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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Konstantinos Tatsiramos (IZA) |
| Abstract: | Despite the increased frequency of job loss for older workers in Europe, little is known on its effect on the work-retirement decision. Employing individual data from the European Community Household Panel for Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K., a multivariate competing-risks hazard model is estimated in which the effect of job displacement is identified separately for transitions into re-employment and retirement. The findings suggest that in countries with institutional provisions for older unemployed which offer a pathway to early retirement such as, Germany and Spain, older displaced workers exhibit lower reemployment and higher retirement rates compared to the non-displaced. These results are robust to dynamic selection due to unobserved heterogeneity and to the endogeneity of displacement. |
| Keywords: | job displacement, job loss, unemployment duration, retirement, competing risks |
| JEL: | J14 J26 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3069&r=lab |
| By: | Francesca Mazzolari (University of California, Irvine and IZA); Giuseppe Ragusa (University of California, Irvine) |
| Abstract: | Census data show that since 1980 low-skill workers in the United States have been increasingly employed in the provision of non-tradeable time-intensive services - such as food preparation and cleaning - that can be broadly thought as substitutes of home production activities. Meanwhile the wage gap between this sector and the rest of the economy has shrunk. If skilled workers, with their high opportunity cost of time, demand more of these time-intensive services, then wage gains at the top of the wage distribution (such as those observed in the last three decades) are expected to raise the consumption of these services, consistent with these stylized facts. Using both consumption expenditure data and city-level data on employment and wages of workers of different skills, we provide several pieces of evidence in favor of these demand shifts, and we argue that they provide a viable explanation for the growth in wages at the bottom quantiles observed in the last fifteen years. |
| Keywords: | service jobs, market substitutes for home production, low-skill employment and wages, wage growth polarization |
| JEL: | J21 J22 J23 J31 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3048&r=lab |
| By: | David G. Blanchflower (Dartmouth College, University of Stirling, Bank of England, NBER, CESifo and IZA); Alex Bryson (Policy Studies Institute and Centre for Economic Performance) |
| Abstract: | This paper draws attention to an increase in the size of the union membership wage premium in the UK public sector relative to the private sector. We find the public sector membership wage premium is approximately double that in the private sector controlling for a full range of individual, job and workplace characteristics. Using data from the Labour Force Surveys of 1993-2006 the gap between the membership premium in the public and private sectors closes with the addition of three digit occupational controls, although significant wage premia remain in both sectors. However, using data from the Workplace Employment Relations Survey of 2004, the public sector union membership wage premium remains roughly twice the size of the private sector membership premium having accounted for workplace fixed effects, workers’ occupations, their job characteristics, qualifications and worker demographics. Furthermore, the membership wage premium among workers covered by collective bargaining is only apparent in the public sector. |
| Keywords: | trade unions, wage differentials, public and private sectors |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3055&r=lab |
| By: | Astrid Kunze (Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration and IZA); Kenneth R. Troske (University of Kentucky and IZA) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we empirically examine differences in search behavior between men and women. We assess hypotheses regarding duration of search, wages and tenure. The hypotheses are derived from two models: the equilibrium search model with discriminatory firms by Black (1995) and an opportunity cost model that extends the Black model by incorporating age varying reservation wages. We identify effects using data on displaced workers and a differences in differences approach. We find that for men and women the duration of search is equal once we limit our estimation to women with a constant number of children in the household. Furthermore, we find no significant differences in the quality of job match between men and women. Finally, male/female wage differentials are largest among young workers but a significant portion of the difference is accounting for by changes in the number of children in the household. All these results suggest that differences in search behavior and outcomes between men and women are due to differences in nonmarket opportunities rather than to discrimination. |
| Keywords: | search, displaced workers, discrimination, comparative advantage |
| JEL: | J0 J7 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3052&r=lab |
| By: | Pieter A. Gautier (Free University of Amsterdam, Tinbergen Institute, CEPR and IZA); José Luis Moraga-González (University of Groningen); Ronald P. Wolthoff (Free University of Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute) |
| Abstract: | We present a structural framework for the evaluation of public policies intended to increase job search intensity. Most of the literature defines search intensity as a scalar that influences the arrival rate of job offers; here we treat it as the number of job applications that workers send out. The wage distribution and job search intensities are simultaneously determined in market equilibrium. We structurally estimate the search cost distribution, the implied matching probabilities, the productivity of a match, and the flow value of non-labor market time; the estimates are then used to derive the socially optimal distribution of job search intensities. From a social point of view, too few workers participate in the labor market while some unemployed search too much. The low participation rate reflects a standard hold-up problem and the excess number of applications result is due to rent seeking behavior. Sizable welfare gains (15% to 20%) can be realized by simultaneously opening more vacancies and increasing participation. A modest binding minimum wage or conditioning UI benefits on applying for at least one job per period, increases welfare. |
| Keywords: | job search, search costs, labor market frictions, wage dispersion, welfare, structural estimation |
| JEL: | J64 J31 J21 E24 C14 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3045&r=lab |
| By: | Andrew E. Clark (Paris School of Economics, CCP, Aarhus School of Business and IZA); Nicolai Kristensen (Aarhus School of Business, CIM and CCP); Niels Westergård-Nielsen (Aarhus School of Business, CCP and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses matched employer-employee panel data to show that individual job satisfaction is higher when other workers in the same establishment are better-paid. This runs contrary to a large literature which has found evidence of income comparisons in subjective well-being. We argue that the difference hinges on the nature of the reference group. We here use co-workers. Their wages not only induce jealousy, but also provide a signal about the worker’s own future earnings. Our positive estimated coefficient on others’ wages shows that this positive future earnings signal outweighs any negative status effect. This phenomenon is stronger for men, and in the private sector. |
