Research by Author & Topic

Publications by Robert I. Lerman on Job Mobility, Training and Opportunity

If you think apprenticeship sounds like a relic from centuries past — good enough for Ben Franklin but a no-go in a 21st-century economy — think again, Institute Fellow Robert Lerman explains in a commentary for thestate.com

This report analyzes a survey of a nationally representative sample of sponsors of registered apprenticeship programs. Commissioned by the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor, the survey includes questions about how sponsors (mainly employers) view their registered apprenticeship programs. The study analyzes these survey responses on the value, benefits, and drawbacks of registered apprenticeship, its integration with the workforce investment systems, apprentice completion and reasons for non-completion, and suggestions for possible improvement. In general, sponsors report highly positive attitudes about registered apprenticeship as a system for training their workforce.

This paper, written for the Workforce Alliance in Washington, D.C., analyzes data on recent employment and wage trends, as well as projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to analyze the likely future demand for workers in "middle-skill" jobs –- i.e., those requiring more than secondary school but less than a bachelor's degree. Contrary to recent assertions that demand for middle-skill jobs will shrink dramatically (creating an "hourglass" or "dumbbell" labor market), we find that demand for such jobs will remain quite robust. The growth in supply of workers with these skills will also likely shrink as baby boomers retire and are replaced by immigrants. Thus, education and training programs that help less-educated workers gain these skills remain a worthwhile investment.

View the entire report in PDF format.

In Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, several hundred thousand former residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast lost their jobs. In this paper we review some of the short- and longer-term challenges and uncertainties involved in tackling labor market issues in rebuilding New Orleans. We also present some policy proposals for addressing them. The needs of those returning to New Orleans, as well as those who choose to remain or go elsewhere, are considered. We argue that, for fairly modest public expenditures, the labor market disadvantages of many current and former residents can be addressed and their long-term employment outcomes improved.

This study examines the interplay between job stability, wage rates, and marital instability. We use a Dynamic Selection Control model in which young men make sequential choices about work and family. Our empirical estimates derived from the model account for self-selection, simultaneity, and unobserved heterogeneity. The results capture how job stability affects earnings, how both affect marital status, and how marital status affects earnings and job stability. The study reveals robust evidence that job instability lowers wages and the likelihood of getting and remaining married. At the same time, marriage raises wages and job stability. To project the sequential effects linking job stability, marital status, and earnings, we simulate the impacts of shocks that raise preferences for marriage and that increase education. Feedback effects cause the simulated wage gains from marriage to accumulate over time, indicating that long-run marriage wage premiums exceed conventional short-run estimates.

Education and training investments are critical to the continuation of healthy US productivity growth and to attaining adequate incomes for workers. Unfortunately, employer investments in worker training often fall short of the socially desirable level. This paper examines trends in employer provided training. Data are compared from the 1997 National Employer Survey, the 1995 Survey of Employer Provided Training, and the 1995 National Household Education Survey. Findings show that, in general, a large percentage of establishments -- approximately 70 percent --provide some form of formal training, and between 35 and 65 percent of all workers receive formal training. These estimates are higher than those found in previous literature.

Since 1994, the share of single mothers with jobs-the employment rate-increased by 25 percent while the unemployment rate for single mothers fell by about half, according to this first installment of the Single Parents' Earnings Monitor.

Urban Institute researcher, Robert Lerman, testifies before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on the American Worker at a Crossroads Project and specifically on Emerging Trends in the High Tech Workplace.