UC Davis experts: Employment

The following UC Davis faculty members are available for comment on various topics related to employment.

Employment in the 'new economy'

Sociologist and jobs scholar Vicki Smith can talk about change in the nature of employment that started two decades ago and put it in context to this year's recession. Her 2001 book, "Crossing the Great Divide: Worker Risk and Opportunity in the New Economy," analyzes work and employment in the new economy. She has studied a number of different industries for her book and can talk about those employees most likely to be hurt in a recession--as well as what it takes to survive-- and why we are in a different employment situation than in past recessions. "Over the last 20 years we have witnessed the erosion of the American employment contract," Smith says. "Even in years when companies were creating jobs and hiring workers, the jobs were characterized by lack of security and unpredictability." Contact: Vicki Smith, Sociology, (530) 752-6170, vasmith@ucdavis.edu.

California's potential for economic growth

Despite dire prognoses for the state's economic future, California tops the rest of the nation in its potential to generate productivity and wealth, says UC Davis growth economist Giovanni Peri. "Yes, we're in a down cycle," Peri says. "But what drives growth is what California has: a continued potential for innovation and the human capital gathered closely together in places such as the Bay Area." Peri studies the patents produced between 1975 and 2000 and which regions and states in the Western world are most successful in producing them. Most of the patents, which capture new ideas, are in the biotechnology, computer and telecommunication fields. Contact: Giovanni Peri, Economics, (530) 554-2304, gperi@ucdavis.edu.

Labor and migration

Philip Martin, professor of agricultural and resource economics, is an authority on migration and labor issues, particularly agricultural labor. He can discuss labor and migration as they affect U.S. and Mexico relations. He has published extensively on labor, migration, economic development and immigration policy issues and has testified before Congress and state and local agencies on those issues. He recently co-authored a report urging California policy-makers to develop strategies that will encourage and hasten the integration of immigrants into the state's economy and society. Contact: Philip Martin, Agricultural and Resource Economics, (530) 752-1530, plmartin@ucdavis.edu.

U.S. migration: Economic effects on home countries

Agricultural and resource economics professor Edward Taylor studies migration and its impacts on Pacific Rim countries, specifically Mexico, Central America and Ecuador. Taylor can talk about salary remittances as economic multipliers, how immigration promotes survival in native villages, and other economic issues triggered by immigration. He can also talk about the rural economics of the Americas and Pacific Rim. He is co-directing a $1 million national study in Mexico of the effects of immigration in rural villages with the assistance of El Colegio de Mexico, a national university system. Contact: Ed Taylor (fluent in Spanish), Agricultural and Resource Economics, (530) 752-0213, taylor@primal.ucdavis.edu.

Trade, foreign investment and wages

UC Davis economist Robert Feenstra has written extensively on the impacts of international trade and foreign investment, especially in Asia. Of special interest to him are the effects of trade and investments on wages earned by workers. In both the United States and abroad, the trend has been for the wages of higher-skilled workers to rise relative to those of less-skilled workers. This is a predictable response when companies in the United States "outsource" some of their activities, as has occurred especially with China Feenstra directs the Center for International Data at UC Davis, which distributes a large volume of international trade statistics over the Internet. He is also the director of the International Trade and Investment program at the National Bureau of Economic Research (Cambridge, Mass.). Contact: Robert Feenstra, Economics, (530) 752-7022, rcfeenstra@ucdavis.edu.

Entrepreneurial criminals

Some of the same attributes that create successful, legitimate business people may operate in the criminal world, says Bill McCarthy, an associate professor of sociology at UC Davis. His finding has broad implications for public policy. "Some offenders score high on measures of competence, they're willing to work with other people and they make decisions that increase their earnings," McCarthy says. "We bear a considerable cost imprisoning people like this who could make a contribution in the legal economy." Borrowing ideas from economic theories about the attributes that contribute to prosperity in legitimate enterprises, McCarthy says people who were the most successful at crime have a strong desire to succeed, specialize, are risks-takers and are willing to work with others. And, importantly, they are competent. Contact; Bill McCarthy, Sociology, (530) 752-1563, bdmccarthy@ucdavis.edu.

Media contacts:

Claudia Morain, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-9841, .

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Last updated Nov. 8, 2007