| Keywords: | job satisfaction, co-workers, comparison income, wage expectations, tournaments |
| JEL: | C23 C25 D84 J28 J31 J33 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3073&r=lab |
| By: | Martyn Andrews (University of Manchester); Ken Clark (University of Manchester and IZA); William Whittaker (University of Manchester) |
| Abstract: | Using nationally representative, longitudinal data from the first 14 waves of the British Household Panel Survey we examine the labour market returns to inter-regional migration in Great Britain. Controlling for endogeneity, heterogeneity and self-selection, we find substantial long-run wage premiums associated with migration for both males and females who move for job-related reasons. There is, however, no evidence that moving across regions increases the probability of employment for males and females; in fact, some female movers experience a long-run employment penalty. |
| Keywords: | migration, wages, employment, sample selection |
| JEL: | C33 J31 J61 J64 R23 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3068&r=lab |
| By: | Michal Myck |
| Abstract: | How individual wages change with time, and how they are expected to change as individuals grow older, is one of crucial determinants of their behaviour on the labour market including their decision to retire. The profile of individual hourly wages has for a long time been assumed to follow an "inverse-U" path, although there has been little work specifically concerning the age-wage profile and documenting it convincingly. The focus of this paper is the relationship between age and wages with special attention given to individuals close to retirement. The analysis is presented in a comparative context for Britain and Germany looking at two longitudinal datasets (BHPS and GSOEP respectively) for years 1995-2004. It stresses the importance of cohort effects and selection out of employment which seem crucial in determining the downward-sloping part of the "inverse-U" profile observed in most cross-sections. There seems to be little evidence that wages fall with age. |
| Keywords: | Wage dynamics, ageing, selection |
| JEL: | J14 J21 J31 C14 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp724&r=lab |
| By: | Richard Blundell (University College London, Institute for Fiscal Studies and IZA); Mike Brewer (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Marco Francesconi (University of Essex, Institute for Fiscal Studies and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses British panel data to investigate single women’s labour supply changes in response to three tax and benefit policy reforms that occurred in the 1990s. These reforms changed individuals’ work incentives and we use them to identify changes in labour supply. We find evidence of small hours of work effects for two of such reforms. A third reform in 1999 instead led to a significant increase in single mothers’ hours of work. The mechanism by which the labour supply adjustments were made occurred largely through job changes rather than hours changes with the same employer. These results are confirmed when we look at hours changes by stated labour supply preferences. Finally, we find little overall effect of the reforms on wages. |
| Keywords: | job mobility, hours flexibility, labour supply preferences, hours-wage trade-off, monopsony |
| JEL: | C23 H31 I38 J12 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3044&r=lab |
| By: | Jim Albrecht; Aico van Vuuren; Susan Vroman (Department of Economics, Georgetown University) |
| Abstract: | Several recent papers use the quantile regression decomposition method of Machado and Mata (2005) to analyze the gender gap in log wages across the distribution. Since employment rates often differ substantially by gender, sample selection is potentially a serious issue for such studies. To address this issue, we extend the Machado-Mata technique to account for selection. In addition, we prove that this procedure yields consistent and asymptotically normal estimates of the quantiles of the counterfactual distribution that it is designed to simulate. We illustrate our approach by analyzing the gender log wage gap between men and women who work full time in the Netherlands. Because the fraction of women working full time in the Netherlands is quite low, this is a case in which sample selection is clearly important. We find a positive selection of women into full-time work and find that about two thirds of this selection is due to observables such as education and experience with the remainder due to unobservables. Our decompositions show that the majority of the gender gap across the log wage distribution is due to differences between men and women in the distributions of returns to labor market characteristics rather than to differences in the distributions of the characteristics themselves. Classification-JEL Codes: C24, J22, J31, J71 |
| Keywords: | Gender, quantile regression, selection |
| Date: | 2007–07–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:geo:guwopa:gueconwpa~07-07-06&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Burda; Daniel S. Hamermesh; Philippe Weil |
| Abstract: | Using time-diary data from 25 countries, we demonstrate that there is a negative relationship between real GDP per capita and the female-male difference in total work time per day—the sum of work for pay and work at home. In rich northern countries on four continents there is no difference—men and women do the same amount of total work. This latter fact has been presented before by several sociologists for a few rich countries; but our survey results show that labor economists, macroeconomists, the general public and sociologists are unaware of it and instead believe that women perform more total work. The facts do not arise from gender differences in the price of time (as measured by market wages), as women’s total work is further below men’s where their relative wages are lower. Additional tests using U.S. and German data show that they do not arise from differences in marital bargaining, as gender equality is not associated with marital status; nor do they stem from family norms, since most of the variance in the gender total work difference is due to within-couple differences. We offer a theory of social norms to explain the facts. The social-norm explanation is better able to account for withineducation group and within-region gender differences in total work being smaller than inter-group differences. It is consistent with evidence using the World Values Surveys that female total work is relatively greater than men’s where both men and women believe that scarce jobs should be offered to men first. |
| Keywords: | time use, gender differences, household production, paid work. |
| JEL: | J22 J16 D13 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2007-058&r=lab |
| By: | Rute Mendes (Collegio Carlo Alberto and Free University Amsterdam); Gerard J. van den Berg (Free University Amsterdam, IFAU-Uppsala, Netspar, CEPR, INSEE-CREST, IFS and IZA); Maarten Lindeboom (Free University Amsterdam, Tinbergen Institute, HEB-Bergen and IZA) |
| Abstract: | In labor markets with worker and firm heterogeneity, the matching between firms and workers may be assortative, meaning that the most productive workers and firms team up. We investigate this with longitudinal population-wide matched employer-employee data from Portugal. Using dynamic panel data methods, we quantify a firm-specific productivity term for each firm, and we relate this to the skill distribution of workers in the firm. We find that there is positive assortative matching, in particular among long-lived firms. Using skill-specific estimates of an index of search frictions, we find that the results can only to a small extent be explained by heterogeneity of search frictions across worker skill groups. |
