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Household air pollution (HAP) from cooking with solid fuels used during pregnancy has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. The Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial was a randomized controlled trial that assessed the impact of a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stove and fuel intervention on health in Guatemala, India, Peru, and Rwanda. Here we investigated the effects of the LPG stove and fuel intervention on stillbirth, congenital anomalies and neonatal mortality and characterized exposure-response relationships between personal exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), black carbon (BC) and carbon monoxide (CO) and these outcomes. Pregnant women (18 to

Household air pollution from solid cooking fuel use during gestation has been associated with adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes. The Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial was a randomized controlled trial of free liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stoves and fuel in Guatemala, Peru, India, and Rwanda. A primary outcome of the main trial was to report the effects of the intervention on infant birth weight. Here we evaluate the effects of a LPG stove and fuel intervention during pregnancy on spontaneous abortion, postpartum hemorrhage, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, and maternal mortality compared to women who continued to use solid cooking fuels. Pregnant women (18-34 years of age; gestation confirmed by ultrasound at 9-19 weeks) were randomly assigned to an intervention (n = 1593) or control (n = 1607) arm. Intention-to-treat analyses compared outcomes between the two arms using log-binomial models. Among the 3195 pregnant women in the study, there were 10 spontaneous abortions (7 intervention, 3 control), 93 hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (47 intervention, 46 control), 11 post postpartum hemorrhage (5 intervention, 6 control) and 4 maternal deaths (3 intervention, 1 control). Compared to the control arm, the relative risk of spontaneous abortion among women randomized to the intervention was 2.32 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.60, 8.96), hypertensive disorders of pregnancy 1.02 (95% CI: 0.68, 1.52), postpartum hemorrhage 0.83 (95% CI: 0.25, 2.71) and 2.98 (95% CI: 0.31, 28.66) for maternal mortality. In this study, we found that adverse maternal outcomes did not differ based on randomized stove type across four country research sites.

Paid sick leave helps workers recover from illness and manage care obligations and protects public health. Yet access to paid sick leave remains limited and unequal in the United States. Drawing on surveys of 61,223 service-sector workers collected during the period 2017-21 by the Shift Project, we documented limited access to paid sick leave and stark gender inequality, with women less likely than men to have paid sick leave. Part-time employment and gender segregation by industry subsector each explain part, but not all, of the gender disparity. However, in states and localities that mandate paid sick leave for workers, workers are far more likely to report access to this benefit, and the gender gap is eliminated. Guaranteeing paid sick leave to all workers would offer a range of benefits for workers, employers, and public health while also offering the further benefit of reducing gender inequality.

Work schedules in the service sector are routinely unstable and unpredictable, and this unpredictability may have harmful effects on health and economic insecurity. However, because schedule unpredictability often coincides with low wages and other dimensions of poor job quality, the causal effects of unpredictable work schedules are uncertain. Seattle's Secure Scheduling ordinance, enacted in 2017, mandated greater schedule predictability, providing an opportunity to examine the causal relationship between work scheduling and worker health and economic security. We draw on pre- and postintervention survey data from workers in Seattle and comparison cities to estimate the impacts of this law using a difference-in-differences approach. We find that the law had positive impacts on workers' schedule predictability and stability and led to increases in workers' subjective well-being, sleep quality, and economic security. Using the Seattle law as an instrumental variable, we also estimate causal effects of schedule predictability on well-being outcomes. We show that uncertainty about work time has a substantial effect on workers' well-being, particularly their sleep quality and economic security.

In this article, we explore the use of Facebook targeted advertisements for the collection of survey data. We illustrate the potential of survey sampling and recruitment on Facebook through the example of building a large employee--employer linked data set as part of The Shift Project. We describe the workflow process of targeting, creating, and purchasing survey recruitment advertisements on Facebook. We address concerns about sample selectivity and apply poststratification weighting techniques to adjust for differences between our sample and that of "gold standard" data sources. We then compare univariate and multivariate relationships in the Shift data against the Current Population Survey and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. Finally, we provide an example of the utility of the firm-level nature of the data by showing how firm-level gender composition is related to wages. We conclude by discussing some important remaining limitations of the Facebook approach, as well as highlighting some unique strengths of the Facebook targeted advertisement approach, including the ability for rapid data collection in response to research opportunities, rich and flexible sample targeting capabilities, and low cost, and we suggest broader applications of this technique.

Nearly 250,000 workers are employed in the retail and food service sector in the state of Connecticut. Nationally, jobs in the service sector are characterized by low pay and few fringe benefits, and workers employed in the service sector have little control over the days and times that they will work. In addition, many service sector employers across the country rely on just-in-time and on-call scheduling practices designed to minimize labor costs by closely aligning staffing with consumer demand. These practices can introduce a great deal of instability into the lives of workers and their families.

Nearly 100,000 workers are employed in the retail and food service sector in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Nationally, jobs in the service sector are characterized by low pay and few fringe benefits, and workers employed in the service sector have little control over the days and times that they will work. In addition, many service sector employers across the country rely on just-in-time and on-call scheduling practices designed to minimize labor costs by closely aligning staffing with consumer demand. These practices can introduce a great deal of instability into the lives of workers and their families.

