Just Wage Research Lab

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This interdisciplinary research lab enlists students in the interdisciplinary efforts of the Just Wage Initiative (JWI), a collaborative research and advocacy project of the Higgins Labor Program at the Center for Social Concerns. Students will help develop, refine, and update the Just Wage Framework, a multistakeholder online tool designed to advance a more inclusive and equitable economy. Students will also undertake research projects connecting their own intellectual interests and disciplinary expertise to the JWI's foundational question: What makes any given wage just or unjust? In addition, students will collaborate with the instructor and local, national, and international practitioners to envision and execute advocacy campaigns to promote a just wage economy. Extended weekly class sessions will facilitate visits by scholars and activists, interactive group discussions, and collaborative experiments.