Abstract
This chapter sets the stage for examining the employment issues of low-income rural families. Literature reveals that rural low-income residents have a strong work ethic, contradicting the general belief that low-income individuals do not want to work. Welfare reform is discussed relative to employment and lack of rural provisions. Theoretical frameworks are used to help examine the many layered pathways to employment. The voices of the Rural Families Speak (RFS) mothers are used to illustrate how they make it work, focusing on mothers’ employment patterns, options, constraints, and challenges. Future research on employment patterns for all family members is suggested to understand rural families and work.
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Notes
- 1.
All names are pseudonyms.
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Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank Ozgur Akbas and Laura Andrew, graduate students in Family Studies at the University of New Hampshire, for their work on compiling the data for the two tables.
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Dolan, E.M., Bauer, J.W., Katras, M. (2011). Making Rural Employment Work. In: Bauer, J., Dolan, E. (eds) Rural Families and Work. International Series on Consumer Science. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0382-1_4
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