Low-wage Lessons

John Schmitt

CEPR Reports and Issue Briefs from Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)

Abstract: Over the last two decades, high – and, in some countries, rising – rates of low-wage work have emerged as a major political concern. If low-wage jobs act as a stepping stone to higher-paying work, then even a relatively high share of low-wage work may not be a serious social problem. If, however, as appears to be the case in much of the wealthy world, low-wage work is a persistent and recurring state for many workers, then low-wages may contribute to broader income and wealth inequality and constitute a threat to social cohesion. This report draws five lessons on low-wage work from the recent experiences of the United States and other rich economies in the OECD.

Keywords: low-wage; minimum wage; EITC; unions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J J3 J31 J5 J51 J8 J88 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 15 pages
Date: 2012-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-pke
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:epo:papers:2012-03

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