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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Roberto Pinheiro; Ludo Visschers |
| Abstract: | Workers in less secure jobs are often paid less than identical-looking workers in more secure jobs. We show that this lack of compensating differentials for unemployment risk can arise in equilibrium when all workers are identical, and firms differ, but do so only in offered job security (the probability that the worker is not sent into unemployment). In a setting where workers search on and off the job, wages paid increase with job security for at least all firms in the risky tail of the distribution of firm-level unemployment risk. As a result, unemployment spells become persistent for low-wage and unemployed workers, a seeming pattern of ‘unemployment scarring’, that is created entirely by firm heterogeneity alone. Higher in the wage distribution, workers can take wage cuts to move to more stable employment |
| Keywords: | Layoff rates, Unemployment risk, Wage differentials, Unemployment scarring |
| JEL: | J31 J63 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:werepe:we1209&r=lab |
| By: | Christian Dustmann (University College London); Patrick A. Puhani (Leibniz Universität Hannover); Uta Schönberg (University College London, Institute for Employment Research (IAB)) |
| Abstract: | We study the long-term causal effects of attending a "better" school - defined as one with more advanced peers, more highly paid teachers, and a more academic curriculum - on the highest degree completed, wages, occupational choice, and unemployment. We base our analysis on a regression discontinuity design, generated by a school entry age rule, that assigns students to different types of schools based on their date of birth. We find that, even though our case involves larger inter-school differences in peer quality and teaching curricula than in most previous studies, the long-term effect of school quality is very small and not significantly different from zero. This surprising finding is partly explainable by the substantial amount of student up- and downgrading between schools of varying quality at the end of middle school (age 15/16) and at the end of high school (age 18/19). This suggests that giving people a "second chance" during their education can make up for several years of schooling with a less challenging peer group and a less challenging teaching curriculum. |
| Keywords: | School quality, peer effects, regression discontinuity design |
| JEL: | I21 J10 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1208&r=lab |
| By: | Lokshin, Michael (World Bank); Gimpelson, Vladimir (CLMS, Moscow Higher School of Economics); Oshchepkov, Aleksey (Higher School of Economics, Moscow) |
| Abstract: | Contrary to the experiences of other countries, perceptions of job insecurity in Russia were not correlated with the rates of unemployment and the business cycle over the last decade. We develop the theoretical framework that predicts that the individual perceptions of job insecurity depend on regional unemployment rates and on the within-group variance of wage distribution faced by workers. We test this hypothesis using data from ten panel rounds of Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey. Our results indicate that while higher rates of unemployment make workers feel less job secure, the wage compression during recessions reduces their fears of losing a job. In periods of economic expansion the effect of lower unemployment rates is offset by the higher fears of losing better paying jobs. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, job security, business cycle, Russia |
| JEL: | J28 J30 J64 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6422&r=lab |
| By: | Bognanno, Michael L. (Temple University); Melero Martín, Eduardo (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether more informative job promotions carry larger wage increases. In job assignment models with asymmetric information, unexpected promotions send a signal to the external labor market to revise upward their assessment of a worker's ability. The employing firm must then increase wages to prevent the worker from being bid away. Less educated workers are assumed to come from a group with lower average ability. Their promotion is hypothesized to signal a larger positive assessment of their ability than for more highly educated workers for whom promotion is expected. Promotions for younger workers, with less known about their abilities, should also result in strong signaling effects. We find results in accordance with our hypotheses regarding the effect of both age and education on the gains to promotion. However, the statistical significance of the estimates hinges on the promotion definition. Younger workers receive statistically significantly higher wage increases upon promotion only when promotion is defined by the attainment of managerial responsibilities not previously held. Less educated workers obtain statistically significantly larger wage increases upon promotion at a weak level of significance (10%) across definitions of promotion but at a high level of significance (5%) only when the subjective definition of promotion is used. We interpret the sensitivity to the definition of promotion to suggest that promotions may be heterogeneous in the information they reveal about the employee in way that depends on the characteristics of the employee. |
| Keywords: | promotion, signaling, internal labor markets |
| JEL: | J3 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6431&r=lab |
| By: | Mussida, Chiara (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Picchio, Matteo (Ghent University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the gender wage gap by educational attainment in Italy using the 1994–2001 ECHP data. We estimate wage distributions in the presence of covariates and sample selection separately for highly and low educated men and women. Then, we decompose the gender wage gap across all the wage distribution and isolate the part due to gender differences in the remunerations of the similar characteristics. We find that women are penalized especially if low educated. When we control for sample selection induced by unobservables, the penalties for low educated women become even larger, above all at the bottom of the wage distribution. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, education, counterfactual distributions, decompositions, hazard function |
| JEL: | C21 C41 J16 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6428&r=lab |
| By: | Alex Bryson; Giambattista Rossi; Rob Simmons |
