|
on Labour Economics |
| By: | Riddell, Craig (University of British Columbia, Vancouver); Song, Xueda (York University, Canada) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the causal effects of education on individuals’ transitions between employment and unemployment, with particular focus on the extent to which education improves re-employment outcomes among unemployed workers. Given that positive correlations between education and labour force transitions are likely to be confounded by the endogeneity of education, we make use of data on compulsory schooling laws and child labour laws as well as conscription risk in the Vietnam War period to create instrumental variables to identify the causal relationships. Results indicate that education significantly increases re-employment rates of the unemployed. Particularly large impacts are found in the neighborhoods of 12 and 16 years of schooling. Evidence on the impact of formal schooling on unemployment incidence is mixed. |
| Keywords: | education, labour market transitions, unemployment, causal effects, compulsory schooling laws, child labour laws, Vietnam War draft |
| JEL: | I20 J64 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5572&r=lab |
| By: | Nordström Skans, Oskar (IFAU) |
| Abstract: | The paper studies the relationship between teenagers' first labor market experience and subsequent labor market performance using data on all Swedish youths graduating from vocational high schools in the recession years of 1991-94. Sibling fixed-effects combined with detailed data on high school programs, grades and work experience during high school are used in order to identify the causal long-run effects of post-graduation unemployment. The results show significant scarring effects resulting in higher risks of unemployment up to 5 years later. The results imply that poor labor market performance as a teenager result in persistent, but not permanent, negative effects. |
| Keywords: | youth unemployment, scarring, state dependence, siblings |
| JEL: | J64 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5565&r=lab |
| By: | Jacopo Mazza (University of Amsterdam); Hans van Ophem (University of Amsterdam); Joop Hartog (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | We apply a recently proposed method to disentangle unobserved heterogeneity from risk in returns to education. We replicate the original study on US men and extend to US women, UK men and German men. Most original results are not robust. A college education cannot universally be considered an insurance against unpredictability of wages. One conclusion is unequivocally confirmed: uncertainty strongly dominates unobserved heterogeneity. |
| Keywords: | wage inequality; wage uncertainty; unobserved heterogeneity; selectivity; education; replication |
| JEL: | C01 C33 C34 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20110045&r=lab |
| By: | Eldridge Moses (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | In South Africa earnings inequality between races still persists despite the convergence of educational attainment between races. There is a now a growing body of evidence which suggests that the quality of education received by South Africans differs markedly amongst and within race groups, and that schools differ substantially in their ability to impart cognitive skills. This paper reviews the international and South African literature which considers the role of education quality in improving labour market prospects. Education quality is considered from both from an input and output perspective. This paper concludes that education output quality, particularly the ability of a school system to impart cognitive skills, is a crucial determinant of labour market success. |
| Keywords: | South Africa, Education, Earnings Functions, Education Quality, Cognitive Skills, Labour Market |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I30 J30 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers135&r=lab |
| By: | Milton H. Marquis; Bharat Trehan; Wuttipan Tantivong |
| Abstract: | The wage premium for high-skilled workers in the United States, measured as the ratio of the 90th-to-10th percentiles from the wage distribution, increased by 20 percent from the 1970s to the late 1980s. A large literature has emerged to explain this phenomenon. A leading explanation is that skill-biased technological change (SBTC) increased the demand for skilled labor relative to unskilled labor. In a calibrated vintage capital model with heterogenous labor, this paper examines whether SBTC is likely to have been a major factor in driving up the wage premium. Our results suggest that the contribution of SBTC is very small, accounting for about 1/20th of the observed increase. By contrast, a gradual and very modest shift in the distribution of human capital across workers can easily account for the large observed increase in wage inequality. |
| Keywords: | Labor supply ; Wages |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:2011-06&r=lab |
| By: | Pfeiffer, Friedhelm; Schulz, Nico Johannes |
| Abstract: | Gregariousness is an important aspect of human life with implications for labour market outcomes. The paper examines, to the best of our knowledge for the first time for Germany, gregariousness and social interaction at the workplace and associated wage differentials. Our empirical findings with samples from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) demonstrate that gregarious people more often work in jobs with social interaction. Furthermore, females tend to work more often in interactive jobs compared to males. There is evidence that working in an interactive job is associated with a compensating negative wage differential of 7 percent for women and non for men. Implications for wage policy are discussed. -- |
| Keywords: | Gregariousness,social interactions,labour markets,sorting,wage differentials |
| JEL: | J01 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:11001&r=lab |
