Gordon Berlin discusses the nation's long struggle to reduce poverty in families with children, and proposes a counterintuitive solution--rewarding the work of individuals. He notes that policymakers' difficulty in reducing family poverty since 1973 is attributable to two intertwined problems--falling wages among low-skilled workers and the…

THE STUDY DEMONSTRATED THAT THE RATIO OF UNSKILLED TO SKILLED EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT VARIES FROM THE PEAK TO THE TROUGH OF THE BUSINESS CYCLE. DATA PRIMARILY FROM "EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS AND MONTHLY REPORT ON THE LABOR FORCE," MARCH 1967 WERE USED IN RELATING THE ANNUAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATES FOR CRAFTSMEN AND LABORERS TO BUSINESS CYCLE PEAKS…

When chronicling how less-skilled workers have fared in the U.S. since the late 1970's, existing literature often cites their falling wages and declining participation in the labor force. Most research describing these trends, however, focuses primarily on men, failing to account for the fact that less-skilled women's real wages have not fallen,…

This short profile of the trends in the employment of women in skilled trades and other manual occupations during the 5-year period between 1983 and 1988 shows that the number of women in these occupations rose only modestly. Three tables chart the total numbers of persons employed in the trades by sex for the years 1983 and 1988; persons employed…

A survey of 379 Elkhart County, Indiana, employers was conducted to determine the local labor force situation. Replies received from 141 employers were analyzed, with the following findings reported: (1) more than 520 job openings existed for unskilled, entry-level jobs, but employers were having trouble filling them because candidates were poorly…

The document is based on a premise that mid-twentieth century experience with income distribution cannot be adequately understood without a better knowledge of the long-term macroeconomic forces that have endogenously determined the wage structure. The secular performance of the price of skills and the occupational wage structure are important to…

Although earnings generally increased in rural areas in the 1990s, Hispanic population growth led to lower wages for at least one segment of the rural population--workers with a high school degree (skilled workers), particularly men in this skill group. Using data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Current Population Survey, this report…

In view of German reunification, the 1992-94 recession, and ongoing demographic, technological, organizational, and social changes, alternative projections of labor market and employment structures provide policy makers with needed information. The Institut fur Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB) structural labor projection (1989) forecasted…

On every hand one hears youth asking: "Where can we find work?" Many young people of this generation have never had a steady job, have never experienced the pleasure that comes from contributing their share toward satisfying human needs. Some of them have spent several years in preparing themselves for definite kinds of work, but cannot now find…

The Census of Population provides data on the structure of employment by occupation and industry for Ireland that are supplemented by the Labor Force Survey (LFS), which collects information on employment by occupation and industry. Expected strong growth in the Irish economy from 1993-98 should lead to a significant increase in employment. This…

The impact of hiring temporary workers during the tight labor markets of the 1990s was examined through case studies of six hospitals and five automobile plants. The hospitals varied in size from 450 to 6,000 employees. The auto suppliers included unionized and nonunionized small and large companies. The case studies included extensive interviews…

This paper reviews evidence from industry-specific and case studies that shed light on the extent to which computers and automation eliminate jobs, raise job skill requirements, and, consequently, contribute to increased wage inequality between less- and more skilled workers. This paper complements a previous review of large-scale econometric…

This paper examines trends in occupational mismatch in the metal, building, vehicle, and electrical trades and questions whether the process of award restructuring that began in the late 1980s has created incentives for unskilled blue collar workers to pursue skill-based career paths in the trades. Chapter 1 discusses the paper's aim and history…

Surveys by the Institut fur Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB) of German firms' job openings have been combined with job registry data from the Bundesanstalt fur Arbeit on an annual basis since 1989 in order to determine the scope and structure of the aggregate national supply of job openings. The surveys also indicated problems encountered…