Studies in the News is a very current compilation of items significant to the Legislature and Governor's Office. It is created weekly by the State Library's Research Bureau to supplement the public policy debate in California’s Capitol. To help share the latest information with state policymakers, these reading lists are now being made accessible through the State Library’s website. This week's list of current articles in various public policy areas is presented below.

Service to State Employees:

• When available, the URL for the full text of each item is provided.

• California State Employees may contact the State Information & Reference Center (916-654-0206; cslsirc@library.ca.gov) with the SITN issue number and the item number [S#].

• All other interested individuals should contact their local library - the items may be available there, or may be borrowed by your local library on your behalf.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE & LAW ENFORCEMENT

PRISONERS & PAROLEES

Staying in Jobs and out of the Underground: Child Support Policies that Encourage Legitimate Work. By Vicki Turetsky, Center for Law and Social Policy. Child Support Series Brief No. 2. (The Center, Washington, DC) March 2007. 8 p.

Full Text at: www.clasp.org/publications/cs_brief_2.pdf

["High levels of child support debt accumulating during incarceration can create an untenable financial situation for fathers in low-wage jobs. The reality is that most of these fathers will never be able to pay off the debt. Child support debt discourages fathers from taking and keeping jobs in the mainstream economy and increases the likelihood that they will generate illegal income to make child support payments or to support themselves."]

[Request #S74101]

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ECONOMY

INCOME

Economic Mobility: Is the American Dream Alive and Well? By Elizabeth Sawhill, The Brookings Institution, and John E. Morton, The Economic Mobility Project, Pew Charitable Trusts. (The Project, Washington, DC) May 2007. 12 p.

Full Text at: www.economicmobility.org/assets/pdfs/EMP%20American%20Dream%20Report.pdf%20

[“American men in their 30s today are worse off than their fathers' generation, a reversal from just a decade ago, when sons generally were better off than their fathers. The typical American family's income has lagged far behind productivity growth since 2000, a departure from most of the post-World War II period. The findings suggest ‘the up escalator that has historically ensured that each generation would do better than the last may not be working very well.’ “ Wall Street Journal (May 25, 2007) 1.]

[Request #S74102]

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EMPLOYMENT

ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

Innovative Employment Approaches and Programs for Low-Income Families. By Karin Martinson and Pamela Holcomb, The Urban Institute. (The Institute, Washington, DC) February 2007. 118 p.

Full Text at: www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411467_employment.pdf

["This paper is designed to assist states and localities in identifying innovative strategies to promote stable employment and wage growth among low-income populations. The paper presents a typology of four relatively broad employment strategies, and within each, a number of innovative approaches and several programs that exemplify each approach. The paper discusses why the approach is innovative and provides a description of the key components of each."]

[Request #S74103]

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No-Vacation Nation. By Rebecca Ray and John Schmitt, Center for Economic and Policy Research. (The Center, Washington, DC) May 2007. 24 p.

Full Text at: www.cepr.net/documents/publications/working_time_2007_05.pdf

["This report reviewed international vacation and holiday laws and found that the United States is the only advanced economy that does not guarantee its workers any paid vacation or holidays. As a result, 1 in 4 U.S. workers do not receive any paid vacation or paid holidays. The lack of paid vacation and paid holidays in the U.S. is particularly acute for lower-wage and part-time workers, and for employees of small businesses."]

[Request #S74104]

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Evolving Beyond Traditional Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance. By Stuart M. Butler, The Heritage Foundation. Hamilton Project Discussion Paper 2007-06. (The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC) May 2007.

["For most working-age families, health insurance coverage is directly connected to the workplace. But because of structural weaknesses in this traditional form of coverage, it is steadily eroding, especially for workers in the small business sector. The health insurance system needs to evolve along a different path if it is to adapt to the goals and needs of today’s workforce. Unfortunately, existing laws and insurance arrangements obstruct that evolution."]