| Keywords: | positive assortative matching, matched employer-employee data, productivity, skill, unobserved heterogeneity, sorting, fixed effects |
| JEL: | J21 J24 D24 J63 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3053&r=lab |
| By: | Andrés Fuentes |
| Abstract: | While employment growth has accelerated, allowing unemployment to fall significantly since 2005, many low-skilled workers are still unemployed and the duration of unemployment spells is still long. The introduction of an in-work benefit for workers in low-income households, subject to a minimum of hours worked, could lower barriers to higher employment which result from a relatively high tax wedge on lowskill workers, as would the elimination of poverty traps in the pension system. Measures to improve mobility of workers across regions, notably housing policy reform, would lower long unemployment durations, as would the provision of more training to the unemployed. Impediments to higher labour market participation of young women and older workers need to be removed. <P>Améliorer les perspectives d’emploi en République Slovaque : faire fond sur les réformes passées <BR>Si la croissance de l’emploi s’est accélérée, permettant un recul notable du chômage depuis 2005, néanmoins il y a encore beaucoup de travailleurs peu qualifiés au chômage et la durée des épisodes de chômage reste longue. L’introduction d’une prestation liée à l’exercice d’une activité pour les travailleurs appartenant à des ménages à faible revenu, sous réserve d’un volume minimum d’heures travaillées, pourrait abaisser les obstacles à l’augmentation de l’emploi qui résultent du fait que le coin fiscal qui pèse sur les revenus des travailleurs peu qualifiés est relativement élevé, et l’élimination des trappes à pauvreté que crée le système de pension devrait avoir le même effet. Des mesures visant à accroître la mobilité des travailleurs entre régions, notamment avec une réforme de la politique du logement, permettraient de réduire les durées de chômage, de même qu’une offre accrue de formation à l’intention des chômeurs. Les éléments qui font obstacle à une plus forte participation des femmes jeunes et des travailleurs seniors à l’activité devraient être supprimés. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, chômage, prestations liées à l'exercice d'un emploi, employment protection legislation, employment, emploi, pensions, active labour market policies, protection de l'emploi, salaire minimum, minimum wage, in-work benefits, labour market participation, participation au marché du travail, programmes du marché du travail |
| JEL: | J21 J26 J32 J38 J59 |
| Date: | 2007–09–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:579-en&r=lab |
| By: | Frederic Salladarre (LEN - Laboratoire d'Economie de Nantes - [Université de Nantes]); Boubaker Hlaimi (LEN - Laboratoire d'Economie de Nantes - [Université de Nantes], LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - [CNRS : UMR6123] - [Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I][Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II]) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the determinants of temporary employment in 19 European countries using data from the European Social Survey. The analysis shows that temporary employment is more feminized. Fixed term employment appears conversely connected with the age, which supports the fact that temporary employment seems to become the stepping stone to permanent jobs. In addition, temporary employees appear to work less than permanent workers with reference to working time, which reduced relatively their potential wages. Moreover, the probability of being in a fixed term contract is negatively correlated with the trade-union membership. However, non-permanent workers seem to be more favourable than permanent employees for the necessity of having strong trade unions, even if atypical employment is often associated with a less trade-union presence on the place of work. From another hand, past unemployment is likely to reduce considerably the chance to be re-employed on a contract of unspecified duration. Finally, estimates from a bivariate probit show that part time employment concerns more frequently citizens of the country while fixed term employment is more devoted to immigrants. However, some points of convergence characterize part-time and fixed-term’ contracts. Women are more frequently associated with these two kinds of flexibility. Nonetheless, part-time employment is more feminized than fixed-term contract. Age acts in the same sense, but fixed-term workers are younger than part-time workers. In the two cases, domicile location has no impact on probability to work in part-time or in fixed-term contract |
| Keywords: | temporary jobs, fixed term contract, contract of unspecified duration |
| Date: | 2007–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:hal-00174817_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Jiong Tu |
| Abstract: | Although immigration has become a major growth factor for Canadian labour force, there is little economic research on the effect of immigration on native-born Canadians' labour market performance. This paper examines the relationship between changes in the share of immigrants by sub-labour markets (categorized by skill types and geographic areas) and changes in native wage growth by a two-stage regression analysis, using 1991, 1996 and 2001 Canadian Census microdata. After accounting for biases due to native mobility, endogenous location of immigrants and labour demand shifts, the estimated effects of immigration are consistently insignificant or significantly positive. The results are robust over various specifications of sub-labour markets at city, provincial and national levels, suggesting no evidence for a negative impact on native wage growth rate from the large immigrant influx during the 1990s. |
| Keywords: | immigration, labour supply, labour mobility, wage |
| JEL: | J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:sedapp:216&r=lab |
| By: | David Haardt |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the relationship between cognitive functioning and employment among older men and women using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Regression analysis shows that the change in cognitive functioning over time does not have any statistically significant effects on the probability to exit or enter employment, or on working hours. These results are not sensitive to the definition of work. My findings differ from earlier research on younger age groups in Germany and the USA where some effects of cognitive functioning on labour force participation were found. |
| Keywords: | Ageing; Cognitive functioning; ELSA; Labour force participation |
| JEL: | H19 J14 J22 J24 J26 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:sedapp:222&r=lab |
| By: | Frederic Salladarre (LEN - Laboratoire d'Economie de Nantes - [Université de Nantes]); Boubaker Hlaimi (LEN - Laboratoire d'Economie de Nantes - [Université de Nantes], LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - [CNRS : UMR6123] - [Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I][Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II]) |
