Includes bibliographical references (pages 179-213) and index.
Introduction: the connection between welfare and work -- Welfare reform's context: the growth of the low-wage service sector -- Welfare reform's content: building connections between work and welfare -- Tying the first hand: the solitary wage bargain -- Tying the second hand: challenges to economic citizenship -- Both hands tied: the race to the bottom in the low-wage labor market -- Conclusion: untying the hands.
0
This book studies the working poor in the United States, focusing in particular on the relation between welfare and low-wage earnings among working mothers. Grounded in the experience of thirty-three women living in Milwaukee and Racine, Wisconsin, it tells the story of their struggle to balance child care and wage-earning in poorly paying and often state-funded jobs with inflexible schedules and the moments when these jobs failed them and they turned to the state for additional aid. The authors here examine the situations of these women in light of the 1996 nation.