Policy Brief. 8 p.
http://www3.brookings.edu/es/hamilton/200705butler_pb.pdf

Full Report. 38 p.
http://www3.brookings.edu/es/hamilton/200705butler.pdf

[Request #S74105]

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Paid Sick Leave: Putting Legislative Preferences before Individual Preferences. By Jill L. Jenkins, Employment Policies Institute. (The Institute, Washington, DC) May 2007. 4 p.

Full Text at: www.epionline.org/studies/EPI_05-2007.pdf

[“The first paid sick leave mandate was implemented in San Francisco in February 2001, but already many other cities and states have followed suit. There is little research examining its effects. Proponents focus on two key arguments: one moral and one social. The moral argument is that low-wage entry-level employees should be able to take sick days without worrying about losing income. The social argument is that a sick leave policy benefits society as well. We do not want the people serving our food or taking care of our children coming to work sick and potentially passing their illness along.' Each of these arguments packs a punch and neither is, strictly speaking, wrong, but neither tells the whole story either.”]

[Request #S74106]

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A Vision for the Future of the Workforce Investment System. By John Wallace. (MDRC, New York, New York) January 2007. 13 p.

Full Text at: www.mdrc.org/publications/440/concept.pdf

["The challenges of integrating workforce development, work supports, and retention and advancement services are truly enormous.... But the biggest issue has been culture change. All of this retooling and expansion of the skills of workforce development professionals requires, first and foremost, a recognition that One-Stops would be working with working people, not just unemployed people. Working people by definition have limited time availability and cannot be expected to wait (and lose money) for extensive application procedures or repeated call-backs to an office."]

[Request #S74107]

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What Drives Telecommuting? The Relative Impact of Worker Demographics, Employer Characteristics, and Job Types. By Margaret Walls, Resources for the Future, and others. (Resources for the Future, Washington, DC) October 2006. 26 p.

Full Text at: www.rff.org/rff/Documents/RFF-DP-06-41.pdf

["We find that the propensity to telecommute is increasing with worker age and educational attainment. At the same time, we conclude that the propensity to telecommute depends to a large extent on a worker’s job characteristics and that the quantitative effects of job characteristics are at least as important as demographic factors.... The industry and occupation categories that play a significant role in affecting propensity to telecommute do not have similar effects on telecommuting frequency. On the contrary, some other job-related factors show substantial influences."]

[Request #S74108]

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The Fiscal Cost of Low-Skill Households to the U.S. Taxpayer. By Robert E. Rector, Heritage Foundation, and others. (The Foundation, Washington, DC ) April 4, 2007. 56 p.

Full Text at: www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/upload/sr_12.pdf

[“An increasing the number of low-skilled immigrants would ‘dramatically increase’ the fiscal burden on taxpayers. Households headed by low-skilled workers -- people without a high school diploma -- received $22,449 more in government services and benefits than they contributed in taxes in 2004. That includes nearly all government spending, including direct benefits, such as Social Security, and public services, such as food safety inspection and parks. Over the next 10 years, the total cost of low-skilled households is estimated to grow to $3.8 trillion.” North County Times (May 13, 2007) 1.]

[Request #S74109]

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Dollars Without Sense: Underestimating the Value of Less-Educated Workers. Policy Brief. By Walter A. Ewing and Benjamin Johnson, Immigration Policy Center. (The Center, Washington, DC) May 2007. 8 p.

Full Text at: www.ailf.org/ipc/policybrief/policybrief_050807.pdf

[“An analysis of [a report] that focuses on the contributions that immigrants make, said the Heritage Foundation's study was ‘deeply flawed.’ The center's review calls the report's conclusions simplistic and a ‘dehumanizing portrayal of all workers, foreign-born and native-born alike, who labor for low wages in physically demanding jobs that are essential to the economic health of the nation.’ The children whose education is counted as a cost in the report often grow up to earn higher wages than their parents. The report also ignores immigrants' entrepreneurship and their spending power.” North County Times (May 13, 2007) 1.]

