Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/SarahCvonderLippe

Despite the passionate national debate over affirmative action, little attention has been paid to the fairness of government contracting--a potentially important factor for minority economic progress. To provide a national picture of how minority-owned firms are doing in the area of government contracting, the Urban Institute carried out a study of the extent to which minority-owned firms receive a representative share of state and local government contract dollars. The study reveals substantial disparities between the share of contract dollars received by minority-owned firms and the share of all firms that they represent. This report surveys the evidence, examines the economic and policy context, suggests a research agenda, and offers conclusions based on the data.

Many companies have adopted participatory workplace organization—quality circles, work teams, and the like. This report summarizes research about the extent to which employee involvement strategies have been adopted, trends, and factors that influence such strategies. Some concerns exist that these approaches may constitute a company union in violation of the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Furthermore, proposed legislation—the Teamwork for Employees and Management Act—would rescind the NLRA prohibition of company unions. To assess the effects of such proposals, this report identifies pertinent legal events and case law and evaluates the risk of NLRA violation when companies adopt participatory approaches.

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