December 2012 POVERTY RESEARCH FLASH

Using Occupation Clusters for Poverty Alleviation and Economic Development

Using national-level data on occupational characteristics, former WCPC Dissertation Fellowship recipient Colleen Chrisinger, along with colleagues Christopher S. Fowler and Rachel G. Kleit, identified a set of occupation clusters based on similarities in job tasks, skills, interests, values, and knowledge. The researchers argue that using occupation clusters in economic development efforts could help define opportunities for upward mobility for low-income workers.  Read more here.

Measuring Inequality

A New York Times Sunday Review article entitled “How Prisoners Make Us Look Good” features research by WCPC Affiliate Becky Pettit. In the article and in a recently-published book, Pettit argues that much existing data on social and economic inequality is misleading because current data collection methods systematically exclude the large and growing number of black men who are in jail, prison, or otherwise under the supervision of the criminal justice system. Pettit also talks about this research in an article in the Washington Post.

Variation in the Safety Net across States

A special report on welfare generosity in the October 25 issue of The New Republic features WCPC Affiliate and Founding Director Marcia Meyers’ research on variations in public assistance across the states. In a special analysis, Meyers’ research (with Sarah Bruch from the University of Iowa) reveals substantial differences between red states (those who voted for Republican presidential candidates in the last two elections) and blue states (voted for Democratic candidates).

“The US does not have a single safety net for the poor,” Meyers said. “It has fifty different safety nets and the political leanings of the state are a good predictor of how much ‘safety’ these programs provide.” Read the full article here.