A growing number of employers identify difficulty hiring highly qualified workers as their top competitive challenge. Roughly 75 million of Americans could meet these employer needs but currently lack the skills or supports to do so. This is America's untapped workforce--the many people who do not have the work or wages they need to get by, but…

This paper addresses the convergence of inequality across social and economic dimensions in the United States. Chief among these are wealth accumulation, labor, and education. Specifically, I discuss the transference of wealth to the top of the income hierarchy, the automation and polarization of labor, and threats to public education.…

The primary focus of this study was to explore the characteristics of marginally employed (earnings less than $5,000 per year) ex-offenders. Findings from this study include the following: (1) The number of employed offenders varied from 47.7 percent of recently released offenders in 2006 to 49.8 percent of recently released offenders in 2009; (2)…

The Great Recession officially ended in June 2009. However, the labor market has made agonizingly slow progress toward a full recovery, and the slack that remains continues to be devastating for workers of all ages. The weak labor market has been, and continues to be, very tough on young workers. Though the labor market is headed in the right…

Implications from a literature review on the employment status and income of deaf people include the following: (1) serious underemployment of the deaf, (2) uncertainty about the effects of compensatory legislation on education and employment problems, and (3) significant effects of deafness on income and lifetime earning power. (SK)

This paper compares the causes and consequences of employment instability among Mexican-origin women, White women, and White men. Data came from the work experience supplement in the March 1995 file of the Current Population Survey for a sample that included 1,399 Mexican-origin women, 17,092 White women, and 24,440 White men. All were experienced…

Draws on the 1987 Current Population Survey to examine the effect of employment instability on earnings of 1,755 Mexican-origin men. Results show unequivocally that Whites received higher returns to education than did Mexican Americans, and that employment instability exerted a heavier penalty on Mexican-origin workers than Whites. (Author/SAS)

Uses a modified version of the labor-utilization framework to measure the types and extents of underemployment for 2,107 black males and females, a sample from the National Survey of Black Americans (1980). Results reveal a larger percentage of females unemployed, underemployed by low hours or low income, and discouraged. (SLD)

This theme issue of the newsletter "Southern Perspectives" contains five articles on labor supply and demand issues in the rural South: "An Overview of Employment Changes in the Nonmetropolitan South" (David L. Barkley) examines nonmetro earnings trends in 16 southern states and employment trends in selected industries in the…

Data from the U.S. Census and more limited surveys aimed at specific artist occupations were used to profile the employment and earnings of four groups of artists in 1970-1990: authors, artists who work with their hands, performing artists, and architects and designers. The following items were examined: evidence of multiple job holding;…

A study assessed the employment and training needs of Hispanics in Connecticut. As part of a research project entitled the Survey of Hispanics in Connecticut, trained bilingual interviewers surveyed 500 randomly selected Hispanic households in seven major cities in Connecticut. This survey sample represented approximately 1.5 percent of the total…