Brian Halpin is a PhD candidate in the Sociology Department at UC
Davis. His interests include Work, Labor, Inequality, and
Qualitative Methods. Recent projects include researching
employment barriers and employability strategies of low wage
workers in Northern California.
Low-wage workers know they have to enhance their skills to escape
low-wage jobs, but long hours and multiple jobs make
skill-building and education nearly impossible, according to a
new policy brief released by the Center for Poverty Research at
the University of California, Davis. Joining us to talk more
about the research are the authors of the brief, Victoria Smith,
a UC Davis professor of sociology and a faculty affiliate
for the Center for Poverty Research, and Brian Halpin, a graduate
student in sociology at UC Davis.
Some policy analysts, policymakers and scholars argue that
low-wage workers should “work their way out of poverty” by
acquiring the human capital that would enable them to leave
poverty-level jobs.
