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Research on Labor Markets, Welfare, and Human Capital Investments
Domestic labor markets are influenced by an array of government policies and regulations. The program's basic goals in labor market research are to examine the assumptions underlying the policy debate, to identify the trends that policymakers must consider, and to determine how policy alternatives affect the economic environment for different groups. Much of the program's work in U.S. labor markets has focused on racial and ethnic disparities in incomes, the changing role of women in the labor force, child care, changes in wage structure, the labor market effects of schooling and training, immigration, and the labor market for older Americans.
View Publications | View ProjectsPublications in this area:
Amin, Shahina, and Julie S. DaVanzo, The Impact of Wives' Earnings Inequality among Married-Couple Households in Malaysia, DRU-2881-WFHF, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2003.
Haider, Steven J., and Jacob Alex Klerman, Dynamic Properties of the Welfare Caseload, DRU-3005, Santa Monica, RAND, 2002.
Haider, Steven J., and David Loughran, Elderly Labor Supply: Work or Play? DRU-2582, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2001.
Haider, Steven J., and Gary Solon, Nonrandom Selection in the HRS Social Security Earnings Sample, DRU-2254-NIA, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2004.
Haider, Steven J., Alison Jacknowitz, and Robert F. Schoeni, Welfare Work Requirements and Individual Well-Being: Evidence from the Effects on Breastfeeding, DRU-2730, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2002.
Haider, Steven J., Jacob Alex Klerman, and Elizabeth Roth, "The Relationship Between the Economy and the Welfare Caseload: A Dynamic Approach," in Worker Well-being and Public Policy, Research in Labor Economics, 2003, Vol. 22, pp. 39-69 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-1080).
Haider, Steven J., Robert T. Reville, and Anne R. Pebley, Geographic Variation of Social Services in Los Angeles County on the Eve of Welfare Reform, DRU-2006, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1998.
Haider, Steven J., Robert F. Schoeni, Yuhua Bao, and Caroline Danielson, Immigrants, Welfare Reform, and the Economy in the 1990s, DRU-2681, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2001.
Hao, Lingxin, "How Does a Single Mother Choose Kin and Welfare Support?" Social Science Research, Vol. 24, 1995, pp. 1-27 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-425).
Hao, Lingxin, "Poverty, Public Assistance, and Children in Intact and Single-Mother Families," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Vol. 16 (2/3), Fall 1995, pp. 181-205 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-489).
Hao, Lingxin, Kin Support, Welfare, and Out-of-Wedlock Mothers, New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1994.
Hao, Lingxin, and Arleen Leibowitz, Public Policies, Private Support and Single Mothers' Schooling, Work, and Child Care, DRU-853, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1994.
Heeb, Randal, M. Rebecca Kilburn, The Effects of State Regulations on Childcare Prices and Choices, WR-137-NICHD, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2004.
Kapteyn, Arie, James P. Smith, Arthur van Soest, Self-reported Work Disability in the US and The Netherlands, WR-206, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2004 (available in PDF).
Karoly, Lynn A., Changes in the Distribution of Individual Earnings in the United States: 1967-1986, RP-173, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2004.
Karoly, Lynn A., Estimating the Effect of Work Requirements on Welfare Recipients: A Synthesis of the National Literature, CT-185 , Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2001 (also available in PDF).
Karoly, Lynn A. Investing in the Future: Reducing Poverty Through Human Capital Investments, in Understanding Poverty, Sheldon Danziger and Robert Haveman, eds., published by Russell Sage Foundation and Harvard University Press, 2001, pp. 314-356. New York, NY and Cambridge, MA. LRP-200100-61.
Karoly, Lynn A., The Widening Income and Wage Gap in the United States, CT-116, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1994.
Karoly, Lynn A., "Changes in the Distribution of Individual Earnings in the U.S.: 1967-1986," The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 74, No. 1, February 1992, pp. 107-115 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-173).
Karoly, Lynn A., "The Trend in Inequality Among Families, Individuals and Workers in the United States: A 25-Year Perspective," in P. Gottschalk and S. Danziger, eds., Uneven Tides: Rising Inequality in the 1980s, NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 1993; R-4206-RC, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1992.
Karoly, Lynn A., "The Widening Income and Wage Gap Between Rich and Poor: Trends Causes and Policy Options," in J. B. S. a. D. W. Lyon, ed. Urban America: Policy Choices for Los Angeles and the Nation, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1992, pp. 55-81.
