>From: "Andrew Mitchell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: OW-WATCH-L Impact of workfare on the labour market >Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 10:27:16 -0700 >X-MSMail-Priority: Normal >X-Priority: 3 >MIME-Version: 1.0 >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Precedence: bulk >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: (Name WithHeld) > >An interesting piece of research landed on my desk yesterday, courtesy of >the Russell Sage Foundation. It studied the impact of workfare on the >macro labour market of New York City. The title is "Workfare's Impact on >the New York City Labor Market" and it is by Chris Tilly of the University >of Massachusetts at Lowell. > >He estimated that the "effect of the 30,000 current workfare placements of >home relief recipients is to displace 20,000 other workers, to reduce wages >for the bottom third of the workforce by 9%, or some combination of >these... The 9% wage drop would reduce average hourly wages for the lowest >30% of New York's workforce from $6.33 to $5.76. It is worth emphasizing >that this estimate is not for City employees alone. It implies that wages >will be 9% lower than they would otherwise have been for the bottom third >of the entire New York City workforce, both public and private." > >If the impact is divided between displacement and wage reductions Tilly >found that each additional 1,000 workfare slots would displace 330 workers >and lower wages for the lowest paid by 0.15%. > >The study can be found at http://tap.epn.org/sage/9701till.html. > >Andy Mitchell >
