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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Antón, José Ignacio; Carrera, Miguel; Muñoz de Bustillo, Rafael |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses wage differentials between local and foreign workers from Latin America and the Caribbean in Spain, which was traditionally a country of emigrants, being precisely Hispanic America the main host region of Spanish migrants during the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition, we also compute earnings. The paper exploits the Earnings Structure Survey 2006, which is the first nationally representative sample of both foreign and Spanish employees. Using the Machado-Mata econometric procedure, wage differentials between locals and foreigners are decomposed into the gap related to characteristics and the one due to different returns on endowments (i.e., discrimination). First, we find that, in absolute terms, the latter component grows across wage distribution, reflecting the existence of a kind of glass ceiling. Second, there seem not to be significant wage gap between Latin American and the last of foreign employees, probably because non-native workers are employed in low-skill jobs. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; Wage differentials; Latin America; Spain; Quantile regression. |
| JEL: | F22 J71 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15051&r=lab |
| By: | Eriksson, Tor (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business); Pytlikowa, Mariola (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business); Warzynski, Frederic (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we look at the evolution of firms’ wage structures using a linked employeremployee dataset, which has longitudinal information for firms and covers a large fraction of the Czech labor market during the period 1998-2006. We first look at the evolution of individual wage determination and find evidence of slightly increasing returns to human capital and diminishing gender inequality. We then document sharp increases in both within-firm and between-firm inequality. We investigate various hypotheses to explain these patterns: increased domestic and international competition, an increasingly decentralized wage bargaining, skill biased technological change and a changing educational composition of the workforce. We find some support for that all these factors have contributed to the changes in the Czech wage structure, and that increased sorting is strongly associated with the observed changes in wage inequality. |
| Keywords: | sorting; wage inequality; linked employer-employee dataset; firm panel data; Czech Republic |
| JEL: | J31 P31 |
| Date: | 2009–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2009_005&r=lab |
| By: | Böckerman, Petri; Laaksonen, Seppo; Vainiomäki, Jari |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the wage flexibility in Finland. The study covers the private sector workers by using three data sets from the payroll records of employers’ associations. The data span the period 1985-2001. The results reveal that there has been macroeconomic flexibility in the labour market. Average real wages declined during the early 1990’s depression and a large proportion of workers experienced real wage cuts. However, the evidence based on individual-level wage change distributions shows that especially real wages are rigid. In particular, individual-level wage changes have regained the high levels of real rigidity during the late 1990s that prevailed in the 1980s, despite the continued high (but declining) level of unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Wage flexibility; wage rigidity; wage cuts |
| JEL: | J33 J30 |
| Date: | 2009–05–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15061&r=lab |
| By: | Frost, Jon |
| Abstract: | Informal employment is a reality for roughly two-thirds of economically active youth in urban Egypt, and it has been argued to be correlated with poverty, poor working conditions, and few opportunities for advancement. This essay analyzes whether informal employment rewards job qualification measures, using survey data from 2006 and a Blinder-Oaxaca wage decomposition. After creating a taxonomy of formal, para-formal, and informal modes of qualification, it is shown that formal public and formal private jobs tend to reward those with formal qualifications, while informal employment tends to reward informal qualification mechanisms. The notion that informal employment does not reward qualification is disputed. Furthermore, there are large wage premia based on formality of employment, region, and gender. The results can be explained by analyzing the formality decision and the qualification decisions of youth. This suggests an alterative explanation for “dualistic” outcomes in youth labor markets. |
| Keywords: | informal employment; youth employment; human capital; developing country labor markets; wage regression |
| JEL: | O17 J24 J42 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:12599&r=lab |
| By: | Kyyrä, Tomi (Government Institute for Economic Research); Parrotta, Pierpaolo (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business); Rosholm, Michael (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | We consider the consequences of working part-time on supplementary unemployment insurance benefits in the Danish labour market. Following the “timing-of-events” approach we estimate causal effects of subsidized part-time work on the hazard rate out of unemployment insurance benefit receipt. We find evidence of a negative lock-in effect and a positive post-treatment effect, both of which vary across individuals. The resulting net effect on the expected unemployment duration is positive for some groups (e.g. married women) and negative for others (e.g. young workers) |
| Keywords: | Unemployment benefits; Part-time work; Lock-in effect; Treatment effect; Duration analysis |
| JEL: | C41 J65 |
| Date: | 2009–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2009_001&r=lab |
| By: | Istvan Gabor R. (Department of Human Resources, Corvinus University of Budapest) |
| Abstract: | Drawing on data from 11 successive waves of yearly wage surveys carried out by the Public Employment Service in Hungary from 1992 to 2003, the paper examines, with the use of elementary statistical tools, whether or not earnings fluctuations differ in size across groups of employees with different degrees of schooling and labour market experience, and if they do, whether the observed differentials might be related to differences in the experienceearnings profiles of those groups. Although preliminary, our findings suggest that earnings fluctuations do differ in magnitude across those groups, and that, moreover, their magnitudes vary in positive association with group-specific global and local slopes of the relevant experience-earnings profiles. Assuming that (1) differences in the observed magnitudes of earnings fluctuations are at least partly due to differences in the flexibility/rigidity of the market rates of earnings, and that (2) flexibility/rigidity of those rates is a determinant of unemployment, it seems reasonable to expect that long-discovered systemic differences in unemployment across groups of employees with different degrees of schooling and experience (and, perhaps, across countries as well) might also be related in part to differences in experience-earnings profiles. |
