Block, Roberts, and Clarke offer a method for comparing labor standards across political jurisdictions. They then apply this method to the United States and Canada, an exercise that allows them to settle the long-running dispute over whether or not Canada has higher standards than the U.S., and...

Pre- and post-intervention data on health outcomes, absenteeism, and productivity from a longitudinal, quasi-experimental design field study of office workers was used to evaluate the economic consequences of two ergonomic interventions. Researchers assigned individuals in the study to three...

Workers in flexible staffing arrangements - including temporary agency, direct-hire temporary, on-call, and contract workers - are much less likely than regular, direct-hire employees to be covered by laws mandating or regulating workplace benefits. Workers in such arrangements, in turn, are...

We examine why employers use temporary agency and contract company workers and the implications of these practices for the wages, benefits, and working conditions of workers in low-skilled labor markets. Through intensive case studies in manufacturing (automotive supply), services (hospitals),...

This paper studies the link between hourly wages and workers’ subjective assessments of how easy it would be to find another job as good as the present one, and how easy it would be for an employer to replace an employee. First, using high-quality data, I study the correlates of these two...

Leigh provides a summary of the evolution of labor market programs in seven industrialized countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. He points out that a number of these nations are dealing with long-term unemployment by linking unemployment insurance...

The authors present a picture of how the effects of international trade on employment in U.S. manufacturing industries vary widely. They explore the labor-market dynamics and adjustment costs associated with international factors, particularly the way fluctuations in exchange rates, overseas...

The contributors to this book investigate the compensation and employment risks for U.S. and Canadian workers. They examine both wage and nonwage aspects of compensation, and whether workers in the U.S. or Canada face more job-related risks. They also seek to identify trends in risk bearing and...

This volume presents a collaborative effort by 22 labor economists who examine worker displacement and the attempts to address it in 10 industrialized countries. Using large nationally-representative data sets and detailed policy analysis, the authors focus on two key questions related to worker...

Davidson and Matusz extend the traditional analysis of international trade to allow for labor markets characterized by workers whose labor-market experiences are punctuated by spells of involuntary unemployment. They demonstrate that such extensions are easily accomplished and that they provide...