follow us on Twitter

Work, Wages and Skills

High road economic development focuses not just on the number of jobs but the quality of jobs: compensation, job satisfaction, and opportunities for advancement. 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 service sector: the growing low-wage labor market in the U.S. which employs close to 50 million people. All too often, service sector workers find themselves 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 we can get smarter about moving even these industries toward high road results if we first learn about the problems both companies and workers face, and then provide quality-improving strategies through industry-labor partnerships and policy.

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 alternate 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.

Work & Wages Publications

Here are some examples of our Work & Wages publications:

• Wisconsin Job Watch - December 2011 Data Update (PDF)
  

  Wisconsin Job Watch provides a snapshot of the effects of the recession on Wisconsin jobs. The numbers are based on seasonally-adjusted Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled by the Economic Policy Institute.

  1/25/2012
• Making M.U.S.H. Energy Efficient (PDF)
  

  Retrofitting the nation’s public and institutional buildings for greater energy efficiency, financing these retrofits from the savings achieved, and requiring local-hire and job and advancement standards for those who do the work can provide the widespread high-road job creation needed in today’s economy. Publicly controlled buildings are an obvious place to focus for a number of reasons.
  There are almost 140,000 entities in this sector in the United States, including state and local governments, school districts, colleges and universities, and medical institutions. We estimate that these entities control about 16.5 billion square feet of floor space and use about 3.87 quadrillion BTU a year, at a cost of about $40.7 billion. The estimated cost of upgrading this building stock is between $38.3 billion and $61.2 billion. Such upgrades would save approximately $8.1 billion dollars per year and create between 164,690 and 428,400 FTE. 
  This report discusses the financial structures that can be used, the barriers to doing this work, and the policies needed to overcome these barriers and create high-road jobs.
  The paper is part of the Big Ideas for Job Creation in a Jobless Recovery project funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the W.E. Kellogg Foundation and organized by the UC-Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor and Unemployment.

  12/15/2011
• Wisconsin Job Watch - October 2011 Data Update (PDF)
  

  Wisconsin Job Watch provides a snapshot of the effects of the recession on Wisconsin jobs. The numbers are based on seasonally-adjusted Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled by the Economic Policy Institute.

  11/28/2011
• Wisconsin Job Watch - September 2011 Data Update (PDF)
  

  Wisconsin Job Watch provides a snapshot of the effects of the recession on Wisconsin jobs. The numbers are based on seasonally-adjusted Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled by the Economic Policy Institute.

  10/26/2011

See all related publications

Work & Wages News Coverage

Recent news regarding Work & Wages

• "Biz Beat: Wisconsin ranks 44th in private-sector U.S. job growth in 2011," Capital Times 1/25/2012
  
• "Where did Wisconsin's jobs go?," Isthmus 12/29/2011
  
• "State Lost 14,600 Jobs Last Month, Report Says ," Ashland Current 12/28/2011
  
• "Wisconsin Lost 14,600 Jobs in November," Wisconsin Public Radio 12/16/2011
  

See all related news