February 2007 (18)
Editor: Terence K. Huwe
Contributors: Elizabeth del Rocío Camacho, Janice Kimball


IRLE News & Events
Spring 2007 Colloquium Series
UC Regents Approve the Miguel Contreras Program
2006-07 Labor and Employment Research Fund Grants Awarded to the UCB Campus
George Strauss Receives Lifetime Achievement Awards from LERA
Recent IRLE Working Papers
IRLE Working Papers: Annual Statistics and Top Ten Papers by Download


IRLE Program News
The Labor Center
California Public Employee Relations
Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Institute of Industrial Relations Library
The Labor Project for Working Families


Campus Events
Center for Chinese Studies
Center for Latin American Studies
Economics Department
Haas School of Business
Institute of European Studies
Institute of Management, Innovation and Organization
Public Health



IRLE NEWS & EVENTS


Spring Colloquia at IRLE

Additional presentations will be announced soon.
RSVP to Myra Armstrong, zulu2@berkeley.edu

Monday, January 29, 2007 - 12PM

"Executive Compensation: Pay without Performance"

Jesse Fried, Professor of Law, Boalt Hall School of Law
Faculty Co-Director, Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy

Paper:
http://www.irle.berkeley.edu/events/spring07/fried/pay_without_performance_overview.pdf

February 5, 2007

The Effects of Minimum Wages on Unemployment Durations

Roberto Pedace, Claremont Graduate University

February 12

"Teacher Pay: New Insights and Additional Data"

Sylvia Allegretto, Economist, Economic Policy Institute, Washington, D.C.

Paper:
http://www.irle.berkeley.edu/events/spring07/allegretto/HowDoesTeacherPayCompare.pdf

Wednesday, February 21, 2007, 12PM

"Unionizing Wal-Mart in China"
Co-sponsored with the Center for Chinese Studies, UC Berkeley

Tong Xin, Vice Director, Sociology Department, Peking University; Director of the China Workers Research Center



UCLA and UC Berkeley Labor Programs Formally Recognized by the Regents Under the New Miguel Contreras Program

By Kathleen Maclay, Media Relations

BERKELEY � The University of California, Berkeley's Institute of Industrial Relations and Center for Labor Research and Education - along with their counterpart programs based at UCLA - will become affiliated with an umbrella virtual organization named for prominent state labor leader Miguel Contreras.

The UC Board of Regents' Subcommittee on Educational Policy today (Wednesday, Jan. 17) unanimously approved a proposal for the move. It was submitted by ex-officio UC Regent and State Assembly Speaker Fabian N��ez (D-Los Angeles) in honor of Contreras, the former head of the 800,000-strong Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Contreras died in 2005 at the age of 52.

During the Regents' meeting at UCSF's Mission Bay complex, union supporters, rank-and-file workers and others - including Contreras' widow and labor activist Maria Elena Durazo, spoke about the significant contributions of Contreras as well as of UC's labor studies. UC President Robert Dynes, an ex-officio member of the Regents, also spoke in support of affiliating the UC Berkeley and UCLA labor efforts with the Miguel Contreras Labor Program.

The full Board of Regents then voted unanimously to approve the name at its January 18 meeting.

Contreras began union organizing at the age of 17 with the United Farmworkers Union, and became one of the most influential Latino leaders in Los Angeles. He also was a strong proponent of education, particularly for the children of low-income workers. Contreras mentored many aspiring political leaders, including N��ez.

Last week, Gov. Schwarzenegger proposed to eliminate state budget funding for the UC Berkeley, UCLA and additional system-wide labor programs administered through the UC Office of the President for the fourth time in three straight years. He dropped a similar tact last year after strong opposition within political circles as well as within academia and the labor field.

N��ez has predicted that the governor will reverse himself again and restore the funds. The UC Office of the President has also pledged to pursue continuation of state funding for the research programs, which represent the only labor research and education spending in the UC system.

