Is the Fight for $15 Going to Cost Low-Wage Workers Their Health Insurance?
Minimum wage increases can lead to reductions in employer-sponsored health insurance for some workers and their dependents. If policymakers want to raise the minimum wage, they should look beyond standard labor market outcomes and take into account other potential effects.
Oct 11, 2021 Newsweek
Most Americans Consider Themselves Middle-Class. But Are They?
There are different ways of determining who should be considered middle-class. But there is one thing they have in common: All reveal that the middle class in the United States is shrinking.
May 14, 2021 ProMarket
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
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
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
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
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
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