Catherwood LibraryILR School

Eileen Applebaum, AnnetteBernhardt, Richard J. Murnane, editors.

"About 27.5 million Americans--nearly 24 percent of the labor force--earn less than $8.70 an hour, not enough to keep a family of four out of poverty, even working full-time. Job ladders for workers who lack a college degree have been dismantled, limiting their ability to get ahead in today's labor Market. Low-Wage America is the most extensive study to date of how the choices employers make in response to economic globalization, industry deregulation, and advances in information technology affect the lives of tens of millions of workers at the bottom of the wage distribution. Based on data from hundreds of establishments in twenty-five industries--including manufacturing, telecommunications, hospitality, and health care--the case studies document how firms' responses to economic restructuring often result in harsh working conditions, reduced benefits, and fewer opportunities for advancement. For instance, increased pressurefor profits in newly consolidated hotel chains has led to cost-cutting strategies such as requiring maids to increase the number of rooms they clean by 50 percent... Although employers' responses to economic pressures have generally had a negative effect on frontline workers, some employers manage to resist this trend and still compete successfully...Low-Wage America challenges us to a national self-examination about the nature of low-wage work in this country and asks whether we are willing to tolerate the profound social and economic consequences entailed by these jobs." [from the dust jacket]