The Future of Low Wage Work in Metropolitan America
Operational unit: CUNY Data Service
On October 10-11, 2008, the Center for Urban Research hosted a conference to present the findings from research focused on The Future of Low Wage Work in Metropolitan America. Academics, policymakers, and practitioners discussed our findings and shared their perspectives on the changing labor market and how to address the problems affecting low wage workers.
Conference Agenda (PDF)
CUR Presentation: Low Wage Work in Metropolitan America
The conference featured a presentation by Joseph Pereira, Peter Frase, and John Mollenkopf about how the workforce in metropolitan America has changed from 1980 to 2006, with a special focus on the changing composition of the low wage workforce. You can view the material from this presentation below:
- Executive summary (PDF)
- Full report (PDF) - in draft form for discussion purposes
- Detailed tables from the report (PDF)
The material listed above represents the first in a series of reports dealing with low wage work in Metropolitan America.
Selected presentations from the other conference speakers
Discussion of CUR research findings
Leslie McCall, Northwestern University/Princeton University (New Economic and Family Contexts)
Plenary
Robert Weissbourd, RW Ventures LLC, Chicago (Changing Dynamics -- Grads and Fads)
Perspectives on the Changing Labor Market
Frank Dobbin, Department of Sociology, Harvard University (Corporate Diversity Programs: What Firms Do and What Works)
New York City Case Study
Donna Wharton-Fields, Low-Wage Workers and Communities Policy, MDRC (The Conditional Cash Transfer Initiative)
Angie Kamath, NYC Department of Small Business Services (Innovations in the Public Workforce Development System)
The conference and research prepared by the Center for Urban Research was supported with funding from the Ford Foundation