| By: | Martin Gustafsson (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | South African and international household and education datasets are analysed to characterise patterns of dropping out, grade repetition, academic under-performance and under-preparedness for post-school life in South African secondary schools. A number of measurement error problems are moreover discussed and in some cases remedied. The proportion of South African youths entering upper secondary schooling is above the trend found in comparable middle income countries, the proportion entering the last grade (Grade 12) is about average, but the proportion successfully completing secondary schooling (40%) is below average. The data suggest improving quality should be a greater planning priority than increasing enrolments. A what-if subject choice analysis using examination data moreover suggests that successful completion could be greatly enhanced by guiding students to more appropriate subject choices, possibly through a more standardised set of assessments in Grade 9. Any attempt to reduce dropping out must pay close attention to financial constraints experienced by students with respect to relatively low-cost inputs such as books. Teenage pregnancies must be reduced as these explain half of female dropping out. The quality problem in schools underlined by the fact that income returns and test score gains associated with each additional year of secondary schooling are well below those associated with a year of post-school education. |
| Keywords: | Human capital, Unemployment, Earnings function, South Africa, Secondary schools, Examinations, Education policy |
| JEL: | E24 I28 J31 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers137&r=lab |
| By: | Rebekka Christopoulou (Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.); Theodora Kosma (Economic Research Department, Bank of Greece, 21 E. Venizelos Ave., GR-10250 Athens, Greece.) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines changes in the Greek wage distribution over 1995-2002 and the role of skills in these changes using a matched employer-employee data set. This data set enables us to account for firm heterogeneity and obtain a more refined picture of the impact of skills. The methodology adopted is the Machado-Mata decomposition technique, which separates the part of wage changes that is due to changes in the job/employer and employee characteristics from the part due to changes in the returns to these characteristics. Our results indicate that the role of skills has been decisive. The skill return effects in combination with the composition effects of tenure, which are arguably responsive to economic developments and market conditions, have had an important contribution to the changes in the Greek wage distribution. On the other hand, the impact of predetermined demographic changes, as those captured by the age and education composition effects, has been relatively milder. JEL Classification: J31. |
| Keywords: | Returns to skill, Wage inequality, Quantile regression. |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20111309&r=lab |
| By: | Debra L. Shepherd (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | The poor state of quality education in South Africa is confirmed by the weak performance of South African students on international tests, even when compared to countries with comparatively poorer education systems. This paper aims to shed light on this issue through the use of the PIRLS 2006 dataset and education production function techniques. A unique feature of this dataset is that schools were able to choose the language in which the test was conducted. This provided a proxy for former school department, a feature that has not been captured in international survey datasets. A clear distinction between the historically black and the historically white, coloured and Indian school systems is needed in order to identify the different data generating processes at work. The regression model results reveal that family and student characteristics are undoubtedly important for performance within both school samples. At the level of the school, quite divergent school factors and classroom processes were found to have significant impacts on student performance across the two school systems. It is concluded that a lack of enabling conditions such as effective leadership, flexibility and autonomy, and a capable teaching force may contribute to certain school and classroom processes not playing a significant role in determining performance in the less affluent black school system. |
| Keywords: | South Africa, Education, Education production function, Educational Achievement, Educational Inequality |
| JEL: | C20 C21 I20 I21 I30 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers133&r=lab |
| By: | Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina (San Diego State University, California); Bansak, Cynthia (St. Lawrence University) |
| Abstract: | This paper tests whether amnesty, a provision of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), affected the labor market outcomes of the legalized population. Using the Legalized Population Survey (LPS) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) from 1987-1992, a quasi-experimental framework is developed to assess the differential impact of amnesty on the legalized population relative to a comparison group. After the implementation of the amnesty program, employment fell and unemployment rose for newly legalized men relative to the comparison group of already legal U.S. residents. For women, employment also fell and transitions out of the workforce increased among the newly legalized population. Increasing returns to skill, as captured by English proficiency, only played an important role in explaining the employment of newly legalized women. Finally, newly legalized men and women enjoyed higher wage growth rates than their working native counterparts, perhaps owing to their comparatively growing returns to U.S. educational attainment over this period. |
