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Abrahams, Scott (2025): Unequal Job Security, Unemployment Scarring, and the Distribution of Welfare in a Search and Bargaining Model. In: Labour, Jg. 39, H. 3, S. 189-205. DOI:10.1111/labr.70001

Abstract

"What causes unemployment to concentrate among the same workers over time, and what are the welfare consequences? I demonstrate that unemployment scarring emerges naturally in a frictional labor market when firms with lower-productivity matches have smaller profit margins to absorb negative shocks. I develop a search model with endogenous job termination that reproduces two key empirical regularities: lower-wage jobs are less stable and previous unemployment predicts future job loss. The model captures a crucial non-monotonic pattern I document empirically, where termination risk drops sharply in the left tail of the wage distribution but flattens beyond the median wage. This mechanism increases lifetime wage and unemployment inequality by 7% compared to models with uniform termination risk. Counterfactual experiments reveal that unemployment insurance reduces scarring by enabling workers to wait for higher-quality matches, but simultaneously strengthens workers' bargaining position, which counterintuitively decreases job security at every productivity level." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons) ((en))

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Abrams, Leah, Daniel Schneider & Kristen Harknett (2025): New Technology, Older Workers: How Workplace Technology is Associated with Indicators of Job Retention. In: Journal of Aging & Social Policy, S. 1-17. DOI:10.1080/08959420.2025.2523122

Abstract

"Middle-aged and older adults who are employed in precarious, high-strain jobs may face challenges to continued work, risking economic insecurity and poor wellbeing in retirement. Technology in the workplace, an under-studied aspect of work environments, could accommodate aging workers or could add stress to their jobs. This study examines how technology in sales and surveillance at work are related to job satisfaction and planned job exits among approximately 6,000 workers aged 50–69 employed in the low-wage service sector (e.g. retail, pharmacy, grocery, hardware, fast food, casual dining, delivery, and hotel). On-the-job surveillance was related to lower job satisfaction and higher reports of looking for a new job, especially when combined with sanctioning for slow speed of work. However, rewards for speed, and to a lesser extent the use of leaderboards, were associated with higher job satisfaction, demonstrating the potential of technology to enhance the work experience for older employees. The use of sales technologies was not associated with job satisfaction or intentions to look for a new job. These results provide a uniquely detailed portrait of prevailing labor market conditions for aging workers in the service sector and demonstrate how certain kinds of technology matter for older workers ’ employment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Barreto, César, Stéphane Carcillo, Jonas Fluchtmann, Alexandre Georgieff, Alexander Hijzen, Daniele Pacifico, Eliza-Jane Pearsall & Agnes Puymoyen (2025): Low-wage employment in France. A cross-country perspective. (OECD social, employment and migration working papers 313), Paris, 47 S. DOI:10.1787/82539f44-en

Abstract

"This study investigates factors favoring a possible "smicardization" of French workers - the process of an increasing coverage of workers at the minimum wage. First, the minimum wage is relatively high in France compared with other countries, with the result that a large number of workers are close to it. Second, low wages reflect less the characteristics of firms or sectors than the low skills of workers, the resolution of which requires appropriate education and training policies, effective over the long-term. Finally, an analysis of tax and benefit systems highlights the existence of potential low-wage trap mechanisms, which are particularly significant in France compared to other countries. Nevertheless, analysis of individual trajectories shows that it is no more difficult for low-wage workers to climb the wage ladder in France than in the other selected countries." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Gruber, Anja (2025): The Labor Market Impacts of Fair Work Legislation. In: ILR review, S. 1-32. DOI:10.1177/00197939251355234

Abstract

"Fair Workweek (FWW) ordinances, which typically require employers to provide workers with advance notice of their schedules and extra pay for last-minute changes, have become an increasingly debated policy tool to address the unpredictability of low-wage work in the United States. In this article, the author studies the labor market impacts of the Oregon FWW law using data on treated workers from the Quarterly Workforce Indicators and American Community Survey, and a variety of empirical approaches that address the factors complicating such a labor market analysis. Taken together, the evidence points to limited effects on the average labor market outcomes of workers covered by the legislation. However, findings indicate increased employment and hours worked for men, and decreased employment and hours worked for women. Also, results show consistent evidence of decreased average monthly earnings for newly hired women at treated employers. Despite the ability of employers to bypass compensation requirements through voluntary standby lists, this study identifies compositional effects on the workforce resulting from FWW legislation." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Lachowska, Marta, Isaac Sorkin & Stephen A. Woodbury (2025): Employers and Unemployment Insurance Take-Up. In: The American economic review, Jg. 115, H. 8, S. 2529-2573. DOI:10.1257/aer.20230195

Abstract

"We quantify the employer's role in unemployment insurance (UI) take-up. Employer effects on claiming and appeals are substantial, and those effects are negatively correlated, consistent with appeals deterring claims. Low-wage workers are less likely to claim and more likely to have their claims appealed than median-wage workers. Employer effects help explain these income gradients, so equalizing employer effects on claiming would increase the progressivity of UI. Finally, the main source of targeting error in UI is that eligible workers do not claim." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Wiltshire, Justin, Carl McPherson, Michael Reich & Denis Sosinskiy (2025): Minimum Wage Effects and Monopsony Explanations. In: Journal of labor economics, S. 1-46. DOI:10.1086/735551

Abstract

"We present the first causal analysis of a seven-year run-up of minimum wages to $15. Using a novel stacked county-level synthetic control estimator and data on fast-food restaurants, we find substantial pay growth and no disemployment. Our results hold among lower-wage counties and counties without local minimum wages. Minimum wage increases reduce Separation rates and raise wages faster than prices at McDonald’s stores; both findings imply a monopsonistic labor market with declining rents. In the tight post-pandemic labor market, when laborsupply becomes more elastic, we find positive employment effects. These become larger and statistically significant after addressing pandemic-response confounds." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Ashenfelter, Orley & Štepán Jurajda (2024): The U.S. Low-Wage Structure: A McWage Comparison. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 17142), Bonn, 34 S.