[Request #S74110]

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The Role of Immigrants in the U.S. Labor Market: Statement by Peter R. Orszag, Congressional Budget Office. Testimony before the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law. (The Office, Washington, DC) May 3, 2007. 13 p.

Full Text at: www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=8042&sequence=0

["The presence of so many people from other countries necessarily has important consequences for U.S. society. This testimony concentrates on one aspect of their presence that is of particular importance for the nation’s economy: their role in the U.S. labor market. The testimony addresses three topics: 1) the growth, characteristics, and earnings of the foreign-born workforce; 2) the impact of foreign-born workers on the labor market; and 3) implications for the future as the baby boomers exit the labor force."]

[Request #S74111]

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Who Earns the Minimum Wage?: Suburban Teenagers, Not Single Parents. By James Sherk and Rea S. Hederman, Heritage Foundation. WebMemo No. 1320. (The Foundation, Washington, DC) January 23, 2007. 3 p.

Full Text at: www.heritage.org/Research/Economy/upload/wm_1320.pdf

["Many support raising the minimum wage because they want to help low-income Americans get ahead. But minimum-wage earners are not much more likely to live in poverty than most Americans: Only 1 in 5 live in a family with earnings below the poverty line. Over three-fifths work part-time, and most are between 16 and 24 years old. Minimum wage-earners’ average family income exceeds $50,000 a year. And very few are single parents working full-time to support their families— fewer than in the population as a whole. Rather than raise the minimum wage, Congress should consider other ways to aid the working poor that actually provide help to those who need it."]

[Request #S74112]

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A Fish is not a Fowl: Tax Credits and the Minimum Wage. By Max B. Sawicky, Economic Policy Institute. EPI Briefing Paper No. 183. (The Institute, Washington, DC) February 27, 2007. 8 p.

Full Text at: www.epi.org/briefingpapers/183/bp183.pdf

["Tax credits are worthwhile in their own right, but they are not plausible substitutes for an increase in the minimum wage. Boosting incomes with a higher minimum wage avoids the dangers of reduced work incentives and larger marriage penalties in the income tax, escapes the burden of offsetting the cost of an expanded credit under the pay-as-you-go rules, foregoes the complexity of redesigning the tax system, and provides a benefit in plain view of the worker. Tax reform is a worthy endeavor, but it need not delay an increase in the minimum wage."]

[Request #S74113]

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Do Businesses Flee Citywide Minimum Wages? Evidence from San Francisco and Santa Fe. By Arindrajit Dube and others, UC Berkeley Institute of Industrial Relations. IIR Policy Brief. (The Institute, Berkeley, California) September 2006. 8 p.

Full Text at: www.iir.berkeley.edu/research/minwage_sfandsantafe.pdf

["In this brief we have reviewed the economic impact studies conducted for San Francisco and Santa Fe, the two cities with citywide minimum wages. These studies found no significant impact on employment or business closures. We have also presented suggestive data on the major retail stores in the two cities and found both a significant continuing presence of such stores and evidence of increases in the number of such stores.... We conclude that each of these types of evidence point toward the same result, namely that citywide minimum wage laws have had no significant impact on employment or retail store closures."]

[Request #S74114]

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Death on the Job, The Toll of Neglect: A National and State-By-State Profile of Worker Safety and Health in the United States [16th Edition.] By the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. (The Federation, Washington, DC) April 2007. 154 p.

Full Text at: www.aflcio.org/issues/safety/memorial/upload/doj_2007.pdf

["The nation’s workplace safety laws are too weak to effectively protect the nation’s workers. In 2005, there were significant increases in fatalities among Latino, African–American, foreign-born and young workers. On average, 16 workers were fatally injured and more than 12,000 workers were injured or made ill each day of 2005. These statistics do not include deaths from occupational diseases. Overall, the rate of workplace fatalities decreased slightly from 4.1/100,000 workers in 2004 to 4.0/100,000 workers in 2005."]

