The Widening Gap (Paperback, Revised)

This text describes how government and industry have failed working families and what we can do to get beyond this critical impasse. It draws on systematic national research on how the need to meet family obligations is affecting working Americans of all social classes and ethnic groups. What happens when kids get sick? When an elderly parent is hospitalized? How do poor families - who have been studied in less depth than their middle-class peers - cope with work-family demands? Jody Heymann's documented research points to a widening gap between working families and the health and development of children. She demonstrates how lack of essential services and support lead to increased school failure, chronic illness, and diminished chance of success for adults and children. Outdated labour policy and practice must be brought into the 21st-century argues Heymann.