My first research trajectory broadly explores the consequences of contingent work and the social determinants of mobility of low-wage work. My current research examines the social issues at the confluence of new technologies and work. I have authored or coauthored several articles related to this trajectory including “Digital Work: New Opportunities or Lost Wages?” and “Good Jobs, Bad Jobs in the Gig Economy”.

My second research trajectory explores the role of education on labor market outcomes.  A recently completed manuscript, “Educational Pathways and Labor Market Outcomes for Children of Immigrants”,  argues that the point of entry into the higher education system (e.g. community college vs. 4-year college) is an important contextual characteristic, unexamined in current scholarship, that helps explain the “immigrant paradox” of greater intergenerational mobility in children of immigrants.

For my next project, I will initiate a large scale longitudinal study looking at labor market/career outcomes for K-12 students who attended fully online schools.  Currently 30 states offer fully online schooling options for K-12 students, and scholars have mainly focused on enrollment and student achievement with little attention paid to how this might affect students’ economic and social mobility trajectories.

Selected Publications

–Digital Work: New Opportunities or Lost Wages?
–Does College Focus Matter?
–Good Jobs, Bad Jobs in the Gig Economy
–Institutional Determinants of Labor Market Outcomes for Community College Students in North Carolina