April 20, 2009

Contact:
Leah Seupersad, 404-413-1354
University Relations

Usery Conference focuses on key labor market policy issues

Amitabh Chandra, a professor of public policy at Harvard University, at the W.J. Usery Workplace Conference April 17.

ATLANTA – Some of the most critical issues facing policy leaders today were discussed by top labor economists at the W.J. Usery Workplace Conference at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies on Friday (April 17).

More than a dozen experts spoke at the one-day conference on topics including, pensions and savings, health care costs and the workplace, employment trends among African-Americans, educational equity and public school teachers, job security, and lessons from the Great Depression and New Deal.

Among the speakers was Amitabh Chandra, a professor of public policy at Harvard University, who discussed the “Cost Growth of Health care and the Workplace.” Chandra said cost growth in health care stems from the adoption of new medical technologies that are often overused, and an excessive Medicare program that rewards the adoption of these technologies.

“Early spending in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s certainly generated a lot of survival, but a lot of this extra spending we are doing on high tech care does not seem to be generating the same kind of therapeutic benefit that we would like,” said Chandra, who suggested fixing the Medicare system by enacting payment reforms that promote accountability and rewards outcomes.

Experts also addressed issues facing the African-American community such as how employment, wages and the attachment to formal labor markets have deteriorated. Harry Holzer, a professor of public policy at Georgetown University, highlighted the need to improve education and early links to the labor market for African-Americans; improving incentives to take available jobs; and addressing barriers and disincentives for the large number of ex-offenders and non-custodial fathers.

Charles Clotfelter, Z. Smith Reynolds professor of public policy studies at Duke University, followed Holzer’s presentation with what he said was more dismal news about how public schools are becoming increasingly segregated.

“Despite our rhetoric we do not give equal education to all children,” Clotfelter said. “Schools are segregated. And in metropolitan areas it is the most obvious. We found that segregation is high and not getting any better and the Supreme Court has not made it any easier for districts that want to keep diversity.”

Teacher mobility within and across school districts often results in less experienced teachers assigned to the most challenging schools, Clotfelter said. Local wealth disparities in funding also lead to disparities in school funding and teachers salaries.
Clotfelter suggested a few ways to fix the problem such as implementing salary differentials within districts, balancing student bodies and reforming state finance to provide equity in schools.

“The reason that we haven’t done this is because I think we are basically okay with it,” Clotfelter said. “As a society we look at this inequity in the schools and we say sorry to leave it that way but that’s it.”

The conference, which was hosted by the department of economics, ended with a labor policy roundtable. The conference honors W.J. Usery, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor, whose long service in government and the private sector has helped enhance the well-being of workers and promote fairness in the workplace.