| Abstract: | This study analyses gender differences in fixed term contracts in 19 European countries, using micro data from the European Social Survey. Our estimates show that temporary employment appears to be more feminized and that gender differences in temporary employment can arise from a female specific behaviour where young women often appear more concerned with atypical jobs. Moreover, the marital status affects negatively the probability of holding a fixed term contract where single men work more frequently than women in temporary employment while women often hold temporary contracts when they are married. Alternatively, the presence of kids is conversely connected with the probability of being in a fixed term contract, principally for men. Basing on Oaxaca and Blinder technique, decomposing gender difference in employment contracts allow us to better understand such differences regarding temporary work. The endowments reduce by approximately 13% the difference in the probability of being in fixed term contract for women. Conversely, the gender difference in unobservable characteristics is negative. Between the two groups, the decomposition of coefficients explains approximately 116% this difference. We find that, beyond the individual characteristics, controlling for the branch of industry allow only partially for explaining gender differences regarding the held contractual form. Other elements could be required to explain the gender differences such as labour market regulation which seems to perpetuate the other forms of gender inequality linked to education, homework sharing or even temporal flexibility. |
| Keywords: | fixed term contracts, gender difference, permanent jobs |
| Date: | 2007–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:hal-00174821_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Christina Gathmann (Stanford University and IZA); Uta Schönberg (University of Rochester and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how portable skill accumulated in the labor market are. Using rich data on tasks performed in occupations, we propose the concept of task-specific human capital to measure the transferability of skills empirically. Our results on occupational mobility and wages show that labor market skills are more portable than previously considered. We find that individuals move to occupations with similar task requirements and that the distance of moves declines with time in the labor market. We also show that task-specific human capital is an important source of individual wage growth, in particular for university graduates. For them, at least 40 percent of overall wage growth over a ten year period can be attributed to task-specific human capital. For the low- and medium-skilled, task-specific human capital accounts for at least 35 and 25 percent of overall wage growth respectively. |
| Keywords: | human capital, skill transferability, wage growth, occupations, Germany |
| JEL: | J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3067&r=lab |
| By: | Stefano STAFFOLANI (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia); Alessia LO TURCO (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia); Andrea PRESBITERO ([n.a.]); Chiara BROCCOLINI (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to empirically evaluate the relative eects of international;outsourcing of materials and services and of ICT capital deepening on wage inequality between blue and white collars in the Italian manufacturing industry during the period 1985 - 1999. We merge an administrative data set on workers' wages and individual characteristics with data on imported inputs from Italian input-output tables and other sector-level variables. Results show that international outsourcing plays an important role in shaping the observed pattern in the wage gap, both in traditional and innovative industries,;while the role of technological change is less pronounced and limited to innovative sectors. |
| Keywords: | ICT, inequality, international outsourcing, wage |
| JEL: | C23 F16 J31 O3 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:299&r=lab |
| By: | Uusitalo, Roope (Labour Institute for Economic Research); Verho, Jouko (Department of Economics, University of Helsinki) |
| Abstract: | In January 2003, the unemployment benefits in Finland were increased for workers with long employment histories. The average benefit increase was 15 per cent for the first 150 days of the unemployment spell. In this paper we evaluate the effect of the benefit increase on the duration of unemployment by comparing the changes in the re-employment hazard profiles among the unemployed who became eligible for the increased benefits to the changes in a comparison group whose benefit structure remained unchanged. We find that the benefit increase reduced the re-employment hazards at the beginning of the unemployment spell. The effect disappears after the eligibility period for the increased benefit expires. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment insurance; duration models |
| JEL: | J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2007–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2007_021&r=lab |
| By: | Nuria Rodriguez-Planas (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, FEDEA and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Recent empirical evidence has found that employment services and small-business assistance programmes are often successful at getting the unemployed back to work. One important concern of policy makers is to decide which of these two programmes is more effective and for whom. Using unusually rich (for transition economies) survey data and matching methods, I evaluate the relative effectiveness of these two programmes in Romania. While I find that employment services (ES) are, on average, more successful than a small-business assistance programme (SBA), estimation of heterogeneity effects reveals that, compared to non-participation, ES are effective for workers with little access to informal search channels, and SBA works for less-qualified workers and those living in rural areas. When comparing ES to SBA, I find that ES tend to be more efficient than SBA for workers without a high-school degree, and that the opposite holds for the more educated workers. |
| Keywords: | active labour market programmes, evaluation, propensity score matching, transition economies, treatment effects |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J31 J64 J65 J68 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3051&r=lab |
| By: | Natália Pimenta Monteiro (Universidade do Minho); Miguel Portela (Universidade do Minho and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Using the fixed e¤ects estimator and the dynamic panel data system-GMM estimator, on a sample of 75 banks, covering the period 1988-2005, this paper estimates how wages in the Portuguese banking sector depend on the employers ability to pay. The results indicate that wages are strongly positively correlated with pro?ts even after controlling for ?rm and workforce characteristics. The Lester?s range of wages due to rent-sharing is 46% - 75% of the mean wage in the Portuguese banking sector. |
| Keywords: | rent-sharing, Portuguese banking industry, dynamic panel data. |
| JEL: | J31 J45 L33 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nip:nipewp:18/2007&r=lab |
| By: | Bo Hansson |
