With the economy a top issue for voters this election year, the Urban Institute can offer information about the nation’s most vulnerable households, including low-income working families. These families are above the poverty line but still struggle to make ends meet. A sudden job loss or health crisis could derail them.

The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 to help Americans start and build small businesses. Recently, the SBA commissioned the Urban Institute to look at four of the agency's loan and investment programs to assess their past performance and consider how the agency can set benchmarks for future performance management. The studies addressed three key research questions of particular interest to SBA and its constituents: 1) Does SBA assistance help the firms that receive it? 2) To what extent does SBA assistance serve its market? 3) Do SBA programs duplicate or overlap with other public sector programs?

The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 includes incentives for states to increase the amount of child support that is "passed through" to families on welfare, rather than retained to offset welfare expenditures. Beginning October 1, 2008, the federal government will share in the costs of a $100 per month pass-through for families with one child and a $200 per month pass-through for families with two or more children. This brief discusses the potential benefits and costs to families, states, and the federal government if all states implemented a $100/$200 pass-through and disregard.

The National Economic Association is presenting the Samuel Z. Westerfield Award to Margaret Simms, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, on January 4, at the association's annual meeting in New Orleans. The award recognizes outstanding scholarly achievements of African-American economists in teaching, research, and public service.

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.

Lack of health insurance can affect the health and productivity of workers as well as the health of workers’ families, especially for low-income families, who are more likely to have members in poor health. We show that about half of children in low-income families do not have access to employer-sponsored insurance (ESI). Among the families without access to ESI, public insurance fills some gaps among children, but parents remain uninsured at high rates. For these families, children are twice as likely—and parents are nearly three times as likely—to be uninsured compared to families with an ESI offer.

This paper finds that about one in four workers, ages 18 to 61, earned less than $7.73 an hour in 2003. Low-wage workers who reside in low-income families with children are substantially less educated than the average worker, are concentrated in industries with low wages, and have limited prospects for wage growth. Many policies aimed at low-wage workers are not well-targeted at workers in low-income families with children, in part because only one in four low-wage workers reside in such families. Nevertheless, policies targeted at low-wage workers may have broad benefits, including improving the lot of low-income families with children.

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.

As the number of uninsured grows, and the share with employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) falls, questions arise about the future viability of our largely employer-based insurance system. Significant weaknesses exist in the system, and these are heightened for the low-income working population and their employers. A menu of policy options are available for expanding coverage, and expansions will require a combination: income and health status related subsidies; a guaranteed source for all individuals to obtain coverage; requiring at least a minimum level of insurance; requiring employers contributions; increasing enrollment and retention in existing insurance options; and cost containment strategies.

Public or private policies to help working parents balance job and family responsibilities are substantially more limited in the United States than in other industrialized nations. This is true for parents in general, but is particularly true for low-income working parents who hold lower wage jobs. This paper summarizes what we know about families' access to supports, employers' experiences, and public and employer efforts to expand them. It explores paid sick leave/paid time off, paid parental leave at the birth of a child, workplace flexibility, child care assistance, and initiatives to link low-income working families with public benefits.