| Abstract: | In efficient global labour markets for very high wage workers one might expect wage differentials between migrant and domestic workers to reflect differences in labour productivity. However, using panel data on worker-firm matches in a single industry over a seven year period we find a substantial wage penalty for domestic workers which persists within firms and is only partially accounted for by individual labour productivity. We show that the differential partly reflects the superstar status of migrant workers. This superstar effect is also apparent in migrant effects on firm performance. But the wage differential also reflects domestic workers' preferences for working in their home region, an amenity for which they are prepared to take a compensating wage differential, or else are forced to accept in the face of employer monopsony power which does not affect migrant workers. |
| Keywords: | wages, migration, superstars, productivity, compensating wage differentials, sports |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J61 J71 M52 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1134&r=lab |
| By: | Mångs, Andreas (Centre for Labour Market Policy Research (CAFO)) |
| Abstract: | In this study we examine time allocation between market work and domestic activities and the division of labour for a sample of gainfully employed women, focusing particularly on female self employed. Of primary interest for the present study is whether having resident children, and small children in particular, has an impact on time allocated to market work, domestic activities and the division of labour that can be differentiated between self employed and wage-employed. We use a unique data set that combines survey data with register data covering 10 000 individuals. In this study we use a subsample consisting of 2 155 married or cohabiting women of which 925 are self-employed. Our results suggest that Swedish self-employed women spend significantly more time on market work compared to female wage-employed. About 30 percent of all married/cohabiting self-employed women work on average 45 hours or more per week, the corresponding share for wage-employed being around 7 percent. The fact that this share is high among married or cohabiting self-employed women shows that the assumed gain in flexibility through self-employment is not due to a reduction of working hours. Rather, the flexibility offered by self employment manifests itself in an adaptation of when and presumably also where to work. However, it appears that female self-employed reduce the time spent on market work relatively more than wage-employed women do when they have resident small children. But on average, female self-employed with small children still devote more time to market work than corresponding wage-employed women. Our estimations also suggest that for mothers the number of children affects the time devoted to domestic and care activities differently according to employment status: One more resident child contributes to a significantly smaller increase in the time devoted to housework and care activities for married or cohabiting self-employed women compared to corresponding wage-employed women. We find also that, ceteris paribus, married/cohabitant female self employed have a higher tendency to report a more equal division of domestic tasks than married/cohabitant female wage-employed. |
| Keywords: | Self-employment; Time allocation; Gender |
| JEL: | J16 J22 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:vxcafo:2011_004&r=lab |
| By: | Lechmann, Daniel S. J. (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg); Schnabel, Claus (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | Using a large data set for Germany, we show that both the raw and the unexplained gender earnings gap are higher in self-employment than in paid employment. Applying an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, more than a quarter of the difference in monthly self-employment earnings can be traced back to women working fewer hours than men. In contrast variables like family background, working time flexibility and career aspirations do not seem to contribute much to the gender earnings gap, suggesting that self-employed women do not earn less because they are seeking work-family balance rather than profits. Differences in human capital endowments account for another 13 percent of the gap but segregation does not contribute to the gender earnings gap in a robust way. |
| Keywords: | earnings differential, entrepreneurship, gender pay gap, Germany, self-employed, self-employment |
| JEL: | J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6435&r=lab |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | As the world celebrates the achievements of women this month, what can be said about the progress of girls and young women in education, and of women in employment, throughout the world? As the third issue of the OECD's new brief series Education Indicators in Focus describes, girls and women are making solid gains on both fronts - though still more can be done to promote gender equality.<p>On the 2009 PISA assessment, for example, 15-year-old girls outperformed boys in every country, and on average by 39 score points - the equivalent of one year of schooling. Meanwhile, boys outperformed girls on the PISA mathematics assessment in most countries. In higher education, women are now in the majority among entrants to higher education across the world, with an estimated 66% expected to enter university-level programmes at some point during their lives. However, men are more likely than women to earn advanced research qualifications in most countries. Moreover, some fields of study - like engineering, manufacturing, and construction - are still branded as masculine, with comparatively few women graduates.<p>At the same time, women's strides in education have led to improved labour market outcomes for women overall. Across the world, gender gaps in employment between men and women have narrowed at every level of education, and are narrowest among those with a higher education qualification - shrinking from 11 percentage points in 2000 to 9 percentage points in 2009.<p>Be sure to check your inbox for future issues of Education Indicators in Focus, which each month will provide analysis and policy insights into the most pressing issues in education today, using evidence from Education at a Glance, the flagship publication of the OECD's Indicators of Education Systems (INES) programme.<p>Find out more at: http://www.oecd.org/document/46/0,3746,e n_2649_39263238_49401006_1_1_1_1,00.html |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaaf:3-en&r=lab |
| By: | Birol TOPUZ Author_Email: (UWIC, Uk and Qafqaz University in Azerbaijan) |
| Keywords: | Locus of control job satisfaction, personal qualification, time management, primary, secondary school education, school administrative, teacher |
| JEL: | M0 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cms:1icm11:2011-084-316&r=lab |
