37:575:100 Chap.9 Public Policy and the Future of Work
Public Policy and the Future of Work
From problems to policy
Week 14 closes the course by asking what public policy could do about the problems of the earlier units. The readings pair a video game union's first contract at Microsoft in 2025 with a California bill to regulate the fast food industry in 2022, two routes to better work: one through bargaining and one through law.
The videos add automation in hiring, a biased recruiting algorithm, public investment and work and family policy.
Floors set by law
Several policies have already appeared in the course. Minimum-wage laws, pushed by the Fight for $15, raised pay across whole cities and states.
Just-cause laws such as New York City's for fast-food workers limit at-will firing, and similar efforts were under way in Seattle, Illinois and New Jersey.
The United States does not require employers to provide paid parental leave, vacation or sick leave, which the gender slides link to the pay gap.
Rights to bargain
A bill that would have let the National Labor Relations Board fine employers for breaking labor law stalled in the Senate for lack of sixty votes.
Policies that make organizing easier work differently from wage floors: they let workers negotiate their own terms, including how new technology is introduced.
Technology and the future of jobs
The Washington Post reading on AI reports that about 8.7 percent of US firms used AI to produce goods or services in spring 2025, compared with 4.8 percent the year before.
IBM said AI saved 40 percent of its HR budget over four years, and Klarna cut its head count by 38 percent before suggesting it went too far. A slowdown could speed adoption, but it could also make firms cut technology spending. New jobs may emerge, though the reading suggests they tend to follow a period of job losses.
Lessons from abroad
The Wired interview in Chapter 5 points to another policy model.
In northern Europe, Heejung Chung notes, family-friendly benefits are the norm, workers have strong bargaining power and social protection is secure, and the flexibility paradox is weaker. The European Commission has barred discrimination against people who use flexible working for parental needs, and Chung calls for a right to disconnect.
Comparing these with US policy helps you judge which remedies fit the problems of Units I and II.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Bargaining and law as two routes
- 02
Minimum-wage and just-cause laws
- 03
Paid leave and family policy
- 04
Labor-law reform and penalties
- 05
AI adoption and job displacement
- 06
Weighing a policy for the final
Worked example · free
Evaluate a city $15 minimum wage using course evidence
- 2Argument: fast-food workers earned a median $8.69 an hour, and 52 percent of their families received public assistance.
- 1Evidence of feasibility: SeaTac, Seattle and California adopted $15 floors, the latter phased in over years.
- 1Objection: employers argue higher floors cost jobs, the same claim made against unions.
- 1Conclusion: a phased floor raises pay for millions; the job effect is the point to watch.
Key terms
- Wage Board
- A state body that sets fair pay levels for an industry; New York's governor used one in the push for a $15 minimum.
- Job Displacement
- The replacement of workers by technology or reorganization, through slower hiring or direct job cuts.
- Right to Disconnect
- A proposed legal protection allowing workers to ignore work messages outside working hours.
Public Policy and the Future of Work FAQ
Will AI eliminate white-collar jobs?
The course reading presents it as uncertain: adoption is rising from a low base and some firms have cut staff, but a slowdown can also reduce technology spending, and some firms plan to retrain workers rather than cut them.
Which is more effective, labor law or bargaining?
They do different jobs. Laws such as minimum wages set a floor for everyone at once, while bargaining lets workers in one workplace win terms tailored to it, including rules on technology.
How should I use this week for the final exam?
Treat it as the place where earlier problems meet remedies. Practise pairing a Unit I or Unit II problem with a specific policy, the evidence for it and the strongest objection.
Which union contract does Week 14 discuss?
The readings include a 2025 report on a video game workers' union reaching an industry-first contract at Microsoft, set beside a 2022 California bill to regulate the fast food industry, as examples of bargaining and law as two routes to better work.
Exam move
Make a four-row table of policy levers, wage floors, just cause, bargaining rights and family policy, and link each to the chapter whose problem it answers. Learn the AI figures from the Washington Post reading and practise one balanced answer on automation.
