Labor Economics ((3))

Catalog description

This course examines labor markets from the perspective of several factors affecting the quality of life: wages/salaries and economic living standards; health/safety and other job characteristics; education; labor market discrimination; geographic opportunity and mobility; technology and productivity; distribution of unpaid housework; and time allocation between work and leisure. An effort is made to tie all results into public policies and how to create politically and economically feasible public policies that limit distortionary behavior. Focus is placed on understanding imperfectly competitive labor markets, and how workers, firms, and the government all play a role in determining how workers are hired, how they are paid, and how working conditions are determined. Topic coverage includes labor force participation, labor supply and demand, education and training, wage differentials, incentive pay, regional and occupational mobility, technological innovation, labor unions, and discrimination, poverty, and income distribution. Recommended: one Economics course.