| By: | Adrienne Lucas (Department of Economics, Unversity of Delaware); Isaac M. Mbiti (Department of Economics, Southern Methodist University) |
| Abstract: | The benefits of school choice systems designed to help disadvantaged groups might be hindered by information asymmetries. Kenyan elite secondary schools admit students from the entire country based on a national test score, district quotas, and stated school choices. We find even the highest ability students make school choice errors. Girls, students with lower test scores, and students from public and low quality primary schools are more likely to make such errors. Net of observable demographic characteristics, these errors are associated with a decrease in the probability that students are admitted to elite secondary schools, relegating them to schools of lower quality. |
| Keywords: | school choice, education, secondary schooling, kenya |
| JEL: | I21 I25 O15 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dlw:wpaper:12-05.&r=lab |
| By: | Aina, Carmen (University of Piemonte Orientale); Pastore, Francesco (University of Naples II) |
| Abstract: | The academic circles are devoting a growing interest to delayed graduation and overeducation, but none has analyzed the joint consequences of these two phenomena. Thus, this paper studies the link between graduation not within the minimum period and overeducation, and the effects of these variables on wages, using the ISFOL-Plus data. According to the human capital model, delayed graduation increases a student' human capital and should, therefore, reduce her probability of being overeducated, while increasing her wage. According to the screening hypothesis, instead, delayed graduation signals low skills and therefore increases the chances of being overeducated, while bearing a wage penalty. The evidence lines towards predictions based on the screening hypothesis. First, delayed graduation increases the chances of overeducation. In addition, the direct wage penalty associated to delayed graduation equals 7% of the median wage. However, being a determinant of overeducation, it also indirectly contributes to the penalty of 19.8% of the median wage associated to overeducation. These effects are sizeable, considering the very low returns to higher education in Italy reported in previous studies. |
| Keywords: | university-to-work transition, delayed graduation, overeducation, human capital theory, screening hypothesis, earnings equations, Italy |
| JEL: | C25 C26 C33 I2 J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6413&r=lab |
| By: | Vinod Mishra; Russell Smyth |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that are correlated with hours worked in China. A distinguishing feature of the study is that we use representative matched employer and employee data. Hence, in addition to the usual worker characteristics examined in conventional economic models of labour supply, we also take account of the influence of firm characteristics and policies in influencing the number of hours worked. The results suggest that in addition to the hourly wage rate, labour supply characteristics and human capital characteristics of the individual, firm-level differences are important in explaining variation in weekly hours worked in Chinese firms. In particular, our results suggest that there is a norm of longer working hours in firms which employ a high proportion of female workers, that hours worked are less in firms which pay overtime and that hours worked are less in firms in which labour disputes have disrupted production. The implications of the results for Chinese firms wishing to improve labour management practices are discussed. |
| Keywords: | China, hours worked, wages, firms |
| JEL: | J22 J30 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mos:moswps:2012-10&r=lab |
| By: | Holguer Xavier JARA TAMAYO |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to analyse the effect of non-pecuniary job attributes on labour supply. We develop a discrete choice model of labour supply where the choice alternatives are characterised by bundles of hours of work and job insecurity. The parameters of the utility function are obtained using maximum simulated likelihood with Halton sequences to account for unobserved heterogeneity in preferences. We compare the predictive power and labour supply elasticities obtained with our model to those of a more traditional model where only discrete hours choices characterise a job. The results show that once job insecurity is included in the discrete choice alternatives, the predictive power of the model improves significantly. Labour supply elasticities are lower than those obtained by a traditional discrete hours model, but not significantly different. Finally, a decrease of job insecurity at work has a positive and significant effect on participation, implying that policies aimed at improving working conditions could be used to influence labour supply decisions. |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:ces11.27&r=lab |
| By: | Meghan Skira (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | This paper formulates and estimates a dynamic discrete choice model of elder parent care and work to analyze how caregiving affects a woman’s current and future labor force participation and wages. Intertemporal tradeoffs, such as decreased future earning capacity due to a current reduction in labor market work, are central to the decision to provide care. The existing literature, however, overlooks such long-term considerations. I depart from the previous literature by modeling caregiving and work decisions in an explicitly intertemporal framework. The model incorporates dynamic elements such as the health of the elderly parent, human capital accumulation and job offer availability. I estimate the model on a sample of women from the Health and Retirement Study by efficient method of moments. The estimates indicate that intertemporal tradeoffs matter considerably. In particular, women face low probabilities of returning to work or increasing work hours after a caregiving spell. Using the estimates, I simulate several government sponsored elder care policy experiments: a longer unpaid leave than currently available under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993; a paid work leave; and a caregiver allowance. The leaves encourage more work among intensive care providers since they guarantee a woman can return to her job, while the caregiver allowance discourages work. A comparison of the welfare gains generated by the policies shows that half the value of the paid leave can be achieved with the unpaid leave, and the caregiver allowance generates gains comparable to the unpaid leave. |