University of California labor programs began 60 years ago when former UC President Clark Kerr founded and became the first director of the Institute of Industrial Relations at UC Berkeley. The same year, a similar institute was created at UCLA, and 20 years later, the Center for Labor Research and Education was established - one at each institute - to carry out service and outreach activities with union and community partners.

In 2000, new state budget appropriations of $6 million led to expanding existing programs at UC Berkeley and UCLA and established a statewide faculty research fund and financing for labor studies on all UC campuses. The funds are administered by the Office of the President.

In recent years, UC labor research has focused on employment trends, union density, health care policy, and job quality in immigrant and African American communities. Education programs have included leadership development programs for union leaders, and for women and people of color.


2006-07 Labor and Employment Research Fund Grants Awarded to the UCB Campus

Faculty Grants

Research and Data Generation Grants

Clair Brown, Economics
How Are California's High-Tech Engineers Affected by Immigration?

William Dow, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment
Employer-Level Effects of an Employer Health Spending Mandate

Peter Evans, Sociology
Building Public Data on Global Corporations and Labor Rights Campaigns

Sean Farhang, Public Policy
Private Litigation, Public Regulation, and Equal Employment Opportunity

Sylvia Guendelmann, Public Health
Balancing Work and Family: The Relationship between Pre and Postpartum Maternity Leave Arrangements and Breastfeeding

Terry Huwe, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment
Digitization of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, Proceedings and Papers, Phase I

Enrico Moretti, Economics
Social Interactions, Peer Effects and Optimal Workplace Diversity: Evidence from California Supermarket Workers

John Quigley, Public Policy
Housing, Commuting and Working Families: Affordability Conditions in Metropolitan Areas

Emmanuel Saez, Economics
The Effects of Tax and Transfer Information on Labor Supply Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment with H&R Block

Graduate Student Awards

Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships
Kritel Acacio, Sociology
Constructing an Immigrant Ethnic Niche: The Role of the Migration Industry in Recruiting Filipino Nurses to the United States

Carl (Barry) Eidlin, Sociology
Strategic Response to Organizational Crisis/Opportunity: The Transformation of U.S. and Canadian Unions, 1933-1955

Erik Howell, Architechture
Building the Workers' Public Sphere: Urban Space and Class Relations in San Francisco's Mission District, 1906-1970

Gretchen Purser, Sociology
Mopping Up and Wringing Out the Contemporary Reserve Army of Labor: the Day Labor Industry in Oakland and Baltimore Lucas Ronconi, Public Policy
Enforcement and Complicance with Labor Regulations in Latin America

Kerry Woodward, Sociology
Beyond 'Work First': An Empowering Approach to Welfare to Work Programs

Pre-Dissertation and Master's Fellowships

Erin Metcalf, Economics
The Local Labor Market Impacts of Immigration: A General Equilibrium Analysis

Suresh Naidu, Economics
The Effects of a Strike on Political Behavior: Evidence from California Grocery Workers

Mark Nelson, Sociology
The Keys to Enhancing Racial Diversity in the Skilled Trades: A Comparison of Affirmative Action Strategies in Memphis, Seattle, and Washington, D. D.

Mini-Grants

Daniel Acland, Economics
The Effect of Minimum Wage Termination on Wages: Evidence from State Minimum Wage Laws in the 1920's

Ming Chen, Law
Your Family and Your Future: Jobs and Education as 'Pull Factors' for Undocumented Migrants in California

Shannon Gleeson, Sociology
The Intersection of Legal Status and Stratification - The Paradox of Immigration Law and Labor Protections in the United States

Gabriel Hetland, Sociology
The Labor of Community and the Community of Labor: Understanding Union, Community and State Collaboration Against the Neoliberal Logic of the Market In New York City's Retail Sector

Michael Levien, Sociology
Counter-Hegemonic Globalization in India: The National Alliance of People's Movements

Taek-Jin Shin, Sociology
Shareholder Value Firms and American Labor Market, 1980-2000

Other Recent Sponsored Research

Juliann Sum

Funder: California Dept. of Industrial Relations
Project Title: Technical Support to Clarify and Streamline Workers' Compensation Rights and Procedures

Abstract: Legislative and regulatory changes continue to pose challenges for injured workers, employers, insurers, unions, and other participants in the workers' compensation system. Juliann Sum has been providing on-going technical support to the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation. Her work at this time will focus on the following areas: return-to-work; analysis of the impact of medical care reforms; coordinating occupational and non-occupational medical services; Meetings on access and fraud issues.

