The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the visibility of economic inequality and the inadequacy of current minimum wage laws in the United States. Changes in the minimum wage, a living wage, or just employment practices may be compelled by law or voluntarily enacted by employers. A literature search failed to yield a concise and practical tool to…

What is the impact of the minimum wage on the college wage premium? I show that job-ladder models imply that the effect should be small on impact--raising only the wages of workers bound by the minimum wage--and grow over time as workers slowly move up the job ladder. Guided by my theory, I present evidence that these dynamic effects are present…

Financial literacy is ideally suited to be integrated into mathematics courses and taught in an interdisciplinary manner. Students learn best and are motivated when tackling real-world meaningful questions. This article shares how elementary mathematics was applied to better understand the debate about raising the minimum wage and the United…

Community colleges have been hailed as a "cornerstone of American higher education", and act as an important access point to post-secondary education for a wide range of students, particularly socioeconomically disadvantaged students and underrepresented minorities. However, community colleges have also been criticized for poor…

According to a 2019 Pew Research Center survey, 67% of Americans support raising the federal minimum hourly wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour, with 41% strongly supporting the increase. Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour has been the battle cry for many members of Congress, while others have opposed or expressed concern regarding, such…

Secondary analysis of the UK's 2011/12 Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education survey reveals that many existing assumptions about graduate internships are questionable. This article proposes a reliable way of estimating the true extent of internships including those reported as 'voluntary' jobs: hidden internships. In doing so the article…

This is the eighth year that CUPA-HR has conducted the CUPA-HR Staff in Higher Education Survey, which collects data on primarily non-exempt staff. The survey collects the following data for all higher ed staff: salary, sex, race/ethnicity, age, and years in position. This marks a special year for data collection and reporting for all CUPA-HR…

Internships are the new rung on the professional ladder. For the most sought after professions especially, they are increasingly seen as a requirement before a young person is offered their first job. However, too often internships are unpaid and not openly advertised. For young people who cannot afford to work for free, and for those who do not…

This brief analyzes the latest higher education data and government wage statistics to examine the number of unpaid graduate interns in the United Kingdom and the cost to an individual of doing an unpaid internship. It also includes newly published Ipsos Mori polling on attitudes to unpaid internships. Key findings in this brief include: (1) 31%…

How do changes in minimum wages affect community college enrollment and employment? In particular, among adults without associate's or bachelor's degrees who may earn near the minimum wage, do endowment effects of a higher minimum wage encourage school attendance? Among adults without associate's or bachelor's degrees who may earn near the minimum…

In a knowledge market, the knowledge, skills and expertise needed for the economic and sociopolitical transformation of a nation and its citizens are transacted at different prices. Inequitable access to this market poses a serious threat to the economic welfare of the country and its citizens. The authors assess the extent of this threat with…

The concept of serving an apprenticeship as a means of training skilled workers dates to the Middle Ages. Apprenticeships in the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance were typically seven years in duration, in order to ensure that the masters recouped their investment and that the apprentice was given sufficient time to become skilled and not…

Much ink has been spilled debating the role of the intellectual. William Tierney's article "Beyond the Ivory Tower: The Role of the Intellectual in Eliminating Poverty" in the August/September 2013 issue of "Educational Researcher" adds to this literature. In his article, Tierney presents recommendations to the education…

Two key issues thrown up by the 1999 introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) in the United Kingdom are its likely impact on employers' training practices in low paying sectors of the economy and the implications for skills. Based on a study of the hospitality industry, this article assesses the limited significance of the differential,…

This Legislative Report Card assesses how California's governor and Legislature have handled bills it says affected racial inequities--or might have if they had been signed into law. The report examines an eclectic collection of bills that addressed the minimum wage, the creation of a single-payer health care system and other issues in education,…