Resource Library

The literature review reviews what is known about sector-based training strategies to date, and why they have become so popular with policymakers. It also reviews several major challenges to expanding them while trying to maintain their quality. These challenges include the fact that only workers with strong basic skills and employability are likely to benefit from these strategies; the likely tradeoffs between short- and long-term impacts and between general and more specific training; the difficulties of replicating and scaling the best models; and uncertain future labor demand.

The structure and organization of work are continually changing. Changes may be cyclical, reflecting economic and social conditions, including business cycles and labor market structures. Other changes, often resulting from new technologies, may be unidirectional. Whether or not the changes are temporary or permanent, employment arrangements affect worker exposures to workplace hazards and their ability to address them.

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.

Family leave provides an employee with a period of time off work to care for a newborn or a sick child, spouse, or parent. The 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires that employers provide 12 weeks of family leave to qualifying workers with a newborn or a sick child, spouse, or parent, but that leave is unpaid.

The paper describes a study that explores the ways in which the public workforce system is collaborating with its community college partners to address the training needs of America’s workforce. It also examines how collaborations between One‐Stop Career Centers (One‐Stops) and community colleges can be enhanced to benefit workers, employers, and society at large. Findings are based on what was learned from 15 site visits to pairs of One‐Stops and community colleges. Throughout the report “site” refers to a One‐Stop/ community college pair.

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.