsible fatherhood initiatives that were developed and implemented during the 1990s and early 2000s. Formal evaluations of these earlier fatherhood efforts have been completed making this an opportune time to step back and assess what has been learned and how to build on the early programs' successes and challenges.

While many skill-upgrade initiatives are based in the public or private education system, efforts where businesses sponsor or play a lead role in developing training also provide an important venue for skill building. This paper examines why employer-focused training is a promising strategy for boosting the earnings of low-income individuals while also providing benefits to employers. Three employer-focused models with potential for improving skills and promoting job advancement among low-wage workers are examined: incumbent worker training programs, sectoral training programs, and career ladder programs.

While most low-income parents work steadily, many find it difficult to support their families in jobs that offer few benefits or links to public supports. At the same time, employers are balancing their financial and productivity objectives in an increasingly competitive market. The Urban Institute, through support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, sponsored a May 2007 roundtable bringing together business leaders, practitioners, policy experts, researchers, and advocates to discuss the appropriate public and private roles in supporting working families. This document lays out the salient issues and themes that arose and summarizes the papers that were prepared for the event.