Contents

1. Opportunity and Advancement for Low-Wage Workers: New Challenges, New Solutions
By Richard Kazis

Part 1. Who Are the Low-Wage Workers in the New Economy? Who Employs Them?


2. Playing by the Rules, but Losing the Game: Americans in Low-Income Working Families
By Gregory Acs, Katherin Ross Phillips, and Daniel McKenzie

3. Low Earners: Who Are They? Do They Have a Way Out?
By Anthony P. Carnevale and Stephen J. Rose

4. Employers in the Low-Wage/Low-Skill Labor Market
By Paul Osterman

Part 2. Program and Policy Priorities: Strategies to Help Low-Wage Workers Advance

5. Staying On, Moving Up: Strategies to Help Entry-Level Workers Retain Employment and Advance in Their Jobs
By Anu Rangarajan

6. Promoting Access to Better Jobs: Lessons for Job Advancement from Welfare Reform
By Julie Strawn and Karin Martinson

7. Sustained Employment and Earnings Growth: Experimental Evidence on Earnings Supplements and Preemployment Services
By Charles Michalopoulos

8. Achieving Economic Self-Sufficiency through Asset Building: Opportunities for Low-Income Workers
By Coleen Dailey and Ray Boshara

9. Stepping Up: State Policies and Programs Promoting Low-Wage Workers’ Steady Employment and Advancement
By Carol Clymer, Brandon Roberts, and Julie Strawn

Part 3. Different Strokes: Overcoming Barriers Facing Particular Groups

10. Increasing Economic Security for Low-Wage Women Workers
By Vicky Lovell and Heidi Hartmann.

11. Career Advancement Prospects and Strategies for Low-Wage Minority Workers
By Harry J. Holzer

12. Latino Low-Wage Workers: A Look at Immigrant Workers
By Sonia M. Pérez and Cecilia Muñoz

13. Increasing Opportunities for Living Wage Employment: Targeted Industry Approaches for Less-Educated Males
By John Foster-Bey, with Beata Bednarz

Part 4. Institutions That Can Improve Low-Wage Workers’ Prospects: Community Colleges, Employers, and Labor Unions

14. Second Chances in Changing Times:
The Roles of Community Colleges in Advancing Low-Skilled Workers
By W. Norton Grubb

15. Opening College Doors for Disadvantaged Hispanics: An Assessment of Effective Programs and Practices
By Edwin Meléndez and Carlos Suárez

16. Workplace Education Investments and Strategies for Lower-Wage Workers:
Patterns and Practices in Employer-Provided Education
By Amanda Ahlstrand, Max Armbruster, Laurie Bassi, Dan McMurrer, and Mark Van Buren

17. Union Innovations: Moving Workers from Poverty into Family-Sustaining Jobs
By Brian Turner

About the Authors

Acknowledgments

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