| Keywords: | Informal care, employment, dynamic discrete choice, structural estimation, Fam- ily and Medical Leave Act |
| JEL: | J14 J18 J22 C51 |
| Date: | 2012–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:bocoec:792&r=lab |
| By: | Kim, Min-Taec (University of Sydney); Slonim, Robert (University of Sydney) |
| Abstract: | We examine the gift exchange hypothesis on both the quantity and quality of output using a hybrid field-laboratory labor market experiment. We recruited participants to enter survey data for a well-known charitable organization. Workers were paid either a high or low wage. We find that although the total number of surveys entered did not vary with the wage, high wage workers made fewer errors and entered more surveys after controlling for errors. We further find that for low costs associated with errors, offering the low wage maximizes profits, but for higher costs paying the higher "gift exchange" wage maximizes profits. |
| Keywords: | laboratory and field experiments, multi-tasking, reciprocity, gift exchange |
| JEL: | C91 C93 J33 J41 D03 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6410&r=lab |
| By: | Kristiina Huttunen; Jenni Kellokumpu |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of job displacement on fertility using Finnish longitudinal employer-employee data (FLEED) matched to birth records. We distinguish between male and female job losses. We focus on couples where one spouse has lost his/her job due to a plant closure or mass layoff and follow them for several years both before and following the job loss. As a comparison group we use similar couples that were not affected by job displacement. In order to examine the possible channels through which job loss affects fertility we examine also the effect on earnings, employment and divorce. The results show that a woman?s own job loss decreases fertility mainly for highly educated women. For every 100 displaced females there are approximately 4 less children born. A man?s job loss has no significant impact on completed fertility. |
| Keywords: | Plant closure, employment, earnings, divorce, fertility |
| JEL: | J13 J12 J65 |
| Date: | 2012–03–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:29&r=lab |
| By: | Timothy J. Hatton; Mark Thomas |
| Abstract: | We examine the labour market experience of the UK and the US in the recessions of the early 1920s and the early 1930s and the subsequent recoveries. These were deep recessions, comparable to that of 2008-9, but the recoveries were very different. In the UK the recovery of the 1920s was incomplete but that of the 1930s was rather less protracted than in the US. By contrast the US experienced very strong recovery in the 1920s but weaker recovery from the much deeper recession of the 1930s. A key ingredient to understanding these patterns is the interaction between economic shocks and labour market institutions. Here we survey the large literature on interwar labour markets to identify the key elements that underpinned labour market performance. We find that developments in wage setting institutions and in unemployment insurance inhibited a return to full employment in interwar Britain while in the US, New Deal legislation impeded labour market adjustment in the 1930s. We conclude with an assessment of the policy responses to labour market crises in the past and in the present |
| JEL: | J64 J65 N12 N14 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:hpaper:001&r=lab |
| By: | Costas Meghir; Mårten Palme; Emilia Simeonova |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of a compulsory education reform in Sweden on adult health and mortality. The reform was implemented by municipalities between 1949 and 1962 as a social experiment and implied an extension of compulsory schooling from 7 or 8 years depending on municipality to 9 years nationally. We use detailed individual data on education, hospitalizations, labor force participation and mortality for Swedes born between 1946 and 1957. Individual level data allow us to study the effect of the education reform on three main groups of outcomes: (i) mortality until age 60 for different causes of death; (ii) hospitalization by cause and (iii) exit from the labor force primarily through the disability insurance program. The results show reduced male mortality up to age fifty for those assigned to the reform, but these gains were erased by increased mortality later on. We find similar patterns in the probability of being hospitalized and the average costs of inpatient care. Men who acquired more education due to the reform are less likely to retire early. |
| JEL: | I12 I18 I21 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17932&r=lab |
| By: | Piracha, Matloob (University of Kent); Vadean, Florin (University of Kent) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the literature on educational mismatch of immigrants in the labour market of destination countries. It draws on the theoretical arguments postulated in the labour economics literature and discusses their extension in the analysis of the causes and effects of immigrants' educational mismatch in the destination country. Relevant empirical approaches have been presented which show that immigrants are in general more over-educated than natives and that the reasons for those range from imperfect transferability of human capital to discrimination to perhaps lack of innate ability. It then assesses the state of current literature and proposes an agenda for further research. |
| Keywords: | education-occupation mismatch, immigration |
| JEL: | J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6414&r=lab |
| By: | Stephan Humpert (Institute of Economics, Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | There is only a few literature on age specific occupational segregation. In this descriptive paper, I focus on job opportunities for newly hired older male and female workers. It is an enriched replication study of Hutchens (ILRR,1988), who showed that firms employ older workers, but hire them less. I use a rich dataset for West Germany with information for almost thirty years, the regional file of the IAB Employment Sample (IABS-R04). By drawing segregation curves and calculating different measures, such as Dissimilarity Index and Hutchens Square Root Segregation Index, I find clear evidence that age related segregation exists. While newly hired workers in the age groups of 18 to 34 and 35 to 54 are quiet similar distributed in terms of the indices, the oldest age group of 55 years and older, and especially older women, are more segregated. Differences for older male and female workers over time, may be explained by changes in labor and retirement policies. |
| Keywords: | Labor Demand, Age Segregation, Older Workers, Gender |
| JEL: | J23 J24 J21 J14 J16 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:235&r=lab |