The authors develop a model of cumulative disadvantage relating three axes of disadvantage for hourly workers in the US retail and food service sectors: schedule instability, turnover, and earnings. In this model, exposure to unstable work schedules disrupts workers' family and economic lives, straining the employment relation and increasing the likelihood of turnover, which can then lead to earnings losses. Drawing on new panel data from 1,827 hourly workers in retail and food service collected as part of the Shift Project, the authors demonstrate that exposure to schedule instability is a strong, robust predictor of turnover for workers with relatively unstable schedules (about one-third of the sample). Slightly less than half of this relationship is mediated by job satisfaction and another quarter by work–family conflict. Job turnover is generally associated with earnings losses due to unemployment, but workers leaving jobs with moderately unstable schedules experience earnings growth upon re-employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unequal sorting of men and women into higher and lower-wage firms contributes significantly to the gender wage gap according to recent analysis of national labor markets. We confirm the importance of this between-firm gender segregation in wages and examine a second outcome of hours using unique employer–employee data from the service sector. We then examine what explains the relationship between firm gender composition and wages. In contrast to prevailing economic explanations that trace between-firm differences in wages to differences in firm surplus, we find evidence consistent with devaluation and potentially a gender-specific use of "low road" employment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study and the Current Population Survey, we find that labor market conditions play a large role in explaining the positive relationship between educational attainment and marriage. Our results suggest that if low-educated parents enjoyed the same, stronger labor market conditions as their more-educated counterparts, then differences in marriage by education would narrow considerably. Better labor markets are positively related to marriage for fathers at all educational levels. In contrast, better labor markets are positively related to marriage for less-educated mothers but not their more-educated counterparts. We discuss the implications of our findings for theories about women's earning power and marriage, the current economic recession and future studies of differences in family structure across education groups.

We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 12,140 person-waves) to identify characteristics associated with mothers' having or lacking "personal safety net" support from family and friends. We focus on characteristics that are likely to increase the importance of having support available but may also interfere with the maintenance of supportive ties: poverty, poor physical and mental health, and challenging childrearing responsibilities. By capitalizing on distinctions among these types of personal disadvantages and among types of personal safety nets (financial, housing, child care, and emotional), we help to explain why personal disadvantages are associated with weaker support. Our paper contributes to the literature emphasizing the importance of reciprocity in support relationships and introduces the idea that families that are more difficult to help will have less support available.

Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing survey (N = 4,211), this study examines neighborhood disadvantage and perceptions of instrumental support among mothers with young children. The authors find that (a) living in a disadvantaged neighborhood is associated with less instrumental support, particularly financial assistance, from family and friends; (b) residential stability is associated with stronger personal safety nets irrespective of neighborhood quality; and (c) mothers who move to a more disadvantaged neighborhood experience a small but significant decline in perceived instrumental support compared with those who do not move. In interpreting these results, the authors suggest instrumental support may be either a cause or consequence of living in an advantaged neighborhood, but in either case, neighborhood and social network disadvantages go hand in hand. (Contains 4 tables.)

This article uses qualitative and quantitative data for a recent birth cohort from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study to compare kin support patterns between African Americans and Hispanics. It focuses on financial and housing support from grandparents and other kin during the transition to parenthood. Qualitative analysis (n = 122 parents) uncovers distinctions in the way African American and Hispanic parents discuss their family networks, with African Americans emphasizing relations with female kin and Hispanics emphasizing a more integrated system. Consistent with these findings, quantitative analysis (n = 2,472 mothers and n = 2,639 fathers) finds that compared with Hispanic parents, African American parents are more likely to receive financial and housing support from grandmothers and less likely to receive support from both grandparents. Contrary to expectations that fathers would be the primary support recipients in Hispanic households, the authors find that mothers are the more common recipients of support among African Americans and Hispanics. (Contains 1 table and 2 notes.)

This article demonstrates a novel application of propensity score matching techniques: to estimate nonexperimental impacts on program participants within the context of an experimental research design. The author examines the relationship between program participation, defined as qualifying for an earnings supplement by working full-time, and marital union formation among low-income mothers in two Canadian provinces. The author finds that receipt of an earnings supplement substantially increased union formation in one province but not the other. A subgroup analysis based on propensities of program participation revealed that the positive effect on unions was concentrated among relatively disadvantaged participants. The techniques demonstrated in the article are broadly applicable to studies in which take-up is less than 100% among those randomly assigned to a program group. (Contains 4 figures, 3 tables, and 8 notes.)

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically reshaped the labor market, especially for service sector workers. Frontline service sector workers, already coping with precarious working conditions, faced proximate risks of COVID-19 transmission on the job and navigated new workplace safety measures, including masking, social distancing, and staying home while sick, all in a polarized political environment. We examine polarization in the effects of COVID-19 workplace safety measures on workers' feelings of safety and well-being. Specifically, we examine how support for former President Trump moderates the relationship between COVID-19 safety practices (masking, social distancing, staying home while sick) and workers' feelings of safety and well-being. To do so, we draw on novel data collected by The Shift Project from 2,039 service sector workers at 89 large firms during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that workplace safety measures are positively associated with workers' self-assessments of feeling safe and with mental health, but only for Biden voters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]