| Abstract: | This paper examines crowding-out effects and the labour market match for the tertiary educated in 26 OECD countries, using attainment data and data on labour market outcomes from Education at a Glance 2006. A first-difference approach is applied on a three-period, pooled country-panel to examine the effects of changes in tertiary attainment levels against changes in labour market outcomes over time. The policy questions in this paper focus on the potential negative short-term effects that mismatches between the supply of and demand for higher-educated individuals might bring about. There is no evidence in the current data suggesting any crowding-out effects of lower-educated from higher-educated individuals. On the contrary, there seems to be positive employment effects for individuals with less education in countries expanding their tertiary education. Labour market outcomes for the upper secondary educated appears to be less influenced by the expansion of tertiary education, but there is no indication that tertiary educated individuals, on average, are displacing (crowding out) upper secondary educated individuals from the labour market. Similarly, the job market for the tertiary educated appears to be little influenced by the expansion of tertiary education. There are some indications that relative unemployment (relative to upper secondary) for the tertiary educated has been diluted to some extent, but this appears to be more related to the upper secondary educated, relatively speaking, strengthening their labour market positions vis-à-vis tertiary educated individuals in general. The earnings advantage (premium) for tertiary educated individuals in comparison with upper secondary educated individuals is still on the rise, which suggests that, on the whole, demand outstrips supply in most countries. <BR>Cette étude examine l'adéquation sur le marché du travail des diplômés de l'enseignement tertiaire et les effets de progression du chômage chez les moins qualifiés dans 26 pays de l'OCDE, sur la base de données portant sur le niveau d'enseignement et la situation sur le marché du travail publiées dans l'édition 2006 de Regards sur l'éducation. Afin d'analyser les effets de l'évolution des taux d'obtention d'un diplôme tertiaire par rapport à l'évolution au fil du temps de la situation sur le marché du travail, une approche de différence première a été appliquée à un échantillon de pays mis en commun sur trois périodes différentes. Les questions d'action publique abordées dans cette étude se concentrent notamment sur les effets négatifs à court terme que peut occasionner une inadéquation de l'offre par rapport à la demande d'individus titulaires d'un diplôme de l'enseignement tertiaire. Les données actuellement disponibles ne fournissent aucune preuve confirmant la thèse d'une mainmise des plus qualifiés sur l'emploi. À l'inverse, un effet positif sur l'emploi pour les individus moins éduqués semble s'instaurer dans les pays qui développent leur enseignement tertiaire. La situation sur le marché de l'emploi des titulaires d'un diplôme du deuxième cycle du secondaire paraît moins influencée par l'expansion de l'enseignement tertiaire, bien qu'en moyenne, aucun élément ne semble indiquer que les individus titulaires d'un diplôme tertiaire supplantent les diplômés du deuxième cycle du secondaire dans la course à l'emploi. Dans le même ordre d'idées, le marché de l'emploi des diplômés du tertiaire semble peu influencé par l'expansion de l'enseignement tertiaire. Certains éléments indiquent que le taux de chômage relatif des diplômés du tertiaire (c'est-à-dire par rapport à celui des diplômés du deuxième cycle du secondaire) a connu un certain recul, mais ce phénomène paraît somme toute davantage imputable au renforcement par les diplômés du deuxième cycle du secondaire de leur position sur le marché du travail vis-à-vis des diplômés du tertiaire en général. L'avantage salarial des diplômés du tertiaire par rapport aux diplômés du niveau inférieur continue de progresser, ce qui suggère une distanciation générale de la demande par rapport à l'offre dans la plupart des pays. |
| Date: | 2007–09–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:10-en&r=lab |
| By: | Corinne Perraudin (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne et Centre d'Etudes de l'Emploi); Héloïse Petit (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne); Antoine Rebérioux (EcomiX - Université Paris X et CNRS) |
| Abstract: | This article examines the influence of equity capital ownership on human resource management practices. The empirical analysis uses the 2004-2005 Workplace Industrial Relations Survey (REPONSE survey), based on a sample of 2,930 establishments with 20 workers or more, representative of the French private sector. Econometric analysis confirms the importance of equity ownership as a determinant of employment practices, considering labour mobilisation contracts (agency work, short term contracts and sub-contracting), wage policy (level of remuneration and use of variable pay), changes in the staff size and training expenses. |
| Keywords: | Corporate governance, ownership of equity capital, human resource management. |
| JEL: | G34 J31 J33 M52 M54 M55 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:r07041&r=lab |
| By: | Piero Esposito (University of Rome "La Sapienza"); Robert Stehrer (The Vienna Institute for International economic Studies, wiiw) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we test the hypothesis that the sector bias of skill-biased technical change is important in explaining the rising relative wage of skilled workers in the manufacturing sector in three Central and Eastern European transition countries. The evidence for Hungary and Poland is consistent with the sector bias being important in explaining the rising wage premium; the hypotheses is however not confirmed for the Czech Republic. |
| Keywords: | skill premium, factor prices, biased technical change, transition |
| JEL: | C62 C68 F16 O33 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:wpaper:43&r=lab |
| By: | Laurence Lizé (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne); Nicolas Prokovas (ANPE - Dep. Etudes Evaluation statistiques) |
| Abstract: | This research focuses on the gap between the last employment and the new job at the exit of unemployment in the "Sortants de l'ANPE" survey of ANPE/DARES (5 548 persons). Many people are downgrading because their skills level is higher than the level of the job's qualification (matching between qualifications and socio-economic group). Does downgrading mean a lock-in position or a start to a new positioning ? This approach suggests that the combination of mobility and downgrading at the exit of unemployment is an important phenomenon. One can suggest that either relegate positions could characterize a transitional period, or could risk to be lasting. |
| Keywords: | Labour market, unemployment, employment, mobility, downgrading. |
| JEL: | J J21 J6 J64 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:r07044&r=lab |
| By: | Christofides, L.; Peng, A. |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gue:guelph:2007-7&r=lab |
| By: | Olsson, Martin (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | An exemption in the Swedish Employment Security Act (LAS) in 2001 made it possible for employers with a maximum of ten employees to exempt two workers from the seniority rule at times of redundancies. Using this within-country enforcement variation, the relationship between employment protection and sickness absence among employees is examined. The average treatment effect from the exemption is found to decrease sickness absence by more than 13 percent at those establishments that were treated relative to those that were not and this was due to a behavioral, rather than a compositional, effect. The results suggest that the exemption had the largest impact on shorter spells and among establishments with a relatively low share of females or temporary contracts. |
| Keywords: | Employment Protection; Sickness Absence; Economic Incentives |
| JEL: | I19 J63 J88 |
