View the full project profile

Project Description

This study presents an analysis of workers who persistently have low earnings in the labor market over a period of three and or more years. Some of the these workers manage to escape from this low earning status over subsequent years, while many do not. Using data from Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics (LEHD) program at the U.S. Census Bureau, this project analyzes the characteristics of persons and especially of their firms and jobs that enable some of them to improve earnings status over time.

The following research questions will be addressed:

1. To what extent do low wage workers experience enough earnings growth over time to "escape" their low wage or poverty status?
2. Do the processes by which workers "escape" low wage or poverty status differ across demographic characteristics?
3. How important is wage growth within jobs, as opposed to mobility across jobs and employers, for those who escape low wage status?
4. What characteristics of employers contribute the most to success in the low wage labor market, and which workers are matched to these employers? How important is the quality of that match for achieving success in the low wage labor market, as opposed to individual skills and other attributes?

These issues are critical to the development of effective welfare-to-work policies, as well as other policies for low wage workers.

Project duration: - Dec 2002

Sites studied include CA;
FL;
IL;
MD;
NC.

Sample Characteristics and Sites Studied

n=121,040 random sample of individuals from the Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics program.

Recent Findings in Brief

Contact