| By: | Robert Breunig; Bronwyn Garrett-Rumba; Mathieu Jardin; Yvon Rocaboy |
| Abstract: | We develop a general theoretical model of the effect of wage dispersion on team performance which nests two possibilities: wage inequality may have either negative or positive effects on team performance. A parameter which captures the marginal cost of effort, which we estimate using game-level data from Major League Baseball, determines whether wage dispersion and team performance are negatively or positively related. We find low marginal cost of effort; consequently wage disparity is negatively related to team performance. Results from game and season-level regressions also indicate a negative relationship between inequality and performance. We discuss a variety of interpretations of our results. |
| Keywords: | wage dispersion; labor economics; sports economics; baseball; ability; effort |
| JEL: | D3 J3 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:663&r=lab |
| By: | Marte Rønning (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of working conditions on the amount of teachers’sickness absence in Norway. Exploiting intertemporal variation within teachers who have not changed schools, the findings indicate that teachers lower their amount of sickness absence if the school’s resource use increases. Increased workload and permanent employment contract are associated with higher sickness absence. When stratifying on teachers’age, increased workload appears to have a larger impact on old teachers. |
| Keywords: | Teachers; absence; working conditions |
| JEL: | I10 I20 J28 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:684&r=lab |
| By: | Rebecca Allen (Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK.); Simon Burgess (Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol.) |
| Abstract: | School inspections are an important part of the accountability framework for education in England. In this paper we use a panel of schools to evaluate the effect of a school failing its inspection. We collect a decade’s worth of data on how schools are judged across a very large range of sub-criteria, alongside an overall judgement of effectiveness. We use this data within a fuzzy regression discontinuity design to model the impact of ‘just’ failing the inspection, relative to the impact of ‘just’ passing. This analysis is implemented using a time-series of school performance and pupil background data. Our results suggest that schools only just failing do see an improvement in scores over the following two to three years. The effect size is moderate to large at around 10% of a pupil-level standard deviation in test scores. We also show that this improvement occurs in core compulsory subjects, suggesting that this is not all the result of course entry gaming on the part of schools. There is little positive impact on lower ability pupils, with equally large effects for those in the middle and top end of the ability distribution. |
| Keywords: | school inspection, school accountability, school attainment, regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | I20 I28 |
| Date: | 2012–03–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1202&r=lab |
| By: | Coles, Melvyn G.; Mortensen, Dale T. |
| Abstract: | This paper identifies a data-consistent, equilibrium model of unemployment, wage dispersion, quit turnover and firm growth dynamics. In a separating equilibrium, more productive firms signal their type by paying strictly higher wages in every state of the market. Workers optimally quit to firms paying a higher wage and so move effciently from less to more productive firms. Start-up firms are initially small and grow endogenously over time. Consistent with Gibrats law, individual firm growth rates depend on firm productivity but not on firm size. Aggregate unemployment evolves endogenously. Restrictions are identified so that the model is consistent with empirical wage distributions. |
| Date: | 2012–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2012-07&r=lab |
| By: | Balan Rathakrishnan Author_Email: (Universiti Malaysia Sabah) |
| Keywords: | Job satisfaction, blue collar and white collar, female, workers |
| JEL: | M0 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cms:1icm11:2011-105-117&r=lab |
| By: | Kocher, Martin G. (University of Munich); Luhan, Wolfgang J. (Ruhr University Bochum); Sutter, Matthias (University of Innsbruck) |
| Abstract: | Empirical work on Akerlof's theory of gift exchange in labor markets has concentrated on the fair wage-effort hypothesis. In fact, however, the theory also contains a social component that stipulates that homogenous agents that are employed for the same wage level will exert more effort, resulting in higher rents and higher market efficiency, than agents that receive different wages. We present the first test of this component, which we call the fair uniform-wage hypothesis. In our laboratory experiment, we establish the existence of a significant efficiency premium of uniform wages. However, it is not the consequence of a stronger level of reciprocity by agents, but of the retrenchment of sanctioning options on the side of principals with uniform wages. Hence, implementing limitations to contractual freedom can have efficiency-enhancing effects. |
| Keywords: | gift exchange, multiple agents, uniform contracts, collective wage, experiment |
| JEL: | C72 C91 C92 D21 J31 J50 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6415&r=lab |
| By: | O'Higgins, Niall (University of Salerno) |
| Abstract: | This paper looks at the effects of the 'Great Recession' on young people's labour market experiences in the European Union. The paper documents some of the key characteristics of young people's labour market experiences during the current recession and then seeks to provide some explanations of these applying both cross-section and time series rolling regression models in order, in particular, to better understand the role of labour market institutions as a determining factor of differing experiences across countries. The analysis finds that labour market flexibility contributed significantly to the negative consequences felt by young people during the recession. |
| Keywords: | recession, youth labour markets, human capital, EPL |
| JEL: | I28 J13 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6434&r=lab |
