Sociology and Political Science professor Lane Kenworthy
A jump in unemployment and stagnant wages exacerbate financial concerns in American households, as is evident with the mortgage industry meltdown. Analysts, politicians and pundits are struggling to find remedies for some of the nation's economic worries, and estimate their long-term impact.
Hoping to bring greater understanding to the discussion is University of Arizona sociologist Lane Kenworthy, who is working on a book that studies income inequality and employment in the United States and other developed countries.
Kenworthy came to the UA from Emory University. His current research is aimed at gaining a greater understanding of how affluent countries can move toward a reasonably low level of income inequality by increasing employment. High job employment, he argues in his soon-to-be-published book, "Jobs with Equality" (Oxford University Press), opens the path for governments to increase revenues that can be redistributed to alleviate the effects of rising inequality.
“As a social scientist I have been committed to the view that comparing is an important way to learn,” Kenworthy said. He has spent much of his career comparing U.S. economic policies and institutions with other countries.
“For much of the past two decades, analysts and policy makers have tended to believe that there is a trade-off between equality in wages and incomes and employment," Kenworthy said, "This is true, but the trade-off appears to be a relatively mild one. Countries can have low inequality together with high employment."
His analysis finds that the U.S. has a relatively high employment rate, but it does less well in equality of pay and household incomes. Some other wealthy countries have less inequality but also a lower employment rate.
Yet he found that there are some nations that do well on both equality and employment. Some of them have very different policies than the U.S., but others – Canada, for example – are not radically different. He concludes that the U.S. very likely could afford more equality without suffering employment loss.
His interests and research in economics and social science have led Kenworthy to create the blog, “Consider the Evidence,” in which he explores economic issues facing the nation. Topics he has tackled include the difficulty many American households now face in responding to economic distress, inequality in pay between women and men and the effect of inequality on economic growth.
Kenworthy views his work as part of an evidence-based discussion about policies that can contribute to a dynamic, just and equitable society. His book will be published in March.
Lane Kenworthy
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