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Greener Pathways
A new report from COWS puts jobs at the heart of the national conversation on the economic promise of clean energy.
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Work and Wages
High road economic development focuses on job quality – compensation, job satisfaction, opportunities for advancement – not just job quantity. To understand how we can improve job quality, COWS studies firm and industry practices in different sectors of the economy and different parts of the labor market.
A particular recent focus has been on the growing low-wage labor market in the US, which employs close to 50 million people. All too often, however, the service sector employs its workers in dead-end jobs with poverty wages, poor or non-existent benefits, and little opportunity for advancement. In recent years, we have researched several key industries in this sector, including hotels, nursing homes, and childcare centers. Not surprising given the job quality, employers in these industries find it very difficult to retain entry-level employees. But, by learning about the problems both companies and workers face, and quality-improving strategies available through industry-labor partnerships and policy, we can get smarter about moving even these industries toward high road results.
COWS is not only concerned with improving job quality at the bottom, but also preserving and enhancing job quality in sectors of the economy where it is traditionally high. Throughout COWS history, we have conducted extensive research on manufacturing job retention and enhancement. Our recent AMP (Advanced Manufacturing Project) collaboration with scholars throughout the Midwest, furthered that research by investigating how suppliers of large equipment producers can stay competitive and preserve quality manufacturing jobs in the upper Midwest.
Every other Labor Day, COWS publishes The State of Working Wisconsin, a major report on work, wages, labor market trends, and other issues affecting working families in Wisconsin. On off years, we publish an update of these findings. These regular publications punctuate our mix of other more focused studies on different industries, reform strategies, emerging best practices in the public sector or industry, and opportunities for improvement.
Finally, we sometime do series of linked reports, often in collaboration with other groups. From October 2003 through July 2004, we issued a series of Wisconsin Job Watch reports, as part of a national project sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute, tracking labor-market trends in the states.
Work & Wages Publications
Here are some examples of our Work & Wages publications:
- Mind the Gap! Women, Wages and the Pay Gap in Wisconsin
(PDF)
Mind the Gap! Women, Wages and the Pay Gap in Wisconsin, co-released by the COWS and the Wisconsin Women's Council, finds that Wisconsin women of all ages and education experience a substantial and persistent gender wage gap - earning only about 78 cents on the dollar compared with men.
4/22/2008 - Skilled Workers, Quality Jobs: Meeting the Needs of Wisconsin's Workers and Businesses
(PDF)
Two interconnected challenges are colliding in Wisconsin with potentially dire consequences for families and businesses. Demographic and workforce shifts are resulting in shortages of skilled workers for many industries, while at the same time many Wisconsinites aren’t receiving the education and training necessary to land a decent job with family-sustaining wages. A new report, Skilled Workers, Quality Jobs: Meeting the Needs of Wisconsin’s Workers and Businesses, addresses these two interrelated challenges and makes a series of policy recommendations to address them.
4/15/2008 - Skilled Workers, Quality Jobs: Meeting the Needs of Wisconsin's Workers and Businesses
(PDF)
Two interconnected challenges are colliding in Wisconsin with potentially dire consequences for families and businesses. Demographic and workforce shifts are resulting in shortages of skilled workers for many industries, while at the same time many Wisconsinites aren’t receiving the education and training necessary to land a decent job with family-sustaining wages. A new report, Skilled Workers, Quality Jobs: Meeting the Needs of Wisconsin’s Workers and Businesses, addresses these two interrelated challenges and makes a series of policy recommendations to address them.
4/15/2008 - Pulling Apart: Wisconsin's Growing Income Inequality
(PDF)
The income disparity between
4/9/2008
Work & Wages News Coverage
Recent news regarding Work & Wages
- "Statistics on poor Wisconsinites mislead,"
The Badger Herald 4/29/2008
- "Well-Paying Jobs Going Unfilled in Wisconsin ,"
Wisconsin Public Radio 4/28/2008
- "Report: Minorities doing poorly,"
The Badger Herald 4/25/2008
- "Income Inequality “Attacks Common Sense”,"
ExpressMilwaukee.com 4/23/2008
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