Disposable income in advanced economies is comprised mostly of labor compensation. Thus, numerous compensation practices, pay-setting institutions, and regulatory policies are crucial determinants of labor market inequality. But when it comes to understanding public preferences for reducing inequality, most research focuses on public support for redistribution via tax and transfer policies. Minimum wage policies are an exception, but they are rarely included in national surveys. And, the minimum wage is only one of many policy levers for reducing labor market inequalities.

Today, more than one in four U.S. children live in immigrant-origin households; 88 percent are American citizens.  Since 2007, the federal government has removed and detained over 300,000 people every year. Enforcement impacts extend beyond targeted individuals, as about 500,000 U.S. citizen children experienced the apprehension, detention and deportation of at least one parent between 2011 and 2013. Recent studies document the negative impacts of immigration enforcement on children in immigrant-origin families, particularly following removal of a parent.

From the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s, median wages for workers without a college degree stopped growing and even declined in real terms. Wage stagnation has contributed to rising inequality, as incomes of the bottom 50 percent plateaued from 1980 to 2014, while incomes at the top continued to grow. Parts of wage stagnation are attributable to skill-biased technological changes, business cycle effects, economic globalization and a decline in labor union strength.

Few researchers have examined the perspectives of youth regarding what they think government should do about reducing poverty and inequality, promoting opportunity and other issues that are important to them. This is particularly true for low-income youth and those who reside in rural America.

Growing economic inequality and changing social norms are associated with a greater diversity of family formation pathways among young adults and these trajectories vary by race, socioeconomic status, and geography. Sociological research has primarily focused on privileged youth delaying the traditional markers of adulthood, such as marriage. There is little research on young adulthood in the rural South, where statistically, early marriage is more common than elsewhere in the nation. 

The labor force participation rate of prime working-age men (25-54 years old) has declined from 97 percent in 1964 to about 85 percent today. In contrast, prime-age women’s labor force participation over this period rose until the past few years. These changes in labor force participation have taken place alongside substantial changes in family life. More Americans are unmarried, and fathers are more likely to live apart from their children. Being disconnected from both work and family is most pronounced among less-educated men.

Legal status shapes resources that immigrant parents can mobilize to benefit their families. Thus, legal vulnerability can affect immigrant parents and their children, including the U.S.-born.

An estimated one in three adults has a criminal record. In response to the labor market barriers associated with having a record, some governments have implemented “ban-the-box” (BtB) policies, which prevent employers from asking applicants if they have a criminal record and mandate that employers refrain from conducting criminal background checks until after a conditional offer is made.

CO-FUNDED WITH THE WASHINGTON CENTER FOR EQUITABLE GROWTH