| Keywords: | amnesty, legalization, labor market, Legalized Population Survey |
| JEL: | J6 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5576&r=lab |
| By: | Chib, Siddhartha (Washington University, St. Louis); Jacobi, Liana (University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we reevaluate the returns to education based on the increase in the compulsory schooling age from 14 to 15 in the UK in 1947. We provide a Bayesian fuzzy regression discontinuity approach to infer the effect on earnings for a subset of subjects who turned 14 in a narrow window around the policy change and whose schooling was affected by the policy change. Our approach and our results are quite different from previous work that has focused on large sets of cohorts and 2SLS based approaches and has reported positive earnings and wage effects of 5% and above. Our empirical analysis, using data from the UK General Household Surveys, yields considerably lower earnings and wage effects for the additional year of compulsory schooling than previous work. These findings are consistent with the implementation of the policy change that affected students at the lower end of the schooling distribution and did not lead students to acquire additional qualifications. The results add further evidence to a number of recent studies that have found no effect from this policy change on socio-economic outcomes correlated with earnings. |
| Keywords: | Bayesian inference, causal effects, imperfect compliance, natural experiment, principal stratification, regression discontinuity, returns to schooling |
| JEL: | C11 C21 I21 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5564&r=lab |
| By: | Matthias Kräkel; Frauke Lammers; Nora Szech |
| Abstract: | According to the previous literature on hiring, ?rms face a trade-off when deciding on external recruiting: From an incentive perspective, external recruiting is harmful since admission of external candidates reduces internal workers’ career incentives. However, if external workers have high abilities hiring from outside is bene?cial to improve job assignment. In our model, external workers do not have superior abilities. We show that external hiring can be pro?table from a pure incentive perspective. By opening its career system, a ?rm decreases the incentives of its low-ability workers. The incentives of high-ability workers can increase from a homogenization of the pool of applicants. Whenever this effect dominates, a ?rm prefers to admit external applicants. If vacancies arise simultaneously, ?rms face a coordination problem when setting wages. If ?rms serve the same product market, weaker ?rms use external recruiting and their wage policy to offset their competitive disadvantage. |
| Keywords: | contest, externalities, recruiting, wagepolicy |
| JEL: | C72 J2 J3 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:bonedp:bgse02_2011&r=lab |
| By: | Jose Maria Millan (University of Huelva); Jolanda Hessels (Erasmus School of Economics); Roy Thurik (Erasmus School of Economics); Rafael Aguado (University of Huelva) |
| Abstract: | Job satisfaction of self-employed and paid-employed workers is analyzed using the European Community Household Panel for the EU-15 covering the years 1994-2001. We distinguish between two types of job satisfaction, i.e. job satisfaction in terms of type of work and job satisfaction in terms of job security. Findings from our generalized ordered logit regressions indicate that self-employed individuals as compared to paid employees are more likely to be satisfied with their present jobs in terms of type of work and less likely to be satisfied in terms of job security. The findings also provide many insights into the determinants of the two types of job satisfaction for both the self-employed and paid employees. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship; self-employment; job satisfaction; Europe |
| JEL: | J24 J28 L26 O52 |
| Date: | 2011–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20110043&r=lab |
| By: | Ferrer, Ana (University of Calgary); Riddell, Craig (University of British Columbia, Vancouver) |
| Abstract: | The unemployment protection systems that exist in most Latin American economies are generally considered inadequate in terms of providing insurance to workers. They may also encourage stratified labor markets and impose barriers to the employee’s mobility and the firm's adjustment to changing labor market conditions. In addition, some of these systems involve high administrative and monitoring costs and may create additional adverse effects that induce higher unemployment rates and longer duration of unemployment and promote informal labor markets. Recently, research effort and policy interest has turned to Unemployment Insurance Savings Accounts (UISAs) as an alternative to traditional systems of unemployment insurance. UISAs are schemes of individual mandatory savings. Therefore, they smooth income over an individual's life cycle rather than pooling unemployment risk over the total working population at a point in time. This form of unemployment insurance diminishes the moral hazard problems associated with traditional insurance methods. However, it presents problems of its own. First, it is questionable that these systems provide adequate protection against unemployment risk. Additionally, their effects on the promotion of informal labor markets and their administrative costs are yet to be determined. Finally, the effectiveness as a form of unemployment insurance depends critically upon the performance and credibility of the financial institutions managing the funds. This paper examines the experience of Latin American countries that use UISAs, with the hope of highlighting the problems of the system and identifying areas for future theoretical and empirical work. The overall effect of UISAs depends on a vast array of specific country characteristics and program parameters. The way the system is implemented, existing labor regulation, the extent of the informal economy and the scope for collusive behavior greatly influence the success of these programs. This calls for a more extensive research effort in the area. |
