Nearly one-third of all American workers are paid very low wages, the highest rate among wealthy nations. An incidence of low pay at this level has obvious implications for the current standard of living for a substantial share of American families. But of particular concern are the implications...

Nearly one-third of all American workers are paid very low wages, the highest rate among wealthy nations. An incidence of low pay at this level has obvious implications for the current standard of living for a substantial share of American families. But of particular concern are the implications...

This working paper has been published in the Oxford Review of Economic Policy, volume 27, no. 2 (summer 2011).Revised May 2011In response to rapidly rising long-term unemployment, unemployment insurance (UI) eligibility extensions were enacted that raised the regular 26-week limit to as many as...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes six alternative indicators of labor underutilization, ranging from the long-term unemployed (U-1) and the standard unemployment rate (U-3) to a measure that includes all unemployed, involuntary part-time, and ‘marginally attached’ workers (U-6). These...

In New Classical and New Keynesian thinking, the cross-country pattern of unemployment reflects prevailing equilibrium rates, which in turn are mainly explained by the protective labor market institutions that produce market rigidities. While this orthodox view has framed nearly all of the...