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Title: Boosting the Earnings and Employment of Low-Skilled Workers in the United States: Making Work Pay and Removing Barriers to Employment and Social Mobility

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2007

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Abstract: This chapter documents the relative economic performance of low-skilled disadvantaged workers in the United States and identifies key factors that have either enhanced economic security or that have become increasingly important barriers to steady employment and self-sufficiency. Low-skilled men are currently participating in the labor force at rates that are extremely low by historical comparison, suggesting that procuring and maintaining steady employment has become a serious problem for this particular group. Moreover, this trend is only partially explained by the declining earnings. In addition, increasing proportions of low-skilled men are passing through the nation's prisons and jails, leaving behind a growing number of former inmates that face particularly challenges in finding employment and bettering themselves. This development has certainly had a negative effect on the life chances of many, especially among low-skilled minority men. I analyze and offer several policy proposals designed to boost the employment and earnings of the least skilled workers. First, I discuss several recent proposals to substantially expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for childless adults, analyzing the likely costs, effects on take-home income, and the likely impacts on employment. Next, I offer several policy proposals intended to remove some of the educational and employment barriers that hinder the reentry of former prison inmates into mainstream non-institutionalized society. In particular, I propose: (1) removing summary disqualifications of former inmates from financial assistance for education or other public assistance; (2) basing publicly mandated employment bans of former felons for specific jobs on specific offenses rather than blanket bans; (3) expunging selected criminal records after a time period; (4) funding training intermediaries to prepare ex-inmates for employment.

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Authors: Raphael, Steven

Publisher: University of California, Berkeley

Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS CPS

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure

Countries: United States