The changing nature of low-skill work: Evidence from field research

We overview the key aims and methods of our project on changing employment practices in medium-sized establishments (employing 100 to 500 workers) in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas in central New York. After outlining the need for fact finding and discussing basic hypotheses, we report preliminary, findings, which are mainly derived from our most unusual surveys of individuals in upstate New York. We find that (1) high-performance workplace practices (HPWPs) tend to occur in clusters; (2) financial-participation HPWPs are less prevalent in rural locations (which supports our hypothesis on the role of geographical isolation), though the incidence of nonfinancial participation provides only weak support for this hypothesis; (3) HPWPs tend to be found in bigger firms; and (4) HPWPs are associated with individuals' receiving higher pay. Our findings imply that HPWPs potentially play, an important role in rural revivals.