Research by Author & Topic

Publications by Robert I. Lerman on Employment

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.

The increasing recognition of the importance of marriage for the social and economic well-being of children has led to demonstrations aimed at strengthening and stimulating healthy marriages. The next step is to ensure that factors closely linked with healthy marriages are addressed as well. This paper brings together research findings and policy ideas about the interactions between marriage, employment, and family functioning. It presents a framework and proposes several demonstrations aimed at improving employment and family outcomes for disadvantaged populations. The appendix reviews an extensive body of research on specific linkages between marriage, employment, and family functioning.

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.

[Washington Times] The debate over Social Security reform is growing more contentious with each passing day. Critics decry personal accounts as destroying the legacy of FDR's New Deal. Yet, FDR might well favor the proposed shift from social insurance to ownership programs if he were alive today. After all, he hated means-tested welfare (then called "relief") and supported Social Security and unemployment insurance partly because they would eventually allow welfare programs to wither away. Today, might ownership programs play a similar evolutionary role by lessening the need for social insurance?

The weakening economy and job losses after late 2000 posed a tough challenge for welfare reform's employment strategy. This issue of the Single Parent's Earnings Monitor finds that single mothers retained most of their post-welfare reform gains in employment and wages through the 2001-2003 recession.

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.

This study examines whether small minority- and women-owned enterprises (MWEs) use computers less than white-male-owned enterprises and whether higher levels of computer use increase productivity. We use data from a new telephone survey of roughly 1,100 firms and 45 in-depth interviews with business owners. The results suggest that: (1) Small MWEs show no tendency to use computers less than small firms owned by white men; and (2) Using computers for more business functions and/or more intensively for these business functions can raise the productivity and profitability of small MWEs.

Since the mid-1990s, single mothers have become increasingly successful in finding jobs and earning higher wages. Single mothers with the least formal education-—a group likely to participate in welfare programs—-have attained the most dramatic gains. These gains are consistent with the high employment of women leaving welfare, but it remains to be seen whether such gains can be sustained as the economy weakens.