Marcy Whitebook

Funder: Rutgers University
Project Title: New Jersey Preschool Director Survey

Abstract: The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, Institute of Industrial Relations, University of California at Berkeley, is collaborating with the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers to conduct a survey of Abbott Preschool teachers, by developing and implementing a companion survey of Abbott Preschool directors of community-based centers. Their goals are to understand directors' experience and perspectives on the challenges and successes involved in integrating Abbott Preschool classrooms into their existing programs, developing an expanded and more highly education preschool teacher workforce within a relatively short period of time, and the impacts of these teacher personnel issues on other areas of program operation.

Marcy Whitebook

Funder: The Schumann Fund for New Jersey
Project Title: New Jersey Preschool Director Survey

Abstract: This funding from The Schumman Fund of New Jersey will support the Abbott Preschool study that Marcy Whitebook and her Center are conducting with the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University.


George Strauss Receives Lifetime Achievement Awards from LERA

In January the Labor Employment Research Association (formerly the IRRA) conferred its Lifetime Achievement Award on both GeorgeStrauss, . This much-deserved recognition reflects George sustained efforts in teaching, research and writing. Another of our faculty, David Brody, is a previous recipient of this award. IRLE is proud to join LERA in recognizing two of our own distinguished emeriti.


Recent IRLE Working Papers

Clair Brown and Greg Linden, "Semiconductor Engineers in a Global Economy" (January 25, 2007). Institute of Industrial Relations. Institute of Industrial Relations Working Paper Series. Paper iirwps-143-07.

http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/iirwps-143-07
[no abstract]

Sebastian Etchemendy and Ruth Berins Collier, "Down But Not Out: The Recovery of a Downsized Labor Movement in Argentina (2002-2006)" (January 25, 2007). Institute of Industrial Relations. Institute of Industrial Relations Working Paper Series. Paper iirwps-141-07.

http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/iirwps-141-07

The shift from state-led ISI to more market-oriented economic models often has the result of shrinking and demobilizing the labor movement. Yet, evidence from Argentina suggests that a subsequent resurgence of even a down-sized labor movement may occur and furthermore that "neocorporatist" patterns may be established in the new economic context. We examine the recent resurgence of the Argentine labor movement and the establishment of a new form of interest intermediation, more akin to that in the more coordinated economies in Europe than to either liberal or traditional populist forms. We argue that the emergence of such a pattern may be driven by economic and political factors that are both immediate and longer-term. In addition to the short-term condition of the labor market and the political strategy of the government in power, of longer-term importance are structural and institutional conditions that derive from the earlier process of market reform, specifically the nature of sectoral shifts in the economy and the degree of labor law deregulation affecting the "associational power" of unions.

Rucker C. Johnson and Robert F. Schoeni, "The Influence of Early-Life Events on Human Capital, Health Status, and Labor Market Outcomes Over the Life Course " (January 2, 2007). Institute of Industrial Relations. Institute of Industrial Relations Working Paper Series. Paper iirwps-140-07.