[Request #S74115]

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"Labor Force Participation and Human Capital Increases in an Aging Population and Implications for U.S. Research Investment." By Kenneth G. Manton and others. IN: Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, vol. 104, no. 26 (June 26, 2007) pp. 10802-10807.

Full Text at: www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0704185104v1.pdf

["The aging of the U.S. labor force will continue to at least 2034, when the largest of the baby boom cohorts reaches age 70. Thus, the average health and functional capacity of persons age 65+ must improve for sufficient numbers of elderly persons to be physically and cognitively capable of work. This will require greater investments in research, public health, and health care. We examine how disability declines and improved health may increase human capital at later ages and stimulate the growth of gross domestic product and national wealth."]

[Request #S74116]

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Older Worker Recruiting and Retention Survey: Global Results. By Manpower, Inc. (Manpower, Inc, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) 2007. 14 p.

Full Text at: Older_Worker_Survey_Results_FINAL_20Apr07.pdf

["This survey shows the results of an Older Worker Recruitment & Retention Survey of more than 28,000 employers across 25 countries and territories. The survey was conducted to determine the extent to which employers have recruiting and/or retention strategies in place for workers age 50 and above. The findings reveal that only 14 percent of employers worldwide have strategies in place to recruit older workers and only 21 percent have implemented retention strategies to keep them participating in the workforce."]

[Request #S74117]

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Older Americans in the Labor Force. By The Urban Institute. (The Institute, Washington, DC) January 2007. 21 p.

Full Text at: www.urban.org/center/ibp/Projects/upload/retirement-numbers-labora.pdf

["As the Baby Boomers approach retirement age, older Americans’ work decisions will have profound effects on the economy and the solvency of U.S. retirement systems. This chartbook provides snapshots of research that addresses five key questions about older Americans in the labor force: 1) how are labor force participation rates changing for older Americans? 2) what are potential consequences of an aging workforce? 3) why might people work longer? 4) what difficulties confront older workers and the employers who hire them? and 5) what are the benefits of working longer?"]

[Request #S74118]

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Looking Toward an Older Workforce: A Focus on New Mexico Employers. By Regina Sims and Joanne Binette, American Association of Retired Persons. (The Association, Washington, DC) April 2007. 42 p.

Full Text at: assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/econ/nm_worker_07.pdf

["While 52 percent of all New Mexico employers surveyed believe their business is likely to face a shortage of qualified workers in the next five years, only 24 percent are taking steps to prepare for the impending retirement of the Baby Boom generation.... Moreover, many employers are not currently using or developing strategies to address the needs of older workers who continue working beyond traditional retirement age.... Various agencies and organizations can help businesses address older worker issues. Nearly half of New Mexico businesses already turn to public sources, that is, federal and state government as well as private sources to obtain information on older worker issues."]

[Request #S74119]

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Characteristics and Pay of Federal Civilian Employees. By the Congressional Budget Office. (The Office, Washington, DC) March 2007. 37 p.

Full Text at: www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/78xx/doc7874/03-15-Federal_Personnel.pdf

["Federal agencies, which are among the largest employers in the country, employ workers who have widely differing backgrounds and skills to fill a variety of governmental roles. This paper describes some of the characteristics of employees who currently make up the salaried full-time permanent federal civilian workforce, as well as selected attributes of such employees who enter and leave federal service. The paper also provides information on the pay that those federal workers receive."]

[Request #S74120]

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Employee Tenure, 2006. By the Employee Benefit Research Institute. EBRI Notes, Vol. 28, No. 4. (The Institute, Washington, DC) April 2007. 12 p.

Full Text at: www.ebri.org/pdf/notespdf/EBRI_Notes_04-20071.pdf

["Public-sector workers’ median tenure with their current employer is about 80 percent higher than private-sector workers, according to this study. The study also finds that the percentage of long-tenured workers in the public sector declined in 2006 after a steady increase from 1991–2004."]

