The steady influx of women in the
work force and the accelerating rate of increase in the
population aged 65 and over have encouraged government
and work place policies to help families resolve
work-family conflicts. More than 57 percent of all women
with children under age 6 are currently in the labor
force compared with 12 percent in 1950. Between 1980 and
1991, the percentage of the population over age 65
increased by more than 24 percent, compared with an 11
percent increase for the total population.
Work disruptions are prevalent
among parents employed outside the home. In a Census
Bureau study of the nearly 19 million employed women with
children under 15 years of age, 4.4 percent reported that
they lost time from work in the previous month because of
a failure in their child care arrangement.
Although the conflicts and
complications between work and the demands of aging
relatives are similar to those associated with dependent
children, the need for elder care may be sudden and the
costs less predictable than those for child care.
Employers are increasingly offering
programs that address emergency child care for workers
whose regular arrangements have failed. Claims for a
positive cost/benefit from this type of support system
are based on the avoidance of lost productivity due to
worker absence.
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
is available to workers with earned incomes below $23,050
who have a qualified child and file a joint or head of
household income tax return. In an effort to offset the
proposed new energy taxes, President Clinton supports an
expansion of the EITC.
Under the 1993 Family and Medical
Leave Act, effective August 5, 1993, private-sector
employers with 50 or more employees and most
public-sector employers will be required to grant an
eligible employee up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, with
guaranteed reemployment, for a serious medical condition
of the employee or the employee's spouse, child, or
parent, or to care for a newborn or newly adopted child.
A Department of Labor study of 452
collective bargaining agreements, each covering 1,000 or
more workers, that were in effect July 1, 1990 or later
found that slightly more than 50 percent contained one or
more work and family provisions.
While employers have been providing
benefits for traditional families, societal changes are
challenging employers to provide benefits for
nontraditional families. These families include unmarried
cohabiting heterosexual or homosexual couples and their
dependent children.
