What is income inequality? How is it measured? Is the middle class really declining? How does it relate to poverty? How long has inequality been rising in the US? Have there been other periods in history when income differences were as large as they are today? What are the causes of growing income and wage inequality? The author addresses these and other conceptual issues in eight carefully reasoned and clearly presented chapters. Concluding with an analysis and comparison of trends in wage inequality in other developed countries, he asks the final speculative question: How much more growth...

Analyzes the current labour market in the US and concludes that social policy must change to cope with the realities of the new economy. More and better jobs is the underlying theme of this text. It presents an agenda of lifelong learning and recommends specific government educational policies.

An in-depth view of the world of low-wage women workers, this expert presentation by authors actively involved in the field provides a realistic picture of the women and the issues as well as suggested strategies and innovations. The book covers a wide range of topics, including getting and keeping a job, struggling to balance the demands of work and family, health care, child care, and unemployment. It is set in the context of both welfare reform and the low-wage labor market and incorporates both self-employment and micro-business enterprise.

Key players in organized labour in the USA and abroad are busy modernizing their communications and making creative and effective use of computers and other technology. The author of this book argues that the road to CyberUnion has begun and that those unions are ensuring a future strength.

The first book to provide a comprehensive examination of nonunion industrial relations -- its definition and parameters, and the causes and factors that led to the nonunion reality. Beyond Unions and Collective Bargaining focuses on labor relations in the private -- sector labor market, which accounted for about 90% of the sector at the end of 1999. Troy discusses with clarity and authority the transformation in the United States from the organized to the private labor market. Within a two-part format, Troy first deals with the manifold historical conditions that set the stage for the...

Examines the history, contemporary practice, and policy issues of non-union employee representation in the USA and Canada. The text encompasses many organizational devices that are organized for the purposes of representing employees on a range of production, quality, and employment issues.

Written in an accessible, case study format, this groundbreaking work explores the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of family leave policy in the United States, from its beginnings at the state level in the early 1980s, through the adoption of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, and beyond to the present day. With a political economy perspective, the book identifies the major economic and social forces affecting both the family and the workplace. And drawing on original primary research, it examines how the political system has responded to this evolving issue with...

During its boom phase, Silicon Valley was a center of attention for many reasons, but especially for its labor market arrangements. With the dot.com burst of 2000, many will be tempted to view the institutions that surrounded Silicon Valley as yesterday's news. But they would be wrong to do so, for a high-tech labor market adjusts to the ups and downs of the business cycle. Job market mobility - what Alan Hyde in this volume terms high velocity - was and is a key characteristic of Silicon Valley's labor market. As such, an understanding of Silicon Valley employment practices provides an...

Although performance pay is used in many industrialized nations, the structure and success of this pay system varies depending on the institutions, regulatory framework and legal settings of each country. This work aims to make the details and effects of these local variations clear to the readers.

Unlike Europe, where most public sector workers have long been included in collective bargaining agreements, the United States excluded public employees from such legislation until the 1960s and 70s. Since then, union membership in the U. S. has grown more rapidly among public workers than among workers in the private sector. This book provides up-to-date information on public sector collective bargaining in the United States today. The editors' seek to understand the real nature of PSB by examining eight states where the action is taking place -- California, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, New...