Abstract

"Thanks to standardized work protocol and technology of McDonald's restaurants, the hourly wage of McDonald's Basic Crew enables wage comparisons under near-identical skill inputs and hedonic job conditions. McWages capture labor costs in entry-level jobs, while the Big Macs (earned) Per Hour (BMPH) index measures corresponding purchasing power of wages. We document large and growing geographical wage differences in standardized jobs using data covering most U.S. counties during 2016-2023. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, there was no BMPH growth where minimum wages stayed constant, but the pandemic wage increase, which diminished the importance of minimum wages, was stronger in these areas." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Mouw, Ted, Arne L. Kalleberg & Michael A. Schultz (2024): “Stepping-Stone” versus “Dead-End” Jobs: Occupational Structure, Work Experience, and Mobility Out of Low-Wage Jobs. In: American sociological review, Jg. 89, H. 2, S. 298-345. DOI:10.1177/00031224241232957

Abstract

"Does working in a low-wage job lead to increased opportunities for upward mobility, or is it a dead-end that traps workers? In this article, we examine whether low-wage jobs are “stepping-stones” that enable workers to move to higher-paid jobs that are linked by institutional mobility ladders and skill transferability. To identify occupational linkages, we create two measures of occupational similarity using data on occupational mobility from matched samples of the Current Population Survey (CPS) and data on multiple dimensions of job skills from the O*NET. We test whether work experience in low-wage occupations increases mobility between linked occupations that results in upward wage mobility. Our analysis uses longitudinal data on low-wage workers from the 1979 National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY) and the 1996 to 2008 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). We test the stepping-stone perspective using multinomial conditional logit (MCL) models, which allow us to analyze the joint effects of work experience and occupational linkages on achieving upward wage mobility. We find evidence for stepping-stone mobility in certain areas of the low-wage occupational structure. In these occupations, low-wage workers can acquire skills through work experience that facilitate upward mobility through occupational changes to skill and institutionally linked occupations." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Sheely, Amanda (2024): More than Money? Job Quality and Food Insecurity among Employed Lone Mother Households in the United States. In: Social Policy and Society, Jg. 23, H. 1, S. 35-52. DOI:10.1017/S1474746421000877

Abstract

"This article examines the relationship between food insecurity and the uncertainty and inadequate financial resources associated with low quality work among lone mother households in the United States. Food insecurity has increased since the start of the Great Recession and is particularly high among lone mother households. Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, I find that mothers who have been employed part-time involuntarily and experienced job loss have an increased likelihood of experiencing food insecurity. This relationship holds even after controlling for multiple measures of household income, suggesting the relationship between low quality work and food insecurity is not solely determined by low financial resources. Results suggest that, to reduce food insecurity among lone mother families, policymakers must address both the low wages and uncertainty associated with low quality employment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Elvery, Joel A., C. Lockwood Reynolds & Shawn M. Rohlin (2023): Employer Wage Subsidy Caps and Part-Time Work. In: ILR review, Jg. 76, H. 1, S. 189-209. DOI:10.1177/00197939221102865

Abstract

"Using tract-level US Census data and triple-difference estimators, the authors test whether firms increase their use of part-time workers when faced with capped wage subsidies. By limiting the maximum subsidy per worker, such subsidies create incentives for firms to increase the share of their payroll that is eligible for the subsidy by increasing use of part-time or low-wage workers. Results suggest that firms located in federal Empowerment Zones in the United States responded to the program’s capped wage subsidies by expanding their use of part-time workers, particularly in locations where the subsidy cap is likely to bind. Results also show a shift toward hiring lower-skill workers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Gerritsen, Aart (2023): To Redistribute or to Predistribute? The Minimum Wage versus Income Taxation When Workers Differ in Both Wages and Working Hours. (CESifo working paper 10734), München, 53 S.

Abstract

"I consider the case for the minimum wage alongside (optimal) income taxes when workers differ in both wages and working hours, such that a given level of income corresponds to multiple wage rates. The minimum wage is directly targeted at the lowest-wage workers, while income taxes are at most targeted at all low-income workers, regardless of their hourly wage rates. This renders the minimum wage unambiguously desirable in a discrete-type model of the labor market. Desirability of the minimum wage is a priori ambiguous in a continuous-type model of the labor market. Compared to the minimum wage, income taxes are less effective in compressing the wage distribution but more effective in redistributing income. Desirability of the minimum wage depends on this trade-off between the “predistributional advantage” of the minimum wage and the “redistributional advantage” of the income tax. I derive a desirability condition for the minimum wage and write it in terms of empirical sufficient statistics. A numerical application to the US suggests a strong case for a higher federal minimum wage – especially if social preferences for the lowest-wage workers are relatively strong and the wage elasticity of labor demand relatively small." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Rose, Evan K. & Yotam Shem-Tov (2023): How Replaceable Is a Low-Wage Job? (NBER working paper / National Bureau of Economic Research 31447), Cambridge, Mass, 104 S.

Abstract

"We study the long-run consequences of losing a low-wage job using linked employer-employee wage records and household surveys. For full-time workers earning $15 per hour or less, job loss due to an idiosyncratic, firm-wide contraction generates a 13% reduction in earnings six years later and over $40,000 cumulative lost earnings. Most of the long-run decrease stems from reductions in employment and hours as opposed to wage rates: job losers are twice as likely to report being unemployed and looking for work. By contrast, workers initially earning $15-$30 per hour see comparable long-run earnings losses driven primarily by reductions in hourly wages. Calibrating a dynamic job ladder model to the estimates implies that the rents from holding a full-time $15 per hour job relative to unemployment are worth about $20,000, more than seven times monthly earnings." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Siddique, Abu Bakkar (2023): Job market polarization and American poverty. In: Journal for labour market research, Jg. 57. DOI:10.1186/s12651-023-00356-5

