WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The nation is experiencing its greatest employment crisis since the Great Depression, yet national policy makers hold widely divergent views about jobs, wages and now public-sector collective bargaining.
Prominent economic and employment experts will discuss the latest research and findings to inform policymakers on:
- unemployment and job growth,
- wage stagnation and the need for a new social contract, and
- the future of public-sector collective bargaining and pension reforms.
The 9 a.m. to noon Monday (June 6) briefing is hosted by the Employment Policy Research Network (EPRN) in partnership with the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA) National Policy Forum on June 6-7 at the Cafritz Conference Center, Elliott Room (310) at George Washington University 800 21st St. N.W. Washington, D.C., 20052.
Also sponsoring the briefing are the New America Foundation, the Economic Policy Institute, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the Center for American Progress and the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
EPRN was created with startup support from the Rockefeller and Russell Sage foundations to bring more evidence-based research and analytical focus into debates on critical work and employment policy issues. It is a network of more than 125 researchers from 50 major U.S. universities. In-depth EPRN research-policy briefings on unemployment, wage stagnation and public-sector collective bargaining are available at the EPRN web site.
Chairing the briefing session is Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Thomas A. Kochan, a Sloan School of Management professor. He will summarize the findings and policy proposals contained in the three EPRN briefing and policy documents.
Kochan said: "Our goal is to initiate and sustain a national conversation on employment and labor policies that will benefit American working families, support general prosperity and enable U.S. companies to compete more successfully in the global economy. It is high time that we act on these issues using the best research and policy ideas available."
Kochan and co-author David Lewin from UCLA will present the findings of “Getting It Right,” their EPRN research-policy brief on public-sector collective bargaining.
Daniel J.B. Mitchell, an emeritus professor from UCLA and EPRN senior academic editor, will moderate a panel discussion on public-sector pensions with Christian Weller from the University of Massachusetts, Boston and the Center for American Progress; and Iris Lav from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Then, Betsey Stevenson, chief economist at the Department of Labor, will comment on EPRN’s research and priorities from a policymaker perspective.
Stevenson will be followed by a roundtable discussion by researchers from several policy organizations, including the New America Foundation, the Economic Policy Institute, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Center for American Progress and the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
The session will wrap up with a discussion of future directions for the research network.