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HOME - FACTS - TABLES - VIDEOS - INFOGRAPHICS - AGENCIES - RESEARCH <br />Edwards, Kathryn and Kai Filion. (2009). Outsourcing Poverty: Federal Contracting Pushes Down Wages <br />and Benefits. Economic Policy Institute. <br />Kev Finding: From 2006 to 2007, the number of federal contract workers grew from 1.4 million to 2 million. Nearly 20% of <br />these contract workers were unable to earn a living wage and did not have the same access to healthcare and retirement <br />plans as provided to federal employees. <br />Cox, Lauren; Emily Timm; and Cristina Tzintzun. (2009). Building Austin, Building Injustice. Workers <br />Defense Project; The University of Texas at Austin. <br />Kev Finding: 71% of poverty -wage workers had no access to workers' compensation. When surveyed, union construction <br />workers were 58% more likely to know about their labor rights than non -unionized workers. Access to workers' <br />compensation is one aspect of total compensation and benefits and is especially valuable in injury -prone industries such <br />as construction. 20% of construction workers in Austin who experienced an injury were not able to take advantage of <br />workers' compensation due to their status as independent contractors. This cost was largely absorbed by public hospitals <br />caring for the injured workers. Removing workers' access to workers' compensation places the financial burden of medical <br />care on workers, as well as public hospitals and safety net programs like Medicaid. 71% of poverty -wage workers had no <br />access to workers' compensation. <br />Sonn, Paul and Tsedeye Gebreselassie. (2009). The Road to Responsible Contracting: Lessons from States <br />and Cities for Ensuring That Federal Contracting Delivers Good Jobs and Quality Services. National <br />Employment Law Project (NELP); University of California, Los Angeles; University of Illinois at Chicago; City <br />University of New York; Cornell University; Rutgers University. <br />Kev Finding: A 1983 Housing and Urban Development audit found an inverse relationship between wage violations and <br />quality of projects for federally -funded construction. Recommendations include instituting more rigorous criteria for being <br />a responsible contractor, establishing a preference for employers that provide good jobs with living wages, and <br />strengthening monitoring and enforcement. <br />Bernhardt, Annette; Ruth Milkman; Nik Theodore; Douglas Heckathorn; Mirabai Auer; James DeFilippis; <br />Ana Luz Gonzalez; Victor Narro; Jason Perelshteyn; Diana Poison; and Michael Spiller. ( " `). Broken Laws, <br />Unprotected Workers: Violations of Employment and Labor Laws in America's Cities. National Employment <br />Law Project (NELP); University of California, Berkeley. <br />Kev Finding: 26% of workers in low -wage industries had experienced a minimum wage violation in the week before. 9% <br />experienced retaliation when complaining to supervisors or attempting to unionize. 50% who reported injury on the job <br />experienced an illegal employer reaction. The respondents who were judged to be in an employment relationship but were <br />classified as contractors (mostly in -home childcare workers) faced higher rates of violations, including 89%ofthem earning <br />less than minimum hourly wages. Workers paid in cash on daily or weekly rates rather than hourly rates saw the highest <br />percentage of minimum wage violations. Recommendations include proactive investigative enforcement of labor laws <br />specifically regarding misclassification, and stronger legislation to address new strategies to evade liability. <br />Donahue, Linda; James Ryan Lamare; Fred Kotler. (2007). The Cost of Worker Misclassification In New York <br />State. Cornell University. <br />Kev Finding: Nearly 15% were construction employers, resulting in nearly 15% of the New York construction workforce <br />being misclassified. Over $175 million was lost to the unemployment insurance system. <br />Government Accountability Office (GAO). (2007). Employee Misclassification: Improved Outreach Could <br />Help Ensure Proper Worker Classification. <br />Kev Finding: 22% of independent contractors in the United States worked in construction in 2007. A majority of <br />independent contractors in construction were white, middle-aged men with at least some college education. These <br />demographic characteristics did not prevent them from being misclassified. <br />60 <br />