| By: | Catherine HAECK; Pierre LEFEBVRE; Philip MERRIGAN |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of an ambitious provincial school reform in Canada on students. mathematical achievements. This reform provides advantages for the purpose of evaluation and cuts across some of the methodological difficulties of previous research. First, the reform was implemented in every school across the province in both primary and secondary schools. Second, we can differentiate impacts according to the number of years students are affected by the reform. Third, our data set provides a longer observation period than typically encountered in the literature. We find negative effects on students’ mathematical achievements at all points of the skills distribution. |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:ces11.28&r=lab |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Few would dispute that having a higher education is more important than ever to help people build positive economic futures and strengthen the knowledge economies of countries. Yet as the second issue of the OECD’s new brief series Education Indicators in Focus explains, OECD countries have adopted dramatically different strategies for increasing higher education access – both in terms of how higher education is financed, and in the level of financial support they provide to individuals seeking a degree. |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaaf:2-en&r=lab |
| By: | Martha J. Bailey; Brad Hershbein; Amalia R. Miller |
| Abstract: | Decades of research on the U.S. gender gap in wages describes its correlates, but little is known about why women changed their career paths in the 1960s and 1970s. This paper explores the role of “the Pill” in altering women’s human capital investments and its ultimate implications for life-cycle wages. Using state-by-birth-cohort variation in legal access to contraception, we show that younger access to the Pill conferred an 8-percent hourly wage premium by age fifty. Our estimates imply that the Pill can account for 10 percent of the convergence of the gender gap in the 1980s and 30 percent in the 1990s. |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J3 N32 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17922&r=lab |
| By: | Ilmakunnas, Pekka; Ilmakunnas, Seija |
| Abstract: | We analyse age segregation in hirings and separations using linked employer-employee data from Finland in the period 1990-2004. This allows us to identify at the firm level employees in different age groups that have been hired during the previous year, and employees who have exited the firms. We analyze firm-level age segregation using segregation curves and Gini indices. The hirings of older employees have clearly been more segregated than exits or the stock of old employees even though hirings have become slightly less segregated towards the end of the period in question. At the same time age segregation in exits and stocks has increased and these trends are not sensitive to small unit bias in measurement. We also examine trends in hiring and exit rates using aggregate data. According to our results the oldest age group is again underrepresented in hirings. There is a positive upward trend in their recruitments related to the increasing cohort size, but it is much weaker than the trend in the relative share of older workers in employment. The exit rate of the older employees indicates cyclical variation while the small number of hirings seems to be insensitive to changing labour demand. We present a decomposition of employment change by age group and with that decomposition we disentangle the role of hirings and exits from factors related to demographics and cohort effects. The latter factors include the effect of the large baby boom generation entering the age group of older employees with higher employment rates than earlier cohorts. Finally, our regression analysis shows that larger firms are more likely to hire older employees, but their hiring rates are lower. |
| Keywords: | ageing; hiring; segregation; labour demand |
| JEL: | J14 J26 J23 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:37655&r=lab |
| By: | Schneider, Friedrich (University of Linz) |
| Abstract: | In this paper the main focus lies on the shadow economy and on work in the shadow in OECD, developing and transition countries. Besides informal employment in the rural and non-rural sector also other measures of informal employment like the share of employees not covered by social security, own account workers or unpaid family workers are shown. The most influential factors on the shadow economy and/or shadow labor force are tax policies and state regulation, which, if they rise, increase both. Furthermore the discussion of the recent micro studies underline that economic opportunities, the overall burden of the state (taxes and regulations), the general situation on the labor market, and unemployment are crucial for an understanding of the dynamics of the shadow economy and especially the shadow labor force. |
| Keywords: | shadow economy, undeclared work, shadow labor force, tax morale, tax pressure, state regulation, labor market |
| JEL: | K42 H26 D78 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6423&r=lab |
| By: | Combes, Pierre-Philippe; Duranton, Gilles; Gobillon, Laurent; Roux, Sébastien |
| Abstract: | This paper provides descriptive evidence about the distribution of wages and skills in denser and less dense employment areas in France. We confirm that on average, workers in denser areas are more skilled. There is also strong overrepresentation of workers with particularly high and low skills in denser areas. These features are consistent with patterns of migration including negative selection of migrants to less dense areas and positive selection towards denser areas. Nonetheless migration, even in the longrun, accounts for little of the skill differences between denser and less dense areas. Finally, we find marked differences across age groups and some suggestions that much of the skill differences across areas can be explained by differences between occupational groups rather than within. |
| Keywords: | skill distribution; sorting; wage distribution |
| JEL: | J31 J61 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8920&r=lab |
| By: | Green, David A. (University of British Columbia, Vancouver); Riddell, W. Craig (University of British Columbia, Vancouver) |
| Abstract: | We study the relationship between age and literacy skills in Canada, Norway and the U.S. – countries that represent a wide range of literacy outcomes – using data from the 1994 and 2003 International Adult Literacy Surveys. In cross-sectional data there is a weak negative partial relationship between literacy skills and age. However, this relationship could reflect some combination of age and cohort effects. In order to identify age effects, we use the 1994 and 2003 surveys to create synthetic cohorts. Our analysis shows that the modest negative slope of the literacy-age profile in cross-sectional data arises from offsetting ageing and cohort effects. Individuals from a given birth cohort lose literacy skills after they leave school at a rate greater than indicated by cross-sectional estimates. At the same time, more recent birth cohorts have lower levels of literacy. These results suggest a pervasive tendency for literacy skills to decline over time and that these countries are doing a poorer job of educating successive generations. All three countries show similar patterns of skill loss with age, as well as declining literacy across successive cohorts. The countries differ, however, in the part of the skill distribution where falling skills are most evident. In Canada the cross-cohort declines are especially large at the top of the skill distribution. In Norway declining skills across cohorts are more prevalent at the bottom of the distribution. In the U.S. the decline in literacy skills over time is most pronounced in the middle of the distribution. |
