Archive

Research Reports

Shelved: How Wages and Working Conditions for California’s Food Retail Workers Have Declined As the Industry Has Thrived.
Research Assistance to primary author Saru Jayaraman. Published by Food Labor Research Center, UC Berkeley. 2014

Jobs-Housing Fit in the Sacramento Region.
Chris Benner, Bidita Tithi. Report written for the Sacramento Area Council of Governments. UC Davis Center for Regional Change. 2012

A Dime a Day: The Impact of the Miller/Harkin Minimum Wage Proposal on the Price of Food.
Chris Benner, Saru Jayaraman. Report released by the Food Labor Research Center, UC Berkeley, the Food Chain Workers Alliance, and the Restaurant Opportunities Centers. 2012

Social Equity and Transit Oriented Development: Selecting Transit Priority Areas in the Sacramento Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Process.
Chris Benner, Bidita Tithi. Report written for the Sacramento Area Council of Governments. UC Davis Center for Regional Change. 2011.

Healthy Youth/Healthy Regions Research Reports:
“Race, Space, and Youth Labor Market Opportunities in the Sacramento Region” (with Gideon Mazinga and Ganlin Huang),
“Costs of Drop-outs in the Sacramento/Capital region” (with Gloria Rodriquez, Bidita Tithi and Cassie Hertzog)
“Healthy Youth/Healthy Regions: Informing Action for the Nine-County Capital Region and its Youth” (Jonathan London and Nancy Erbstein lead authors).
UC Davis Center for Regional Change. 2010

The National Center for a Clean Economy Workforce: A Scoping Study
Carol Zabin, Chris Benner, Chris Tilly. Produced for the California Energy Commission. UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. 2010

Next Generation Unionism and the Future of Journalism: Networking, Entrepreneurship and Hybrid Ownership.
Chris Benner, Samantha Sommer, Luther Jackson. Center for Regional Change, University of California, Davis. 2009.

Looking Forward: Lessons for Philanthropy from CWBH.
Chris Benner, Manuel Pastor, Rachel Rosner, Martha Matsuoka. The California Endowment. 2009

Scaling Up: Regions, Communities and CWBH
Chris Benner, Manuel Pastor, Rachel Rosner, Martha Matsuoka. The California Endowment. 2009

Inclusion in the Workforce: Positioning the Pittsburgh Region to Prosper and Compete
Chris Benner, Radhika Fox, Miriam Axel-Lute. Report published by Sustainable Pittsburgh and PolicyLink. 2009.

Planning for the Future of Sarasota and Manatee Counties: Highlights from a Labor Market Analysis
Chris Benner, Barbara Baran, and data assistance from Justin Scoggins, Jennifer Tran and Manuel Pastor. Report to Sarasota/Manatee Counties Workforce Funders Collaborative. 2009.

Economic and Workforce Development Opportunities in San Mateo County’s Labor Market: A Snapshot and Preliminary Analysis
Chris Benner. Report to San Mateo County Board to Supervisors, at request of San Mateo Council AFL-CIO Labor Council. 2008

Fractures and Faultlines: Growth and Equity in California’s Mega-regions
Chris Benner, Manuel Pastor. Published by America 2050 and the Regional Plan Association. 2008.

Coming Together: Lessons on Collaboration from California Works for Better Health
Chris Benner, Manuel Pastor, Rachel Rosner, Martha Matsuoka, Miranda Smith. The California Endowment. 2008

The South African Call Centre Industry: A Study of Strategy, Human Resource Practices and Performance.
Chris Benner. LINK Centre, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. 2007

Pennsylvania Industry Partnerships: An Evaluation Methodology for Measuring and Promoting Effective Partnerships
Chris Benner, Steve Herzenberg. Department of Labor and Industry, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 2006.

Edging Towards Equity: Creating Shared Opportunity in America’s Regions
Manuel Pastor, Chris Benner, Rachel Rosner. Report submitted to the Ford Foundation, and published by the Center for Justice, Tolerance and Community, University of California, Santa Cruz. 2006

Immigrant Workers Empowerment and Community Building: A Review of Issues and Strategies for Increasing Workforce and Economic Opportunity for Immigrant Workers
Chris Benner, Tony LoPresti, Martha Matsuoka, Manuel Pastor and Rachel Rosner. Final research report submitted to Hewlett Foundation, Palo Alto, CA. 2005.

Workforce Choices: Business & Financial Services, Analysis of Occupational Structure, Employment Dynamics and Career Opportunities.
Chris Benner. Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry & Keystone Research Center. 2005.

Immigrant Workers Empowerment and Community Building: A Review of Issues and Strategies for Increasing Workforce and Economic Opportunity for Immigrant Workers.
Chris Benner, Tony LoPresti, Martha Matsuoka, Manuel Pastor Rachel Rosner. Hewlett Foundation, 2005.

Building An Effective Labor Market Infrastructure: The Role of Intermediaries and Industry Partnerships.
Chris Benner. Keystone Research Center. 2005.

Community Building, Community Bridging: Linking Neighborhood Improvement Initiatives and the New Regionalism in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Manuel Pastor, Chris Benner, Rachel Rosner, Martha Matsuoka, Julie Jacobs. Center for Justice, Tolerance and Community. 2004.