Karoly, Lynn A., and Gary Burtless, "Demographic Change, Rising Earnings Inequality, and the Distribution of Personal Well-Being, 1959-1989," Demography, Vol. 32, No. 3, August 1995, pp. 379-405.
Karoly, Lynn A., and Jacob Alex Klerman, Demographics, Sectoral Change, and Changing Relative Wages: A Regional Approach, DRU-795, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1994.
Karoly, Lynn A., and Jacob Alex Klerman, "Using Regional Data to Reexamine the Contribution of Demographic and Sectoral Changes to Increasing U.S. Wage Inequality," in J. H. Bergstrand, T. F. Cosimano, J. W. Houck and R. G. Sheehan, eds., The Changing Distribution of Income in an Open U.S. Economy, Amsterdam: North-Holland: 1994, pp. 183-216 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-277).
Karoly, Lynn A., and Julie Zissimopoulos, Self-Employment Trends and Patterns Among Older U.S. Workers,.
Kintner, Hallie, Thomas Merrick, Peter A. Morrison, and Paul Voss, Demographics: A Casebook for Business and Government, MR-904, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1997.
Klerman, Jacob Alex, The Pace of CalWORKs Implementation, CT-166, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2000 (also available in PDF).
Klerman, Jacob Alex, The Pace of CalWORKs Implementation, CT-165, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1999 (also available in PDF).
Klerman, Jacob Alex, "Welfare Reform and Abortion: Research Perspectives," in R. M. Moffitt, ed., Welfare, the Family, and Reproductive Behavior: Research Perspectives, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1998, pp. 98-133 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-717).
Klerman, Jacob Alex, Characterizing Leave for Maternity, DRU-505, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1993.
Klerman, Jacob Alex, and Caroline Danielson, Why Did the Welfare Caseload Decline? WR-167, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2004.
Klerman, Jacob Alex, and Lynn A. Karoly, The Transition to Stable Employment: The Experience of U.S. Youth in Their Early Labor Market Career, MR-564, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1995.
Klerman, Jacob Alex, and Lynn A. Karoly, "Trends and Future Directions in Youth Labor Markets: Implications for Army Recruiting," in M. J. E. a. S. L. Mehay, ed., Marching Toward the 21st Century: Military Manpower and Recruiting, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994, pp. 41-65 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-310).
Klerman, Jacob Alex, and Lynn A. Karoly, "Young Men and the Transition to Stable Employment," Monthly Labor Review, August 1994, pp. 31-48 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-338).
Klerman, Jacob Alex, and Arleen A. Leibowitz, "Job Continuity Among New Mothers," Demography, Vol. 36, No. 2, May 1999, pp. 145-155 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-804); RB-5032, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2000.
Klerman, Jacob Alex, and Arleen A. Leibowitz, "Labor Supply Effects of State Maternity Leave Legislation," in F. Blau and R. Ehrenberg, eds., Gender and Family Issues in the Workplace, New York: Sage Press, 1997, pp. 65-91 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-715).
Klerman, Jacob Alex, and Arleen A. Leibowitz, Labor Supply Effects of State Maternity Leave Legislation, DRU-1260-NICHD, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1995.
Klerman, Jacob Alex, and Arleen A. Leibowitz, "Time Out" for New Mothers: Some Issues for Maternity-Leave Policy, RB-5009, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1995.
Klerman, Jacob Alex, and Arleen A. Leibowitz, "The Work-Employment Distinction Among Mothers of Very Young Children," Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 29, No. 2, Spring 1994, pp. 277-303 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-319).
Klerman, Jacob Alex, and Arleen A. Leibowitz, "Women's Employment During Pregnancy and Following Birth," Washington, DC: US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1992.
Klerman, Jacob Alex, and Arleen A. Leibowitz, "Child Care and Women's Return to Work After Childbirth," American Economic Review, Vol. 80, No. 2, 1990, pp. 282-288; R-4040-NICHD, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1991.
Klerman, Jacob Alex, Elaine Reardon, and Paul Steinberg, RAND's CalWORKs Evaluation: An Overview, DB-252-CDSS, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1998.
Klerman, Jacob Alex, Jeanne S. Ringel, and Beth Roth, Under-Reporting of Medicaid and Welfare in the Current Population Survey, WR-169-3, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2005.