| Keywords: | human capital, cognitive skills, literacy, ageing |
| JEL: | I20 J14 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6424&r=lab |
| By: | Cho, Yoonyoung; Margolis, David N.; Robalino, David A. |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews labor market trends throughout the developing world, identifies issues and policy priorities across groups of countries, and derives implications for the World Bank's new social protection and labor strategy. Five key issues are identified: a high and growing share of the labor force that is self?employed or working in household enterprises, exposure to income shocks with limited access to risk management systems, low female participation rates, high youth unemployment rates, and the need to manage migration flows and remittances. The paper then details a three pronged agenda based on providing incentives and conditions for work, improving the efficiency of job creation, and managing risks / facilitating labor market transitions. This suggests that the Bank should emphasize self?employment and entrepreneurship promotion, provision of skills and development opportunities, and facilitation of labor market transitions into and between jobs, while protecting workers from shocks and paying particular attention to youth. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Labor Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Debt Markets |
| Date: | 2012–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:hdnspu:67613&r=lab |
| By: | Mångs, Andreas (Centre for Labour Market Policy Research (CAFO)) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we present a detailed description of the survey “How does your life puzzle work?” that was performed in 2009. The survey’s primary purpose was to provide information about the terms and conditions in self-employment relative to wage-employment and about the reasons for taking up self-employment. In addition, the survey included questions related to social background and socio-economic characteristics of self-employed. We report some of the findings from the survey regarding working conditions and working time as well as some additional information concerning in particular individual and household characteristics at the time of first entry into self-employment. The results show that, with regard to working time, being self-employed is quite different from being wage-employed. We observe a significantly higher incidence of self-employed individuals working long hours, a larger dispersion of working time among them as well as a higher tendency to work atypical hours. Taking into account the working conditions, it appears that working atypical hours affects negatively the balance between work and family life for women and men of both employment positions. However, working long hours implies specific problems for female self-employed, in particular regarding the combination of competing demands of work and family life. Considering individual and household characteristics at the time of first self-employment entry, the results obtained largely confirm what has been found by previous research. |
| Keywords: | Self-employment; Working time; Working conditions; Survey data; Response Analysis |
| JEL: | C80 J22 J81 |
| Date: | 2012–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:vxcafo:2011_003&r=lab |
| By: | Marinescu, Ioana E. (Harris School, University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | The HIV epidemic has dramatically decreased labor supply among prime-age adults in sub-Saharan Africa. Using within-country variation in regional HIV prevalence and a synthetic panel, I find that HIV significantly increases the capital-labor ratio in urban manufacturing firms. The impact of HIV on average wages is positive but imprecisely estimated. In contrast, HIV has a large positive impact on the skill premium. The impact of HIV on the wages of low skilled workers is insignificantly different from 0, and is strongly dampened by competition from rural migrants. The HIV epidemic disproportionately increases the incomes of high-skilled survivors, thus increasing inequality. |
| Keywords: | labor supply, wages, health, AIDS, HIV, development |
| JEL: | J22 I15 J31 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6438&r=lab |
| By: | Emilio Gutierrez (Centro de Investigacion Economica (CIE), Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM)); Laura Juarez (Centro de Investigacion Economica (CIE), Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM)); Adrian Rubli |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the introduction of an unconditional cash transfer to older adults in Mexico City to test whether the gender of the person who receives money transfers affects household expenditures and children’s school enrollment. We conclude, as most of the existing literature on this topic has, that households cannot be treated as unitary entities. Some specific results, however, differ from the literature. While money in the hands of women has a higher impact on household expenditures on children and education, it does not affect the probability that children will enroll in school. On the other hand, money distributed to men does not increase schooling expenditures, but it does have a strong and positive effect on children’s school enrollment. We conclude that targeting cash transfers to women may not be an optimal strategy when they are aimed at improving some specific children’s outcomes. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cie:wpaper:1103&r=lab |
| By: | Michele Binci (Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Università degli Studi di Firenze); Gianna Giannelli (Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Università degli Studi di Firenze) |