| Keywords: | unemployment insurance, moral hazard, severance pay, Latin America, labor markets |
| JEL: | J65 J08 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5577&r=lab |
| By: | Nicodemo, Catia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Ramos, Raul (University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | The objective of the study is to quantify the wage gap between native and immigrant women in Spain taking into account differences in their characteristics and the need to control for common support. Using the microdata from the Social Security Records (MCVL) and with a matching procedure of Ñopo (2008) we analysed the decomposition of the wage gap. The advantage of this procedure is that we can simultaneously estimate the common support and the mean counterfactual wage for the women on the common support. In addition, we can describe not only differences at the mean, but along the entire wage distribution. The results obtained indicate that, on average, immigrants women earn less than native in the Spanish labour market. This wage gap is bigger when we analyse the developing countries, but our main finding is that part of this wage gap is related to difference in common supports, i.e. immigrant women have different characteristics than native women that make them less attractive in the labour market. If the need to control for common support is neglected, estimates of the wage gap will be biased. |
| Keywords: | common support, quantile regression, immigration, counterfactual decomposition |
| JEL: | J16 J31 C2 C3 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5571&r=lab |
| By: | Nan Jia; Xiao-Yuan Dong |
| Abstract: | China’s economic transition has fundamentally changed the mechanisms for allocating and compensating labor. This paper investigates how the economic transition has affected the wage gap between mothers and childless women in urban China using panel data for the period 1990-2005. The results show that overall, mothers earned considerably less than childless women; additionally, the wage penalties for motherhood went up substantially from the gradualist reform period (1990-1996) to the radical reform period (1999-2005). The results also show that that although motherhood does not appear to have a significant wage effect for the state sector, it imposes substantial wage losses for mothers in the non-state sector. These findings suggest that the economic transition has shifted part of the cost of child-bearing and -rearing from the state and employers back to women in the form of lower earnings for working mothers. |
| JEL: | J13 J31 O10 R20 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:win:winwop:2011-02&r=lab |
| By: | Stefan P.T. de Groot (VU University Amsterdam); Henri L.F. de Groot (VU University Amsterdam); Martijn Smit (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Based on micro-data on individual workers for the period 2000-2005, we show that wage differentials in the Netherlands are small but present. A large part of these differentials can be attributed to individual characteristics of workers. Remaining effects are partially explained by variations in employment density, with an elasticity of about 3.8 percent and by Marshall-Arrow-Romer externalities, where doubling the share of a (2-digit NACE) industry results in a 2.4 percent higher productivity. We find evidence for a negative effect of competition (associated with Porter externalities) and diversity (associated with Jacobs externalities). |
| Keywords: | regional labour markets; wage differentials; agglomeration externalities |
| JEL: | J24 O12 R11 R23 |
| Date: | 2011–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20110050&r=lab |
| By: | Sonia Oreffice; Climent Quintana |
| Abstract: | We explore the role of relative physical attractiveness within the household on the labor supply decisions of husbands and wives. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we find that husbands who are heavier relative to their wives work more hours, while wives who are thinner relative to their husbands work fewer hours. We also find a 9% -elasticity of annual hours of work with respect to own BMI for married men, and a -7%- elasticity with respect to wife's BMI. For married women, we find an 8% -elasticity of annual hours of work with respect to own BMI, and a -6%- elasticity with respect to husband's BMI. While own BMI is positively related to own hours of work for married individuals, no statistically significant relatioship emerges for eigher unmarried men or unmarried women. |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2011-05&r=lab |
| By: | Mühlenweg, Andrea M.; Blomeyer, Dorothea; Laucht, Manfred |
| Abstract: | We identify effects of age at school entry (ASE) on the development of child temperament. Our analysis is based on psychometric measures from a longitudinal cohort study of children in the Rhine-Neckar region in central Germany. In children with a higher ASE due to a birthday late in the year, we find more favorable outcomes with respect to several temperamental dimensions: These children are more persistent and less often hyperactive. The findings are robust if we control for the respective temperamental dimension before entering school. We also show that the ASE effect on persistence is stable over time by comparing the children at age eight and age eleven, after the children have entered Germany's segregated secondary-school tracks. At age eleven, we additionally find significant ASE effects on adaptability to change. Overall, the results point to a high degree of malleability in the considered non-cognitive skills after school entrance. -- |
| Keywords: | Education,identification,instrumental variables,age at school entry (ASE) |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:11017&r=lab |
| By: | Sabien Dobbelaere (VU University Amsterdam); Roland Iwan Luttens (Ghent University, CORE - Cath. University Louvain) |