Abstract

"The article posits that the puzzles of stagnating poverty rates amidst high growth and declining unemployment in the United States can be substantially explained by polarized job markets characterized by job quality and job distribution. In recent decades, there has been an increased number of poor-quality jobs and an unequal distribution of jobs in the developed world, particularly in the United States. I have calculated measures of uneven job distribution indices that account for the distribution of jobs across households. A higher value of the uneven job distribution indices implies that there are relatively large numbers of households with multiple employed people and households with no employed people. Similarly, poor-quality jobs are those jobs that do not offer full-time work. Two-way fixed-effect models estimate that higher uneven job distribution across households worsens aggregated poverty at the state level. Similarly, good-quality jobs help households escape poverty, whereas poor-quality jobs do not. This paper suggests that eradicating poverty requires the government to direct labor market policies to be tailored more toward distributing jobs from individuals to households and altering bad jobs into good jobs, rather than merely creating more jobs in the economy. This paper contributes by elaborating on relations of employment and poverty, addressing employment quality and distribution, and providing empirical evidence." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © Springer-Verlag) ((en))

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Torosyan, Karine, Sicheng Wang, Elizabeth A. Mack, Jenna A. Van Fossen & Nathan Baker (2023): Assessing the impact of technological change on similar occupations: Implications for employment alternatives. In: PLoS ONE, Jg. 18. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0291428

Abstract

"Background: The fast-changing labor market highlights the need for an in-depth understanding of occupational mobility impacted by technological change. However, we lack a multidimensional classification scheme that considers similarities of occupations comprehensively, which prevents us from predicting employment trends and mobility across occupations. This study fills the gap by examining employment trends based on similarities between occupations. Method: We first demonstrated a new method that clusters 756 occupation titles based on knowledge, skills, abilities, education, experience, training, activities, values, and interests. We used the Principal Component Analysis to categorize occupations in the Standard Occupational Classification, which is grouped into a four-level hierarchy. Then, we paired the occupation clusters with the occupational employment projections provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We analyzed how employment would change and what factors affect the employment changes within occupation groups. Particularly, we specified factors related to technological changes. Results: The results reveal that technological change accounts for significant job losses in some clusters. This poses occupational mobility challenges for workers in these jobs at present. Job losses for nearly 60% of current employment will occur in low-skill, low-wage occupational groups. Meanwhile, many mid-skilled and highly skilled jobs are projected to grow in the next ten years. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate the utility of our occupational classification scheme. Furthermore, it suggests a critical need for skills upgrading and workforce development for workers in declining jobs. Special attention should be paid to vulnerable workers, such as older individuals and minorities." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Bergman, Nittai K., David Matsa & Michael Weber (2022): Inclusive Monetary Policy: How Tight Labor Markets Facilitate Broad-Based Employment Growth. (CESifo working paper 9512), München, 45 S.

Abstract

"This paper analyzes the heterogeneous effects of monetary policy on workers with differing levels of labor force attachment. Exploiting variation in labor market tightness across metropolitan areas, we show that the employment of populations with lower labor force attachment—Blacks, high school dropouts, and women—is more responsive to expansionary monetary policy in tighter labor markets. The effect builds up over time and is long lasting. We develop a New Keynesian model with heterogeneous workers that rationalizes these results. The model shows that expansionary monetary shocks lead to larger increases in the employment of less attached workers when the central bank follows an average inflation targeting rule and when the Phillips curve is flatter. These findings suggest that, by tightening labor markets, the Federal Reserve’s recent move from a strict to an average inflation targeting framework especially benefits workers with lower labor force attachment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Duggan, Mark, Audrey Guo & Andrew C. Johnston (2022): Would Broadening the UI Tax Base Help Low-Income Workers? (IZA discussion paper 15020), Bonn, 12 S.

Abstract

"The tax base for state unemployment insurance (UI) programs varies significantly in the U.S., from a low of $7,000 annually in California to a high of $52,700 in Washington. Previous research has provided surprisingly little guidance to policy makers regarding the tradeoffs associated with this variation. In this paper, we use 37 years of data for all 50 states and Washington, D.C. to estimate the impact of the UI tax base on labor-market outcomes. We find that the low tax base that exists in California and many other states (and the necessarily higher tax rates that accompany these) negatively affects labor market outcomes for part-time and other low-earning workers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Katz, Lawrence F., Jonathan Roth, Richard Hendra & Kelsey Schaberg (2022): Why Do Sectoral Employment Programs Work? Lessons from WorkAdvance. In: Journal of labor economics, Jg. 40, H. S1, S. S249-S291. DOI:10.1086/717932

Abstract

"This paper examines the evidence from randomized evaluations of sector-focused training programs that target low-wage workers and combine up-front screening, occupational and soft-skills training, and wraparound services. The programs generate substantial and persistent earnings gains (12%–34%) following training. Theoretical mechanisms for program impacts are explored for the WorkAdvance demonstration. Earnings gains are generated by getting participants into higher-wage jobs in higher-earning industries and occupations, not just by raising employment. Training in transferable and certifiable skills (likely underprovided from poaching concerns) and reductions of employment barriers to high-wage sectors for nontraditional workers appear to play key roles." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Kupfer, Antonia (2022): Supermagd : Arbeitsaneignung im Niedriglohnsektor im Ländervergleich. In: Arbeits- und industriesoziologische Studien, Jg. 15, H. 1, S. 26-39.

Abstract

"Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird ein Konzept der Arbeitsaneignung vorgestellt, das die Subjektperspektive Beschäftigter eingebettet in soziale Kontexte erfasst und analysiert. Damit geraten strukturelle Einflüsse auf die Art und Weise wie Beschäftigte ihre Arbeit wahrnehmen, bewerten und bewältigen in den Blick. Am Beispiel von Supermarktverkäufer_innen in Deutschland und den USA wird das Konzept mit seinen drei Dimensionen sozialer Status der Tätigkeit, Gebrauchswert und Tätigsein entfaltet. Ihr Beschäftigtenanteil ist hoch und – nicht erst in der Corona-Pandemie – systemrelevant. Auf der Grundlage zweier kontrastierender Fälle werden Thesen zur unterschiedlichen Arbeitsaneignung in einem ausgewählten Niedriglohnsektor vorgestellt. Im Ergebnis wird deutlich, dass Arbeitsaneignung in Deutschland im Vergleich zu den USA arbeitnehmerinnenfreundlicher stattfindet. Für eine Verbesserung von Lebensverhältnissen sind daher politische Veränderungen und nicht subjektive Anrufungen erforderlich." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Ortigueira, Salvador & Nawid Siassi (2022): The U.S. tax-transfer system and low-income households: Savings, labor supply, and household formation. In: Review of Economic Dynamics, Jg. 44, S. 184-210. DOI:10.1016/j.red.2021.02.010

