Job characteristics among working parents: differences by race, ethnicity, and nativity

Immigrants and racial and ethnic minorities make up an increasing share of the U.S. labor force and child population. Given current disparities in children’s opportunities and intergenerational mobility for children of different backgrounds and the influence parental working conditions can have on children’s development, understanding the distribution of job characteristics and their quality for employed parents from different racial, ethnic, and immigrant backgrounds is important. This article examines 2007–2011 data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey to determine minority and/or foreign-born parents’ access to jobs that allow them to invest in their children’s development. Specifically, it looks at whether parents’ jobs offer a basic economic security wage, health insurance coverage, and pension plan, because these job characteristics may influence the health, well-being, and resources of working families and children. The analysis reveals that foreign-born, Hispanic, and Black working parents are significantly more likely than U.S.-born, White, or Asian working parents to have a job that pays below the basic economic security wage, does not offer health insurance, and does not offer a pension plan. Foreign-born Hispanic parents in particular are shown to be significantly disadvantaged in the labor market. Findings suggest that without changes to increase parents’ access to jobs with higher wages and benefits, disparities in children’s wellbeing and development by race and ethnicity and nativity will likely persist.