http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/iirwps-140-07

Using nationally representative data from the US, this study provides evidence on the relationship between early life conditions and cognition, human capital accumulation, labor market outcomes, and health status in adulthood. We find that poor health at birth and limited parental resources (including low income, lack of health insurance, and unwanted pregnancy) interfere with cognitive development and health capital in childhood, reduce educational attainment, and lead to worse labor market and health outcomes in adulthood. These effects are substantial, and they are robust to the inclusion of sibling fixed effects and an extensive set of controls. The results reveal that low birth weight ages you by 12 years, increases the odds of dropping out of high school by one-third, lowers labor force participation by 5 percentage points, and reduces labor market earnings by roughly 15 percent. Not only are socioeconomic factors determinants of poor birth outcomes, but they also influence the lasting impacts of poor infant health when it occurs. In particular, the negative long-run consequences of low birth weight are larger among children whose parents did not have health insurance. While poor birth outcomes reduce human capital accumulation, this consequence explains only 10% of the total effect of low birth weight on labor market earnings. The study also finds that racial differences in adult health can be explained by a few early life factors: birth weight, parental income, and parental health insurance coverage. Finally, the paper sheds light on the well known strong relationship between education and health outcomes; we find that sibling models that account for time-invariant family factors reduce the effects of education on health substantially, but the remaining effects are large. Taken together, the evidence is consistent with a negative reinforcing intergenerational transmission of disadvantage within the family; parental economic status influences birth outcomes, birth outcomes have long reaching effects on health and economic status in adulthood, which in turn leads to poor birth outcomes for one's own children.

Ximing Wu and Jeffrey M. Perloff, "Information-Theoretic Deconvolution Approximation of Treatment Effect Distribution" (January 25, 2007). Institute of Industrial Relations. Institute of Industrial Relations Working Paper Series. Paper iirwps-142-07.

http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/iirwps-142-07

This study proposes an information-theoretic deconvolution method to approximate the entire distribution of individual treatment effect. This method uses higher-order information implied by the standard average treatment effect estimator to construct a maximum entropy approximation to the treatment effect distribution. This method is able to approximate the underlying distribution even if it is entirely random or dependent on unobservable covariates. The asymptotic properties of the proposed estimator is discussed. This estimator is shown to minimize the Kullback-Leibler distance between the underlying distribution and the approximations. Monte Carlo simulations and experiments with real data demonstrate the efficacy and flexibility of the proposed deconvolution estimator. This method is applied to data from the U.S. Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) program to estimate the distribution of its impact on individual earnings.


IRLE Working Paper Downloads: Top Ten Papers

Full-Text Downloads for July 1, 2005 through December 31, 2006 for the IRLE Working Paper Series

Total Downloads, All Papers: 126,448

Top Ten Papers by Downloads

Arin Dube, Barry Eidlin and Bill Lester:
Impact of Wal-Mart Growth on Earnings throughout the Retail Sector in Urban and Rural Countieshttp:
http;//repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/iirwps-126-05
5,080

Marcy Whitebook:
Working for worthy wages: The child care compensation movement, 1970-2001
http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/cscce/2002-001
2,430

George Strauss
The Future of Human Resources Management
http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/iirwps-003-87
3,127

James R. Lincoln, Didier Guillot
Durkheim and Organizational Culture
http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/iirwps-108-04
1,707

Christina L. Ahdmadjian, James R. Lincoln
Keiretsu, Governance, and Learning: Case Studies in Change from the Japanese Automotive Industry
http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/iirwps-076-00
1,666

Jeffrey A. Alexander, Joan R. Bloom, and Beverly A. Nuchols
Nursing Turnover and Hospital Efficiency: An Organization Level Analysis
http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/iirwps-023-91
1,550

Jeffrey Alexander, Beverly Nuchols, Joan Bloom, and Shoou-Yih D. Lee
Organizational Demography and Turnover: An Examination of Multiform and Non-Linear Heterogeneity
http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/iirwps-052-93
1,548

Joan R. Bloom, Jeffrey A. Alexander, and Beverly A. Nuchols
Staffing Patterns and Hospital Efficiency
http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/iirwps-053-93
1,454

Clair Brown, Michael Reich, and David Stern
Becoming a High-Performance Work Organization: The Role of Security, Employee Involvement, and Training
http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/iirwps-045-92
1,427

Ximing Wu and Jeffrey M. Perloff
China's Income Distribution, 1985-2001
http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/iirwps-117-05/
1,422