This paper tracks factors contributing to the ups and downs in women’s employment from 1970 to 2010 using regression decompositions focusing on whether changes are due to shifts in the means (composition of women) or due to shifts in coefficients (inclinations of women to work for pay)....

Kimmel and Hoffman present a set of topical, non-technical papers authored by nationally known experts in this field. Using an economic perspective, they confront work/family issues including child care (potentially the biggest obstacle to parents successfully integrating work and family...

Greenwood and McDowell develop empirical models that enable them to examine the influence of two important determinants - source country characteristics and U.S. immigration policy - on the gender, age, and skills of immigrants coming to America.

What role has affirmative action played in the growth of minority and female employment in U.S. firms? This paper analyzes this issue by comparing the employment of minorities and women at firms holding federal contracts and therefore mandated to implement affirmative action, and at...

Barnow, Trutko, and Piatak focus on whether persistent occupation-specific labor shortages might lead to inefficiencies in the U.S. economy. They describe why shortages arise, the difficulty in ascertaining that a shortage is present, and how to assess strategies to alleviate the shortage.