Economics of Work and Employment

Course Description

Summary

This seminar explores key questions about people’s laboring lives: Why do people work, and what makes work meaningful? How does work shape well-being and life experiences? We will examine both wage work in the labor market and nonwage work, such as care work within households, and consider how these forms of work intersect.
We will also investigate how ascribed social identities—including gender, race, and ethnicity—influence wage, employment, and occupation, and how work can illuminate notions of economic class and shape life chances. To address these questions, we will draw on labor economics while engaging with alternative perspectives from political economy, stratification economics, and economic sociology.

This course is designed for students in their second and third years of college. The course will involve close analysis of datasets. Prior knowledge of data analysis and familiarity with spreadsheet analysis are expected. Some knowledge of statistical theory is advantageous. You will present your arguments and analyze key concepts verbally and through written expositions, and utilize empirical findings to form your thesis and substantiate your arguments.