Using a specially constructed panel data set on state minimum wage laws and labor market conditions, Neumark and Wascher (1992) presented evidence that countered the claim that minimum wages could be raised with no cost to employment. They concluded that estimates indicating that minimum wages reduced employment on the order of 1-2 percent for a…

The relationship between wage differentiation and long-term unemployment was examined in a study that considered data regarding long-term unemployment and minimum wages in the United States, Japan, and 10 member nations of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Data regarding wages and unemployment in the 11 countries were…

This booklet is designed to help public and private community service organizations understand the applicability of wage and hour laws to volunteers used in their activities. It considers various legal interpretations of the differences between "volunteers" and "employees," and reviews the provisions of the federal Fair Labor…

This paper outlines the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (sometimes referred to as the Wage-Hour Law) that establishes a minimum wage, subminimum wage, training wage overtime pay, and recordkeeping requirements. The following topics are addressed: (1) covered employment; (2) exemptions; (3) hours worked; (4) board, lodging, and other…

At this hearing questions of unemployment compensation, job training, minimum wage, and statistics gathering of the Bureau of Labor Statistics were considered. Points made included the following: while minorities are overrepresented among the poor, most poor people are white; most poor people are also women, possibly because they have less access…

Women earn only 64 cents for every dollar earned by men. Five and a half million women number among the "working poor." The following are suggested for change: (1) raise the minimum wage; (2) institute gender- and race-blind pay scales; (3) establish child care centers; and (4) enforce anti-discrimination laws. (PS)

Differences in the level of total compensation paid to individuals--known as "compensating differences"--reflect the market valuation of services offered, skills involved in delivery of services, and difficulty in acquiring those skills. Differences in the composition of the compensation package reflect the needs and circumstances of the…

This compendium provides standardized data on child care supply and requests for care in California. It provides county and statewide information based on responses from more than 38,000 child care providers and about 45,000 requests for child care, including: (1) key demographic statistics; (2) county population; (3) children in poverty; (4)…

Most economists agree that the difficulties of targeting minimum wage increases to low-income families make such increases ineffective tools for reducing poverty. This paper provides estimates of the impact of minimum wage increases on the poverty gap and the number of poor families, and shows which factors are barriers to decreasing poverty…

This booklet is a guide to the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (also known as the Wage-Hour Law) which apply to minors employed in agriculture. The content is as follows: coverage of the child labor provisions regarding agricultural employment, minimum age standards for employment in agriculture, school hours and employment in…

"Strategies for Closing the Poverty Gap" by Gertrude Goldberg and Carol Lopate, which makes up the contents of this issue of the IRCD Bulletin, critically reviews income maintenance schemes, social insurance and public assistance programs, family allowances, the negative income tax, and full employment proposals. Of these plans to end poverty the…

With the possible exception of No Child Left Behind, no federal law has posed a greater compliance challenge to public school districts in the past ten years than the Fair Labor Standards Act. Unfamiliarity with the Act and its application in the school environment has resulted in millions of dollars in payment of settlements to school district…

The desirability of raising the minimum wage long revolved around just one question: the effect of higher minimum wages on the overall level of employment. An even more critical effect of the minimum wage rests on the composition of employment--who gets the minimum wage job. An examination of employment in eating and drinking establishments…

The consequences of indexing the minimum wage to average wages in the U.S. economy were analyzed. The study data were drawn from the 1974-1978 May Current Population Survey (CPS) and the 180 monthly CPS Outgoing Rotation Group files for 1979-1993 (approximate annual sample sizes of 40,000 and 180,000, respectively). The effects of indexing on the…

A study described the effects of minimum wages on teenagers by using individual-level panel data on school and work transitions of teenagers. Panel data from 1979-92 measuring transitions among alternative employment and enrollment activities of teenagers were obtained from matched Current Population Surveys data sets. Findings indicated that…