Policy levers to increase jobs and increase income from work after the Great Recession

Abstract

The depth of the Great Recession, the slow recovery of job creation, the downward trend in labor force participation, high long-term unemployment, stagnant or declining wages for low-to-medium skill jobs owing to adverse labor demand shifts, and a greater rebound in low-wage than mid-or higher-wage jobs raised concerns that the normal business cycle dynamics of recovery from the recession will be insufficient to offset the diminished labor market prospects of many workers. These concerns have spurred serious consideration of policies to encourage job creation and higher income from work beyond the more immediate countercyclical policies that were adopted in response to the Great Recession. Among the policies generating continuing or renewed interest are hiring credits, higher (sometimes much higher) minimum wages, and a more substantial earned income tax credit (EITC) for childless individuals. This paper discusses these policy options, what we know about their likely effects and trade-offs, and what the unanswered questions are; the focus is on US evidence.JEL codes: J2, J3, J6

Working poor and working nonpoor cancer survivors: Work‐related and employment disparities

“…Differences in access to voluntary employer‐sponsored benefits (e.g., health insurance, time off, and adapted work schedules) between working poor and working nonpoor cancer survivors in this study, though consistent with trends in the general US labor force, lend support to the idea that without access to paid time off, for example, working poor cancer survivors may make employment decisions that influence economic stability, placing greater value on financial security than cancer treatment. Economic stability could be threatened because without protected time off, working poor survivors could lose their job or an opportunity for a promotion or annual raise …”

Minimum Wages and the Distribution of Family Incomes

“…The implied elasticities in Neumark (2016) for 21-44 year old single women with kids range between -0.14 and -0.30 depending on specification. These estimates are broadly similar to what I find, though I note the imprecision in both sets of estimates.…”

“…As I discuss in Online Appendix A, a number of researchers have studied the impact of minimum wages on children and single mothers (e.g., Morgan and Kickham 2001, DeFina 2008, Gundersen and Ziliak 2004. Several studies have also considered younger adults, or adults with limited education; these include Neumark (2016), Addison and Blackburn (1999), and Sabia and Nielsen (2015). Besides estimating the effect of minimum wages on the incomes of the non-elderly population overall, I also show key results by demographic groups similar to those that have been studied in the literature.…”

“…For the original group studied in Neumark and Wascher (2011) considered-21-44 year old family heads or individuals-his results suggest a poverty rate elasticity of -0.22 without state-trends, and -0.35 with trends. For a group constituting the majority of non-elderly adults, the evidence from Neumark (2016) suggests that minimum wages have a moderate-sized impact in reducing poverty and extreme poverty. When he adds older individuals (but not children), i.e., those 21 or older, the estimates are -0.15 and -0.11, respectively.…”

UQ eSpace

“…It has been noted that a large number of minimum wage workers are teenagers from well-off families, or part-time workers in a dual-income couple(Loprest, Acs, Ratcliffe, & Vinopal, 2009;MaCurdy, 2015;Neumark, 2016).…”