Advances

(Advances gives a glimpse of the many significant research projects at the university. Tell us about your discoveries by e-mailing: wisweek@news.wisc.edu.) Advances gives a glimpse of the many significant research projects at the university. Tell us about your discoveries. E-mail: wisweek@news.wisc.edu.

Families working longer
More than 200,000 working families in Wisconsin with one to three children under age 12 don’t earn enough to afford a basic family budget, a new study says.

The national economic slowdown is hitting Wisconsin hard, according to a report released by the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, the research and policy institute on Wisconsin living standards.

COWS reports that Wisconsin families are working longer hours than the national average, but with stagnating wages. Job growth here has slowed, and the growth in unemployment is higher than it is nationally. Just a year after COWS reported an up-tick in wages and income, the current report, based largely on data developed with the Economic Policy Institute, shows just how hard the state has been hit.

After eight years of moderate growth, real wages have stagnated. Wisconsin’s median wage in 2000 was the same as in 1999: $12.24 per hour.

While wages stagnate or decline, Wisconsinites compensate by working ever-longer hours. The average married couple in Wisconsin works 3,952 hours per year, 258 hours more than the national average.

“This sort of coping strategy can’t continue indefinitely,” says Joel Rogers, director of COWS and professor of sociology and law. “At some point, the body breaks down, or households run out of additional spouses. We need to start talking about job quality and Wisconsin’s wage problem, not just celebrating the numbers of jobs we have.”

Nursing launches Web study
A research group based at the School of Nursing will involve residents in Dodge and Jefferson counties in a study to help chart the direction of how the World Wide Web can be used in the home and the community to improve health.

The Dodge/Jefferson Healthier Community Partnership studies how people gather, store and communicate health information in their homes and in the community. The ultimate goal of the project is to develop a model information technology system that includes health information people need and efficient, easy ways to access that information.

The research project, “Advanced Technologies for Health @ Home,” is led by Patricia Flatley Brennan, who holds a joint faculty appointment at the School of Nursing and the School of Engineering.

“With this project, the people of Dodge and Jefferson counties have an opportunity to build a national model for information technology in the home and in the community — a model that others can follow,” says Brennan, who has more than 15 years of federally funded research experience in designing and evaluating home-care computer systems.

Hunger on the rise
Even in America’s Dairyland, more than one in 14 citizens are “food insecure” and the number is rising, according to a new study. “Food insecure” households are those that express concern about not having sufficient food, or those that reduce the nutritional quality or size of meals, skip meals or experience hunger because of insufficient income, says Kadi Row, UW Extension food security specialist.

Surveys of food pantries show 9- to 30-percent increases in the number of people served. A recent UW Extension survey found that close to half of food pantry clients have at least one worker in their household; more than 40 percent have children; and more than one-third are adults with a disability or illness. Row says Wisconsin is responding through food stamps, WIC and reduced or free school meal programs.