Despite three decades of scholarship on economic restructuring in the United States, employers' violations of minimum wage, overtime and other workplace laws remain understudied. This article begins to fill the gap by presenting evidence from a large-scale, original worker survey that draws on recent advances in sampling methodology to reach…

In the coming years, California will need a growing supply of educated workers to meet the demands of a dynamic state economy, and this supply will must come from populations that have historically been underrepresented in higher education. The higher education sector will need strong state policy leadership focused on the long-term success of the…

State appropriations for higher education are highly cyclical, with downturns in funding during difficult financial times followed by increases in funding when state finances improve. This policy brief shares recent research about whether the duration of recoveries from cuts in appropriations for higher education has changed over time and which…

During the interwar period, California's labor-intensive agriculture transitioned from reliance on diverse immigrants to preference for Mexicans. Political movements to restrict immigration, the Great Depression, and labor unrest compelled farm employers to search for labor that could be used flexibly and deported easily. To achieve this…

The tension at the heart of pension politics is the incentive to satisfy today's claimants in the here and now at the expense of long-term concerns. Teacher pensions, in particular, pose two challenges. The first is that political incentives invite irresponsible fiscal stewardship, as public officials make outsized short-term commitments to…

The economic outlook may be sour for Wall Street's investment banks and for homeowners who took out mortgages they could not really afford, but campus planners and architects say that--so far, at least--colleges' construction plans are largely unaffected by the downturn. Some colleges, in fact, are trying to speed up projects to limit the damage…

Public education in America continues to be viewed as being worthy of major investments to improve the county's economic position in the world. But quality education for many Americans is still not within their reach. Fifty years after the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in "Brown v. Board of Education" eliminating legal segregation of…

Briefly explores the impact on library services of Proposition 13 and similar measures and suggests that the consequent proposals to charge user fees may threaten the entire concept of the free public library. (Author)

Documenting the impact of technological advancements upon the American farmer, this article describes a rural California county where the small farmers have had to sell or lease their land to larger enterprises who then recruit Mexican American farm workers to replace the labor once provided by the small farmer. (JC)

The East Los Angeles Community Union (TELACU) emphasizes development of the community's potential by making possible the opportunity for community ownership of businesses located in East Los Angeles. (NQ)

Describes 1984-88 employment and wage trends among California hired farmworkers, following immigration reforms. Describes farm employment trends by commodity and region. Discusses emergence of two-tiered farm labor market. Large farms tended to hire workers directly. More contractors shared expanding labor-contractor market. Suggests implications…

Rapid and surprising changes in technology commercialization have made predicting employment in California much more difficult in recent years. Planning in all areas in which governmental services are provided has been hurt as a result. To provide new data for planning, the opinions of California industrial experts (primarily venture capitalists)…

Data for this study of Japanese American intermarriage in Denver (Colorado) from 1910-11 to 1980-81 were collected from marriage records in the Office of the Clerk and Recorder for the City and County of Denver. In order to compare intermarriage trends with available census figures (mostly on population size and sex composition), records were…

To increase understanding of the educational reform movement, the Center for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) embarked on a five-year study of the implementation and effects of state education reforms in six states (Arizona, California, Florida, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania) with diverse reform approaches. This article presents the center's…

Inspired by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), community colleges throughout the Southwest (Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas) are developing curricula catering to the growing number of students seeking careers linked to hemispheric trade. The rush for cross-border collaboration (exchange programs, sabbaticals, cultural tours,…