Why “no job loss” is the wrong standard for setting the right wage floor.
David Howell
David Howell is a professor of economics and public policy at The New School (New York City)
Posted inEconomic Policy
What’s the Right Minimum Wage?
Our goal should be a living wage, not zero job loss.
Posted inDispatches
Vive Les Jeunes
In early April, after weeks of massive student demonstrations, the French government backed down and withdrew its proposed changes in national labor law. Under French law, workers are protected from arbitrary firings by a system that requires employers to justify dismissals. The government, most notably Prime Minister Dominque de Villepin, wanted to allow employers the […]
Posted inFeatures
Skills and the Wage Collapse
Despite the record economic expansion and near full employment, wages for the bottom fifth of the work force are still far below their 1979 levels. Well over one-fifth of the male work force earns poverty-level wages (22.5 percent in 1997), almost twice as high as in the early 1970s (12.8 percent in 1973). This wage […]
Posted inWorking in America
The Skills Myth
Almost everyone seems to believe that workers are losing income because they lack the proper skills. But there’s a better explanation: they’ve lost bargaining power.
