Using data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, this paper compares the earnings premium and employment share of jobs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) across 11 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The results reveal that the STEM wage premium…

Using data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, this paper compares the earnings premium and employment share of jobs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) across 11 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The results reveal that the STEM wage premium…

Today, more than 60 percent of teachers in the United States work under a union contract. The rights of teachers to unionize and bargain together have expanded dramatically since the late 1950s, when states began passing "duty-to-bargain" (DTB) laws that required school districts to negotiate with teachers unions in good faith. Recently,…

Prior empirical studies have found that American workers report longer hours than do workers in other highly industrialized countries, and that the highly educated report the longest hours relative to other educational levels. This paper analyzes disparities in working hours by education levels in 17 high- and middle-income countries to assess…

The economic boom of the 1990s veiled a grim reality: in addition to the growing gap between rich and poor, the gap between good and bad quality jobs was also expanding. The postwar prosperity of the mid-twentieth century had enabled millions of American workers to join the middle class, but as author Arne L. Kalleberg shows, by the 1970s this…

Can you name 20 influences on pay that could cause a difference in earnings between two ostensibly equal employees? This short, involving exercise can be used to illustrate the numerous influences that affect how employees' pay is determined, for example, education, experience required for the job, supply and demand, company size, seniority, and…

A study examined determinants of wages and productivity in Mexico from 1993 and 1999 using two national surveys. In 1993, 7,619 employees from 575 firms were interviewed. In 1999, 6,259 employees from 722 firms were interviewed. Findings indicate that wage premiums and productivity increased with years of schooling, but workers had higher benefits…

Although union membership has been declining overall, the number of women union members continues to increase. Currently, 37 percent of union membership are women. The proportion of women workers who are union members increased from 16.3 percent in 1965 to 19.3 percent in 1975 and fell to 14 percent in 1990; 7.4 million women were represented by…

This brief analyzes the employment patterns and socioeconomic characteristics of Latinos. Nationally, Hispanics constitute 11.1 percent of the U.S. workforce. The number of Latino workers is expected to grow by 36.3 percent this decade. Working Latinos have persistently had high poverty and unemployment rates due to such factors as insufficient…

Superior pay and benefits associated with technology-intensive manufacturing offers promising job prospects for moderately skilled workers that may offset the negative impacts of declining unionization. Technology-intensive plants hire workers with more schooling, but also pay more at all levels of schooling. Promotion of technology-intensive…

Training measures in the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Young Men, the National Child Development Study for Britain, and the Australian Longitudinal Survey of Youth were used to study determinants and labor market outcomes of postschool training received by young men. Twelve percent of U.S. youth reported getting formal training in the first…

This book contains 17 social policy essays on various topics related to labor and full employment policies in the United States. The following papers are included: "Introduction" (Stephen Mangum); "Secular Rabbi: The Life and Times of Sar A. Levitan" (Garth Mangum); "Young Workers, Young Families, and Child Poverty"…

This book contains nine papers devoted to the psychological experience of youth employment and its role in shaping future employment experiences and expectations. "Introduction" (Julian Barling, E. Kevin Kelloway) emphasizes the diversity of young people as a group and the diversity of individual youth's employment experience. "The…