The New Vulnerable: Being low wage and low income in the United States

Randy Albelda, University of Massachusetts Boston, Economics Department and Center for Social Policy

Randy Albelda is a Professor of Economics and Senior Research Associate at the Center for Social Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston.  Albelda’s work focuses on the low-income families and the intersection of employment and receipt of public supports.  A current project, with colleague Michael Carr, involves exploring the share of workers that are both low-wage and low-income in the US since the early 1980s.   Both the number and the percentage of low-wage workers that are also low-income have been expanding. This new vulnerable group of workers tend to operate without employer-based supports or anti-poverty benefits – the keystones of US social protection policies.  Albelda is the Graduate Program Director of the MA in Applied Economics.  She earned her Ph.D. in Economics from University of Massachusetts.  Photo:  Courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

Contact:  randy.albelda@umb.edu — contact – Center for Social Policy