Copyright (c) 2009 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer Recent documents in Ben Zipperer en-us Sun, 31 May 2009 03:43:15 PDT 3600 http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/12 http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/12 Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:05:45 PST Ben Zipperer http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/11 http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/11 Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:00:48 PST This report uses data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey from 2004 to 2006 as well as data from the Congressional Budget Office to analyze the savings in prescription drug spending for seniors as a result of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA). The results show that the 1st income quintile of seniors experienced a fall in the rate of expenditures for prescription drugs and the 2nd income quintile saw a slowing of the rate of increase in expenditures. However, senior households in the middle- and upper-income quintiles saw a rise in expenditures for prescription drugs. Dean Baker Health http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/10 http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/10 Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:57:09 PST This essay examines the impact of unionization on the pay and benefits in fifteen important low-wage occupations. Even after controlling for important differences between union and nonunion workers--including such factors as age and education level--unionization substantially improves the pay and benefits offered in what are otherwise low-paying occupations.On average, in the low-wage occupations analyzed here, unionization raised workers' wages by just over 16 percent--about $1.75 per hour--compared to those of nonunion workers. Unionization also raises the likelihood that a worker has employer-provided health insurance or an employer-sponsored retirement plan by 25 percentage points. These union wage and benefit effects are particularly impressive given the widespread belief that many of the jobs analyzed here are inherently incapable of providing decent pay and benefits. John Schmitt Labor http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/9 http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/9 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:29:54 PDT Ben Zipperer http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/8 http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/8 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:27:58 PDT Ben Zipperer http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/7 http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/7 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:23:42 PDT Ben Zipperer Labor http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/6 http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/6 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:19:16 PDT Ben Zipperer Labor http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/5 http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/5 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:17:31 PDT This report updates an earlier report from January of 2007, which found a steep rise in illegal firings of pro-union workers in the 2000s relative to the last half of the 1990s. It updates the index of the probability that a pro-union worker will be fired in the course of a union election campaign, using published data from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). It also takes into consideration the increase in card-check organizing campaigns that began in the mid-1990s and adjusts the index for this factor.By 2007, pro-union workers involved in union election campaigns faced about a 1.8 percent chance of being illegally fired during the course of the campaign. If we assume that employers target union organizers and activists, and that union organizers and activists make up about 10 percent of pro-union workers, our estimates suggest that almost one-in-five union organizers or activists can expect to be fired as a result of their activities in a union election campaign. Since 2000, illegal firings have marred over one-in-four NLRB-sponsored union elections, reaching 30 percent of elections in 2007. John Schmitt Labor http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/4 http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/4 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:14:33 PDT This report details the sharp decline in African-American employment in manufacturing and the even sharper decline in African-American unionization rates. The study, which analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, shows that the share of American workers in unions continues to fall, but unionization rates for African-Americans have declined more sharply than for the rest of the workforce. John Schmitt Labor http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/2 http://works.bepress.com/benzipperer/2 Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:34:13 PDT Mixed-integer optimization model of emissions trading policy effects on the Chinese electric generating sector. Daniel J. Dudek Environment