Lim, Nelson, Who Has More Soft-skills?: Employers' Subjective Ratings of Work Qualities of Racial and Ethnic Groups, DRU-2912, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2003.
Loughran, David, Does Variance Matter? The Effect of Rising Male Wage Inequality on Female Age at First Marriage, DRU-2347, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2000.
Loughran, David S., and Julie M. Zissimopoulos, Are There Gains to Delaying Marriage? The Effect of Age at First Marriage on Career Development and Wages, WR-207, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2004.
Rogowski, Jeannette, Lynn A. Karoly, Jacob Alex Klerman, Robert T. Reville, Moira Inkelas, Jill Hoube, Melissa Rowe, Narayan Sastry, and Jennifer Hawes-Dawson, Background and Study Design Report for Policy Evaluation of the Effect of the 1996 Welfare Reform Legislation on SSI Benefits for Disabled Children, DRU-1808-SSA, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1998.
Schoeni, Robert F., "Comments on: Explaining Recent Declines in Food Stamp Program Participation," Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs, 2001, pp. 236-241 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-966).
Schoeni, Robert F., Does Unemployment Insurance Displace Familial Assistance? DRU-2289, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2000.
Schoeni, Robert F., "Labor Market Assimilation of Immigrant Women," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 51, No. 3, April 1998, pp. 483-504.
Schoeni, Robert F., "Labor Market Outcomes of Immigrant Women in the United States: 1970 to 1990," International Migration Review, Vol. 32, No. 1, Spring 1998, pp. 55-77.
Schoeni, Robert F., Does Aid to Families with Dependent Children Displace Familial Assistance? DRU-1453, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1996.
Schoeni, Robert F., "Marital Status and Earnings in Developed Countries," Journal of Population Economics, Vol. 8, No. 4, November 1995, pp. 351-359 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-532).
Schoeni, Robert F., and Rebecca M. Blank, What Has Welfare Reform Accomplished? Impacts on Welfare Participation, Employment, Income, Poverty, and Family Structure, DRU-2268, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2000.
Schoeni, Robert F., and Michael Dardia, "Special Government Assistance to Defense-Dependent Industry Workers: The Case of the Aerospace Industry," Contemporary Economic Policy, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 251-264, 1998.
Schoeni, Robert F., and Michael Dardia, Wage Losses of Displaced Workers in the 1990s, DRU-1474, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1996.
Schoeni, Robert F., and Paul Koegel, "Government and Familial Assistance for the Homeless: Evidence from Los Angeles," Contemporary Economic Policy, Vol. 16, No. July, 1998.
Schoeni, Robert F., Maryann Jacobi Gray, and Tessa Kaganoff, "National Service: Designing, Implementing, and Evaluating a Successful Program," Executive Summary of California Education, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1994.
Schoeni, Robert F., Michael Dardia, Kevin F. McCarthy, and Georges Vernez, Defense Cutbacks: Effects on California's Communities, Firms, and Workers-Executive Summary, MR-689, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1996.
Schoeni, Robert F., Michael Dardia, Kevin F. McCarthy, and Georges Vernez, Life After Cutbacks: Tracking California's Aerospace Workers, MR-688, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1996.
Smith, James P., Immigrants and the Labor Market, WR-321, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2005.
Smith, James P., "Race and Ethnicity in the Labor Market: Trends Over the Short and Long Run," in N. Smelser, W. J. Wilson and F. Mitchell, eds., America Becoming: Racial Trends and Consequences in the United States, Vol. II, Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences Press, 2001, pp. 52-97 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-936).
Smith, James P., The New Americans: The Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Impacts of Immigration, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1997.
Smith, James P., "Affirmative Action and the Racial Wage Gap," American Economic Review, Vol. 83, No. 2, 1993, pp. 79-84.
Smith, James P., "Affirmative Action and Labor Markets," Journal of Labor Economics, Vol. 2, No. 2, April 1984, pp. 269-301.
Smith, James P., Female Labor Supply: Theory and Estimation, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980.
Smith, James P., and Michael P. Ward, "Women in the Labor Market and in the Family," Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 3, No. 1, Winter 1989, pp. 9-23.
Smith, James P., and Michael P. Ward, "Women's Wages and Work in the Twentieth Century," R-3119, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1984.
Smith, James P., and Finis R. Welch, "Black Economic Progress After Mrydal," Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 27, No. 2, June 1989, pp. 519-564.