Abstract

"Eligibility and benefits for anti-poverty income transfers in the U.S. are based on both the means and the household characteristics of applicants, such as their filing status, living arrangement, and marital status. In this paper we develop a dynamic structural model to study the effects of the U.S. tax-transfer system on the decisions of non-college-educated workers with children. In our model workers face uninsurable idiosyncratic risks and make decisions on savings, labor supply, living arrangement, and marital status. We find that the U.S. anti-poverty policy distorts the cohabitation/marriage decision of single mothers, providing incentives to cohabit. We also find quantitatively important effects on savings, and on the labor supply of husbands and wives. Namely, the model yields a U-shaped relationship between the earnings of one spouse and the labor supply of the other spouse, a result that we also find in the data. We show that these U-shaped relationships stem in part from the current design of anti-poverty income programs, and that the introduction of an EITC deduction on the earnings of secondary earners—as proposed in the 21st Century Worker Tax Cut Act—would increase the employment rate of the spouses of workers earning between $15K and $35K, especially of female spouses." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2022 Elsevier) ((en))

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Carr, Michael D. & Emily E. Wiemers (2021): The role of low earnings in differing trends in male earnings volatility. In: Economics Letters, Jg. 199. DOI:10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109702

Abstract

"Trends in male earnings volatility vary across studies. Volatility is flat or increasing in most studies using survey data but falling in recent studies using administrative data. This paper uses Survey of Income and Program Participation data linked to administrative earnings histories from the Detailed Earnings Records to investigate the effect of the treatment of low earnings on earnings volatility. We show that volatility trends are sensitive to the treatment of low earnings: when low earnings are treated as is typically done with survey data, volatility is flat or increasing slightly, but when low earnings are treated as in recent studies using administrative earnings data, volatility declines." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2021 Elsevier) ((en))

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Cavenaile, Laurent (2021): Offshoring, computerization, labor market polarization and top income inequality. In: Journal of macroeconomics, Jg. 69. DOI:10.1016/j.jmacro.2021.103317

Abstract

"This paper proposes a model of occupational choice with heterogeneous agents in terms of human capital to quantify the role of offshoring and computerization in labor market polarization and increased top income inequality. We find that both offshoring and computerization played a major role regarding labor market polarization in the US over the period 1975–2008. We further show that the last decades can be decomposed into two subperiods. Computerization is the main driver of labor market polarization from 1975 to the mid 1990s, after which globalization (through decreased costs of offshoring) explains more than 70% of job and wage polarization. Our model can also explain around 40% of the observed increase in top income inequality since 1975." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2021 Elsevier) ((en))

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Dorn, David & Peter Levell (2021): Trade and Inequality in Europe and the US. (IZA discussion paper 14914), Bonn, 65 S.

Abstract

"The share of low-income countries in global exports nearly tripled between 1990 and 2015, driven largely by the rapid emergence of China as an exporting powerhouse. While research in economics had long acknowledged that trade with lower-income countries could raise income inequality in Europe and the US, empirical estimates indicated only a modest contribution of trade to growing national skill premia. However, if workers are not highly mobile across firms, industries and locations, then the unequal impacts of trade can manifest along different margins. Recent evidence from countries across Europe and the US shows that growing import competition from China differentially reduced earnings and employment rates for workers in more trade-exposed industries, and for the residents of more trade-exposed geographic regions. These adverse impacts were often largest for lower-skilled individuals. We show that domestic manufacturing employment declined much more in countries that saw a large growth of net imports from China (such as the UK and the US), than in countries that maintained relatively balanced trade with China (such as Germany and Switzerland). Drawing on a new analysis for the UK, we further show that trade with China contributed to job loss in manufacturing, but also to substantial declines in consumer prices. However, while the adverse labour market impacts were concentrated on specific groups of workers and regions, the consumer benefits from trade were widely dispersed in the population, and appear similarly large for high-income and low-income households. Globalisation has thus created pockets of losers, and recent evidence indicates that in addition to financial losses, residents of regions with greater exposure to import competition also suffer from higher crime rates, a deterioration of health outcomes, and a dissolution of traditional family structures. We argue that new import tariffs such as those imposed by the US in 2018 and 2019 are unlikely to help the losers from globalisation. Instead, displaced workers may be better supported by a combination of transfers to avert financial hardship, skills training that facilitate reintegration into the labour market, and place-based policies that stimulate job creation in depressed locations." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Engelhardt, Gary V. & Patrick J. Purcell (2021): The minimum wage and annual earnings inequality. In: Economics Letters, Jg. 207. DOI:10.1016/j.econlet.2021.110001

Abstract

"We estimate the impact of the minimum wage on U.S. male annual earnings inequality, using administrative Social Security earnings records from 1981-2015. The minimum wage reduces inequality in the bottom quartile of the earnings distribution, and especially in the bottom decile." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2021 Elsevier) ((en))

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Farmand, Aida & Owen Davis (2021): Who Does the Earned Income Tax Credit Benefit? A Monopsony View. (Working paper / Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis 2021-02), New York, NY, 45 S.