| Keywords: | experience-earnings profile, earnings fluctuation, wage flexibility/rigidity, unemployment |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J31 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:bworkp:0901&r=lab |
| By: | Hall, Caroline (Institute for Labour Market Polilcy Evaluation) |
| Abstract: | Since the mid-20th century many OECD countries have discarded their previous selective schools systems, in which students early on were separated between academic and vocational tracks, in favor of more comprehensive schools. The effects of these reforms have generally been difficult to evaluate and their consequences for students’ educational and labor market outcomes remain disputed. This paper evaluates the effects of the introduction of a more comprehensive upper secondary school system in Sweden in the 1990s. The reform reduced the differences between the academic and vocational educational tracks through prolonging and substantially increasing the academic content of all vocational tracks. The effects of this policy change are identified by exploiting a six year pilot scheme, which preceded the actual reform in some municipalities. The results show that the prolongation of the vocational tracks brought about an increased probability of dropping out among low performing students. Though one important motive behind the policy change was to enable all upper secondary school graduates to pursue a university degree, I find no effects on university enrolment or graduation. There are some indications, however, that attending the longer and more academic vocational track may have led to increased earnings in the long run. |
| Keywords: | Upper secondary education; comprehensive school system; educational attainment; earnings; instrumental variables |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2009–04–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2009_009&r=lab |
| By: | Esteban Sanromá (Universitat de Barcelona); Raúl Ramos (Universitat de Barcelona); Hipólito Simón (Universitat de Alicante) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to analyse the role played by the different components of human capital in the wage determination of recent immigrants within the Spanish labour market. Using microdata from the Encuesta Nacional de Inmigrantes 2007, the paper examines returns to human capital of immigrants, distinguishing between human capital accumulated in their home countries and in Spain. It also examines the impact on wages of the legal status. The evidence shows that returns to host country sources of human capital are higher than returns to foreign human capital, reflecting the limited international transferability of the latter. The only exception occurs in the case of immigrants from developed countries and immigrants who have studied in Spain. Whatever their home country, they obtain relatively high wage returns to education, including the part not acquired in the host country. Having legal status in Spain is associated with a substantial wage premium of around 15%. Lastly, the overall evidence confirms the presence of a strong heterogeneity in wage returns to different kinds of human capital and in the wage premium associated to the legal status as a function of the immigrants’ area of origin. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal immigration, wages, human capital. |
| JEL: | J15 J24 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2009/5/doc2009-8&r=lab |
| By: | Jahn, Elke J. (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business); Wagner, Thomas (University of Applied Sciences Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | To reduce unemployment targeted hiring subsidies for long-term unemployed are often recommended. To explore their effect on employment and wages, we devise a model with two types of unemployed and two methods of search, a public employment service (PES) and random search. The eligibility of a new match depends on the applicant’s unemployment duration and on the method of search. The hiring subsidy raises job destruction and extends contrary to Mortensen-Pissarides (1999, 2003) the duration of a job search, so that equilibrium unemployment increases. Like the subsidy, organizational reforms, which advance the search effectiveness of the PES, crowd out the active jobseekers and reduce overall employment as well as social welfare. Nevertheless, reforms are a visible success for the PES and its target group, as they significantly increase the service’s placement rate and lower the duration of a job search via the PES |
| Keywords: | Matching model; hiring subsidy; endogenous separation rate; active labour market policy; PES; random search |
| JEL: | J41 J63 J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2008–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2008_019&r=lab |
| By: | Swärdh, Jan-Erik (VTI); Algers, Staffan (Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | In this study, Swedish stated preference data is used to derive estimated values of commuting time (VOCT). Both spouses in two-earner households are individually making trade-offs between commuting time and wage; both with regard to their own commuting time and wage only, as well as when both their own commuting time and wage and their spouse's commuting time and wage are simultaneously changed. Thus, we are able to compare how male spouses and female spouses value each other's commuting time. When only ones own commuting time and wage are attributes, the empirical results show that the estimated VOCT is plausible with a tendency towards high values compared to other studies, and that VOCT does not differ significantly between men and women. When decisions affecting commuting time and wage of both spouses are analyzed, both spouses tend to value the commuting time of the wife highest. For policy implications, this study provides additional support for the practice of valuing commuting time higher than other private travel time. In addition, if VOCT were to be gender specific, the value might be higher for women than for men in two-earner households. |
| Keywords: | Value of time; Commuting; Stated preferences; Two-earner households; Gender differences |
| JEL: | C25 H54 J16 J30 R41 |
| Date: | 2009–05–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:vtiwps:2009_005&r=lab |