| Abstract: | We introduce collective bargaining in a static framework where the firm and its risk-neutral employees negotiate over wages in a non-binding contract setting. Our main result is the equivalence between the non-binding collective equilibrium wage-employment contract and the equilibrium contract under binding risk-neutral efficient bargaining. We also demonstrate that our non-cooperative equilibrium wages and profits coincide with the Owen values of the corresponding cooperative game with the coalitional structure that follows from unionization. |
| Keywords: | Collective bargaining; union; firm; bargaining power; non-binding contract |
| JEL: | C71 J51 L20 |
| Date: | 2011–02–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20110041&r=lab |
| By: | Salvatori, Andrea (ISER, University of Essex) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the first empirical evidence on the effect of the threat of unionisation on the use of a predominantly non-union type of employment, i.e. temporary employment. The identification strategy exploits an exogenous variation in union threat induced in the UK by new legislation enabling unions to obtain recognition even against the will of the management. The analysis finds no evidence of an effect on the probability that a firm employs fixed-term workers, and some weak evidence of a negative effect on the probability of using agency workers. Overall, therefore, there is no support for the hypothesis that firms under the threat of unionisation are more likely to use this type of non-union employment. |
| Keywords: | temporary employment, union threat, difference in difference |
| JEL: | J51 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5574&r=lab |
| By: | D.P. Chaudhri; Raghbendra Jha |
| Abstract: | Children ( under 15 years of age) growing up in poor and/or nutritionally deprived households also live with a number of layers of deprivations that stifle their freedom to actively participate in and benefit from elementary school education. Lack of health care, limited access to quality schooling and opportunity cost of participation in education are some of these layers. Human Development Report 2010, using Oxford University's newly developed Multidimensional Poverty Index, adds more dimensions to poverty measures over and above those of the Indian Planning Commission's (2009) new measure or absolute poverty used in this paper. These enrich our understanding but do not directly deal with children growing up in absolute poverty and non- participation in schooling. This issue can be meaningfully explored with household as the unit of analysis. The paper uses household level data for 2004–05 (NSS 61st Round) and 1993–94 (NSS 50th Round) for India and also major states to analyze these issues. We start with the size of child population, changing share of states and uneven demographic transition in India (particularly the movement in Total Fertility Rates across Indian states) during 1961–2001. Changes in the number of children and the household size in very-poor, poor, non-poor low income and nonpoor high income households from 1993–94 to 2004–05 are analyzed within the crosssections and also between the two cross-sections. Participation in education, and nonparticipation separated as child labor and Nowhere (neither in schools nor in labor force) by poverty status at the all-India and the state levels are reported and commented upon. Changes in magnitudes & proportions of children in poverty in India and across states during 1993–94 & 2004–05 are presented and the share of some states in these magnitudes is highlighted. The determinants of non-attendance in schools (i.e. child being in the labor force or 'no-where') for 5–14 year olds are analyzed using formal econometric models — Probit with binary variables and also Multinomial Logit Models. The results are robust and confirm our descriptive analysis. Finally, broad features of The Free and Compulsory Elementary Education Act, 2009 (Law w.e.f. April, 2010) are reported and linked to the policy implications of our empirical findings for meaningful implementation of the Elementary Education Law. Potential usefulness of Unique ID in delivery of child focused services and monitoring is also highlighted. |
| Keywords: | Total Fertility Rate, Child poverty, Elementary education, School non-attendance, India |
| JEL: | I21 J11 J13 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pas:asarcc:2011-04&r=lab |
| By: | Stephan Kampelmann; Francois Rycx |
| Abstract: | Different empirical studies suggest that the structure of employment in the U.S. and Great Britain tends to polarise into "good" and "bad" jobs. We provide updated evidence that polarisation also occurred in Germany since the mid-1980s until 2008. Using representative panel data, we show that this trend corresponds to a task bias in employment changes: routine jobs have lost relative employment, especially in predominantly manual occupations. We further provide the first direct test for whether task-biased technological change affects employment and remuneration in the same direction and conclude that there is no consistent task bias in the evolution of pay rules. By contrast, compositional changes like the proportion of union members are clearly associated with long-term changes in the remuneration of occupations. |
| Keywords: | Polarisation, technological change, pay rules, occupations, inequality, tasks |
| JEL: | J21 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp364&r=lab |
| By: | Yamamura, Eiji |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the relationship of social capital to self-rated health status in Japan, and how this is affected by the labor market. Data of 3075 adult participants in the 2000 Social Policy and Social Consciousness (SPSC) survey were used. Controlling for endogenous bias, the main finding is that social capital has a significant positive influence on health status for people without a job but not for those with. 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: | I19 J22 Z13 |
