Researchers and policy makers are concerned about recent labor market changes that have reduced earnings, employment stability, and the ability to make a gainful living for lower-skill workers. The U.S. assists these workers through the unemployment insurance (UI) and workforce development systems, but only a small fraction of low-wage workers use a large fraction of those benefits. The success or failure of these efforts to reintegrate marginal workers into stable, gainful employment has important consequences for poverty, inequality, and the future of the social safety net. 

Despite decades of progress for women, a significant gender earnings gap of 20% on average in the U.S. still exists. The gender earnings gap changes across the life cycle, starting low after education is completed and widening with family formation, particularly for those with more education. Recent research documents that the earnings gap narrows after cohorts are in their late 40s, with women born since the mid-1950s more likely to remain in the labor force into their 60s and even in their 70s.

Minimum wage policies have figured prominently in recent policy debates at the federal, state and local levels.  Even though nearly three decades have passed since the advent of “new minimum wage research,” the effect of minimum wage increases on the labor market remains a controversial topic.  Some studies find that moderate minimum wage increases have relatively low impacts on overall job opportunities for affected workers.

Co-funded with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes many provisions that expand health insurance coverage for women of reproductive age (15-44). By lowering financial barriers to reproductive services, these provisions may affect a woman’s decision to have a child, or prevent an unwanted pregnancy. They may also affect the demographic and socioeconomic composition of women with a recent birth.

Over the past two decades, there has been a change in federal low-income housing policy, with a reduction in spending on large-scale public housing developments and an increase in vouchers that participants use to find private housing units. Starting in the early 2000s, the Housing Choice Voucher program (HCV)—commonly referred to as “Section 8”—became the primary form of low-income housing assistance. Those with vouchers find their own housing in the private market and pay landlords 30% of their income in rent.

State and local governments have recently enacted minimum wage legislation to raise wages at the bottom of the wage distribution. However, such policies may affect how low-wage employers compensate and staff their workforces, potentially leading to negative employment effects and spillovers throughout the firm and labor market. 

Do the decisions a judge makes in a case depend on the decisions and outcomes in recent cases that the judge has decided? Studies suggest that on average, a legal case is evaluated as somewhat more serious when assessed after a case that is viewed as relatively mild, and as somewhat less serious when judged after a more egregious one. The comparison appears to alter not only how a judge morally evaluates the severity of wrongful conduct, but also seems to influence the decision over the appropriate size of a civil punitive damage award or the length of a criminal sentence.