Learning from the Regions: Community-Based Regionalism and Comprehensive Community Development in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Manuel Pastor, Chris Benner, Martha Matsuoka, Rachel Rosner, Julie Jacobs. the Hewlett Foundation. 2004

Economic Opportunity in a Volatile Economy: Understanding the Role of Labor Market Intermediaries in Two Regions.
Manual Pastor, Laura Leete, Laura Dresser, Chris Benner, Annette Bernhardt, Bob Brownstein, Sarah Zimmerman. the Ford Foundation, McArthur Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation. 2003

Making the Whole Greater Than the Sum of the Parts: Developing a Collective Economic Vision for Greater Montreal.
Chris Benner. Report prepared for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. 2003

A Workforce Development Agenda for the New Governor: Building The Infrastructure of a Learning Economy.
Chris Benner, Steve Herzenberg, Kelly Prince. Keystone Research Center, commissioned by Governor Mark Schweiker. 2003.

Networking and Knowledge Development in the Øresund Region
Chris Benner. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. 2002.

Uncommon Alliances for the Common Good: A Regional Audit for Economic and Social Justice in the Monterey Bay Region.
Chris Benner, Manuel Pastor, Rachel Rosner. Central Coast Interfaith Sponsors, Industrial Areas Foundation, Center for Justice Tolerance and Community. 2001

Betting on California’s Regions: Understanding the Context for Labor Market Interventions by Community-Based Organizations.
Manuel Pastor, Chris Benner, Stephen Levy, Enrico Marcelli, Rachel Rosner, David Runsten, Ed Kissam. California Works For Better Health, Center for Justice Tolerance and Community. 1999.

Silicon Valley Labor Markets: Overview of Structure, Dynamics and Outcomes for Workers.
Chris Benner. Task Force on Reconstructing America’s Labor Market Institutions, MIT. 1999.

Walking the Lifelong Tightrope: Negotiating Work in The New Economy.
Chris Benner, Bob Brownstein, Amy Dean. Working Partnerships USA. 1999.

Silicon Valley Labor Markets: Overview of Structure, Dynamics and Outcomes for Workers.
Chris Benner. Task Force on Reconstructing America’s Labor Market Institutions. Sloan School of Management, MIT. 1999

Living Wage, An Opportunity for San Jose: A Report on the Benefits and Impact of a Living Wage Ordinance on the City of San Jose.
Chris Benner, R. Rosner. Working Partnerships USA. 1998

Growing Together or Drifting Apart? Working Families and Business in the New Economy.
Chris Benner. Working Partnerships USA. San Jose, CA: Working Partnerships USA.1998.

Bay Area Labor-Economic Digital Library: An Electronic Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area. Chris Benner. Institute of Industrial Relations, University of California. 1997.

Shock Absorbers in the Flexible Economy: The Rise of Contingent Employment in Silicon Valley.
Chris Benner Working Partnerships USA. 1996

Articles

“Brother, Can You Spare Some Time? Sustaining Prosperity and Social Inclusion in America’s Metropolitan Regions.”
Chris Benner, Manuel Pastor
Urban Studies, vol. 52, no. 7, pp. 1339–1356., doi:10.1177/0042098014549127.
2014

“Book Review: Justice and the American Metropolis.”
Chris Benner
Urban Studies, vol. 50, no. 8, pp. 1664–1666., doi:10.1177/0042098013482361.
2013

“Win the Lottery or Organize: Traditional and Non-Traditional Labor Organizing in Silicon Valley.”
Chris Benner
Berkeley Planning Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, doi:10.5070/bp312113043.
2012

“Emerging Themes in Economic Geography: Outcomes of the Economic Geography 2010 Workshop.”
Chris Benner
Economic Geography, vol. 87, no. 2, pp. 111–126., doi:10.1111/j.1944-8287.2011.01114.x.
2011

“From Internal to Network Labor Markets? Insights on New Promotion Processes from the Call Center Industry.”
Chris Benner, Ferran Mane.
Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 323–353., doi:10.1111/j.1468-232x.2011.00638.x.
2011

“For What It’s Worth: Regional Equity, Community Organizing, and Metropolitan America.”
Chris Benner, Manuel Pastor
Community Development, vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 437–457., doi:10.1080/15575330.2010.532877.
2011

“Moving On Up? Regions, Megaregions, and the Changing Geography of Social Equity Organizing.”
Chris Benner, Manuel Pastor
Urban Affairs Review, vol. 47, no. 3,pp. 315–348., doi:10.1177/1078087410391950.
2010

“‘South Africa On-Call’: Information Technology and Labour Market Restructuring in South African Call Centres.”
Chris Benner
Regional Studies, vol. 40, no. 9, pp. 1025–1040., doi:10.1080/00343400600928293.
2006

“Computers in the Wild”: Guilds and Next-Generation Unionism in the Information Revolution.
Chris Benner.
International Review of Social History, 48(S11), 181-204.
2003

“Learning Communities in a Learning Region: The Soft Infrastructure of Cross-Firm Learning Networks in Silicon Valley.”
Chris Benner
Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, vol. 35, no. 10, pp. 1809–1830., doi:10.1068/a35238.
2003

“Labour Flexibility and Regional Development: The Role of Labour Market Intermediaries.”
Chris Benner
Regional Studies, vol. 37, no. 6-7, pp. 621–633., doi:10.1080/0034340032000108723.
2003

“An ‘Option for the Poor’: A Research Audit for Community-Based Regionalism in California’s Central Coast.”
Chris Benner, Manuel Pastor.
Economic Development Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 175–192., doi:10.1177/0891242403017002005. 2003

“Digital Development and Disruption in South Africa: Balancing Growth and Equity in National ICT Policies.”
Chris Benner
Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, vol. 2, no. 1,pp. 1–26., doi:10.1163/156915003322649608.
2003

“Labour Markets and Employment Practices in the Age of Flexibility: A Case Study of Silicon Valley.”
Martin Carnoy, Manuel Castells.
International Labour Review. 136.1: 27-48.
1997