| Date: | 2007–09–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0717&r=lab |
| By: | Alex Coad (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - [CNRS : UMR8174] - [Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I], Max Planck Institute of Economics - [Evolutionary Economics Group]); Rekha Rao (LEM - Laboratory of Economics and Management - [Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies]) |
| Abstract: | The issue of technological unemployment receives perennial popular attention. Although there are previous empirical investigations that have focused on the relationship between innovation and employment, the originality of our approach lies in our choice of method. We focus on four 2-digit manufacturing industries that are known for their high patenting activity. We then use Principal Components Analysis to generate a firm-and year-specific "innovativeness" index by extracting the common variance in a firm's patenting and R&D expenditure histories. To begin with, we explore the heterogeneity of firms by using semi-parametric quantile regression. Whilst some firms may reduce employment levels after innovating, others increase employment. We then move on to a weighted least squares (WLS) analysis, which explicitly takes into account the different job-creating potential of firms of different sizes. As a result, we focus on the effect of innovation on total number of jobs, whereas previous studies have focused on the effect of innovation on firm behavior. Indeed, previous studies have typically taken the firm as the unit of analysis, implicity weighting each firm equally according to the principle of "one firm equals one observation". Our results suggest that firm-level innovative activity leads to employment creation that may have been underestimated in previous studies. |
| Keywords: | Technological unemployment, innovation, firm growth, Weighted Least Squares, aggregation, quantile regression. |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00175042_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Mariano Bosch (London School of Economics); William Maloney (World Bank and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses a set of statistics for examining and comparing labor market dynamics based on the estimation of continuous time Markov transition processes. It then uses these to establish stylized facts about dynamic patterns of movement using panel data from Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. The estimates suggest broad commonalities among the three countries, and establish numerous common patterns of worker mobility among sectors of work and inactivity. As such, we offer some of the first comparative work on labor dynamics. The paper then particularly focuses on the role of the informal sector, both for its intrinsic interest, and as a case study illustrating the strengths and limits of the tools. The results suggest that a substantial part of the informal sector, particularly the self-employed, corresponds to voluntary entry although informal salaried work may correspond more closely to the standard queuing view, especially for younger workers. |
| Keywords: | labor market dynamics, Markov processes, Informality |
| JEL: | C14 J21 J24 J64 O17 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3038&r=lab |
| By: | Cavalcanti, Tiago; Tavares, José |
| Abstract: | Gender-based discrimination is a pervasive and costly phenomenon. To a greater or lesser extent, all economies present a gender wage gap, associated with lower female labour force participation rates and higher fertility. This paper presents a growth model where saving, fertility and labour market participation are endogenously determined, and there is wage discrimination. The model is calibrated to mimic the performance of the U.S. economy, including the gender wage gap and relative female labour force participation. We then compute the output cost of an increase in discrimination, to find that a 50 percent increase in the gender wage gap leads to a decrease in income per capita of a quarter of the original output. We then compile independent estimates of the female to male earnings ratio for a wide cross-section of countries to construct a new economy, in line with the benchmark U.S. economy, except for the degree of discrimination. We compare the level of output per capita predicted by this model economy with the actual output per capita for each country. Higher discrimination leads to lower output per capita for two reasons: a direct decrease in female labour market participation and an indirect effect through an increase in fertility. We find that for several countries a large fraction of the actual difference in output per capita between the U.S. and the different economies is due to gender inequality. For countries such as Ireland and Saudi Arabia, wage discrimination actually explains all of the output difference with the U.S. Moreover, we find that the increase in fertility due to discrimination is responsible for almost half of the decrease in output per capita, and equivalent to the direct decrease in output due to lower female participation. Our basic model suggests the costs of gender discrimination are indeed quite substantial and should be a central concern in any macroeconomic policy aimed at increasing output per capita in the long-run. |
| Keywords: | Economic Development; Female Labour Force Participation; Fertility; Gender Inequality |
| JEL: | E0 J1 O1 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6477&r=lab |
| By: | Waldman, Michael |
| Abstract: | A number of branches of the literature on internal labor markets have matured to the point that there is now a healthy two-way interaction between theory and empirical work. In this survey I consider two of these branches: i) wage and promotion dynamics; and ii) human-resource practices. For each case I describe the empirical and theoretical literatures and also discuss what we can learn by paying careful attention to how theoretical and empirical findings are related. In addition to surveying the literatures on these two topics, my goal is to show how a deeper understanding of internal-labor-market phenomena can be derived from a close partnering of empirical and theoretical research. |
| Keywords: | internal labor markets; wage and promotion dynamics; human resource practices |
| JEL: | J5 J3 |
| Date: | 2007–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5113&r=lab |
| By: | Oddbjørn Raaum (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Bernt Bratsberg (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Knut Røed (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research and IZA); Eva Österbacka (Åbo Akademi University); Tor Eriksson (Aarhus School of Business); Markus Jäntti (Åbo Akademi University); Robin Naylor (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | We present comparable evidence on intergenerational earnings mobility for Denmark, Finland, Norway, the UK and the US, with a focus on the role of gender and marital status. We confirm that earnings mobility in the Nordic countries is typically greater than in the US and in the UK, but find that, in contrast to all other groups, for married women mobility is approximately uniform across countries when estimates are based on women's own earnings. Defining offspring outcomes in terms of family earnings, on the other hand, leads to estimates of intergenerational mobility in the Nordic countries which exceed those for the US and the UK for both men and women, single and married. Unlike in the Nordic countries, we find that married women with children and with husbands from affluent backgrounds tend to exhibit reduced labor supply in the US and the UK. In these countries, it is the combination of assortative mating and labor supply responses which weakens the association between married women's own earnings and their parents' earnings. |
