The authors look at the advantages of skill-based pay, the situations in which it seems to be particularly effective, and how such a pay plan works in actual practice. (Author)

U.S. Labor Secretary Reich argues that training for high-skill work is the key to high-paying jobs. The New Republic's contributing editor, John Judis, attributes wage decline to decline of unions and proposes a compromise between business and labor. (JOW)

Although women have achieved more participation and higher qualifications, the education and training systems are reinforcing highly rigid patterns of gender segregation in the Welsh labor force. Wales is thus consolidating its status as a low-wage, low-skill economy. (SK)

This discussion on the lack of data concerning comparable worth concludes that efforts to design data collecting systems or even to tabulate and amass those data that already exist lag behind efforts to litigate and legislate comparable worth. The author discusses possible future scenarios on this subject. (CT)

A professional economist criticizes Gerald Bracey's view that the condition of public education has little to do with the state of the nation's economy. Most studies indicate that education contributes to growing productivity, higher wages, and a sound economy. Education can serve the nation's economic needs without sacrificing education's other…

Jobs differ widely in the ability, educational level, and other attributes they require of workers. This article provides a table that lists 16 characteristics of jobs, such as education required and salary level, and shows each characteristic's relation to more than 250 individual occupations. (Author/SSH)

To educate children for a civil society, teachers should work to raise (noncollege-bound) students' skills to the levels that good jobs require. Maintaining the status quo and educating children to participate in Jeremy Rifkin's "third sector" are misguided options. The new basic skills should include hard skills (in basic mathematics,…

The authors examine youth unemployment in a changing economy and suggest that vocational education will play a key role in helping students gain purposeful employment in the future. They discuss various causes of youth unemployment and the impact that technological changes will have on young workers. (CT)

Women administrators in higher education must deal not only with the usual challenges facing administrators (decision-making, resolving conflict, and advancing professionally), but also with the effects of sex stereotyping. Women are not seen as decision-makers, nor as conflict-resolvers, and are often viewed as supporting personnel rather than…

In 1991, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) developed an empirical estimate of the magnitude of the problems mother-only families face in escaping poverty. The GAO also tried to identify federal policies that could help such families. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of the Labor Market Experience of Youth were used to assess the…

The bulk of this position paper consists of statements in opposition to a September 2001 referendum on adopting 'right-to-work' (RTW) legislation in Oklahoma. The statements are by Joan Fitzgerald, William Sschweke, Raymond Hogler, Steven Shulman, Stephan Weiler, Ann Markusen, Robert G. Lynch, David R. Howell, James Galbraith, Colin Gordon, Wim…

Inner-city business development is often proposed as a solution to inner-city poverty. However, research evidence suggests that creating new jobs in the inner city is unlikely by itself to increase significantly the employment or earnings of the inner-city poor. Public subsidies for inner-city business development may be justified by greater…

The question of what the future of work in the United States will be is examined in this publication using current information on trends and issues related to work, the economy, and the labor force. The compilation intended to give an overview of selected aspects of the topic and provide information about other resources. In the first section,…

The federal policy shift from skills training and toward work first strategies has come about, in part, from a misconception that "training does not work." A more comprehensive look at existing research reveals the documented effectiveness of skills training. A growing number of studies have shown skills training can increase earnings;…

The benefits of offering high school students career and technical education (CTE) in addition to training in basic academic skills and the cost-effectiveness of CTE were examined by reviewing available data on demand, supply, and results for CTE. The analysis confirmed that the market and demand for workers with only a high school education still…