Job Market Monitor
Wage
The ‘Right to Work’ From The Right: A Race-To-The-Bottom Policies
Michigan Republicans are pushing low wages, claiming that “right-to-work” laws will “attract businesses.” Conservatives argue that strong unions cost jobs and anti-union “right-to-work” laws will bring jobs, because companies will move to places where workers are less able to fight for good pay and benefits… Right-to-work laws have not succeeded in boosting employment growth in … Continue reading
US Job Market / The Year 2012 in Review: Improving at a steady slow pace
Employment continued to improve modestly, unemployment edged down, and wage gains were approximately equal to price inflation in 2012. By the end of the year the recovery from the deep recession in 2008-2009 will be 3½ years old. The health of the job market, like that of the broader economy, is improving at a steady … Continue reading
Spain / Job Without Paycheck
Over the past two years, Ana María Molina Cuevas, 36, has worked five shifts a week in a ceramics factory on the outskirts of this city, hand-rolling paint onto tiles. But at the end of the month, she often went unpaid… With the regional and municipal governments deeply in debt, even workers like bus drivers … Continue reading
Domestic workers / Low pay is a systemic problem, but not the only one
Domestic workers earn substandard pay, and enjoy little economic mobility or financial security. Formal employment contracts are rare in the domestic work industry, and where work agreements do exist, employers frequently violate them. Employers think of their homes as safe, yet domestic work can be hazardous. Domestic workers who encounter problems frequently feel too vulnerable … Continue reading
Malaysia / Minimum Wage / Efforts to smoothen the transition for small and middle industries are seriously lacking
Although the minimum wage law is scheduled to take effect in January 2013, the Barisan Nasional government does not seem to be particularly committed to re-imagine the Malaysian economy through wage policy reform. Efforts to smoothen the transition for small and middle industries are seriously lacking too. Minimum wage is meant to tackle several long-standing … Continue reading
Ford – 2,000 Entry-Level New Employees
Ford Motor Co. (F) has hired more than 2,000 entry-level factory workers this year so far, lowering its overall manufacturing costs, a Ford manufacturing executive said. The new hires represent the first wave of workers paid an entry-level wage that is about $10 per hour lower than the existing workers. The so-called second-tier wage was … Continue reading
Do Younger RH Discriminate Older Workers ?
Dear J.T. & Dale: My belief is that the younger generation of HR workers openly discriminate against older employees. I believe they are threatened because they are simply outperformed by the 40- to 70-year-olds. Thoughts? – Aaron J.T.: I’m not sure that it’s a question of who’s more productive, but rather, who’s less expensive. Labor costs … Continue reading
US – The Low-Wage Recovery and Growing Inequality , a report by the National Employment Law Project
This report updates National Employment Law Project’s previous analyses of job loss and job growth trends during and after the Great Recession. The authors find that during the recession (2008 Q1 to 2010 Q1), employment losses occurred throughout the economy, but were concentrated in mid-wage occupations. By contrast, during the recovery (2010 Q1 to 2012 … Continue reading
Krugman – Macro 101 – Sticky Wages
A bit more methodology discussion. I’ve written quite a lot about sticky wages, aka downward nominal wage rigidity, which is one of those things that we can’t derive from first principles but is a glaringly obvious feature of the real world. But I keep running into comments along the lines of “Well, if you think … Continue reading
Outsourcing comes with a wage penalty, at least in some occupations
“Outsourcing of labor services grew substantially during the 1980s and 1990s and was associated with lower wages, fewer benefits, and lower rates of unionization” write Arindrajit Dube and Ethan Kaplan in Does Outsourcing Reduce Wages in the LowWage Service Occupations? Evidence from Janitors and Guards on digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu The authors focus on two occupations for which they can identify outsourcing in … Continue reading
Raising the minimum wage would be good for our economy
A higher minimum wage not only boosts workers’ incomes—something that is sorely needed to boost demand and get the economy going—but it also reduces turnover and shifts businesses toward a high-road, high-human-capital model. Still, some policymakers may be nervous about increasing the minimum wage while unemployment is so high. Yet, both the federal and states … Continue reading
U.S. | Shares of Low-wage and low-income workers have grown over the last three decades
Three decades of stagnating earnings for bottom deciles of male wage earners and 1990s anti-poverty policies promoting employment among poor single mothers suggest increases in the ranks of low-wage breadwinners living in low-income households. Low-wage workers often get few employer sponsored benefits, while antipoverty programs target poor non-earners; these factors suggest low-wage and low-income workers may be unprotected … Continue reading
Wage Growth in the U.S. Will Feel Effects of Great Recession for Years to Come | The Conference Board
The Great Recession has confronted U.S. workers with an extended buyer’s market in jobs, according to a new Executive Action Report from The Conference Board, leading to overall wage growth between 2008 and 2010 that was the weakest since the 1960s. Feeling the Pain: Wage Growth in the United States examines prevailing trends in recent … Continue reading
Germany enlarges coverage of minimum wage
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives have agreed plans to introduce a mandatory minimum wage for sectors of the economy that do not already have one, in the latest policy shift to try to win over left-leaning voters before next year’s election. Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) have long opposed a blanket minimum wage, arguing that it … Continue reading
EU commission proposes ‘appropriate’ minimum wage
The European Commission on Wednesday (18 April) published an ideas paper to get Europe’s record number of unemployed into jobs and boost growth, including setting an appropriate minimum wage and shaming member states into improving work rates. A controversial suggestion is that member states should introduce an appropriate minimum wage. Most member states have … Continue reading
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