Public and Private Roles in Supporting Working Families

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

The text below is an excerpt from the complete document. Read the full paper in PDF format.

Abstract

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.

Introduction

While the vast majority of low-income parents today works steadily, many still struggle to make ends meet and address family needs. Many parents find it difficult to support their families in jobs that offer few benefits or links to public supports. The current patchwork of public and private programs, many of which are not specifically geared toward working families, can create major challenges.

At the same time, employers are balancing their financial and productivity objectives in an increasingly global, competitive market. They must address the challenges of recruiting, hiring, and retaining a skilled workforce in the context of these competitive demands. U.S. public policies generally give firms significant latitude in their workforce practices. As a consequence, some firms choose to respond to global competition by lowering wage costs, limiting benefits, and accepting high employee turnover, while other firms respond by offering higher wages and benefits but demanding higher productivity. Even within the same industry, different firms may make dramatically different choices.

Given these factors, the debate about appropriate public and private roles in such areas as provision of health insurance, narrowing the skills gap, and the need for paid parental leave appears to be intensifying in many states and in Washington, D.C. Many researchers, labor experts, and policymakers who in the past have focused primarily on public programs are now considering how both the private and public sectors can support working families and, at the same time, encourage productivity and organizational competitiveness. But questions remain about what supports to provide, the appropriate balance of public and private supports, the role of public policy in encouraging or mandating stronger private-sector involvement, and the level of public investment needed.

To facilitate a dialogue on these issues, the Urban Institute, through support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, sponsored a May 2007 roundtable, “Public and Private Roles in the Workplace: What Are the Next Steps in Supporting Working Families?” A group of about 45 business leaders, practitioners, national policy experts, researchers, and advocates discussed the problems and potential solutions, striving for constructive discourse rather than a final consensus. “We need to develop a better understanding of the strategies for public and private partnerships,” noted Urban Institute President Robert Reischauer in his opening remarks.

(End of excerpt. The entire paper is available in PDF format.)

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

Usage, posting and reprint of materials on the UI web site:

Most publications may be downloaded free of charge from the web site in PDF format. This information may be used and copies made for research, academic, policy or other non-commercial purposes. Proper attribution is required.

Copyright of the written materials contained within the Urban Institute website is owned or controlled by the Urban Institute. Posting UI research papers on other websites is permitted subject to prior approval from the Urban Institute—contact paffairs@urban.org.

If you are unable to access or print the PDF document please contact us or call the Publications Office at (202) 261-5687.