Here’s an unhappy observation about the minimum wage: Congress last increased the rate in stages in 2006, topping it out at $7.25 an hour in 2009, or $15,080 a year. That amount, when adjusted for inflation, is actually lower than what a minimum-wage worker earned in 1968 and is too meager to offer anyone the … Continue reading
Professor Alan Manning, Head of the Economics Department at the London School of Economics where he has taught since 1989, takes steps back from the current annual debate about the appropriate but small rise in the value of the minimum wage to ask a bolder question: are there more radical reforms of the minimum wage that … Continue reading
While the wage gap has certainly narrowed with the past generation of working women—in 1967 women only earned about 58 cents to a man’s dollar—progress has stalled in recent years. If progress continues at its current rate, it will take 45 years to eradicate the wage gap. Given the unfortunate fact that the gender wage … Continue reading
“Very few papers exist that focus on firm sponsored training for low skilled workers” writes Ruud Gerards in his preliminary version of his paper. He uses “company data, which is especially rare considering the focus on low skilled workers. Second, they span up to 16 years of wage, job promotion and job performance information for … Continue reading
“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 lowincome workers … Continue reading
Economy Watch – Lots of restaurant jobs; not lots of pay For all you foodies hoping to land a gig in the glamorous restaurant industry in the months and years ahead, there will be plenty of jobs to be had. The problem is, many of the jobs don’t come with a glamorous paycheck. Spring and summer hiring … Continue reading
The United States is on track to generate 20 million jobs between 2010-2020, according to the latest projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But job creation will vary widely by type of job and also by metro region. The nation is projected to generate 7 million new high-wage, high-skill jobs for professional, technical, and … Continue reading
Accelerating growth in Bangladesh’s per capita income has added nearly 1.2 million new jobs every year and improved job quality between 2000 and 2010. Wage workers have seen their wages — adjusted for price increases — rise by nearly 2 percent a year. Poverty rates among the self-employed have fallen. The quality of jobs, as … Continue reading
This paper addresses the question of how effectively youth wages and reduced minimum shift lengths promote fairness and equality. It focuses on the majority of young workers employed on a casual or part-time basis in the retail, hospitality and fast food industries under the General Retail Industry Award 20105 (‘Retail Award’), the Hospitality Industry (General) … Continue reading
The coalition has given its strongest signal so far that it is prepared to block an increase to the wages of the lowest paid workers in the country amid concern over rising unemployment. The separate minimum wage rates for young people are the most likely to be frozen to make it easier for firms to … Continue reading