| Date: | 2011–03–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:29536&r=lab |
| By: | John Schmitt; Kris Warner |
| Abstract: | Some economic observers argue “structural unemployment” has increased in the wake of the Great Recession, but in this paper we find little support for either of two arguments that suggest that structural unemployment has been on the rise. The first argument focuses on the large increase in unemployment among construction workers. The second argument is that falling house prices have reduced the mobility of unemployed workers — creating a “housing lock” in which unemployed workers, who would otherwise relocate to regions with jobs, are stuck in high unemployment areas. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, structural unemployment, stimulus, Great Recession |
| JEL: | E E12 E2 E24 E3 E32 E5 E52 E6 E62 J J2 J6 J61 J63 J64 J65 J68 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2011-06&r=lab |
| By: | Lacroix, Guy (Université Laval); Brouard, Marie-Ève (Gouvernement du Québec) |
| Abstract: | Research on health-related work absenteeism focuses primarily on moral hazard issues but seldom discriminates between the types of illnesses that prompt workers to stay home or seek care. This paper focuses on chronic migraine, a common and acute illness that can prove to be relatively debilitating. Our analysis is based upon the absenteeism of workers employed in a large Fortune-100 manufacturing firm in the United States. We model their daily transitions between work and absence spells between January 1996 up until December 1998. Only absences due to migraine and depression, its main comorbidity, are taken into account. Our results show that there is considerable correlation between the different states we consider. In addition, workers who are covered by the Blue Preferred Provided Organization tend to have shorter employment spells but also shorter migraine spells. |
| Keywords: | migraine, absenteeism, insurance policies, transition models, unobserved heterogeneity |
| JEL: | I10 J32 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5560&r=lab |
| By: | Christian Daude |
| Abstract: | This paper studies intergenerational social mobility in Latin America. We show that persistence in educational achievements across generations is high compared to other parts of the world. That is, not only is the income distribution in Latin America highly unequal, but profound differences in opportunities persist from one generation to the next. This persistence arises from a combination of factors: high returns to education, relatively low progressivity in public investment in human capital and lack of access to proper financing for poor and middle-income families. Education and other social policies to boost upward mobility in the region are discussed.<BR>Cet article porte sur la mobilité sociale intergénérationnelle en Amérique latine. L’auteur montre que la persistance des résultats scolaires d’une génération à l’autre est grande dans cette région par rapport à d’autres parties du monde. Il ressort que, non seulement la distribution des revenus est très inégale en Amérique latine, mais que de profondes différences en termes d’opportunités persistent d’une génération à l’autre. Cette persistance provident d’une combinaison de facteurs: un rendement élevé de l’éducation, le caractère relativement peu progressif des investissements publics de capital humain et le manque d’accès au financement pour les familles défavorisées ou de la classe moyenne. L’article analyse l’éducation et d’autres politiques sociales susceptibles de promouvoir la mobilité ascendante dans la région. |
| Keywords: | education, Latin America, intergenerational education mobility, éducation, Amérique latine, mobilité intergénérationnelle |
| JEL: | I20 J62 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:devaaa:297-en&r=lab |
| By: | Mamoon, Dawood; Murshed, S. Mansoob |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of increased trade on wage inequality in developing countries, and whether a higher human capital stock moderates this effect. We look at the skilled-unskilled wage differential. When better educated societies open up their economies, increased trade is likely to induce less inequality on impact because the supply of skills better matches demand. But greater international exposure also brings about technological diffusion, further raising skilled labour demand. This may raise wage inequality, in contrast to the initial egalitarian level effect of human capital. We attempt to measure these two opposing forces. We also employ a broad set of indicators to measure trade liberalization policies as well as general openness, which is an outcome, and not a policy variable. We further examine what type of education most reduces inequality. Our findings suggest that countries with a higher level of initial human capital do well on the inequality front, but human capital which accrues through the trade liberalization channel has inegalitarian effects. Our results also have implications for the speed at which trade policies are liberalized, the implication being that better educated nations should liberalize faster. |
| Keywords: | Integration; Trade Liberalization; Wage Inequality |
| JEL: | F16 F15 O24 C21 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:29529&r=lab |
| By: | Nottmeyer, Olga (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | In this paper the hypothesis that partnerships between immigrants and natives are less specialized – in the sense that spouses provide similar working hours per weekday – than those between immigrants is tested. The empirical analysis relies on panel data using a two-limit random effects tobit framework to identify determinants of a gender-neutral specialization index. Results indicate that for immigrants intermarriage is indeed related to less specialization as is better education and smaller diversion in education between spouses. In contrast, children living in the household, as well as being Muslim or Islamic, lead to greater specialization. Intermarried immigrants specialize less presumably due to smaller comparative advantages resulting from positive assortative mating by education and different bargaining positions within the household. Natives, on the other hand, show different patterns: for them the likelihood to specialize increases with intermarriage. This might also results from differences in bargaining strength or be due to adaptation to immigrants’ expected behavior. |
