Income Inequality
Creating Pathways To Success For Low-Income Workers
(L-R: Christian Weller, Heather Boushey, William Rodgers, Harry Holzer)
|
April 8, 2005
For low-and middle-income families, the nation’s prolonged economic recovery has offered little economic security. On April 8, 2005, the Center for American Progress hosted a panel of experts who explored the state of the labor market for low-income workers and discussed policy options to increase economic security through greater opportunities for upward mobility.
Video, Slides, & Transcript
• Christian Weller: Video
• Heather Boushey: PowerPoint Slides
• William Rodgers: PowerPoint Slides
• Harry Holzer: PowerPoint Slides
• Q&A Session: Video I | II | III
• Transcript: Full text
Note: All video provided in Windows Media format.
|
| Panelists |
 |
Christian E. Weller, Ph.D., Senior Economist, Center for American Progress: “We also want to focus on policy solutions. And I urge all of us, the panelists and the audience, to think about creative ways to think beyond just the minimum wage and education. What are other alternatives, what are other policy measures we can think of to really level the playing field?” |
|
|
 |
Heather Boushey, Ph.D., Research Economist, Center for Economic and Policy Research: “It didn’t used to be that we had this growing gap between rich and poor. There was always a gap, but it didn’t always used to be growing, and it’s not the case in other advanced economies. So I want to underline the fact that this is a choice. This is a social choice and it’s not – what’s gone on in the United States is unique.”
Featured Column: The American Dream? |
|
|
 |
William M. Rodgers III, Ph.D., Professor of Public Policy and Chief Economist, John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, Rutgers University: “So the conclusion is today the ’90s gains appear to be very fragile, especially for employment, and the recession and weak recovery have led to an erosion in the gains for African-Americans and women, and particularly the less skilled.”
Featured Column: More than an Economic Boom |
|
|
 |
Harry Holzer, Ph.D., Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown Public Policy Institute: “… advancement of low-earners depends not only on their personal skills, which, of course, are very important and no one’s denying that. But it also depends a lot on their employers and on the jobs that they have access to and on the employer’s human resources policy, how they pay, how they train, how they promote or don’t promote in many cases, and that that creates the overall opportunity set that a lot of people face in this labor market.”
Featured Column: Low Earners in the Labor Market |
More on this event and panelist bios