The federal subminimum wage has been $2.13 for twenty-three years, and nineteen states currently follow the federal policy. Twenty-five states plus the District of Columbia have implemented subminimum floors above $2.13, but below their regular minimums, and seven states do not allow for a subminimum wage. At present, 40 percent of the U.S. workforce is located in states that pay $2.13; 43 percent work in states with subminimum wages from $2.23 to $7.00; and 41 percent of the workforce resides in no-tip credit states where the sub-wage is currently $7.25 to $9.32.

Jointly funded with the Washington Center for Equitable Growth

The relationship between national economic growth and the incomes of the vast majority of American households showed a profound U-turn around 1980. The conventional assumption that growth will be proportionately shared with all households was a reasonably good approximation for the 1940s-70s. But around 1980, a steadily expanding gap began to develop between productivity growth and worker compensation.

While the international offshoring of work in global supply chains has been the focus of much research over the last decade, its domestic counterpart has received relatively little scholarly attention. Despite evidence that substantial growth in domestic outsourcing has accompanied growth in offshore outsourcing, little is known about the extent of domestic contracting out and its implications for workers.

Like most downturns, the Great Recession has been particularly hard on low-skilled workers. While one potential explanation posits that this reflects the cyclical nature of industries and occupations that employ many low-skilled workers, another points to the ability of unemployed high-skilled workers to take middle- and low-skilled jobs during the downturn. For example, over the past five years, employment in middle-skilled occupations has fallen for less-educated workers, while simultaneously rising for workers with college degrees.

Since the pioneering work of Mark Granovetter, sociologists and other social scientists have investigated the role of social networks (or social capital) in finding jobs. Results point to the powerful influence that social relationships have in matching people with jobs. Recent research in labor economics also shows that finding jobs through informal contacts such as friends, relatives, and other acquaintances is widespread.

Five years after the end of the Great Recession, unemployment remains high. And, of the 9.8 million people currently unemployed, 3.5 million are long-term unemployed. The long-term unemployed face significant risks and disadvantages—from loss of earnings, to the deterioration of skills, increased rates of poverty, increased likelihood of divorce, and poor physical and mental health outcomes. How does the likelihood of finding a job change as the duration of unemployment increases? What does this mean for government employment policies and workforce development strategies?

• November 2016: Additional funding of $34,570 awarded

Family income has a powerful effect in shaping child well-being—multiple disciplines have documented significant and positive correlations between family income and child outcomes, including various academic, behavioral, psychological, and health indicators. Despite these associations, it is unclear whether the relationships are causal because family income is endogenous to a host of difficult-to-measure parental characteristics, such as cognitive abilities, habits and values.