Wisconsin Examiner‘s Erik Gunn covers union expansion in the Milwaukee suburbs. The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 an hour for more than a decade, and activists seeking to raise it have promoted …
COWS in the News
WUWM’s Lake Effect: Wisconsin’s Low-Wage Workers & COWS Annual Labor Report
WUWM’s Lake Effect interviews Laura Dresser about Wisconsin’s Low Wage Workers & COWS Annual Labor Report.
Running on MT Podcast – High and Low Road Economies With Dr. Laura Dresser
Running on MT hosts Matt King and Tony Palmeri talk to Laura Dresser about “low road” features in Wisconsin’s economy such as low wages, declining unionization, and a racial wealth gap.
6 Ways to Measure State of Workers
Wisconsin’s leisure and hospitality industry was hit hardest and had a net loss of 49,600 jobs statewide, according to COWS. “Even before the collapse, the industry’s workforce of waitstaff, bartenders, dishwashers, housekeepers, and others suffered …
Report: Unions weaker, wages stagnant in Wisconsin in recent years
Unions in Wisconsin are significantly weaker than they were a decade ago and wage growth over the past quarter-century was stagnant, according to a new report from COWS, a policy institute housed at UW-Madison.
Where Employment, Wages And Unions Stand In Wisconsin
Wisconsin Public Radio’s Central Time interviews Laura Dresser on the new “Working Wisconsin” report, tracking the trends in wages, jobs and organization for the state’s labor force during the last year. We find out about …
Better Wages, Stronger Benefits Key To Post-Pandemic Economic Recovery, UW-Madison Study Finds
“Many of the problems that the State of Working Wisconsin has documented for more than two decades were really exposed and exacerbated by the COVID pandemic and its impact on work,” said Laura Dresser. “The …
Wisconsin’s Labor Movement is Having a Big Moment
UW-Madison’s Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) released its annual State of Working Wisconsin last week. It showed union membership nationwide has been declining since it peaked in 1964. At that time, 1 in 3 Wisconsinites belonged to …
Will the end of pandemic-related unemployment benefits ease Wisconsin’s worker shortage?
Laura Dresser, associate director of COWS at UW-Madison, is skeptical of claims that characterize enhanced unemployment as a disincentive. Dresser pointed out that the San Francisco Federal Reserve study also found only a small fraction of workers receiving …
Labor unions see opportunity in worker shortage
Laura Dresser, associate director of COWS, blamed public policies for the decline. Dresser pointed out that in neighboring Minnesota, union density was actually higher than the national average, sitting at 15.8%, according to the U.S. …