This project explores the development of the “union idea” and its role in low wage labor markets in the 21st Century.The "labor question" became a central issue in the early 20th century because its solution seemed essential to the survival of American democracy itself: could a society based...

The Equal Pay Act had a distinct market purpose. Congress made a policy choice to modify the existing compensation market so that employees who perform jobs requiring substantially “equal skill, effort, and responsibility” earn equal wages, regardless of sex. The Act aimed not simply to...

Bio:Chris Robinson studied economics at the London School of Economics and the University of Chicago, and has been a faculty member at the University of Western Ontario since 1977. His research has focused on human capital and wage issues including human capital specificity, labour supply,...

Webcast of "Flexible Work Arrangements and Low-Wage Work," a briefing held on Wednesday, July 8, 2009, and presented by Workplace Flexibility 2010 and the New America Foundation.Panelists presented "the latest research on scheduling challenges faced by low-wage workers, [. . .] common sense...

In 2009, workers and their families across the country felt the impact of serious economic downturn, with unemployment reaching a 26-year high. While recent news suggests things may be improving, we cannot forget that for many low-wage and hourly workers -- who now represent over a quarter of...

This paper presents an ideal legislative model for South Korea to realize gender equality in reconciling work and childcare. The comparative study on the U.S. and German system is the basis for the legislative model. This paper selects the U.S. and German systems as a comparison group because...

Workers at all levels within an organization have the need to manage their work and personal/family responsibilities. Much of the past research on workplace flexibility has focused on managerial or professional positions, and thus, higher-wage jobs and workers with higher incomes. But more...

From the Department of Labor, the best survey for flexibility data comes from the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly survey of 60,000 households that provides data on the labor force, employment, unemployment, and persons not in the labor force.The benefit of the CPS is that...

International labor standards are among the oldest international standards pertaining to the conduct of private, as well as public, economic actors. Far from being settled, however, nearly every aspect of the current international labor standards regime is in flux: the role of labor standards in...

The Supreme Court decision finds an employer privileged not to bargain with the union over a decision to eliminate a portion of operations (by not renewing a contract with a particular customer), undertaken entirely for economic reasons turning not at all on labor costs, and without animus to...