Wage setting has historically been a deeply political and cultural as well as economic process. This informative and accessible book explores how US wage regulations in the twentieth century took gender, race-ethnicity and class into account. Focusing on social reform movements for living wages and equal wages, it offers an interdisciplinary account of how women's work and the remuneration for that work has changed along with the massive transformations in the economy and family structures. The controversial issue of establishing living wages for all workers makes this book both a timely and indispensable contribution to this wide ranging debate, and it will surely become required reading for anyone with an interest in modern economic issues.

Living wage activism has spanned time and space, reaching across decades and national boundaries. Conditions generating living wage movements early in the twentieth century have resurfaced in the twenty-first century, only on a global scale: 'sweated' labour, macroeconomic instability, and job insecurity. Upon reviewing the empirical evidence, the book's contributors make strong cases both for and against living wage activism. The effective blend of historical, contemporary, and global perspectives provides opportunities for teachers, scholars, and activists to evaluate how we can address low pay at the organizational and macroeconomic levels.

This unbiased look at the minimum wage debate in America traces the history of minimum wage policy at both the federal and state levels, discusses the controversies swirling around the issue, and examines the veracity of claims made by people on both sides of the debate. Minimum wage inspires debate among many Americans—from advocates who consider it beneficial to the poor and middle class to those who feel it leads to greater unemployment. This comprehensive overview examines the history, policies, and key players in the minimum wage arena and discusses the various controversies that have surrounded it. Author Oren M. Levin-Waldman presents a balanced approach to the topic, shedding light on legitimate evidence from both sides of the argument and debunking claims based on ideology, partisanship, and distortions of data. The book presents an historical overview from the early 20th century through the present day, exploring the various legal issues, benefits, and potential problems of low-wage labor markets. Contributions from key economists along with profiles of seminal figures and organizations present a variety of different perspectives and show the expanse of political, economic, and academic involvement in marshaling effective solutions. The content features informative data, resources for further action, a helpful chronology, and a thorough glossary.

This book provides the first detailed history of guaranteed income schemes in modern Britain. It examines past and present British social policy debate to argue that the case for recasting the UK's transfer state to incorporate a Universal Basic Income is increasingly powerful.

Bryan M. Evans, Stephen McBride, and their contributors delve further into the more practical, ground-level side of the austerity equation in Austerity: The Lived Experience. Economically, austerity policies cannot be seen to work in the way elite interests claim that they do. Rather than soften the blow of the economic and financial crisis of 2008 for ordinary citizens, policies of austerity slow growth and lead to increased inequality. While political consent for such policies may have been achieved, it was reached amidst significant levels of disaffection and strong opposition to the extremes of austerity. The authors build their analysis in three sections, looking alternatively at theoretical and ideological dimensions of the lived experience of austerity; how austerity plays out in various public sector occupations and policy domains; and the class dimensions of austerity. The result is a ground-breaking contribution to the study of austerity politics and policies.

This book makes an important contribution to the literature of public policy, political philosophy and political economy and the author argues that wage policy is an important component in the maintenance of democratic society.

Comprising five thematic sections, this volume provides a critical, international and interdisciplinary exploration of employment relations. It examines the major subjects and emerging areas within the field, including essays on institutional theory, voice, new actors, precarious work and employment. Led by a well-respected team of editors, the contributors examine current knowledge and debates within each topic, offering cutting-edge analysis and reflection. The Routledge Companion to Employment Relations is an extensive reference work that offers students and researchers an introduction to current scholarship in the longstanding discipline of employment relations. It will be an essential addition to library collections in business and management, law, economics, sociology and political economy.

This book provides an all-encompassing and timely analysis of the EU regulatory framework deriving from the enactment of Directive 2022/2041 on adequate minimum wages. In the first part, the book discusses the function of minimum wage policies in contemporary labour markets and the role of social partners and collective bargaining in governing minimum wage determinants and trends. The second part provides an article-by-article commentary of the Directive, including insights on crucial aspects such as the EU competence to intervene on wages, the concept of minimum wage adequacy, and the measurement and promotion of collective bargaining coverage. The third part assesses the impact of the Directive across the EU, focusing on the main systemic implications of the Directive as well as on the structural changes that Member States will need to implement. With contributions written by scholars and stakeholders from across Europe, the book sheds light on one of labour law's most fundamental objectives – to provide for adequate minimum wages. It is an invaluable resource for researchers, policy makers, trade unionists and employers' representatives.

This book offers an innovative, interdisciplinary approach to thinking about inequality, and to understanding how inequality is produced and reproduced in the global South. Without the safety net of the various Northern welfare states, inequality in the global South is not merely a socio-economic problem, but an existential threat to the social contract that underpins the democratic state and society itself. Only a response that is firmly grounded in the context of the global South can hope to address this problem. This collection brings together scholars from across the globe, with a particular focus on the global South, to address broad thematic areas such as the conceptual and methodological challenges of measuring inequality; the political economy of inequality in the global South; inequality in work, households and the labour market; and inequalities in land, spaces and cities. The book concludes by suggesting alternatives for addressing inequality in the global South and around the world. The pioneering ideas and theories put forward by this volume make it essential reading for students and researchers of global inequality across the fields of sociology, economics, law, politics, global studies and development studies.

Although there is a growing body of international literature on the feminisation of politics and the policy process and, as New Labour's term of office progresses, a rapidly growing series of texts around New Labour's politics and policies, until now no one text has conducted an analysis of New Labour's politics and policies from a gendered perspective, despite the fact that New Labour have set themselves up to specifically address women's issues and attract women voters. This book fills that gap in an interesting and timely way. Women and New Labour will be a valuable addition to both feminist and mainstream scholarship in the social sciences, particularly in political science, social policy and economics. Instead of focusing on traditionally feminist areas of politics and policy (such as violent crime against women) the authors opt to focus on three case study areas of mainstream policy (economic policy, foreign policy and welfare policy) from a gendered perspective. The analytical framework provided by the editors yields generalisable insights that will outlast New Labour's third term.