Divergent Paths: Economic Mobility in the New American Labor Market

Bernhardt (Center on Wisconsin Strategy, U. of Wisconsin, Madison), Morris and Handcock (sociology and statistics, U. of Washington), and Scott (educational statistics, New York U.) combined efforts in a five-year project examining new trends in career opportunities in the contemporary American labor market. Focusing on young white males, their study compares the experiences of a sample group of workers entering the job market in the 1960s to a sample of workers entering the market in the late-1970s. The study's results show increasing inequality between the upwardly mobile and the growing number of workers in low-wage careers. Areas of focus in the study include rising job instability; changes in the effects of job instability on workers' wages and careers; changes in long-term wage growth; the role of job stability in achieving long-term wage growth, and the extent to which education mediates this process; and the growth of the "low-wage trap." They conclude with a discussion of the causes of the increase in inequality, and policies which could reverse the trend. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)