CEO Library

The minimum wage is one of the most researched areas in labor economics with a vast body of literature that dates back nearly seventy years (Brown 1999). Research proliferated as variation in state minimum wage policies gained steam over the last several decades. However, research, debate and policy has largely ignored the lesser known subminimum wage received by tipped workers (also referred to as the tipped or cash wage). That there are two federal wage floors is unknown to many and the existence of the federal subminimum wage—at $2.13 since 1991—often comes as a bit of a surprise.

In the paper, the researcher leverages variation in response to a statewide full-day kindergarten policy to explore the effects of full-day kindergarten expansions on student academic performance—as measured by school-level standardized test scores—in first and third grade and on women’s labor force participation, measured by county-level employment statistics.

In the paper, researchers exploit data from the 1986–87 Washington Alternative Work Search experiment (merged with nine years of follow-up administrative wage records) to estimate the causal effects of eliminating the unemployment insurance (UI) work search requirement (WSR) on duration of non-employment, tenure with first post-claim employer, number of post-claim employers, long-term earnings, employment, and hours worked. For UI claimants as a whole, they find that eliminating the WSR had little influence, either positive or negative, on long-term post-claim outcomes.

The underreporting of occupational injuries and illnesses to worker protection agencies has become a topic of great concern to researchers and policymakers. Although numerous studies have quantified the prevalence of the phenomenon, which specific types of injuries and establishments are most susceptible to underreporting is poorly understood. As a consequence, regulators have very little capacity to “red flag” employers that are likely to underreport the most injuries. The paper begins to fill this gap in existing literature in four interrelated ways.

The empirical literature on union effects on occupational safety and health within firms struggles with two primary obstacles to credibly estimating the effect of unionization on workplace safety. First, unionized employees may be more likely to report occupational risks to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), inducing greater rates of inspection and citation of unionized firms for violations than occurs in otherwise similar nonunion firms. This is a kind of measurement error in commonly-used workplace safety outcomes that is positively correlated with unionization.

In the paper, researchers describe how they test for early labor market effects in terms of eased job-lock from the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion of January 2014 that targeted non-elderly low-income adults. An expansion of health insurance options not tied to employment could increase job turnover among newly eligible low-income populations, enabling them to move to preferred jobs (measured here as higher wage jobs).

The report describes a study that uses administrative data from the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) on reviews of federal contractors that closed between fiscal years 2003 and 2012 to examine trends in, and factors associated with, violations and re-violations of equal employment opportunity laws and the effectiveness of remedies and press releases to deter re-violations.

The brief presents high-level findings from the Using Administrative Data to Address Federal Contractor Violations of Equal Employment Opportunity Laws Final Report.

Under a contract funded through the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), Eastern Research Group (ERG) and its subcontractor the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago (NORC), conducted a study to examine the level of accuracy and completeness of injury/illness reporting in the mining industry and identify feasible improvement approaches that Mine Safety Health Administration (MSHA) could implement. MSHA considers accurate data on injuries and illnesses critical to the Agency’s core mission of worker protection.

Appendix A to the Evaluation of Accuracy and Completeness of Nonfatal Injury and Illness Reporting in the Mining Industry Final Report: Selection of Kentucky Case Records for Matching.

Appendix B to the Evaluation of Accuracy and Completeness of Nonfatal Injury and Illness Reporting in the Mining Industry Final Report: Kentucky WC-Mine Safety Health Administration (MSHA) Data Crosswalk for Body Part Injured.

Appendix C to the Evaluation of Accuracy and Completeness of Nonfatal Injury and Illness Reporting in the Mining Industry Final Report: Selection of California Case Records for Matching.

Appendix D to the Evaluation of Accuracy and Completeness of Nonfatal Injury and Illness Reporting in the Mining Industry Final Report: California Industry Names and Descriptions.

Appendix E to the Evaluation of Accuracy and Completeness of Nonfatal Injury and Illness Reporting in the Mining Industry Final Report: California WC-Mine Safety Health Administration (MSHA) Data Crosswalk for Body Part Injured

Appendix F to the Evaluation of Accuracy and Completeness of Nonfatal Injury and Illness Reporting in the Mining Industry Final Report: Sample Size Calculation for Random Audits

Appendix G to the Evaluation of Accuracy and Completeness of Nonfatal Injury and Illness Reporting in the Mining Industry Final Report: Non-linear Regression Results for Targeting Factors.

The report describes a study where researchers examine the impact of job displacement on wealth holdings of older workers. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, they measure the impact of job loss on the total wealth and its subcomponents. They find that a typical worker experiences a persistent reduction in his/her wealth balances at a rate of 8 percent six or more years post job loss. Wealth shocks of this magnitude during the years leading up to retirement may jeopardize wealth adequacy during retirement.

In 2013, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) and funded Mathematica Policy Research to conduct the study Addressing Return-to-Work Issues in the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act with Administrative Data under the Administrative Data Research and Analysis portfolio of studies.

In 2013, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and funded Mathematica Policy Research to create Using Administrative Data to Address Federal Contractor Violations of Equal Employment Opportunity Laws under the Administrative Data Research and Analysis portfolio of studies.

The report describes the characteristics, service receipt, and short-term labor market outcomes of female customers leaving the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Adult and Dislocated Worker programs in 2009. Researchers also assess gender differences in each of these domains and how service receipt and outcomes varied with local area characteristics. They found that females were more likely than males to face employment barriers before enrolling in WIA programs.

Video describing the high-level findings of the How Are Women Served by the WIA Adult and Dislocated Worker Programs? Findings from Administrative Data Final Report.

Brief describing the high-level findings of the How Are Women Served by the WIA Adult and Dislocated Worker Programs? Findings from Administrative Data Final Report.

The goal of the report is to place the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act of 2008 (EUC08) program (together with its many additions and amendments) into a theoretical and historical context in order to highlight the similarities and differences among similar programs.