Kristen Harknett
Work plays a dominant role in shaping everyday life for workers and their families. At its best, work can be a source of meaning and purpose and a pathway to upward mobility. But working conditions often fall short of these ideals. Working conditions are at the center of my research agenda.
As co-director of The Shift Project, over the past decade I have collected unique employer-employee-linked survey data from hourly workers to demonstrate how workplaces and working conditions affect health and inequality. My research has examined chronic work-schedule instability, racial and gendered inequalities in working conditions, and the nature and consequences of automation and surveillance in workplaces. I have provided invited testimony to inform federal, state, and local policymaking around fair workweek regulations, including the Federal Schedules That Work Act, and legislation in California, Washington State, Chicago, Philadelphia, and other localities.
I. WORKING CONDITIONS, LABOR REGULATIONS
Schneider, Daniel and Kristen Harknett. 2026. "Beyond Borders: Does Firm-Level Exposure to State and Local Paid Sick Leave Mandates Lead to Policy Diffusion?" Journal of Public Policy Analysis and Management.
Woods, Tyler, Daniel Schneider, Kristen Harknett. 2025. “Estimating the Impact of State Paid Sick Leave Laws on Worker Outcomes in the U.S. Service Sector, 2017-2023” Social Science and Medicine – Population Health.
Abrams, Leah, Daniel Schneider, and Kristen Harknett. 2025. "New Technology, Older Workers: How Workplace Technology is Associated with Indicators of Job Retention." Journal of Aging & Social Policy.
Harknett, Kristen, Charlotte O'Herron, Evelyn Bellew. 2024. “Can’t Catch a Break: Intersectional Inequalities in Access to Breaks during Work” Sociological Science.
Schneider, Daniel, Kristen Harknett, Annette Gailliot. 2024. “COVID-19 Employment Shocks and Safety Net Expansions: Health Effects on Displaced Workers” Social Science Research.
Woods, Tyler, Dylan Nguyen, Daniel Schneider, and Kristen Harknett. 2024. "Labor Market Pathways to Job Quality Mobility in the Service Sector: Evidence from the Great Resignation." Research in Social Stratification and Mobility.
O’Herron, Charlotte, Daniel Schneider, and Kristen Harknett. 2024. “Between-Firm Sorting and Parenthood Wage Gaps in the U.S. Service Sector.” Journal of Marriage and Family.
Brick, Carmen, Daniel Schneider, and Kristen Harknett. 2023. "Firm Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap: Evidence from the New Employer-Employee Linked Data in the U.S. Service Sector" Work and Occupations.
Woods, Tyler, Daniel Schneider, Kristen Harknett. 2023. “The Politics of Prevention: Polarization in How Workplace COVID-19 Safety Practices Shaped the Well-being of Frontline Service Sector Workers” Work and Occupations.
Harknett, Kristen, Daniel Schneider. 2022. “Mandates Narrow Gender Gaps in Paid Sick Leave Coverage For Low-Wage Workers” Health Affairs.
Luhr, Sigrid, Daniel Schneider, and Kristen Harknett. 2022. "Parenting without Predictability: Precarious Schedules, Parental Strain, and Work-Life Conflict" The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences.
Abrams, Leah, Kristen Harknett, and Daniel Schneider. 2022. “Older Workers with Unpredictable Schedules: Implications for Well-being and Job Retention." The Gerontologist.
Harknett, Kristen, Daniel Schneider, and Sigrid Luhr. 2022. “Who Cares when Parents Work Schedules are Unpredictable?” Social Problems.
Schneider, Daniel and Kristen Harknett. 2022. “What’s to Like? Facebook as a Tool for Survey Data Collection” Sociological Methods and Research.
Harknett, Kristen, Daniel Schneider, and Veronique Irwin. 2021. "Improving Health and Economic Security by Reducing Work-Schedule Uncertainty" Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Choper, Joshua, Daniel Schneider, and Kristen Harknett. 2021. “Uncertain Time: Precarious Schedules and Job Turnover in the U.S. Service Sector” Industrial and Labor Relations Review.
Wolfe, Rebecca, Kristen Harknett, and Daniel Schneider. 2021. "Inequalities at Work and the Toll of COVID-19." Health Affairs.
Schneider, Daniel, and Kristen Harknett. 2021. "Maternal Exposure to Routine Work Schedule Uncertainty and Child Behavior" Journal of Marriage and Family
Schneider, Daniel, Elmer Vivas Portillo, and Kristen Harknett. 2021. "The Effects of Paid Sick Leave on Service-Sector Workers: Evidence from COVID19 Expansions" Health Affairs
Harknett, Kristen, Daniel Schneider, and Rebecca Wolfe. 2020. "Losing Sleep over Work Scheduling?: The Relationship between Work Schedules and Sleep Quality" Social Science and Medicine - Population Health.