| Keywords: | migration, integration, intermarriage, specialization, division of labor |
| JEL: | J1 J12 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5567&r=lab |
| By: | Raghbendra Jha; Raghav Gaiha; Manoj K. Pandey |
| Abstract: | Despite its evident importance relatively little is known about links between Body Mass Index (BMI) and participation in workfare programs, particularly in India. Using a unique data set for the Indian state of Rajasthan for 2009-10, this paper attempts to fill this void and examines the association between BMI and participation in, duration of employment in and earnings from employment in NREGs. Thus we go beyond the scope of the extant literature and model these links for both male and female workers with varied social and economic backgrounds. Further, we permit non-linearities in some impacts and allow for mutual endogenity, say, between BMI and earnings. To the best of our knowledge this is the first paper to examine this range of issues. |
| Keywords: | Body Mass Index, National Rural Employment Guarantee, Participation, India |
| JEL: | C21 D31 D63 H53 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pas:asarcc:2011-06&r=lab |
| By: | Drakopoulos, Stavros A.; Theodossiou, Ioannis |
| Abstract: | The standard treatment of occupational risk in the labour market is conducted in terms of the theory of compensating wage differentials, the basic characteristic of which is that workers can fully estimate actual occupational risks. However, research in cognitive psychology, and recent advances in economic psychology, suggest that individuals consistently underestimate risks associated with accidents. In this paper, we discuss the case when the workers systematically underestimate job risks. After presenting the standard treatment of occupational risks, and of health and safety at work regulation, we then proceed to incorporate the idea of job risk underestimation. The paper discusses the types and impact of regulation on health and safety effort in a simple framework in which workers’ beliefs concerning accident risks also play a role. The paper shows that a particular type of regulatory intervention is necessary for the risk underestimating workers not to suffer a welfare loss. |
| Keywords: | Job Risk; Occupational Health and Safety |
| JEL: | K32 J81 I18 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:29643&r=lab |
| By: | Richard Harris |
| Abstract: | This paper uses methods of spatial analysis to show that lower and higher attaining pupils are separating from each other as they make the transition from primary to secondary schools in London. The observation is not simply a function of geography – that some places are more affluent, with a link between wealth and educational advantage – because separations emerge between locally competing secondary schools: those that are drawing their intakes from the same primary schools. Whilst the separations are partly exacerbated by selective and by faith schools, in all but one year during the period 2003‐8 they remain statistically significant even when those schools are omitted. However, there is no evidence to suggest the separation of lower and higher attaining pupils is getting worse or better, suggesting the geographical determinants of “choice” are strong and not easily changed. |
| Keywords: | primary school, secondary school, transition, London, spatial analysis |
| JEL: | I28 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:cmpowp:10/257&r=lab |
| By: | Carlos Bozzoli; Tilman Brück; Nina Wald |
| Abstract: | Many Colombians are confronted with the ongoing conflict that influences their decision making in everyday life, including their behavior in labor markets. This study focuses on the impact of violent conflict on self-employment, enlarging the usual determinants with a set of conflict variables. In order to estimate the effect of conflict on selfemployment, we employ fixed effects estimation. Three datasets are combined for estimation: the Familias en Acción dataset delivers information about individuals, a second dataset contains different indicators of the Colombian conflict at the municipality level and the third dataset includes taxes to measure a municipality’s economic situation. Our results show that high homicide and displacement rates in the community of origin reduces self-employment, while a high influx of displaced increases the probability of self-employment in the destination municipality. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcn:rwpapr:43&r=lab |
| By: | Max Nathan |
| Abstract: | British cities are becoming more culturally diverse, with migration a main driver. Is this growing diversity good for urban economies? This paper explores, using a new 16-year panel of UK cities. Over time, net migration affects both local labour markets and the wider economy. Average labour market impacts appear neutral. Dynamic effects may be positive on UK-born workers' productivity and wages (via production complementarities for higher skill workers) or negative on employment (if migrants progressively displace lower-skill natives from specific sectors). The results, which survive causality checks, suggest both processes are operating in British cities. Long-term industrial decline and casualisation of entry-level jobs help explain the employment findings. |
| Keywords: | cities, migration, cultural diversity, labour markets, productivity, urban economics |
