This article provides empirical evidence on the relation between institutional characteristics of labour markets that frame allocation processes, and optimal skill matching at the individual level. We investigate the extent to which skill-based job-worker matches are associated with employment protection legislation (EPL), unemployment benefits,…

"The State of Working Pennsylvania 2022" centered on the continued recovery from the COVID-19 recession, highlighting that Pennsylvania was at a policy crossroads: would political leaders embrace policies to strengthen the individual and collective worker power evident a year ago? Or would austerity and anti-worker policies after the…

When the COVID-19 pandemic plunged the economy back into recession in early 2020, it laid bare a fragile and profoundly inequitable labor market. The economic expansion that reigned from 2009 through 2019 brought historically low unemployment and inflation but failed to reduce income inequality or arrest the decline in the number of high-quality,…

This article explores the efficacy and cost effectiveness of New Labour's skills-based policies to help low paid workers adjust to the pressures generated by globalisation, of which the leading example was Train to Gain (T2G). It also analyses the more general issue of how, why and under what circumstances education, training and skills can help…

Enacted in 2014, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) was designed to increase collaboration among workforce systems at the federal, state, and local levels to integrate the array of programs and services available to job seekers and businesses through American Job Centers (AJCs). WIOA requires the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to…

The context of this study was to examine factors contributing to significant workforce shortages in building trades in the United States. As it is, recruitment of qualified skilled trades workers is becoming increasingly difficult due to lack of a pipeline of prospective workers, and training programs. The study assumed a theoretical inquiry…

A significant workforce shortage exists in most skilled trades areas in the U.S., but this is especially true in building and construction trades. The number of jobs in the construction industry is expected to grow by almost 20% between 2008 to 2018, while only growing by 11% for all other industries. With the prospect of significant shortages in…

There are now nearly four million children born in the United States who have undocumented immigrant parents. In the current debates around immigration reform, policymakers often view immigrants as an economic or labor market problem to be solved, but the issue has a very real human dimension. Immigrant parents without legal status are raising…

Through the in-depth analysis of the features of Huabei rural industrialization, the unique factory regime in Baigou, Hebei, and the resulting special workers, this paper reveals two dilemmas the migrant workers in Baigou and larger Hubei area face: Because of the interpersonal network of labor market, personalized trade, familial labor process,…

Policies to regulate and support labor markets in the United States have mainly been an initiative of the federal government. Historically, states and localities were reluctant to act independently to build up worker rights and protections for fear of competitively disadvantaging resident industries with added costs. Federal constitutional…

Unemployment compensation in the United States is provided through a federal-state system of unemployment insurance (UI). UI provides temporary partial wage replacement to active job seekers who are involuntarily out of work. For older workers, UI is an important source of income security and a potential influence on work incentives. For example,…

The labor market effects of employment protection were examined in a study of Germany's employment protection regulations and their impact on employment practices and patterns. The following topics were considered: (1) the question of whether Germany's labor market problems are a result of regulations; (2) employment security as a subject of labor…

In 1982 plant closings in the United States affected approximately 1 percent of the country's manufacturing facilities and 1 percent of its manufacturing labor force. Included among the reasons cited for plant closings were low productivity, high wages, and inflexible work rules. Given the nature of the reasons for plant closings and the magnitude…

The General Accounting Office (GAO) examined progress in meeting work-focused goals of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The following issues were considered: (1) states' progress in implementing TANF; (2) the status of families who have left welfare; (3) the characteristics of adults currently receiving TANF; (4) states'…

This book discusses the evolution of workfare policies in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Chapter 1 defines the term "workfare" and examines the concepts of transnationalizing workfare and workfarist labor regulation. Chapter 2 establishes workfare's theoretical context and explores the relationship between welfare…