Study to focus on low wages

Published: Wednesday, November 30, 1994

$180,000 grant funds the School of Public Policy

By Gil Hopenstand

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Finding solutions to Los Angeles' low-wage employment problems may be only $180,000 away.

UCLA researchers at the School of Public Policy and Social Research received a $180,281 grant to investigate the problems of minimum-wage occupations in Los Angeles. By bringing together industry leaders and members of the labor force, the team hopes to find ways to increase productivity in targeted firms so that they can afford to pay higher wages.

"We want to get a better understanding on these (businesses) so that we can then provide them with specific opportunities for upgrading their industries," said Goetz Wolff, a UCLA urban planning lecturer and research team member.

The five-member group will specifically look at apparel, plastics and food production industries in the Alameda Corridor sector of Los Angeles. Wolff said these trades were chosen because of their long-term Los Angeles presence and their employment patterns of hiring many minority Latino workers.

"They are industries that provides jobs for people but not as good paying as they ought to be. We will be identifying needs of industries that might help them become more competitive. That leads to more productivity and can ultimately support higher wages," he said.

Improving low-wage manufacturing positions is currently critical because such local industries which employ approximately 290,000 people have been hurt by the recession. Recent political developments, such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), are also projected to affect the businesses.

Funds for the project were coordinated through the Lewis Center, a UCLA study center that specializes in Southern California research. The investigation is funded by the Haynes Foundation, a local institution which supports social research on the Los Angeles area. Organization officials said they selected UCLA researchers because of the school's integrity.

"They were realistically addressing problems, things that we thought were fundamental and that had promise to come up with a major solution," said Diane Cornwell of the Haynes Foundation, adding that the experience of the research team was also an important factor.

Cornwell added that competition for the funds was fierce, with UCLA vying against more than 50 other institutions.

The foundation also awarded UCLA's School of Education and Information Studies a $269,281 grant to study how "increasing social skills and academic motivation" decreases adolescent criminal behavior.

Both grants come less than a month after the School of Public Policy and Social Research received two lucrative federal grants.