| JEL: | D24 J15 J61 O18 R11 R23 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0067&r=lab |
| By: | Budy Resosudarmo; Daniel Suryadarma |
| Abstract: | Developing countries are experiencing unprecedented levels of urbanization. Although most of these movements are motivated by economic reasons, they could affect the human capital accumulation of the children who follow their parents to the cities. This paper estimates the causal effect of permanently migrating as a child from a rural area to an urban area on human capital outcomes. To our knowledge, this paper is one of only several papers, especially in the context of a developing country, which is able to estimate the causal effect of migration. We utilize a recent survey of urban-rural migrants in Indonesia and merge it with a nationally representative survey to create a dataset that contains migrants in urban areas and non-migrants in rural areas who were born in the same rural districts. We then employ a measure of district-level propensity to migrate, calculated from the Indonesian intercensal survey, as an instrument. We find that childhood migration to urban areas increase education attainment by about 4.5 years by the time these individuals are adults. In addition, the childhood migrants face a lower probability to be underweight by about 15 percentage points as adults. However, we find no statistically significant effect on height, which is a measure of long-term nutritional intake, and we only find a weak effect on the probability to be obese. Therefore, our results suggest a permanent, positive, and large effect of childhood migration on education attainment and some health measures. In addition, our results can rule out any negative effect on health. |
| Keywords: | migration, education, health |
| JEL: | I12 I21 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pas:papers:2011-02&r=lab |
| By: | Croce, Giuseppe; Ghignoni, Emanuela |
| Abstract: | According to a recent strand of literature this paper highlights the relevance of spatial mobility as an explanatory factor of the individual risk of being overeducated. To investigate the causal link between spatial mobility and overeducation we use individual information about daily home-to-work commuting time and choices to relocate in a different local area to get a job. In our model we also take into account relevant local labour markets features. We use a probit bivariate model to control for selective access to employment, and test the possibility of endogeneity of the decision to migrate. Separate estimations are run for upper-secondary and tertiary graduates. The results sustain the appropriateness of the estimation technique and show a significantly negative impact of the daily commuting time for the former group, as well as, negative impact of the decision to migrate and of the migration distance for the latter one. |
| Keywords: | Overeducation; Spatial flexibility; Local labour markets; Sample selection bias |
| JEL: | J62 J21 J61 |
| Date: | 2011–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:29670&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas Buser (University of Amsterdam); Noemi Peter (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | We examine how multitasking affects performance and check whether women are indeed better at multitasking. Subjects in our experiment perform two different tasks according to three treatments: one where they perform the tasks sequentially, one where they are forced to multitask, and one where they can freely organize their work. Subjects who are forced to multitask perform significantly worse than those forced to work sequentially. Surprisingly, subjects who can freely organize their own schedule also perform significantly worse. Finally, our results do not support the stereotype that women are better at multitasking. Women suffer as much as men when forced to multitask and are actually less inclined to multitask when being free to choose. |
| Keywords: | multitasking; productivity; gender; lab experiment |
| JEL: | C91 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20110044&r=lab |
| By: | Damiani, Mirella; Pompei, Fabrizio; Ricci, Andrea |
| Abstract: | The present study examines cross-national and sectoral differences in Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in fourteen European countries and ten sectors from 1995 to 2007. The main aim is to ascertain the role of employment protection of temporary contracts on TFP by estimating their effects with a “difference-in-difference” approach. Results show that deregulation of temporary contracts negatively influences the growth rates of TFP in European economies and that, within sectoral analysis, the role of this liberalization is greater in industries where firms are more used to opening short-term positions. By contrast, in our observation period, restrictions on regular jobs do not cause significant effects on TFP, whereas limited regulation of product markets and higher R&D expenses positively affect efficiency growth. |
| Keywords: | productivity; labor regulation |
| JEL: | O47 O43 J58 O40 |
| Date: | 2011–03–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:29698&r=lab |
| By: | Yueping Song; Xiao-Yuan Dong |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the gender patterns of occupational mobility in post-reform Urban China using a national representative dataset. The results reveal marked differences between married men and women: women are more likely than men to undergo lateral or downward occupational changes, but are less likely to experience upward mobility. The results also show that the public-sector restructuring has increased the incidence of downward occupational mobility, more for women than men. The analysis suggests that women are disadvantaged in the occupational mobility process by a variety of social and institutional factors. |
| Keywords: | Occupational mobility, Gender, Economic transition, Social networks |
| JEL: | J16 J63 C25 R20 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:win:winwop:2011-01&r=lab |