Abstract

"The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) targets refundable tax credits to low-income workers, incentivizing labor supply and raising the incomes of tens of millions of Americans. One possible consequence of subsidizing low-wage work, however, is to reduce wage growth. A monopsony model of the EITC is developed in order to analyze its impacts on labor market outcomes, which are identified by exploiting variation in state EITC supplements. A first set of results focused on the food service industry find that the EITC increases employment and reduces turnover among young women. Further results suggest that the EITC reduces wages for workers without college degrees. These findings prompt a reconsideration of the redistributive effects of the EITC, particularly for groups like older low-wage workers who face slower wage growth as a result of the policy but do not receive the same level of benefits on average." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Struffolino, Emanuela & Zachary Van Winkle (2021): Gender and race differences in pathways out of in-work poverty in the US. In: Social science research, Jg. 99. DOI:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102585

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Grimes, Donald R., Penelope B. Prime & Mary Beth Walker (2019): Geographical variation in wages of workers in low-wage service occupations. A U.S. metropolitan area analysis. In: Economic Development Quarterly, Jg. 33, H. 2, S. 121-133. DOI:10.1177/0891242419836493

Abstract

"Low-wage, service-providing occupations accounted for almost half of all U.S. net job growth between 2006 and 2016. The authors study the variation in wages of low-wage service employees across U.S. metropolitan statistical areas, using cross-sectional estimations for 2016 for the 10th, 50th, and 90th percentile wage rates. New data are used to examine the impact of different cost-of-living adjustments on model results, arguing that the preferred adjustment separates housing costs from other costs. The main results are that strong labor market conditions positively contribute to real wages in most of the categories; minimum wages contribute positively to the 10th percentile of four occupations with evidence of influencing higher wages in the 50th and 90th percentiles; and using the authors' cost-of-living adjustment and controlling for housing costs, the presence of an educated population did not substantially raise wages in the four low-wage, low-skill occupations." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Phelan, Brian J. (2019): Hedonic-based labor supply substitution and the ripple effect of minimum wages. In: Journal of labor economics, Jg. 37, H. 3, S. 905-947. DOI:10.1086/702651

Abstract

"This paper analyzes a new explanation of the 'ripple effect' of minimum wages based on how minimum wages affect hedonic compensation. Minimum wage hikes lower compensating differentials at low-skill undesirable jobs because they raise wages at the most desirable low-skill job, the minimum wage job. This change in hedonic compensation may cause some individuals to optimally leave low-wage undesirable jobs and seek more desirable employment. If labor supply falls at low-wage undesirable jobs, employers would raise wages, consistent with the ripple effect. Empirically, I provide evidence that hedonic-based labor supply substitution is taking place and contributing to the ripple effect." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Struffolino, Emanuela & Zachary Van Winkle (2019): Is there only one way out of in-work poverty? Difference by gender and race in the US. (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung. Discussion papers SP 1 2019-601), Berlin, 41 S.

Abstract

"The persistency of in-work poverty during the last decades challenges the idea that employment is sufficient to escape poverty. Research has focused on the risk factors associated with in-work poverty, but scholars know little about individuals' experiences after exiting it. The Sequence Analysis Multistate Model procedure is applied to three high-quality longitudinal data sources (NLSY79, NLSY97, and PSID) to establish a typology of employment pathways out of in-work poverty and estimate how gender and race are associated with each pathway. We identify five distinct pathways characterized by varying degrees of labor market attachment, economic vulnerability, and volatility. White men are most likely exit in-work poverty into stable employment outside of poverty, while Black men and women likely remain vulnerable and at-risk of social exclusion as well as recurrent spells of in-work poverty. Gender and race differences persist even after controlling for labor market related characteristics and family demographic behavior." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Leung, Pauline & Alexandre Mas (2018): Employment effects of the affordable care act medicaid expansions. In: Industrial relations, Jg. 57, H. 2, S. 206-234. DOI:10.1111/irel.12207

Abstract

"We examine whether the recent expansions in Medicaid from the Affordable Care Act reduced 'employment lock' among childless adults who were previously ineligible for public coverage. We compare employment in states that chose to expand Medicaid versus those that chose not to expand, before and after implementation. We find that although the expansion increased Medicaid coverage by 3.0 percentage points among childless adults, there was no significant impact on employment." (Author's abstract, Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons) ((en))

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Abrassart, Aurélien (2015): Low-skill jobs or jobs for low-skilled workers? An analysis of the institutional determinants of the employment rates of low-educated workers in 19 OECD countries, 1997 - 2010. In: Journal of European social policy, Jg. 25, H. 2, S. 225-241. DOI:10.1177/0958928715573485

Abstract

"We often hear that the high unemployment rates of low-educated workers in Europe are due to the rigidities of the institutions increasing the labour costs that burden employers. In this article, we challenge this traditional view and offer alternative explanations to the cross-national variation in the employment rate of low-educated workers. Using macro-data and an error correction model, we analyse the determinants of the creation of jobs for low-educated workers in 19 countries between 1997 and 2010. Our findings tend to invalidate the neoliberal view, while also pointing to the positive impact of investing in public employment services and the predominant role of economic growth, which can be weakened by union density and employment protection in the case of male workers. Last but not least, creating low skill jobs has no or little impact on the employment outcomes of low-educated workers, thus indicating job displacement issues." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Gimet, Céline, Bernard Guilhon & Nathalie Roux (2015): Social upgrading in globalized production. The case of the textile and clothing industry. In: International Labour Review, Jg. 154, H. 3, S. 303-327. DOI:10.1111/j.1564-913X.2015.00244.x

Abstract

"Vertical specialization generated by the international fragmentation of production within global networks is driven not only by comparative advantage, but also by the locational decisions of lead firms which determine the role and bargaining power of local producers in their value chain. This study examines the consequences of such specialization in textiles and clothing for 26 labour-abundant countries from 1990 to 2007. Fixed effects regressions based on panel data reveal that the industry does not always reap the benefits of the resulting international trade integration. Rather, the authors observe a negative relationship between vertical specialization and relative real wages in the textile and clothing industry." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Panikkar, Bindu, Doug Brugge, David M. Gute & Raymond R. Hyatt (2015): "They see us as machines:" the experience of recent immigrant women in the low wage informal labor sector. In: PLoS one, Jg. 10, H. 11, S. 1-18. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0142686

