Jeffrey B. Wenger

Overview

Commentary

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  38 Million Have Applied for Unemployment—but How Many Have Received Benefits?

  Unemployment Insurance may need substantial reform to its application process, but it has weathered the COVID-19 pandemic unemployment disaster. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the new program intended for workers who are not part of the employer tax base, has not.

  Jun 1, 2020 The RAND Blog

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  Is the Unemployment Rate Now Higher Than It Was in the Great Depression?

  The extent of COVID-19's effect on the labor market will be catastrophic for many workers and businesses. Matching the unemployment rate peak set by the Great Depression is not even necessary to establish the historic nature of the downturn that we're living through.

  May 7, 2020 The RAND Blog

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  The Second Wave of COVID Consequences

  Economists closely watch measures of consumer confidence because they are highly predictive economic indicators. New consumer data reveals likely long-term and prolonged economic fallout.

  Apr 24, 2020 The RAND Blog

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  Many Americans Face Bullying, Harassment, and Abuse at Work, but Bosses Can Help

  Workers are experiencing high levels of hostile behaviors at work. Nearly one in five American workers have been subjected to some form of verbal abuse, unwanted sexual attention, threats, or humiliating behavior at work, with younger non-college educated workers bearing the most risk.

  Aug 30, 2017 The RAND Blog

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  Working for $7.25 an Hour: Exploring the Minimum Wage Debate

  Critics of raising the minimum wage argue that proponents are ignoring the laws of supply and demand, that it would generate unemployment. Recent theory suggests that increasing wages results in higher quality workers entering the market and improving the quality of the employee-employer match, raising productivity and lowering turnover.

  Sep 1, 2016 The RAND Blog

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  One in Five Hourly Employees Working Overtime Not Properly Compensated

  Most laws as old as the Fair Labor Standards Act regularly need tuning up. But its overtime provisions are complicated because some workers are exempt from being covered. A survey of more than 1,500 employed adults finds that employers are violating the rules.

  Sep 4, 2015 The RAND Blog

Publications

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  Research Brief

  The American Working Conditions Survey Finds That Nearly Half of Retirees Would Return to Work

  According to the American Working Conditions Survey, more older workers report having meaningful work compared with their prime-age counterparts, and nearly half of retirees would return to work under the right conditions.

  Nov 12, 2019

• Report

  Report

  An Analytic Inventory of DHS Headquarters Business Processes

  This report provides an inventory of U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) analytic capabilities in the including current capabilities in use for decisionmaking, as DHS establishes an Analytic Agenda.

  Apr 24, 2019

• Report

  Report

  Developing a National Recruiting Difficulty Index

  The U.S. Army recognizes that the recruiting environment has a significant impact on its ability to recruit. This report presents a forecasting model that measures recruiting difficulty to forecast a difficult or easy recruiting environment.

  Mar 13, 2019

• Draft

  Draft

  The Value of Working Conditions in the United States and Implications for the Structure of Wages

  Documents variation in working conditions among workers in the United States, presents new estimates of how workers value these conditions, and assesses the impact of working conditions on estimates of the wage structure and inequality.

  Dec 28, 2018

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  Report

  Comparing Ex-Servicemember and Civilian Use of Unemployment Insurance

  Drawing from a data set with unemployment compensation for ex-service members and unemployment insurance claims from 2002 to 2012, this report provides a first portrait of the job search process of ex-service members relative to that for civilians.

  Feb 8, 2018

• Journal Article

  Journal Article

  Can Income Diversification Explain the Growing Entrepreneurship Gap by Age?

  The key result of our analysis is that income diversification has become increasingly important in determining entrepreneurship, but that younger households became less likely over time to have income from multiple sources. At the same time, older households maintained their income diversification and their likelihood of working as entrepreneurs became more responsive to having substantial income from non-business sources such as capital income and Social Security benefits.

  Aug 15, 2017

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  Tool

  The American Working Conditions Survey Data: Codebook and Data Description

  This codebook describes the content and structure of the American Working Conditions Survey data (AWCS) which was fielded on the RAND American Life Panel (ALP) in 2015.

  Aug 14, 2017

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  Research Brief

  How Americans Perceive the Workplace: Results from the American Working Conditions Survey

  Half of American workers say that they work in their free time to meet workplace demands, 63 percent feel that they are doing useful work, and 46 percent of retirees age 50 and older say that they would return to work if conditions were right.

  Aug 14, 2017

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  Report

  Working Conditions in the United States: Results of the 2015 American Working Conditions Survey

  This report presents detailed findings from the 2015 American Working Conditions Survey about the prevalence and distribution of working conditions across the American workforce by age, gender, and education.

  Aug 14, 2017

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  Report

  Helping Soldiers Leverage Army Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities in Civilian Jobs

  Discusses the results of occupation surveys administered to soldiers in ten of the most populous Army military occupational specialties (MOSs) to develop improved crosswalks between military and civilian occupations.

  Jan 23, 2017

• Research Brief

  Research Brief

  Improving Employment Prospects for Soldiers Leaving the Regular Army

  Discusses the results of a new approach to develop an improved crosswalk between Army military occupational specialties (MOSs) and civilian occupations, highlighting ten of the Army's most populous combat and noncombat MOSs.

  Jan 23, 2017

• Journal Article

  Journal Article

  Push or Pull: Changes in the Relative Risk and Growth of Entrepreneurship Among Older Households

  Entrepreneurship among older adults is on the rise, especially in households with greater access to income from interest, dividends, and capital gains.

  Nov 30, 2016

• Draft

  Draft

  The Fair Labor Standards Act: Worker Misclassification and the Hours and Earnings Effects of Expanded Coverage

  Using data from the RAND American Life Panel, this paper quantifies the frequency that employers violate the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act's overtime rules.

  Aug 28, 2015

• Journal Article

  Journal Article

  The Immediate Hardship of Unemployment: Evidence from the U.S. Unemployment Insurance Program

  This paper uses a unique administrative database collected by the U.S. Department of Labor from 2002-09 to examine whether reservation wages fall as workers wait longer to apply for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits.

  2013