Waging War on 'Unemployables'? Race, Low-Wage Work, and Minimum Wages: The New Evidence
Capturing both popular and academic imaginations, recent literature contributions contest the standard treatment of minimum wage statutes as vehicles that enlarge the economic and social dislocation of vulnerable workers. A persistent strain of the current scholarship dedicated to progressive labor ideology implies that minimum wages or, alternatively, living wage statutes are necessary to preclude the degradation of low-wage workers. The publication of Simon Deakin and Frank Wilkinson’s recent article, Minimum Wage Legislation, constitutes yet another effort to destabilize the neoclassical consensus that emphasizes the adverse employment effects of wage regulation. Prescinding from orthodox economic analysis, Deakin and Wilkinson insist that there is a good efficiency-based case for minimum wage legislation. If the authors are correct, and if efficiency standing alone supports their normative viewpoint, then the contention that such legislation ought to be seen as a societal good might become tenable. Unfortunately, their claims are highly doubtful. Perceived through the lenses of American labor history, classical liberalism, Critical Race Theory and neoclassical economics, the authors’ allegations signify the capitulation of reasoned analysis to ideology. Rather than supporting the interest of the public or of vulnerable workers, their starkly conventional and progressive approach to labor law reform recalls John Stuart Mill’s embrace of Social Darwinism and consequent exclusion of inferior classes of workers. The authors’ approach also verifies Mill’s observation that modern liberal democracy - operating consistently with the goals of exclusion - is insufficient to protect disfavored groups and individuals from the coercive power authorized by a majority or its hierarchs. Since Deakin and Wilkinson’s credulous claims are in harmony with more than a century of progressive policies, and since the normative and prudential case for raising or retaining the minimum wage remains weak, marginalized members of society have much to fear from their analysis.
Examining the association of changes in minimum wage with health across race/ethnicity and gender in the United States
The minimum wage creates both winners (through wage increases) and—potentially—losers (through job losses). Research on the health effects of minimum wage policies has been sparse, particularly across gender and among racial/ethnic minorities. We test the impact of minimum wage increases on health outcomes, health behaviors and access to healthcare across gender and race/ethnicity. Using 1993–2014 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, variables for access to healthcare (insurance coverage, missed care due to cost), health behavior (exercise, fruit, vegetable and alcohol consumption) and health outcomes (self-reported fair/poor health, hypertension, poor physical health days, poor mental health days, unhealthy days) were regressed on the product of the ratio of the 1-year lagged minimum wage to the state median wage and the national median wage, using Linear Probability Models and Poisson Regression Models for dichotomous and count outcomes, respectively. Regressions (total population, gender-stratified, race/ethnicity stratified (white, black, Latino), gender/race/ethnicity stratified and total population with interaction terms for race/ethnicity/gender) controlled for state-level ecologic variables, individual-level demographics and fixed-effects (state and year). Results were adjusted for complex survey design and Bonferroni corrections were applied to p-values such that the level of statistical significance for a given outcome category was 0.05 divided by the number of outcomes in that category. Minimum wage increases were positively associated with access to care among white men, black women and Latino women but negatively associated with access to care among white women and black men. With respect to dietary quality, minimum wage increases were associated with improvements, mixed results and negative impacts among white, Latino and black men, respectively. With respect to health outcomes, minimum wage increases were associated with positive, negative and mixed impacts among white women, white men and Latino men, respectively. While there is enthusiasm for minimum wage increases in the public health community, such increases may have to be paired with deliberate strategies to protect workers that might be vulnerable to economic dislocation. Such strategies may include more robust unemployment insurance or increased access to job training for displaced workers.
A STUDY ON ORGANIZED RETAILING AND ITS CHALLENGES AND RETAIL CUSTOMER SERVICES
India is becoming most favored retail destination in the world. Today retail sector contributing 10% to countryâ€™s GDP. Indian retail industry is ranked among the ten largest retail markets in the world. The change of attitudes of Indian consumers and the emergence of organized retail formats have transformed the face of retailing in India. Organized retailing offers huge potential for future growth of retailing in India. This paper provides information about the growth of retailing in India. And also focuses on the challenges faced by organized retail sector in India. It also emphasize on major players of retailers in India and customer services provided by the retailers. This paper also deals with various retail formats and the opportunities for the growth of retail industry in India and also provides some suggestions to overcome the challenges.