Capabilities and employability of unwed mothers

In this paper we assess the economic capabilities of a sample of unwed moth ers who gave birth in the spring of 1998 in hospitals that serve low-income residents in seven cities that are part of a national sampling frame. We s how that recent unwed mothers who are not in a cohabiting relationship are especially vulnerable to economic hardship because they are more likely to encounter multiple barriers to employment than mothers who do cohabit with their newborn's father. However, analyses of earnings capacity suggest that most single-mother families would be poor even if the mothers worked 1500 hours per year, and near poor if they worked full-time, year round (2000 ho urs). Analyses of income portfolios indicate that low-income mothers are qu ite resourceful packaging cash and income transfers from multiple sources t o meet the needs of their families, These results are discussed in the cont ext of recent welfare reforms.