The authors test for threat and crowding effects of unions on non-union wages at the industry and city levels, using panel data on the percent organized and nonunion industry and city wage differentials constructed from Current Population Surveys over the period 1973-89. At the industry level,...

Federal law requires that the U.S. Postal Service pay wages comparable to those paid in the private sector. The authors argue that the appropriate test of that concept is a comparison of the wages paid to all comparably skilled workers, not only to white male workers in the private sector. By...

This paper first develops a labor supply forecast for the U.S. labor market in the 1980s, focusing on the effects of the low fertility rates of recent years, and then compares that forecast with the BLS projection of employment demand in the next decade. The author attempts to isolate those...

Using Current Population Survey data for the years 1973-86, this study tests the hypothesis that the steep decline of union employment shares since 1973 is related to increases in union wages relative to nonunion wages. The authors show that although the aggregate union wage premium has changed...

This paper examines the consequences of initial periods of "churning" or "mobility" in the labor market, to help assess whether faster transitions to stable employment relationships-as envisioned by advocates of school-to-work programs-would be likely to lead to better adult labor market...

The authors revisit the long-running minimum wageÒemployment debate to assess new studies claiming that estimates produced by the panel data approach commonly used in recent minimum wage research are flawed by that approach's failure to account for spatial heterogeneity. The new studies use...

The authors estimate the effects of the interactions between the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and minimum wages on labor market outcomes. They use information on policy variation from the Department of Labor's Monthly Labor Review, reports published by the Center on Budget and Policy...

Using panel data on state minimum wage laws and economic conditions for the years 1973-89, the authors reevaluate existing evidence on the effects of a minimum wage on employment. Their estimates indicate that a 10% increase in the minimum wage causes a decline of 1-2% in employment among...

The authors use data from a survey of employers to investigate how Affirmative Action in recruiting and hiring influences hiring practices, personnel policies, and ultimately employment outcomes. They find that Affirmative Action increases the number of recruitment and screening practices used...

Living wage laws are touted as anti-poverty measures. Yet they apply to only a small fraction of workers, most commonly covering only employers with city contracts. The apparent contradiction between broad anti-poverty goals and narrow coverage suggests that goals other than poverty reduction...