Wages, Labor Standards, and Job Quality

Every American who wants to work should be able to get a good paying job. When stable employment is available to all, it improves the welfare of the country not only because more people are working, but because at full employment, employers have to compete for personnel, raising wages for workers more broadly. Moreover, workers of color and those without four-year college degrees—who have substantially higher unemployment—gain the most when the economy approaches genuine full employment. To make employers genuinely value their low- and middle-wage workers—no matter where they live or what credentials they hold—lawmakers must pursue policies that make more jobs available, and reduce barriers to employment.

EARN groups develop and advocate for policies that will create good jobs, such as investments in infrastructure and responsible economic development programs, tailoring programs target underserved communities and areas of high unemployment. They also work to reduce barriers to employment by supporting workforce development programs with good labor standards, sector partnerships, and policies such as ban-the-box that help formerly incarcerated individuals rejoin the workforce. Lastly, EARN groups’ work to strengthen state unemployment insurance programs, so that unemployed workers have support when looking for a new job.

The vast majority of American households’ income comes from what workers receive in their paychecks – which is why wages are so important. Unfortunately, wages for most workers grew exceptionally slowly between 1979 and 2012, despite productivity—which essentially measures the economy’s potential for providing rising living standards for all—rising 64 percent. In other words, most Americans, even those with college degrees, have only been treading water—despite working more productively (and being better educated) than ever.

EARN groups provide key research and policy analysis describing how these trends have played out at the state and local levels, and what policymakers can do about it.

Job Training and Apprenticeships

Meaningful training that leads to improved skills and higher pay costs money. Read More.

Enforcement

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Wage Theft

Wage theft, the practice of employers failing to pay workers the full wages to which they are legally entitled, is a widespread and deep-rooted problem that directly harms millions of U.S. workers each year. Read More.

Minimum Wage

The minimum wage is a critical labor standard meant to ensure a fair wage for even the lowest paid workers. EARN groups have provided research and policy guidance for minimum wage laws passed in of states, cities, and counties across the country. Read more.

Overtime

Overtime pay rules ensure that most workers who put in more than 40 hours a week get paid 1.5 times their regular pay for the extra hours they work. Almost all hourly workers are automatically eligible for overtime pay, but salaried workers are only automatically eligible for overtime pay if they make below a certain salary threshold, and that threshold has been so eroded by inflation that dramatically fewer workers qualify today than they did in 1975. Read More.

Worker Misclassification

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Paid Sick, Family, and Medical Leave

Paid family leave and paid sick leave enable workers to take time off for the arrival of a child, or a serious health condition affecting themselves or a relative, without forcing them to choose between work and family.

There is no federal law that ensures all workers are able to earn paid sick days in the United States. EARN groups are working to enact state and local laws to ensure workers can take time off when they are sick. Read more.

Unemployment Insurance

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Work Hours and Fair Scheduling

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Publications

We’re in This Together: African-American and Immigrant Communities Share Challenges, Policy Solutions

Immigrants and immigrant communities face many of the same challenges as African-Americans and African-American communities, and there are critical policy solutions that
would make a big difference to both. While most immigrants living in Virginia are people of color, most people of color in Virginia – including most Hispanic and/or Latino Virginians – are not immigrants. Most significant, of course, is Virginia’s African-American community. There are almost 1.5 million Black and/or African-American Virginians who are U.S. born. That’s 18 percent of Virginia’s total population. Most African-American Virginians are descendents of people who were brought to the United States in chains and faced generations of enslavement, legal segregation, and continued discrimination – a far different history than that of most immigrant Virginians. And yet, there are a number of areas where African-American Virginians and immigrant Virginians face similar challenges today. By identifying those challenges and working together for solutions that benefit everyone, Virginia can be made a better place for all.

Pathways to Economic Security: Sustaining the Impact of Workforce Development Programs

  • May 18, 2016
  • Staff Report

The number of Mississippi-based middle-skill jobs—those that require some training or education beyond high school but not a four-year degree—has grown in recent years and continues to grow. These skilled positions offer better benefits and pay opportunities for Mississippi workers in a state where 44 percent of working families earn incomes of less than $47,100 per year for a family of four. For these families, affording even basic necessities can be a struggle, particularly for households of color and female-led households who typically earn even less.

Increasing the workforce competitiveness of Mississippi’s working poor and placing them on pathways to middle-skill employment can change families’ economic situations for the better. Yet for many, these jobs, salaries, and benefits remain out of reach due to lack of basic education and technical skills necessary to be competitive job applicants and meet employer training requirements.

Workforce development programs, like Mississippi Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (MI-BEST), can bridge the gap. Skills training programs, like MI-BEST, provide opportunity to the working poor and serve as a bridge between potential employees and employers, providing adults with the skills and experience necessary to secure the best potential outcomes for their careers and futures.

As labor markets continue to rebound from the recession, the need for workforce training will grow as the need for middle-skill workers grows. However, matching the demand for workforce training to fill the middle-skills gap will require investments in programs like MI-BEST. Implementing and braiding funding sources to sustain workforce training will help increase quality employment opportunities for the working poor and build a strong Mississippi economy.

The State of Working New Hampshire

In its present state, the New Hampshire economy offers a number of encouraging signs. Both employment – the total number of people working in the Granite State – and economic output – the value of the goods and services those individuals produce – have been on the rise over the past several years. At the same time, the quality of New Hampshire’s workforce remains high, as its level of educational attainment continues to exceed that in most states, while the extent of severe economic hardship, as expressed by the state’s poverty rate, is still lower here than anywhere else.

Yet, the state of working New Hampshire – the circumstances faced by many individual workers and their families – is somewhat less favorable. As this Issue Brief details, New Hampshire’s workforce is aging in character and all but stagnating in size. Moreover, recent years have seen a continuation of a longer-term shift in the types of jobs available in the Granite State, with service sector employment – and the comparatively lower wages associated with it – becoming more prominent. Further, the income for the typical New Hampshire household, as well as hourly wages for much of the Granite State workforce, have yet to recover ground lost since the Great Recession. In fact, the median hourly wage in New Hampshire has dropped more sharply than nearly anywhere else over the last eight years.