| Keywords: | assortative mating, intergenerational mobility, joint labor supply |
| JEL: | J3 J62 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3037&r=lab |
| By: | Joachim R. Frick (DIW Berlin, TU Berlin and IZA); Markus M. Grabka (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | Using data on annual individual labor income from three representative panel datasets (German SOEP, British BHPS, Australian HILDA) we investigate a) the selectivity of item non-response (INR) and b) the impact of imputation as a prominent post-survey means to cope with this type of measurement error on prototypical analyses (earnings inequality, mobility and wage regressions) in a cross-national setting. Given the considerable variation of INR across surveys as well as the varying degree of selectivity build into the missing process, there is substantive and methodological interest in an improved harmonization of (income) data production as well as of imputation strategies across surveys. All three panels make use of longitudinal information in their respective imputation procedures, however, there are marked differences in the implementation. Firstly, although the probability of INR is quantitatively similar across countries, our empirical investigation identifies cross-country differences with respect to the factors driving INR: survey-related aspects as well as indicators accounting for variability and complexity of labor income composition appear to be relevant. Secondly, longitudinal analyses yield a positive correlation of INR on labor income data over time and provide evidence of INR being a predictor of subsequent unit-nonresponse, thus supporting the "cooperation continuum" hypothesis in all three panels. Thirdly, applying various mobility indicators there is a robust picture about earnings mobility being significantly understated using information from completely observed cases only. Finally, regression results for wage equations based on observed ("complete case analysis") vs. all cases and controlling for imputation status, indicate that individuals with imputed incomes, ceteris paribus, earn significantly above average in SOEP and HILDA, while this relationship is negative using BHPS data. However, once applying the very same imputation procedure used for HILDA and SOEP, namely the "row-and-column-imputation" approach suggested by Little & Su (1989), also to BHPS-data, this result is reversed, i.e., individuals in the BHPS whose income has been imputed earn above average as well. In our view, the reduction in cross-national variation resulting from sensitivity to the choice of imputation approaches underscores the importance of investing more in the improved cross-national harmonization of imputation techniques. |
| Keywords: | item non-response, imputation, income inequality, income mobility, panel data, SOEP, BHPS, HILDA |
| JEL: | J31 C81 D33 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3043&r=lab |
| By: | Caitlin Knowles Myers |
| Abstract: | Despite anecdotal and survey evidence suggesting the presence of discrimination against customers in stores, restaurants, and other small –transaction consumer markets, few studies exist that identify or quantify the nature of any unequal treatment. We provide evidence from a ?eld study of wait times in Boston-area coffee shops that suggests that female customers wait an average of 20 seconds longer for their orders than do male customers even when controlling for gender differences in orders. We ?nd that this differential in wait times is inverse to the proportion of employees who are female and directly related to how busy the coffee shop is at the time of the order. This supports the conclusion that the observed differential is driven at least in part by employee animus and/or statistical discrimination rather than unobserved heterogeneity in the purchasing behavior of female customers. |
| Keywords: | economics of gender and minorities, consumer market discrimination JEL Classification: J15, J16 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mdl:mdlpap:0711&r=lab |
| By: | Justin van der Sluis (Amsterdam Center for Entrepreneurship and University of Amsterdam); Mirjam van Praag (Amsterdam Center for Entrepreneurship, Tinbergen Institute, University of Amsterdam and IZA); Arjen van Witteloostuijn (University of Groningen and University of Durham) |
| Abstract: | We compare the returns to education (RTE) for entrepreneurs and employees, based on 19 waves of the NLSY database. By using instrumental variable techniques (IV) and taking account of selectivity, we find that the RTE are significantly higher for entrepreneurs than for employees (18.3 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively). We perform various analyses in an attempt to explain the difference. We find (indirect) support for the argument that the higher RTE for entrepreneurs is due to fewer (organizational) constraints faced by entrepreneurs when optimizing the profitable employment of their education. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, self-employment, returns to education employment |
| JEL: | J23 J24 J31 J44 M13 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3058&r=lab |
| By: | Ours, J.C. van (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper is on compulsion in active labour market programs (ALMP). When an unemployed worker has to participate in a programme order to remain eligible for benefits there are two separate effects. First, there is the treatment effect, i.e. the program makes the worker more attractive for a potential employer or makes search more efficient thus helping the unemployed worker to find a job more quickly. Second, there is the compulsion effect, i.e. because the worker has to attend the program his value of being unemployed drops and he is stimulated to find a job more quickly. So, both effects induce the worker to find a job more quickly. The difference between the treatment effect and the compulsion effect concerns the quality of the postunemployment job. The treatment effect improves the quality; the compulsion effect lowers the quality of postunemployment jobs. |
| Keywords: | compulsion;active labour market policies |
| JEL: | J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:200774&r=lab |
| By: | Leah Platt Boustan; Robert A. Margo |
| Abstract: | In 1990 and 2000, residential segregation was associated with poor economic outcomes for African-Americans. Earlier in the century, the opposite was true. The economic deterioration of African-American enclaves has been attributed either to the departure of the black middle class or to the decline in centrally-located jobs. Postal employment -- well-paid work that has, for largely exogenous reasons, remained in central cities -- is a useful test case to distinguish between these explanations. Black postal employment is unrelated to segregation before 1960, when middle class role models, including a large contingent of postal employees, were close at hand. From 1960 onward, as other employment opportunities disappeared, blacks in segregated cities were more likely to work for the postal service (relative to whites in their area). This relationship is true only for postal clerks, many of whom work at centralized processing plants, not for mail carriers who work throughout the metropolitan area. We interpret this pattern as broadly consistent with the importance of job availability for the economic health of black neighborhoods. |
