Decreasing Opportunities for Low-Wage Workers: The Role of the Nondiscrimination Law for Employer-Provided Health Insurance

As of 1978, the favorable tax treatment of fringe benefits, including health insurance, has been regulated via a nondiscrimination clause such that low-wage, full-time workers must be offered health insurance (and other benefits) that are offered to higher-wage workers by the firm. Part-time workers may be excluded from coverage, however, creating incentives for firms to hire some types of workers part time to deny them coverage. We hypothesize that firms will hire fewer workers whose relative costs have increased, that is, low-wage workers. These workers will be less likely to work for firms that offer coverage, and those that do will be more likely to work part time without being eligible for the firm’s health insurance benefits. We use the 1988 and 1993 Employee Benefits Supplements to the Current Population Surveys and an employer premium imputation to examine these hypotheses. Both the descriptive and multivariate analysis are consistent with our hypotheses. We predict the probability of working for a firm that offers health insurance to decrease as premiums increase for both high- and low-wage workers. An increase in the premium is also associated with a decrease in the probability of part-time work, but an even greater decrease in the joint probability of part-time work with eligibility for health insurance.

Spatial variations in the sulfur chemistry of salt marsh sediments at North Inlet, South Carolina

Profiles of particulate and dissolved sulfur species have been measured in marsh sediments along three transects across the various growth zones (tall, medium and short) of Spartina alterniflora. In general, organic carbon, total sulfur, pyritic sulfur, pyritization index and dissolved sulfide increased with distance from tidal creek banks, whereas acid volatile sulfur (FeS), pH and Eh decreased with distance. These patterns probably are controlled by spatial variations in belowground production, pore water movement and fiddler crab burrowing. The creekside marsh (tall Spartina) is characterized by lower rates of belowground production (and thus lower rates of sulfate reduction and sulfide production), more vigorous drainage of pore water and more intense fiddler crab burrowing as compared to the high marsh (short Spartina). Lower dissolved sulfide concentrations in the creekside marsh are promoted by lower rates of sulfate reduction and removal of dissolved sulfide by drainage at low tide. Higher pH in the creekside marsh is fostered by removal of reduced sulfur (dissolved sulfide by drainage and pyrite by fiddler crab burrowing) which then cannot be oxidized in the sediment to yield acid. The higher pH and lower dissolved sulfide of the creekside marsh, in turn, slow rate of conversion of iron oxide into pyrite in accordance with Rickard\u27s (1974, 1975) rate laws and thus foster a lower pyritization index. The lower pyritization index of the creekside marsh also is promoted by fiddler crab burrowing which removes pyrite from the sediment and replaces it with fresh iron oxide from the surface or suspended source. Finally the greater availability of reactive iron oxide in the creekside marsh may shift the relative rates of FeS and FeS2 formation such that a higher steady state concentration of FeS can be maintained there as compared to the high marsh

The Vehicle, Fall 1992

Table of Contents DeconstructivismPeter F. Essigpage 5 Homecoming Pep RallyPeter F. Essigpage 6 McAfee GymnasiumWalt Howardpage 7 Morton ParkAnn Moutraypage 9 Why The Willows WeepPeter F. Essigpage 10 UntitledStephen P. Carmodypage 10 A Stranger\u27s MorningBen Hausmannpage 11 deMONSTERative pronounsJoAnna Wolaverpage 12 2.5%Jill S. Pilonpage 13 The BottleStacey Kruegerpage 14 Suppression Jean K. Graypage 15 ProgressStacey Kruegerpage 16 Daily LessonsJennifer Moropage 17 Sunset TheaterMichelle R. Hokepage 20 Eagle GT\u27sJarrod T. Shieldspage 21 New HouseRandy Lisspage 22 UntitledStephen P. Carmodypage 23 Renting Classics on a Saturday NightNancy Jamespage 24 UntitledJacqueline Hallpage 25 Alone While He SleepsSandy Beauchamppage 26 Sand and SeaThomas Schnarrepage 27 loveMichelle R. Hokepage 28 Backward Ass Junkie FunkSandy Beauchamppage 28 These Things You KeepTom McGrathpage 29 Springhill CrestRobert M. Reutherpage 30 The Pass OverLarry Irvinpage 31 The Stolen ChildTom McGrathpage 32 Before the Recycling KickWalt Howardpage 37 Authors\u27 Pagepage 38https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1058/thumbnail.jp

The chemical composition of atmospheric precipitation from selected stations in Michigan

The pH and amount of rainfall from over 60 selected stations throughout northern and lower Michigan was determined from September 1972 to December 1974. Precipitation pH was determined for each station by calibrated electrode meters.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43904/1/11270_2004_Article_BF00182879.pd

A joint local and teleseismic tomography study of the Mississippi Embayment and New Madrid Seismic Zone

Detailed, upper mantle P and S wave velocity (Vp and Vs) models are developed for the northern Mississippi Embayment (ME), a major physiographic feature in the Central United States (U.S.) and the location of the active New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ). This study incorporates local earthquake and teleseismic data from the New Madrid Seismic Network, the Earthscope Transportable Array, and the FlexArray Northern Embayment Lithospheric Experiment stations. The Vp and Vs solutions contain anomalies with similar magnitudes and spatial distributions. High velocities are present in the lower crust beneath the NMSZ. A pronounced low-velocity anomaly of ~ −3%–−5% is imaged at depths of 100–250 km. High-velocity anomalies of ~ +3%–+4% are observed at depths of 80–160 km and are located along the sides and top of the low-velocity anomaly. The low-velocity anomaly is attributed to the presence of hot fluids upwelling from a flat slab segment stalled in the transition zone below the Central U.S.; the thinned and weakened ME lithosphere, still at slightly higher temperatures from the passage of the Bermuda hotspot in mid-Cretaceous, provides an optimal pathway for the ascent of the fluids. The observed high-velocity anomalies are attributed to the presence of mafic rocks emplaced beneath the ME during initial rifting in the early Paleozoic and to remnants of the depleted, lower portion of the lithosphere