What are the prospects for improving the lot of US workers in the 21st century? This introduction to the topic examines the most important US labor market trends of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, considers their causes and likely future trends; and then explores policies that might...

In this paper I review what we have learned about living wage laws and their impacts on the wages, employment and poverty rates of low-wage workers. I review the characteristics of these laws and where they have been implemented to date, and what economic theory tells us about their likely...