Smith, James P., and Robert Willis, eds., Wealth, Work and Health: Innovations in Measurement in the Social Sciences, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999.
Smith, James, Duncan Thomas, Elizabeth Frankenberg, Kathleen Beegle, and Graciela Teruel, Wages, Employment and Economic Shocks: Evidence from Indonesia, DRU-2319-1-NICHD, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2000.
Stillman, Steven, The Determinants of Private and Government Sector Earnings in Russia, DRU-2422, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2000.
Stillman, Steven, Labor Market Uncertainty and Private Sector Labor Supply in Russia, DRU-2393, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2000.
Stolzenberg, Ross M., "Educational Continuation by College Graduates," American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 99, No. 4, 1994, pp. 1043-1077.
Strauss, John, and Duncan Thomas, "Wages, Schooling and Background: Investments in Men and Women in Urban Brazil," in N. Birdsall and R. H. Sabot, eds., Opportunity Foregone: Education in Brazil, Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 1996, pp. 147-191.
Strong, Debra A., Patricia Ebener, Robert F. Schoeni, James N. Dertouzos, Jill Humphries, Kimberly Jinnett, and Robert Reichardt,"Employment of TANF Participants in San Bernardino County: A Profile of the County's Caseload and Implications for CalWORKs Service Delivery," DB-259.0-SBC, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1998.
Thomas, Duncan, "Do the Benefits of Childhood Education Last?" Policy Options, July/August 1997, pp. 43-48.
Thomas, Duncan, "Education Across Generations in South Africa," American Economic Review, Vol. 86, No. 2, May 1996, pp. 330-334 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-535).
Thomas, Duncan, and John Strauss, "Health and Wages: Evidence on Men and Women in Urban Brazil," Journal of Econometrics, Vol. 77, 1997, pp. 159-185 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-633).
Thomas, Duncan, and John Strauss, "Prices, Infrastructure, Household Characteristics, and Child Height," Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 39, No. 2, October 1992, pp. 301-332.
Thomas, Duncan , Kathleen Beegle, and Elizabeth Frankenberg, Labor Market Transitions of Men and Women During an Economic Crisis: Evidence from Indonesia, DRU-2344-NICHD/NIA, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2000.
Thomas, Duncan, Robert F. Schoeni, and John Strauss, Parental Investments in Schooling: The Roles of Gender and Resources in Urban Brazil, DRU-1303, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1996.
Upchurch, Dawn M., Lee A. Lillard, and Constantijn W. A. Panis, Updating Women's Life Course: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations, DRU-1135, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1995.
van Soest, Arthur, Arie Kapteyn, Tatiana Andreyeva, James P. Smith, Self Reported Disability and Reference Groups, WR-409.
Waite, Linda J., Arleen Leibowitz, and Christina Witsberger, What Parents Pay For: Child Care, N-3378-NICHD Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1991.
Williamson, Stephanie, Catherine A. Jackson, and Jacob Alex Klerman, Welfare Waivers State-Specific Descriptions, DRU-1530-NIH/NICHD, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1997.
Yoon, Young Hee, and Linda J. Waite, "Converging Employment Patterns of Black, White, and Hispanic Women: Return to Work After First Birth," Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 56, February 1994, pp. 209-217 (also available as RAND Reprint RP-299).
Zellman, Gail L., Jacob Alex Klerman, Elaine Reardon, and Paul Steinberg, Welfare Reform in California: State and County Implementation of CalWORKs in the First Year, Executive Summary, MR-1051/1-CDSS, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1999 (also available in PDF).
Zellman, Gail, L., Jacob Alex Klerman, Elaine Reardon, Donna Farley, Nicole Humphrey, Tammi J. Chun, and Paul Steinberg, How Goes CalWORKs? Emerging Implementation Issues, RB-5027, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1999.
Zellman, Gail L., Jacob Alex Klerman, Elaine Reardon, Donna Farley, Nicole Humphrey, Tammi J. Chun, and Paul Steinberg, Welfare Reform in California: State and County Implementation of CalWORKs in the First Year, MR-1051; (Executive Summary), MR-1051/1, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1999.
Zissimopoulos, Julie, and Lynn A. Karoly, Transitions to Self-Employment at Older Ages: The Role of Wealth, Health, Health Insurance, and Other Factors, WR-135, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2003 (available in PDF).
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