{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.014982293652955598, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 5.181818181818182, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 1, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Book Review: Labor Economics: Manpower and Occupational Analysis: Concepts and Measurements

and propose several solutions to those problems. Their appeal is primarily to lawmakers whose concern is the enactment of legislation concerning relations between cities and the unions representing city employees. The authors' basic premise is that public employee unionism poses a threat to both the citizens and the political process in cities. They frankly state at the outset their belief that continued growth in union power in this sector would "institutionalize the powers of public employees unions in a way that would leave competing groups in the process at a permanent and substantial disadvantage." Developing this concept, the authors maintain that it would be inappropriate to transfer indiscriminately the laws and procedures governing private sector labor relations (especially the right to strike) to the public sector. Although they have developed no new theories in that respect, their views are presented with clarity of thought and strength of personal conviction. Nevertheless, the book will not win any converts amnong union leaders and liberal scholars to whom unionism generally and the right to strike particularly are vital to improving the status of public employees. The book is divided into four parts, the first of which discusses the matters described above. In the remaining sections, the authors grudgingly admit that the growing influence of unionism in the public sector can no longer be fully contained and propose that the wiser course may be to temper such influence by statutory or regulatory action. Thus, the last three parts of the book consitute a primer on statutory rules and regulations covering the basic issues in public employment, such as employees' rights to join unions, unit determination and elections, scope of bargaining, and legal and illegal strikes. In discussing each of these topics, the authors first explain the issue-in a manner designed apparently to initiate the novice into the complexities of labor law-and then, through the use of examples of existing statutes and regulations in the various states and subdivisions, they show how this issue has been treated in the law. After analyzing both the positive and negative features of such laws and regulations, the authors finally recommend for possible adoption those they believe to be the best. Practitioners may understandably question an approach to labor relations (or indeed any conflict area) that elevates the letter of the law so far above its day-by-day application. The law of labor relations in both the public and private sectors has been more thoroughly developed through administrative agencies and practitioners than through mere extensions or simple interpretations of the words in the statutes themselves. Perhaps a more pragmatic approach would have been more helpful to practitioners. Thus, an insight into the practical application of the cited statutes might have been of help to a lawmaker seeking to fashion appropriate legislation in this area. Similarly, legislators could benefit from a good description of the bargaining process, but this book contains little information on either the substance or the method of collective negotiations. Even in the chapter "Organizing the Public Employer for Bargaining," emphasis is placed on organizational structure rather than on its use in the bargaining process. Since The Unions and the Cities is only the first of the Brookings series in this area, it is to be hoped that future publications will fill this void with respect to the pragmatic aspects of labor relations in the public sector.