| JEL: | J71 N32 N92 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13462&r=lab |
| By: | Isacsson, Gunnar (VTI); Swärdh, Jan-Erik (VTI) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to estimate the average value of commuting time (VoCT) in an empirical on-the-job search model. A large Swedish sample of employee-establishment linked data obtained from administrative registers is used to this end. The sample contains detailed information on the individuals' place of residence and place of work and it is combined with information on travel times and travel distances in the road network. We use two empirical models of the individuals' utility function: a basic model and an augmented model. The latter introduces a set of variables intended to capture the effect of interpersonal comparisons of earnings and commuting times in the individual's utility function and on the estimated VoCT. The basic model suggests the average VoCT to be as high as 232 Swedish kronor (SEK) per hour, which is about two and half times higher than the net hourly wage rate in the sample. If we discard the effect of interpersonal comparisons of earnings and commuting time on job switching, the augmented model instead suggests a value of time of 94 SEK, which is more or less equal to the net hourly wage rate in the sample. |
| Keywords: | Value of commuting time; Revealed preferences; Relative earnings |
| JEL: | C41 C81 J60 R41 |
| Date: | 2007–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:vtiwps:2007_012&r=lab |
| By: | John T. Addison (Queen’s University Belfast and IZA); Clive R. Belfield (Queens College, City University of New York) |
| Abstract: | This paper offers a replication for Britain of Brown and Heywood’s analysis of the determinants of performance appraisal in Australia. Although there are some important limiting differences between our two datasets - the AWIRS and the WERS - we reach one central point of agreement and one intriguing shared insight. First, performance appraisal is negatively associated with tenure: where employers cannot rely on the carrot of deferred pay or the stick of dismissal to motivate workers they will tend to rely more on monitoring, ceteris paribus. Alternatively put, when the probability of job separation is greater, the influence of deferred compensation diminishes. Second, there is also some suggestion in the data that employer monitoring and performance pay may be complementary. However, consonant with the disparate results from the wider literature, there is more modest agreement on the contribution of specific HRM practices, and still less on the role of job control. Finally, there is no carry over to Britain of the structural determinants identified by Brown and Heywood. |
| Keywords: | performance appraisal, monitoring, deferred compensation, performance pay, HRM practices, worker tenure, unionism |
| JEL: | J5 L23 M5 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3065&r=lab |
| By: | Zaiceva, Anzelika; Zimmermann, Klaus F |
| Abstract: | Gender role attitudes are well-known determinants of female labour supply. This paper examines the strength of those attitudes using time diaries on childcare, food management and religious activities provided by the British Time Use Survey. Given the low labour force participation of females from ethnic minorities, the role of ethnicity in forming those attitudes and influencing time spent for "traditional" female activities is of particular interest. The paper finds that white females in the UK have a higher probability to participate in the labour force than non-white females. Non-white females spend more time for religious activities and, to some extent, for food management than white females, while there are no ethnic differences for time spent on childcare. The ethnicity effect is also heterogenous across different socio-economic groups. Hence, cultural differences across ethnicities are significant, and do affect work behaviour. |
| Keywords: | ethnic minorities; gender; time use; UK |
| JEL: | J15 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6491&r=lab |
| By: | David Carey |
| Abstract: | Improving education outcomes is vital for achieving convergence with GDP per capita levels in Western European countries and for reducing income inequality. While some education outcomes are favourable, such as the low secondary-school drop-out rate, others have room for improvement: education achievement is below the OECD average and strongly influenced by socio-economic background; Roma children, who are mainly from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, have particularly poor achievement; labour-market outcomes are poor for graduates of secondary vocational programmes not leading to tertiary education; and tertiary attainment is low, albeit rising. Reforms have been made in recent years or are planned to address many of these weaknesses, but much remains to be done. In particular, more progress needs to be made in increasing participation in early childhood education and care, reducing stratification in the education system, helping Roma children to integrate into the education mainstream, and in attracting high quality graduates to teaching, especially in socio-economically disadvantaged schools. In addition, secondary vocational education not leading to tertiary education needs to be made more pertinent to labour-market requirements. Tertiary education also needs to be made more attractive for technical secondary school graduates. <P>Améliorer les résultats de l’éducation dans la République slovaque <BR>L’amélioration des résultats de l’éducation est vitale pour converger vers les niveaux du PIB par habitant des pays de l’Europe occidentale et pour réduire les inégalités de revenus. Alors que ces résultats sont favorables à certains égards – le faible taux de décrochage scolaire dans le secondaire par exemple –-, des améliorations sont possibles dans d’autres domaines : les résultats du système éducatif sont inférieurs à la moyenne de la zone OCDE et varient énormément selon le milieu socioéconomique ; les enfants roms qui sont pour l’essentiel issus de milieux défavorisés affichent des résultats particulièrement médiocres ; les diplômés des filières professionnelles du secondaire ne donnant pas accès à l’enseignement supérieur ont un devenir peu brillant sur le marché du travail ; et le taux de diplômés du supérieur est faible, bien qu’en progression. Des réformes ont été opérées ces dernières années ou sont prévues pour remédier à nombre de ces insuffisances mais de grands progrès sont encore nécessaires. Il faut en particulier augmenter la fréquentation des structures d’accueil et d’éducation de la petite enfance, réduire la stratification du système éducatif, aider les enfants roms à intégrer le circuit scolaire ordinaire et attirer les diplômés de très haut niveau vers l’enseignement, en particulier dans les écoles défavorisées du point de vue socioéconomique. En outre, l’enseignement secondaire professionnel, qui ne donne pas accès aux études supérieures, doit être davantage adapté aux exigences du marché du travail. L’enseignement supérieur doit par ailleurs attirer davantage les diplômés des écoles secondaires techniques. |
| Keywords: | education, éducation, tertiary education, enseignement supérieur, formation professionnelle, PISA, achievement, secondary education, attainment, school system, tracking, streaming, teachers' skills, pre-school education, general education, PISA, réussite scolaire, éducation secondaire, système scolaire, compétences des enseignants, éducation préscolaire, éducation générale |
| JEL: | I2 J24 |
| Date: | 2007–07–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:578-en&r=lab |