[Request #S74121]

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Federal Human Capital Survey. 2006. By the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. (The Office, Washington, DC) 2006. Various pagings.

Full Text at: www.fhcs2006.opm.gov/

["More than 221,000 employees responded to the self-administered survey, which asked for employees' views on such questions as talent capacity, performance culture and leadership quality within the Federal work environment.... Among the findings, the capacity and commitment of Federal employees for their work remains high. At the same time, the survey shows many Federal employees still do not believe high performance is properly recognized, nor are steps taken to deal with poor performers.... On the positive side, Federal employees are very satisfied with their benefits."]

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Implementing Personal Reemployment Accounts (PRAs): Early Experiences of Seven Demonstration States. By Gretchen Kirby, Mathematica Policy Research. Prepared for the Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor. (Mathematica, Washington, DC) 2006. 136 p.

Full Text at: www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/pdfs/PRA-interimrpt.pdf

["PRAs are a new strategy to help recipients of unemployment insurance build job skills and find work. PRAs combine individually managed accounts and bonuses of up to $3,000 for reemployment, to give unemployed workers flexibility in devising their own reemployment plan. Early findings show that states have maintained a high degree of flexibility and customer choice in the use of PRAs by placing limited, if any, restrictions on recipients’ selection of training providers. States have also allowed recipients to purchase a broad range of supportive services that help sustain a job search."]

[Request #S74123]

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Questions and Answers: California’s First Retiree Health Valuation. By Jason Dickerson, Legislative Analyst’s Office. (The Office, Sacramento, California) May 9, 2007. 9 p.

Full Text at: www.lao.ca.gov/2007/ret_health_val/ret_health_val_050907.pdf

[“Should the Legislature wish to continue providing eligible retired state employees with a comprehensive health benefits package, we recommend that it fund those benefits according to a long-term, actuarially based strategy using compounded investment returns... rather than relying solely on taxpayer and employee contributions.... Because of risks for additional costs in the future, now is the time to begin addressing the significant amount of unfunded retiree health liabilities that already exist. The state’s first valuation is an important tool for policy makers to use in this task."]

[Request #S74124]

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Workers Characteristics, Job Characteristics, and Opportunities for Phased Retirement. By Robert Hutchens, Cornell University and IZA. Discussion Paper No. 2564. (IZA, Bonn, Germany) January 2007. 44 p.

Full Text at: ftp.iza.org/dp2564.pdf

["This paper uses a telephone survey of 950 employers to examine employer-side restrictions on phased retirement. Not only did the survey collect information on establishment level policies, it also asked questions about a specific worker’s opportunity for phased retirement. The paper uses these data to first establish that employers are selective when offering opportunities for phased retirement. It then examines what worker and job characteristics are particularly important in the selection process."]

[Request #S74125]

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Selected Indicators in Workers’ Compensation: A Report Card for Californians. By the California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation. (The Commission, Sacramento, California) December 2006. 94 p.

Full Text at: www.dir.ca.gov/CHSWC/Reports/WC_ReportCard_Dec2006.pdf

[“This Report Card is a compilation of data from and for the entire workers’ compensation community. It is intended to be a reference for monitoring the ongoing system and serve as an empirical basis for proposing improvements. The Report Card will be continually updated as needed."]

[Request #S74126]

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"A New Look at Long-Term Labor Force Projections to 2050." By Mitra Toossi. IN: Monthly Labor Review (November 2006) pp. 19-39.

Full Text at: www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2006/11/art3full.pdf

["The U.S. labor force is projected to grow less rapidly between now and 2050 than it did during the 2000 to 2005 period because of the aging of the baby-boom generation and stabilization of women's labor force participation rates, although there will be an increase in ethnic diversity. Meanwhile, the rate of labor force participation is expected to drop to 60.4 percent in 2050, down from the peak of 67.1 percent between 1997 and 2000 and lower than 66 percent in 2005."]

