Tom Wilson, the chair of the executive committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce published an op-ed titled "Save Capitalism by Paying People More." Wilson acknowledges in blunt terms that ordinary working Americans are not flourishing economically. This year's annual "The State of Working Pennsylvania" documents the accuracy of…

Individual variation in labor supply can arise from more than just a choice among discrete occupation groups, especially given the joint process of wage determination and time allocation. Other factors can include differential preferences for earnings, the time length of work and other related occupational attributes. Using data from the Wisconsin…

This paper characterizes vulnerable workers in Canada and the federal jurisdiction, based upon characteristics such as employment status, demographic characteristics, and job characteristics, and identifies areas in which labour standards may have a role. Based on this analysis, the paper evaluates the potential for labour standards to address…

We examine the prevalence of nonstandard employment in the nonmetropolitan United States using the Current Population Survey Supplement on Contingent Work (1999 and 2001). We find that nonstandard work is more prevalent in nonmetropolitan than in central city or suburban areas. Logistic regression models controlling for sociodemographic and work…

A study examined schooling, weekly and annual working hours, and hourly earnings of women organized into nine birth cohorts, 1920 to 1964. Many more women are working now than did 20 years ago. The gap between the work of married and unmarried women has narrowed. Schooling and wage differences have widened in recent cohorts. (SK)

The self-employed began to more closely resemble wage and salary workers during 1972-79. Their workweek was shortened, they tended to be younger, and were more likely to be women than in the past, but they continued to earn less than other workers. (Author)

This report presents data on employment, work hours, and earnings by industry for 216 major labor areas in the United States. Employment data exclude farm workers, proprietors, self-employed, domestic workers in private homes, and unpaid family workers. Data are based on information from payroll records submitted voluntarily to State agencies by a…

Updates a 1976 article explaining the stability of hours of work per week in the U.S. since World War II. It introduces a revised series of the ratio of female to male wages over time. In a reply to this article, Kniesner presents estimates which support his 1976 conclusions. (CT)

Low-paid workers are defined as the lowest paid one-fourth of nonsupervisory employees in private industry in the nonfarm economy, mostly in service and retail industries, not covered by union or other labor standards, and concentrated in the South. (MF)

During the 1970s, increasing health care demands resulted in a greatly increased work force and a need for highly skilled workers. Wages and salaries of health personnel remained below and absences above national averages. (Author/SK)

A work preference model of artists' labor supply was applied to data on Australian artists. Results show that artists subsidize their profession by working outside the arts; the higher their nonarts income, the more they subsidize arts work. Artists reduce hours worked in their principal artistic occupation when they receive a higher arts income.…

Although nearly 14 million jobs have been added to the economy since 1979, there is strong evidence that job expansion has been purchased at the price of lower wages. A number of studies have confirmed this downside to job creation, the most prominent being a 1986 study by Bluestone and Harrison for the Joint Economic Committee. A recent study…

Part-time workers are usually relegated to low-paying jobs, which accounts for their lower earning rates. The article gives reasons for this situation, and analyzes the gain in workers' hourly earnings from additional education and experience. (MF)

Part-time workers are those working fewer than 35 hours per week. Of the 113 million wage and salary workers in the labor force, only 17 percent are classified as part time. Four of five part-time workers choose to work part-time rather than full-time. The 3.8 million involuntary part-time workers constitute only 3.4 percent of the work force.…