Schneider, Daniel, and Kristen Harknett. 2020. “Hard Times: Routine Schedule Unpredictability and Material Hardship among Service Sector Workers” Social Forces.
Storer, Adam, Daniel Schneider, and Kristen Harknett. 2020. “What Explains Racial/Ethnic Inequality in Job Quality in the Service Sector?” American Sociological Review.
Harknett, Kristen and Daniel Schneider. 2020. “Precarious Work Schedules and Population Health.” Health Affairs.
Schneider, Daniel and Kristen Harknett. 2019. “Consequences of Routine Work-Schedule Uncertainty for Worker Health and Wellbeing” American Sociological Review. 84(1): 82–114.
Schneider, Daniel, Kristen Harknett, and Matt Stimpson. 2019. “Job Quality and the Educational Gradient in Entry into Marriage and Cohabitation” Demography 56: 451–476
Carrillo, Dani, Kristen Harknett, Allison Logan, Sigrid Luhr, Daniel Schneider. 2017. “Instability of Work and Care: How Work Schedules Shape Child-Care Arrangements for Parents Working in the Service Sector” Social Service Review. 91(3): 422-455.
II. FAMILY AND FERTILITY
Schneider, Daniel, Kristen Harknett, and Matt Stimpson. 2018. “What Explains the Decline in First Marriage in the United States? Evidence from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, 1971-2013” Journal of Marriage and Family 80(4): 791-811.
Harknett, Kristen, and Stephen Cranney. 2017. “Majority Rules: How Girls’ Numeric Dominance Shifts Sexual Norms and Behavior in High School Settings” Population Research and Policy Review. 36(4): 469–500.
Schneider, Daniel, Kristen Harknett, and Sara McLanahan. 2016. “Intimate Partner Violence in the Great Recession” Demography. 53(2): 471-505
Schneider, Daniel, Sara McLanahan, and Kristen Harknett. 2016. “The Great Recession and Parents’ Relationships,” Chapter in Children of the Great Recession, Editors Irv Garfinkel, Sara McLanahan, and Chris Wimer. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Harknett, Kristen, Francesco Billari, and Carla Medalia. 2014. “Do Family Support Environments Influence Fertility? Evidence from 21 European Countries” European Journal of Population. 30: 1-33.
Harknett, Kristen and Caroline Sten Hartnett. 2014. “The gap between births intended and births achieved in 22 European countries, 2004–07” Population Studies: A Journal of Demography
Harknett, Kristen and Arielle Kuperberg. 2011. “Education, Labor Markets, and the Retreat from Marriage.” Social Forces. 90(1): 41-63.
Harknett, Kristen. 2009. “Why are Children with Married Parents Healthier? The Case of Pediatric Asthma.” Population Research and Policy Review. 28(3): 347-365.
Harknett, Kristen. 2008. “Mate Availability and Unmarried Parent Relationships.” Demography. 45(3): 555-571.
Harknett, Kristen. 2006. “Does Receiving an Earnings Supplement affect Union Formation?: Estimating Effects for Program Participants using Propensity Score Matching” Evaluation Review. 30(6): 741-778.
Goldstein, Joshua, and Kristen Harknett. 2006. “Parenting across Racial and Class Lines: Assortative Mating Patterns of New Parents Who Are Married, Cohabiting, Dating, and No Longer Romantically Involved.” Social Forces. 85(1): 121-143.
Harknett, Kristen, and Sara McLanahan. 2004. “Racial and Ethnic Differences in Marriage after the Birth of a Child.” American Sociological Review. 69(6): 790-811.
Harknett, Kristen, and Lisa A. Gennetian. 2003. “How an Earnings Supplement Can Affect Union Formation Among Low-Income Single Mothers.” Demography. 40(3): 451-478.
III. SOCIAL SUPPORT
Harknett, Kristen and Caroline Sten Hartnett. 2011. “Who Lacks Support and Why? An Examination of Mothers’ Personal Safety Nets.” Journal of Marriage and the Family. 73(4): 861-875.
Turney, Kristin, and Kristen Harknett. 2010. “Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Perceptions of Social Support among New Parents.” Journal of Family Issues. 31(4): 499-524.
Haxton, Clarisse and Kristen Harknett. 2009. “Racial and Gender Differences in Kin Support: A Mixed Methods Study of African American and Hispanic couples.” Journal of Family Issues. 30(8): 1019-1040.
Harknett, Kristen, and Jean Tansey Knab. 2007. “More Kin, Less Support: Multipartnered Fertility and Kin Support among New Mothers” Journal of Marriage and Family. 69(1): 237-253.
Harknett, Kristen. 2006. “The Relationship Between Private Safety Nets and Economic Outcomes Among Single Mothers.” Journal of Marriage and Family. 68(1): 172-191.