Abstract

"This study explores the organization of work and occupational health risk as elicited from recently immigrated women (n = 8) who have been in the US for less than three years and employed in informal work sectors such as cleaning and factory work in the greater Boston area in Massachusetts. Additional interviews (n = 8) with Community Key Informants with knowledge of this sector and representatives of temporary employment agencies in the area provides further context to the interviews conducted with recent immigrant women. These results were also compared with our immigrant occupational health survey, a large project that spawned this study. Responses from the study participants suggest health outcomes consistent with being a day-laborer scholarship, new immigrant women are especially at higher risk within these low wage informal work sectors. A difference in health experiences based on ethnicity and occupation was also observed. Low skilled temporary jobs are fashioned around meeting the job performance expectations of the employer; the worker's needs are hardly addressed, resulting in low work standards, little worker protection and poor health outcomes. The rising prevalence of non-standard employment or informal labor sector requires that policies or labor market legislation be revised to meet the needs presented by these marginalized workers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Sykes, Jennifer, Katrin Križ, Kathryn Edin & Sarah Halpern-Meekin (2015): Dignity and dreams: what the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) means to low-income families. In: American Sociological Review, Jg. 80, H. 2, S. 243-267. DOI:10.1177/0003122414551552

Abstract

"Money has meaning that shapes its uses and social significance, including the monies low-income families draw on for survival: wages, welfare, and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). This study, based on in-depth interviews with 115 low-wage EITC recipients, reveals the EITC is an unusual type of government transfer. Recipients of the EITC say they value the debt relief this government benefit brings. However, they also perceive it as a just reward for work, which legitimizes a temporary increase in consumption. Furthermore, unlike other means-tested government transfers, the credit is seen as a springboard for upward mobility. Thus, by conferring dignity and spurring dreams, the EITC enhances feelings of citizenship and social inclusion." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Thiede, Brian C., Daniel T. Lichter & Scott R. Sanders (2015): America's working poor. Conceptualization, measurement, and new estimates. In: Work and occupations, Jg. 42, H. 3, S. 267-312. DOI:10.1177/0730888415573635

Abstract

"This article addresses measurement challenges that have stymied contemporary research on the working poor. The authors review previously used measurement schemes and discuss conceptual assumptions that underlie each. Using 2013 March Current Population Survey data, the authors estimate national- and race-specific rates of working poverty using more than 125 measures. The authors then evaluate the association between each measure and a latent construct of working poverty using factor analysis and develop a working poverty index derived from these results. Finally, the authors estimate multivariate regression models to identify key social and demographic risk factors for poverty among workers. The authors' national estimates of working poverty range from 2% to nearly 19% and are highly sensitive to alternative assumptions. The authors' analyses find that the latent construct is most highly correlated with empirical measures of working poverty that include part-time or part-year employment and that use poverty income thresholds that include both the poor and near poor. Crude rates and conditional risks of poverty among workers vary considerably among racial groups. This article provides a conceptual and empirical baseline for decisions about how best to estimate the magnitude and composition of America's working poor population." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Albelda, Randy & Michael Carr (2014): Double trouble: US low-wage and low-income workers, 1979 - 2011. In: Feminist economics, Jg. 20, H. 2, S. 1-28. DOI:10.1080/13545701.2014.886125

Abstract

"There is research on low-wage earners and on low-income adults, yet little that looks specifically at workers who are both. Changes in antipoverty programs and job structure in the United States suggest a rise in this group of workers, but not necessarily an accompanying change in the set of social protections that might cover them. We track the share of low-wage and low-income (LW/LI) workers and their access to a subset of employer benefits and antipoverty programs from 1979 - 2011. We explore changes by worker's gender and family status based on feminist labor market and welfare state regime research that argues jobs and social protection programs are shaped by a heteronormative male-breadwinner model. We find increased shares of LW/LI workers; that LW/LI workers are least likely to receive antipoverty supports and employer benefits; and evidence for a male-breadwinner model in US social protection programs." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Gesthuizen, Maurice & Heike Solga (2014): Is the labor market vulnerability of less-educated men really about job competition? New insights from the United States. In: Journal for labour market research, Jg. 47, H. 3, S. 205-221., 2013-03-01. DOI:10.1007/s12651-013-0131-4

Abstract

"Es gibt verschiede Gründe, warum schlechter ausgebildete Männer höheren Risiken der Arbeitsmarktverwundbarkeit - Arbeitslosigkeitsrisiken oder bei Beschäftigten ein niedriger sozioökonomischer Status - unterliegen. Die gebräuchliche Erklärung hierfür ist, dass der Grund für diese höheren Risiken ein gesteigerter beruflicher Wettbewerb ist, der auf ein Überangebot an besser ausgebildeten Arbeitskräften zurückzuführen ist, die die schlechter ausgebildeten Arbeitskräfte aus ihren Beschäftigungen verdrängen. Zusätzlich zur Untersuchung dieser Erklärung analysieren wir den Einfluss der kognitiven Fähigkeiten schlechter ausgebildeter Männer, ihre sozialen Ressourcen und den (historisch eingebetteten) Signalwert, über keine Bildungsnachweise zu verfügen. Wir untersuchen diese Auswirkungen mittels institutioneller und kompositioneller Variationen über Arbeitsmarkt-Eintrittskohorten hinweg in den USA. Für unsere Analysen nutzen wir die Daten des 1974-2008 US General Social Survey (GSS). Sie zeigen, dass ein Überangebot an gut ausgebildeten Arbeitskräften hauptsächlich die Arbeitslosigkeitsrisiken der besser ausgebildeten Personen selbst steigert. In Arbeitsmarkt-Eintrittskohorten, in welchen die negative Selektion basierend auf dem Hintergrund der Eltern der Gruppe der schlechter ausgebildeten deutlicher ist, haben die schlechter ausgebildeten ein relativ hohes Arbeitslosigkeitsrisiko." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Henly, Julia R. & Susan J. Lambert (2014): Unpredictable work timing in retail jobs. Implications for employee work-life conflict. In: ILR review, Jg. 67, H. 3, S. 986-1016. DOI:10.1177/0019793914537458

