headshot of a smiling woman with curly salt and pepper hair, wearing a blue tank top

Kristin E. Smith

Visiting Assoc Professor

Appointments

Visiting Associate Professor of Sociology

Rockefeller Center Policy Research Shop Director

Area of Expertise

Women's earnings and employment,

Work and family policy,

gender and quantitative research methods

Biography

Kristin Smith's research focuses on gender inequality, earnings and employment, and work and family policy. She has researched labor force issues, including gender differences in job tenure and shifting determinants of women's labor supply and the consequences of those shifts. In addition, Smith has studied occupational variation in earnings, job retention and job flexibility, with a focus on care workers and STEM workers. Smith also studies family policy, including paid family and medical leave, examining inequity in access and impacts on labor supply decisions. Smith's expertise lies in examining trends in how work and family life interconnect, developing workforce policy recommendations, and applying a gender lens to her analysis. She has a broad background in demography and sociology, has extensive experience in survey design and implementation, and is proficient at quantitative data analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal data.

Education

B.A. University of Vermont 1989

M.P.H. Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine 1993

Masters Certificate in Project Management, Georgetown University 2001

Ph.D. University of Maryland 2006

Publications

Folbre, N., L. Gautham, and K. Smith. 2023. "Appendix 3. The relative earnings of human
services workers in Washington state, King County, and Seattle: A market analysis." In the Wage
Equity Study, Wage Equity for Non-profit Human Services Workers: A study of work and pay in
Seattle and King County." Seattle, WA: University of Washington.

Folbre, N., L. Gautham, and K. Smith. 2023. "Gender Inequality, Bargaining, and Pay in Care
Services in the U.S." ILR Review. 76(1):86-111, published online 25 Apr 2022

Duffy, M., R. Baughman, and K. Smith. 2021. "Employment Transitions and Occupational
Mobility: Is Care Work Different?" Feminist Economics. 27:4, 62-89, DOI:
10.1080/13545701.2021.1921239

Baughman, R., B. Stanley, and K. Smith. 2020. "Second Job Holding Among Direct Care Workers
and Nurses: Implications for COVID Transmission in Long-Term Care." Medical Care Research
and Review, published online 20 Nov 2020 doi: 10.1177/1077558720974129

Folbre, N., L. Gautham, and K. Smith. 2020. "Essential Workers and the Care Penalty in the U.S."
Feminist Economics, published online 3 Nov 2020 doi:10.1080/13545701.2020.1828602

Smith, K., M. Kalinowski, R. Baughman, and E. Whitmore. 2018. "2018 New Hampshire Child
Support Guidelines Review Report." Submitted to the New Hampshire Department of Health
and Human Services, New Hampshire Bureau of Child Support Services." Carsey School of Public
Policy, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH.

Mattson Duston, S. and K. Smith. 2018. "The Status of Women in New Hampshire." The New
Hampshire Women's Foundation, Concord, NH.

Sassler, S., K. Michelmore, and K. Smith. 2017. "A Tale of Two Majors: Explaining the Gender Gap in STEM Employment Among Computer Science and Engineering Degree Holders." Social Sciences, 6(3): 69. doi:10.3390/socsci6030069  

Smith, K. E. (2017). Changing gender roles and rural poverty. In A. Tickamyer, J. Sherman, & J. Warlick (Eds.), Rural Poverty in the U.S.A.. New York: Columbia University Press.

Smith, K. 2015. "Family Income Composition." In Robert Scott and Stephen Kosslyn (eds.) Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Wiley Publishing.

Smith, K. E., & Mattingly, M. J. (2014). Husbands' job loss and wives' labor force participation during economic downturns: are all recessions the same?. MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW. Retrieved from http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/

Hollister, M. N., & Smith, K. E. (2014). Unmasking the Conflicting Trends in Job Tenure by Gender in the United States, 1983–2008. American Sociological Review, 79(1), 159-181. doi:10.1177/0003122413514584

Smith, K. and R. Glauber. 2013. "Exploring the Spatial Wage Penalty for Women: Does it Matter Where You Live?" Social Science Research, 42(5): 1390-401. First published online 8 April 2013.

 

Baughman, R. and K. Smith. 2012. "Labor Mobility of the Direct Care Workforce: Implications for the Provision of Long-Term Care."  Health Economics, 21(12): 1402-1415.  First published online 25 Oct 2011, doi: 10.1002/hec.1798.

Howes, C., C. Leana, and K. Smith. 2012. "Chapter 4, Paid Care" in For Love and Money: Care Provision in the US. Edited by Nancy Folbre. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Smith, K. and M. Mattingly. 2012. "Rural Families in Transition." in International Handbook of Rural Demography, edited by Laszlo Kulcsar and Katherine Curtis, 239-253. New York, Springer.

Smith, K and A. Tickamyer. 2011. "Introduction" in Economic Restructuring and Family Well-Being in Rural America, edited by Kristin E. Smith and Ann R. Tickamyer, 1-21. University Park, Penn State University Press.

Smith, K. 2011.  "Changing Roles: Women and Work in Rural America" in Economic Restructuring and Family Well-Being in Rural America, edited by Kristin E. Smith and Ann R. Tickamyer, 60-81. University Park, Penn State University Press.

Tickamyer, A. and K. Smith. 2011. "Conclusion" in Economic Restructuring and Family Well-Being in Rural America, edited by Kristin E. Smith and Ann R. Tickamyer, 336-345. University Park, Penn State University Press.

Speaking Engagements

Byker, Tanya, Elena Patel, and K. Smith. 2023. "Fitting the Bill? Emergency Paid Leave and the
Families First Coronavirus Response Act" at Washington Center for Equitable Growth Webinar:
Paid leave and the pandemic: New Evidence from Families First and lessons for federal
policymakers.

Byker, Tanya, Elena Patel, and K. Smith. 2022. "Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Effect
on Paid Leave Taking During the Early Pandemic" at APPAM conference in Austin TX.

Smith, K. and S. Allen. 2022. "Social Inequality and the COVID-19 Pandemic." Paper presented
at the 2022 Eastern Sociological Society Meeting, Boston, Mass.

Works in Progress

Smith, K., Elena Patel, and Tanya Byker. 2022. "COVID-19 and Paid Leave: Racial and Ethnic
Disparities. Invited Panelist on Panel, "Ensuring Racial Equity in Paid Family and Medical Leave"
at AU IWPR Care Economy Conference, The U.S. Care Infrastructure: From Promise to Reality.
Washington, DC.

Selected Works & Activities

"Episode 250: It's Like Climbing up a Mudslide: Pandemic Pushes Women Out of the
Workforce
." New England News Collaborative, Podcast. MAY 13 2021

Smith, K. and A. Tickamyer, eds. 2011.  Economic Restructuring and Family Well-Being in Rural America.  University Park, Penn State University Press.

Despite Gains, Closing Wage Gap Could Take Decades (NPR)

Workers Vote With Feet, Leave Home-Based Childcare (NPR)

Contact

Kristin.E.Smith@dartmouth.edu
Blunt Alum Ctr, Room 301B
HB 6104

Departments

Sociology
Sociology
Rockefeller Center

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