[Request #S74127]

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Forces Shaping the Future U.S. Workforce and Workplace: Implications for 21st Century Work. By Lynn A. Karoly, RAND Corporation. Testimony presented before the House Education and Labor Committee. (The Corporation, Santa Monica, California) February 2007. 15 p.

Full Text at: www.rand.org/pubs/testimonies/2007/RAND_CT273.pdf

["By understanding the forces that are shaping the world of work and how those forces are likely to evolve over time, we can draw out the implications of those trends for workers, employers, education and training institutions, and policymakers. Key messages: 1) We foresee a redefinition of employer-employee relationships and work arrangements, toward greater specialization and more worker entrepreneurs.... 2) The skills of the U.S. workforce will determine how competitive our economy remains in a global marketplace.... 3) While education and training prior to starting a career will be important, the ability to retool and retrain mid-career will be essential at all skill levels.... 4) As the labor force grows more slowly, employers will compete to attract new workers, particularly those currently underrepresented in the labor force."]

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An American Imperative: Transforming the Recruitment, Retention, and Renewal of Our Nation’s Mathematics and Science Teaching Workforce. By the Business-Higher Education Forum. (The Forum, Washington, DC) 2007. 71 p.

Full Text at: www.bhef.com/news/AnAmericanImperative.pdf

[“Recognizing the innate and vital connection between top-caliber teachers, student interest, and achievement, we believe it imperative to focus on improving both the quality and the number of mathematics and science teachers. These recommendations span three crucial areas—teacher recruitment, retention, and renewal. The report suggests actions that diverse stakeholders can take to effect change, and outlines specific roles and strategies—from high-impact policy decisions to program ideas tailored to local schools.”]

[Request #S74129]

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Can California Import Enough College Graduates to Meet Workforce Needs? By Hans Johnson and Deborah Reed, Public Policy Institute of California. California Counts: Population Trends and Profiles. (The Institute, San Francisco, California) May 2007. 24 p.

Full Text at: www.ppic.org/content/pubs/cacounts/CC_507HJCC.pdf

[“By 2025 there will not be enough college graduates in the state to fill the demand for workers with advanced degrees. The demand will be so great that neither domestic nor international migration will be able to meet the need. The solution — more homegrown scholars and college graduates. The report suggests that some of California's luster, which for decades attracted highly skilled workers from other states, has faded. In the past decade, the high cost of housing has led to a net emigration, with people fleeing California for other parts of the U.S..” Ventura County Star (May 24, 2007) 1.]

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HUMAN SERVICES

LOW INCOME

Framework for a New Safety Net for Low-Income Working Families. By Olivia Golden and others, The Urban Institute. Low-Income Working Families Paper No. 7. (The Institute, Washington, DC) June 2007. 56 p.

Full Text at: www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411475_low_income.pdf

[“This paper conceptualizes a framework for a new safety net for low-income working families that is rooted in their most essential needs. It is organized around five key goals: 1) enabling parents to meet their family’s needs while working in lower-wage jobs, 2) helping families weather gaps in parental employment, 3) supporting parents’ job advancement, 4) helping parents combine work and child-rearing, and 5) improving children’s well-being and development. The paper describes these families’ circumstances, discusses gaps in current safety-net programs, and explores possible alternative approaches to meeting families’ most pressing needs.”]

[Request #S74131]

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[This section links to items in Studies in the News since the last Employment, Training, Vocational Education and Welfare to Work Supplement.]

EMPLOYMENT

"Employment." IN: Studies in the News, Issue 07-21 (April 2007) - 07-39 (June 2007).

[Includes: "Paid sick days for restaurant/hotel workers," "Getting immigration reform right," "Meeting need for college graduates," "Outsourcing technology jobs," "Misuse of H-1B program," "Court strikes LA living-wage ordinance," "Addressing state nursing shortage," and "Recommendations for older workforce."]

[Request #S74133]

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