Abstract

"Unpredictability is a distinctive dimension of working time that has been examined primarily in the context of unplanned overtime and in male-dominated occupations. The authors assess the extent to which female employees in low-skilled retail jobs whose work schedules are unpredictable report greater work -- life conflict than do their counterparts with more predictable work schedules and whether employee input into work schedules reduces work -- life conflict. Data include measures from employee surveys and firm records for a sample of hourly female workers employed across 21 stores of a U.S. women's apparel retailer. Results demonstrate that, independent of other dimensions of nonstandard work hours, unpredictability is positively associated with three outcomes: general work -- life conflict, time-based conflict, and strain-based conflict as measured by perceived employee stress. Employee input into work schedules is negatively related to these outcomes. Little evidence was found that schedule input moderates the association between unpredictable working time and work -- life conflict." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Lewchuk, Wayne, Michelynn Laflèche, Diane Dyson, Luin Goldring, Alan Meisner, Stephanie Procyk, Dan Rosen, John Shields, Peter Viducis & Sam Vrankulj (2014): Is precarious employment low income employment? The changing labour market in Southern Ontario. In: Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society, Jg. 22, H. Autumn, S. 51-73.

Abstract

"This paper examines the association between income and precarious employment, how this association is changing and how it is shaped by gender and race. It explores how precarious employment has spread to even middle income occupations and what this implies for our understanding of contemporary labour markets and employment relationship norms. The findings indicate a need to refine our views of who is in precarious employment and a need to re-evaluate the nature of the Standard Employment Relationship, which we would argue is not only becoming less prevalent, but also transitioning into something that is less secure." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Lindstrom, Lauren, Kara Hirano, Colleen McCarthy & Charlotte Alverson (2014): "Just having a job". Career advancement for low-wage workers with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In: Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, Jg. 37, H. 1, S. 40-49. DOI:10.1177/2165143414522092

Abstract

"This study examined career development and early employment experiences for four young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Researchers used a multiple-method, multiple case-study longitudinal design to explore career development within the context of family systems, high school and transition programs, adult services, and early and continued experiences in the labor market. Data sources included school and rehabilitation records, job observations, and interviews with young adults, family members, high school special education personnel, employers, and adult agency staff (N = 39). During the early career years, participants maintained stable employment, but earned annual wages well under the federal poverty line. Employment opportunities seemed to be influenced by family advocacy and expectations, schoolbased work experiences, job development services, and work environments." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Masters, Adrian (2014): Statistical discrimination from composition effects in the market for low-skilled workers. In: Labour economics, Jg. 26, H. January, S. 72-80. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2013.12.002

Abstract

"In a random search environment with two racial groups each composed of identical numbers of high and low productivity workers, firms use an imperfect screening device (interviews) to control hiring. If inconclusive interviews lead firms to hire majority workers but not minority workers, then the unemployment pool for majority workers is of higher average quality. This can justify the initial hiring choices. Color-blind hiring always eliminates racial disparities but is not necessarily beneficial; in the USA it would improve welfare with only a brief small increase in white unemployment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Abrassart, Aurélien (2013): Cognitive skills matter: the employment disadvantage of low-educated workers in comparative perspective. In: European Sociological Review, Jg. 29, H. 4, S. 707-719. DOI:10.1093/esr/jcs049

Abstract

"It is now a widely acknowledged fact that the low-educated workers are facing important risks of labour market exclusion in modern economies. However, possessing low levels of educational qualifications leads to very different situations from one country to another, as the cross-national variation in the unemployment rates of these workers attest. While conventional wisdom usually blames welfare states and the resulting rigidity of labour markets for the low employment opportunities of low-educated workers, empirical evidence tends to contradict this predominant view. Using microdata from the International Adult Literacy Survey that was conducted between 1994 and 1998, we examine the sources of the cross-national variation in the employment disadvantage of low-educated workers in 14 industrialized nations. In particular, we test the validity of the conventional theories concerning the supposedly harmful effect of labour market regulation against a new and promising hypothesis on the importance of cognitive skills for the employment opportunities of the low-educated workers. Our findings support the latter and suggest that the greater the cognitive gap between the low-educated workers and those with intermediate education, the lower the chances of being employed for the former relatively to their higher educated counterparts." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Addison, John T., McKinley L. Blackburn & Chad D. Cotti (2013): Minimum wage increases in a recessionary environment. In: Labour economics, Jg. 23, H. August, S. 30-39. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2013.02.004

Abstract

"Do seemingly large minimum-wage increases in an environment of deep recession produce clearer evidence of disemployment than is often observed in the modern minimum wage literature? This paper uses three data sets to examine the employment effects of the most recent increases in the U.S. minimum wage. We focus on two high-risk groups - restaurant-and-bar employees and teenagers - for the years 2005 - 2010. Although the evidence for a general disemployment effect is not uniform, estimates do suggest the presence of a negative minimum wage effect in states hardest hit by the recession." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Boffy-Ramirez, Ernest (2013): Minimum wages, earnings, and migration. In: IZA journal of migration, Jg. 2, S. 1-24. DOI:10.1186/2193-9039-2-17

Abstract

"Does increasing a state's minimum wage induce migration into the state? Previous literature has shown mobility in response to welfare benefit differentials across states, yet few have examined the minimum wage as a cause of mobility. Focusing on low-skilled immigrants, this paper empirically examines the effect of minimum wages on location decisions within the United States. This paper expands upon minimum wage and immigration literatures by demonstrating that the choice of destination is sensitive to minimum wage changes, and that the effects are highly dependent on the number of years an immigrant has resided in the U.S." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Boyd-Swan, Casey, Chris M. Herbst, John Ifcher & Homa Zarghamee (2013): The Earned Income Tax Credit, health, and happiness. (IZA discussion paper 7261), Bonn, 41 S.

