Center for Labor and Community Studies / en Growing together or drifting apart? New study shows decline in wages despite job growth in Washtenaw County /news/growing-together-or-drifting-apart-new-study-shows-decline-wages-despite-job-growth-washtenaw <span>Growing together or drifting apart? New study shows decline in wages despite job growth in Washtenaw County</span> <span><span>admin</span></span> <span><time datetime="2015-04-03T11:40:52-04:00" title="Friday, April 3, 2015 - 11:40 am">Fri, 04/03/2015 - 11:40</time> </span> <div> <div> <div class="copy-media paragraph l-constrain l-constrain--large paragraph--type-text-media paragraph--display-mode-default"> <div class="text"> <p>The report, “Growing Together or Drifting Apart? Economic Well-Being in Washtenaw County’s new “Knowledge Economy,” was issued Monday.</p> <p>Researchers found broad-based declining wages from 2005-2013 that cut across worker status, age and education. The decline came even as jobs rose by 23 percent in the knowledge economy sector—including jobs in education and healthcare.</p> <p>“Many people assume that growth in high-skill knowledge jobs will drive economic growth. There’s a grain of truth there in that you can sometimes find very high-paying jobs when you attain a certain education level,” said CLCS Continuing Education Specialist David Reynolds, who worked with U-M Ann Arbor researchers on the report. “But we’ve also seen that, left to its own devices, growth in the knowledge economy will produce a lot of inequality.”</p> <p>Reynolds and his colleagues detailed that rising inequality in the report. While median real wages decreased by 9 percent during the period studied, the lowest-earning workers experienced the greatest decline in wages. By 2013, nearly a quarter of all Washtenaw County households did not earn enough to meet basic needs like housing and food.</p> <p>“This is not a sustainable pattern,” Reynolds said. “In communities where you have both this large inequality and this wholesale decline throughout the population—this does not lead to sustained growth.”</p> <p>The researchers recommended the county convene a task force of political, business and community leaders. The task force will look at how other communities have addressed similar situations and make recommendations for Washtenaw County.</p> <p>“For the knowledge economy to live up to its full potential, you need a conscious intervention. If you don’t plan for it, it’s not going to spontaneously produce shared prosperity,” Reynolds said. “There is enormous potential here, but we have to get deliberate about it.”</p> <p>The full report is available on the <a href="http://clcs.umd.umich.edu/?page=Research">Center for Labor and Community Studies webpage</a>.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div><a href="/interest-area/faculty-research" hreflang="en">Faculty Research</a></div> </div> <div> <div><a href="/organizational-unit/center-labor-and-community-studies" hreflang="en">Center for Labor and Community Studies</a></div> <div><a href="/organizational-unit/college-arts-sciences-and-letters" hreflang="en">College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters</a></div> <div><a href="/organizational-unit/metropolitan-impact" hreflang="en">Metropolitan Impact</a></div> </div> <div> <div>On</div> </div> <div> <div>Off</div> </div> <div> <div>Off</div> </div> <div> <div>On</div> </div> <div> <div><time datetime="2015-04-03T15:40:52Z">Fri, 04/03/2015 - 15:40</time> </div> </div> <div> <div>An increase in the number of professional and technical jobs in Washtenaw County has not improved economic standards for a majority of workers, according to a report issued by University of Michigan-Dearborn’s Center for Labor and Community Studies (CLCS). </div> </div> Fri, 03 Apr 2015 15:40:52 +0000 admin 68185 at Center for Labor and Community Studies opens at -Dearborn /news/center-labor-and-community-studies-opens-um-dearborn <span>Center for Labor and Community Studies opens at -Dearborn</span> <span><span>admin</span></span> <span><time datetime="2011-09-12T03:40:55-04:00" title="Monday, September 12, 2011 - 3:40 am">Mon, 09/12/2011 - 03:40</time> </span> <div> <div> <div class="copy-media paragraph l-constrain l-constrain--large paragraph--type-text-media paragraph--display-mode-default"> <div class="text"> <p align="center" style="text-align: left;">The University of Michigan’s long-standing Labor Studies Center has reopened at the University of Michigan-Dearborn as the <a href="http://clcs.umd.umich.edu/" target="_blank">Center for Labor and Community Studies</a>.</p> <p align="center" style="text-align: left;">The reinvented Center has broadened its scope to harness the power of the University’s commitment to civic engagement and will provide additional programs, research, seminars and other activities for the labor community and local groups.</p> <p align="center" style="text-align: left;">“The University’s geographic presence and commitment to excellence rooted in strong academics, innovative research and programming and civic engagement make it the right fit for the Center for Labor and Community Studies,” said Daniel Little, chancellor, -Dearborn. “The Center provides the University community opportunities for additional research and creates new opportunities for scholarship and community impact in southeast Michigan.”</p> <p align="center" style="text-align: left;">September 15-18, the Center will host the 16<sup>th</sup> annual Latina/o Workers Leadership Institute as its first event on campus. The conference brings together workers and leaders from a variety of organizations to learn about new ideas, strategies and skills to meet the challenges facing workers in today’s ever-changing workplaces.</p> <p align="center" style="text-align: left;">As part of the conference Gabriel Thompson, journalist and author of <em>Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs Americans Won't to Do, </em>will give a public lecture on Friday, Sept. 16 at 5 p.m. at -Dearborn's Fairlane Center building.</p> <p align="center" style="text-align: left;">Southeast Michigan has long been on the forefront of the subject of labor and education. Local labor leaders are optimistic the Center will strengthen the region’s educational offerings and community outreach on the subject of labor.</p> <p align="center" style="text-align: left;">“The connection between labor and the communities where we live is important to us all. This center will emphasize study and action where unions and neighborhoods come together,” said Mark Gaffney, president, Michigan State AFL-CIO. “I am very excited about University of Michigan-Dearborn’s Center for Labor and Community Studies and I look forward to working closely with the Center. Their first leadership institute for Latina, Latino workers is a great example of service by this Center for southeast Michigan.”</p&g