Julie joined CEPR in June 2020 as an economist on the domestic team, supporting research and policy efforts on a wide range of labor market issues. Her areas of research include household income volatility, precarious work, economic inequality, and poverty measurement.
Since then she worked on topics including job churn, housing, income instability, child welfare, and the care economy, with a particular focus on the working class and gender and racial disparities. With the increasing economic precarity facing many low- and middle-income families, she has focused on understanding how the 2021 expanded Child Tax Credit can reduce parental income shocks and other public policies that have the potential to stabilize work hours and income. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Child Abuse and Neglect, Social Forces, and Housing Policy Debate, and her analysis has appeared in outlets such as BBC, CNBC, and The Wall Street Journal.
Cai earned her PhD in social welfare and public affairs from University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is an external affiliate with the Columbia Center on Poverty and Social Policy. Previously she was a lecturer at Columbia University and a visiting fellow at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston from 2022 to 2023.
All from Julie Yixia Cai
How States Would Benefit If Congress Truly Invested in Child Care and Pre-K
The child care and pre-kindergarten policies under consideration in Congress would not only benefit children, families, early educators, and the child care sector. They will also stimulate billions of dollars in economic activity in every state.
Assessing the First Year of Biden, in Graphs
To take stock of the state of the union just over one year into the Biden presidency, CEPR presents this collection of articles and graphs.
Family Policies in the Build Back Better Act Would Reduce Burdens on Families and Provide a Better Buffer to Economic Instability
Native Americans Need to Be Included in Annual Census Reports on Income and Poverty
The Census Bureau should report income and poverty data for Native Americans in its annual reports on income and poverty starting in September 2022.
Home Health Care: Latinx and Black Women are Overrepresented, But All Women Face Heightened Risk of Poverty
Given the momentum of shifting to home-based, noninstitutional long-term care for the majority of aging adults, it is vital to raise wages and ensure sufficient hours for workers in this industry.
Young Men Aren’t Falling Behind Young Women
Young women at all age levels are less likely than young men at all age levels to be in school or work.
Black and Asian American Workers Falling Behind in Getting Back Jobs
This article investigates how demographic groups are transitioning from unemployment into employment and how that compares to their historical relationship between job openings and transitions.
Over 3.8 Million Young Adults Found Not Working or in School in Early 2021
Current and ongoing recovery efforts need to do more to ensure that young adults in today’s diverse working class can improve their long-term prospects in the labor market and prosper in the years ahead
Food and Housing Hardship Over the COVID-19 Recession
The unequal burden of the recession has been widely reported and the findings in this article demonstrate a need for creating a recovery that is equitable and sustained.
Housing Insecurity by Race and Place During the Pandemic
In this report, we update our analysis with data through December 2020, and provide detail on both housing and food insecurity at the state and metropolitan level.