| By: | Buhai, Sebastian (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business); Cottini, Elena (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business); Westergaard-Nielsen, Niels (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the impact of work environment health and safety practice on …rm performance, and examines which …rm-characteristic factors are associated with good work conditions. We use Danish longitudinal register matched employer-employee data, merged with …rm business accounts and detailed cross-sectional survey data on workplace conditions. This enables us to address typical econometric problems such as omitted variables bias or endogeneity in estimating i) standard production functions augmented with work environment indicators and aggregate employee characteristics and ii) …rm mean wage regressions on the same explanatory variables. Our …ndings suggest that improvement in some of the physical dimensions of the work health and safety environment (speci…cally, "internal climate" and "repetitive and strenuous activ- ity") strongly impacts the …rm productivity, whereas "internal climate" problems are the only workplace hazards compensated for by higher mean wages. |
| Keywords: | Occupational health and safety; Work environment; Production function estimation; Firm performance; Compensating wage differentials |
| JEL: | J28 J31 L23 |
| Date: | 2008–06–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2008_013&r=lab |
| By: | Yamamura, Eiji |
| Abstract: | This paper explores how social capital is related with self-rated health status in Japan and how this relationship is affected by gender, using data for 3075 adult participants in the 2000 Social Policy and Social Consciousness (SPSC) survey. Controlling for endogenous bias, unobserved city size- and area-specific fixed effects, I find that social capital has a significant positive influence on health status for females but not for males. If samples are limited to persons with a job, social capital effects drastically decrease and the difference between genders diminishes. This empirical study provides evidence that people without a job can afford to allocate time to accumulate social capital and thereby improve their health status. |
| Keywords: | health status; social capital; labor market |
| JEL: | J21 I19 Z13 |
| Date: | 2009–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14985&r=lab |
| By: | Tyrowicz, Joanna |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the literature on the labour market institutions in European Union Member States in the context of monetary integration. Traditionally, labour markets are a key concept in the optimal currency area theory, playing the role of the only accommodation mechanism of asymmetric shocks after the monetary unification. There are several theoretical frameworks linking the institutional design of the labour market to the potential effectiveness of monetary policy in the context of currency areas. Many empirical studies addressed these issues too, yielding important policy implications for labour market reforms in the process of monetary unification. However, there seem to be "white spots" in this patchwork, which may actually be particularly useful from the perspective of CEECs upon the accession to the euro zone. We suggest these research directions encompassing labour supply and theoretical frameworks of labour market flexibility benchmarking in the context of monetary integration. |
| Keywords: | labour market institutions; monetary integration; labour market reform; CEECs; EMU |
| JEL: | F16 F15 D02 J21 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15045&r=lab |
| By: | Claudio Sapelli. (Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the evolution of intergenerational mobility of education in Chile for synthetic cohorts born between 1930 and 1978. The correlation coefficient between children and parent education falls from 0.67 for the cohort born in 1930 to 0.41 for that born in 1956, followed by stagnation. We test three explanations for this evolution. The first that mobility was driven by laws that made further education mandatory. The second that mobility stopped because of a financial restriction either at age 18 or at birth. Finally, we test whether the increase in single parent households explains the stagnation in mobility. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational mobility, Synthetic cohorts and Education |
| JEL: | J62 I20 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ioe:doctra:348&r=lab |
| By: | NCERT NCERT |
| Abstract: | The paper tries to understand what are the aims of education. |
| Keywords: | education, environment, children,knowledge, community, pedagogy, teaching, language, tradition, society, language, school |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:1911&r=lab |
| By: | Nathalie Bosse (LEPII - Laboratoire d'Économie de la Production et de l'Intégration Internationale - CNRS : UMR5252 - Université Pierre Mendès-France - Grenoble II); Christine Guégnard (IREDU - Institut de recherche sur l'éducation : Sociologie et Economie de l'Education - CNRS : UMR5225 - Université de Bourgogne) |
| Abstract: | The hotel industry rhythms appear as a hindrance to staff loyalty and female careers development. However, two hotel networks of the Accor group, Etap Hotel and Formule 1 stand out from this general pattern with a presence of female managers (38% of managers). This case incites to wonder about career ladders within these budget hotel chains. Are the assets and the obstacles combined in the same way for men and for women? Which views have the employees and managers about their jobs, their working conditions and their plans for the future ? |
| Keywords: | career ; female career ; hotel industry ; France |
| Date: | 2009–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00380637_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Artz, Georgeanne M.; Colson, Gregory J.; Ginder, Roger |
| Abstract: | Cooperative approaches provide an alternative for small- and medium-sized producers to obtain the efficiencies of large farming operations and remain competitive in an increasingly concentrated agricultural industry. This article examines the motivation and effectiveness of equipment and labor sharing arrangements in the Midwestern US. Case study evidence shows that in addition to cost savings, access to skilled, seasonal labor is an important motivation for farm-level cooperation. Key factors identified for successful cooperative agreements include compatibility of operations and members' willingness to communicate and adapt. Sharing resources is found to improve farm profitability, efficiency and farmers' quality of life. |
| Keywords: | machinery sharing, skilled farm labor, productivity, farm-level cooperations |
| JEL: | Q1 Q12 Q13 |
| Date: | 2009–05–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:13065&r=lab |