Abstract

"This paper contributes to the small but growing literature evaluating the health effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). In particular, we use data from the National Survey of Families and Households to study the impact of the 1990 federal EITC expansion on several outcomes related to mental health and subjective well-being. The identification strategy relies on a difference-in-differences framework to estimate intent-to-treat effects for the post-reform period. Our results suggest that the 1990 EITC reform generated sizeable health benefits for low-skilled mothers. Such women experienced lower depression symptomatology, an increase in self-reported happiness, and improved self-efficacy relative to their childless counterparts. Consistent with previous work, we find that married mothers captured most of the health benefits, with unmarried mothers' health changing very little following the 1990 EITC reform." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Brady, David, Regina S. Baker & Ryan Finnigan (2013): When unionization disappears: state-level unionization and working poverty in the United States. In: American Sociological Review, Jg. 78, H. 5, S. 872-896. DOI:10.1177/0003122413501859

Abstract

"Although the working poor are a much larger population than the unemployed poor, U.S. poverty research devotes much more attention to joblessness than to working poverty. Research that does exist on working poverty concentrates on demographics and economic performance and neglects institutions. Building on literatures on comparative institutions, unionization, and states as polities, we examine the influence of a potentially important labor market institution for working poverty: the level of unionization in a state. Using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) for the United States, we estimate (1) multi-level logit models of poverty among employed households in 2010; and (2) two-way fixed-effects models of working poverty across seven waves of data from 1991 to 2010. Further, we replicate the analyses with the Current Population Survey while controlling for household unionization, and assess unionization's potential influence on selection into employment. Across all models, state-level unionization is robustly significantly negative for working poverty. The effects of unionization are larger than the effects of states' economic performance and social policies. Unionization reduces working poverty for both unionized and non-union households and does not appear to discourage employment. We conclude that U.S. poverty research can advance by devoting greater attention to working poverty, and by incorporating insights from the comparative literature on institutions." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Coomer, Nicole M. & Walter J. Wessels (2013): The effect of the minimum wage on covered teenage employment. In: Journal of labor research, Jg. 34, H. 3, S. 253-280. DOI:10.1007/s12122-013-9160-6

Abstract

"Unlike previous studies on the minimum wage, which focused on its effect on total teenage employment, we examine its effect on covered employment. A covered job was defined to be one paying the minimum wage or more. Using contemporary wages to classify workers this way may inflate the estimated effect of minimum wages on covered employment. To avoid this bias, covered jobs are identified using a logit procedure run over years in which the minimum age was not increased. We find that minimum wages reduced covered employment significantly more than total employment. We also show that covered employment may be overstated in the period following an increase in the minimum wage." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Dorn, David (2013): The growth of low-skill service jobs and the polarization of the US labor market. In: The American economic review, Jg. 103, H. 5, S. 1553-1597. DOI:10.1257/aer.103.5.1553

Abstract

"We offer a unified analysis of the growth of low-skill service occupations between 1980 and 2005 and the concurrent polarization of US employment and wages. We hypothesize that polarization stems from the interaction between consumer preferences, which favor variety over specialization, and the falling cost of automating routine, codifiable job tasks. Applying a spatial equilibrium model, we corroborate four implications of this hypothesis. Local labor markets that specialized in routine tasks differentially adopted information technology, reallocated low-skill labor into service occupations (employment polarization), experienced earnings growth at the tails of the distribution (wage polarization), and received inflows of skilled labor." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Doussard, Marc (2013): Degraded work. The struggle at the bottom of the labor market. University of Minnesota Press 275 S.

Abstract

"Critics on the left and the right typically agree that globalization, the loss of manufacturing jobs, and the expansion of the service sector have led to income inequality and rising numbers of low-paying jobs with poor working conditions. In Degraded Work, Marc Doussard demonstrates that this decline in wages and working conditions is anything but the unavoidable result of competitive economic forces. Rather, he makes the case that service sector and other local-serving employers have boosted profit with innovative practices to exploit workers, demeaning their jobs in new ways - denying safety equipment, fining workers for taking scheduled breaks, requiring unpaid overtime - that go far beyond wage cuts. Doussard asserts that the degradation of service work is a choice rather than an inevitability, and he outlines concrete steps that can be taken to help establish a fairer postindustrial labor market.
Drawing on fieldwork in Chicago, Degraded Work examines changes in two industries in which inferior job quality is assumed to be intrinsic: residential construction and food retail. In both cases, Doussard shows how employers degraded working conditions as part of a successful and intricate strategy to increase profits. Arguing that a growing service sector does not have to mean growing inequality, Doussard proposes creative policy and organizing opportunities that workers and advocates can use to improve job quality despite the overwhelming barriers to national political action." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Gorry, Aspen (2013): Minimum wages and youth unemployment. In: European Economic Review, Jg. 64, H. November, S. 57-75. DOI:10.1016/j.euroecorev.2013.08.004

Abstract

"This paper constructs a labor search model to explore the effects of minimum wages on youth unemployment. To capture the gradual decline in unemployment for young workers as they age, the standard search model is extended so that workers gain experience when employed. Experienced workers have higher average productivity and lower job finding and separation rates that match wage and worker flow data. In this environment, minimum wages can have large effects on unemployment because they interact with a worker's ability to gain job experience. The increase in minimum wages between 2007 and 2009 can account for a 0.8 percentage point increase in the steady state unemployment rate and a 2.8 percentage point increase in unemployment for 15-24 year old workers in the model parameterized to simulate outcomes of high school educated workers. Minimum wages can also help explain the high rates of youth unemployment in France compared to the United States." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Lofstrom, Magnus (2013): Does self-employment increase the economic well-being of low-skilled workers? In: Small business economics, Jg. 40, H. 4, S. 933-952. DOI:10.1007/s11187-011-9402-z

Abstract

"Low-skilled workers do not fare well in today's skill intensive economy and their opportunities continue to diminish. Utilizing data from the survey of income and program participation, this paper provides an analysis of the economic returns to business ownership among low-skilled workers and addresses the essential question of whether self-employment is a good option for low-skilled individuals that policymakers might consider encouraging. The analysis reveals substantial differences in the role of self-employment among low-skilled workers across gender and nativity - women and immigrants are shown to be of particular importance from both the perspectives of trends and policy relevance. We find that, although the returns to low-skilled self-employment among men is higher than among women, the analysis shows that wage/salary employment is a more financially rewarding option for most low-skilled workers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))