| Abstract: | This paper intends to contribute to the literature on the effects of domestic and international remittances on schooling and child labour. Using the information gathered in the 1992/93 and 1997/98 Vietnam Living Standards Surveys (VLSS), we examine separately the school attendance rates and the incidence of child labour in remittance recipient households, as compared to households where this income source is absent. We apply ordinary least squares regression for the two cross-sections and a fixed-effects linear regression for the panel, using as dependent variables the child labour and school attendance ratios of children in each household. Our results indicate that the average child belonging to a remittance recipient household has a lower probability of working and a greater probability of going to school. Although international remittances are found to have a stronger beneficial impact than domestic ones in the cross-sectional analysis, the panel analysis reverses this result, showing that the only significant impact stems from domestic remittances. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Remittances, Schooling, Child Labour, Panel Data, Vietnam |
| JEL: | F22 I39 J13 O15 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2012_08.rdf&r=lab |
| By: | Del Bono, Emilia; Pronzato, Chiara |
| Abstract: | This paper asks whether the availability of breastfeeding facilities at the workplace helps to reconcile breastfeeding and work commitments. Using data from the 2005 UK Infant Feeding Survey, we model the joint probability to return to work and breastfeeding and analyse its association with the availability of breastfeeding facilities. Our findings indicate that the availability of breastfeeding facilities is associated with a higher probability of breastfeeding and a higher probability to return to work by 4 and 6 months after the birth of the child. The latter effects are only found for women with higher levels of education. |
| Date: | 2012–03–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2012-06&r=lab |
| By: | Nonneman W. |
| Abstract: | 15% of the total Belgian school population has an immigrant background. PISA 2009 results show that Belgium – despite being in the top 15 performers of all OECD participants - has one of the highest performance differences in Europe between children with and without an immigrant background. Furthermore, second generation immigrant children are doing worse than first generation immigrant children. This paper explores the determinants of school achievement, school failure and sorting of children with an immigrant background, using a new large survey of Flemish school children. The theoretical framework is based on the education production function literature and specific empirical socioeconomic literature on immigrant children, suggesting that personal factors, family conditions, school, peers, neighborhood, type of acculturation and history of migration matter to explain school achievement and failure. The empirical results show that unexplained differences between students with a Flemish, Turkish and Moroccan background remain after controlling for personal and background influences. A key finding is the large impact of innate ability and individual effort for all groups. |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ant:wpaper:2012008&r=lab |
| By: | Raymundo Campos (Center for Economic Studies, El Colegio de Mexico); Gerado Esquivel (Center for Economic Studies, El Colegio de Mexico); Nora Lustig (Department of Economics, Tulane University) |
| Abstract: | Inequality in Mexico rose between 1989 and 1994 and declined between 1994 and 2010. We examine the role of market forces (demand and supply of labour by skill), institutional factors (minimum wages and unionization rate), and public policy (cash transfers) in explaining changes in inequality. We apply the "re-centered influence function" method to decompose changes in hourly wages into characteristics and returns. The main driver is changes in returns. Returns rose (1989-1994) due to institutional factors and labour demand. Returns declined (1994-2006) due to changes in supply and-to a lesser extent-in demand; institutional factors were not relevant. Government transfers contributed to the decline in inequality, especially after 2000. |
| Keywords: | inequality, wages, disposable income, labour markets, Mexico |
| JEL: | D31 J20 J31 O54 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:1201&r=lab |
| By: | Mosfequs Salehin; Robert Breunig |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an overview of asylum migration from poor strife-prone countries to the OECD since the 1950s. I examine the political and economic factors in source countries that generate refugees and asylum seekers. Particular attention is given to the rising trend of asylum applications up to the 1990s, and the policy backlash that followed. I consider the political economy of restrictive asylum policies, especially in EU countries, as well as the effectiveness of those policies in deterring asylum seekers. The paper concludes with an outline of the assimilation of refugees in host country labour markets. Immigrants to Australia are selected on observable characteristics. They may also differ from natives on unobservable characteristics such as ambition or motivation. Controlling for unobserved heterogeneity, we find a wage gap for immigrant men from English-speaking backgrounds, in contrast with previous research. Controlling for unobserved heterogeneity also seems important for finding cohort effects. Immigrants that arrived before 1976 faced a larger wage gap compared to native-born Australians than subsequent cohorts. Confirming other research, we find wage gaps for immigrant men and women from non-English speaking backgrounds. All immigrants experience wage assimilation as time spent in Australia increases. |
| Keywords: | immigrants; wage gap; assimilation; Australia; cohort effects |
| JEL: | J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:661&r=lab |
| By: | König, Jan; Skupnik, Christoph |
| Abstract: | We apply a monopoly trade union model and analyze employment, wage and budgetary effects of (i) an inflow of migrant workers and (ii) an increase in the labor market participation rate of migrants. Per assumption, natives and migrants solely differ with respect to the level of benefit claims in a two-tier welfare system. Furthermore, the labor effects are studied under two types of union behavior. Analyzing the ceteris paribus labor market effects, we identify hidden costs and benefits of intensified integration that emerge from the design of the welfare program. We support previous findings in case of an inflow of migrant workers. More interesting, though, it is shown that a larger share of migrants in the workforce increases (decreases) the employment level, if the union represents (does not represent) migrant workers. -- |
| Keywords: | migration,welfare state,trade union |
| JEL: | F22 H53 J15 J2 J5 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:20125&r=lab |
| By: | Maarten GOOS; Alan MANNING; Anna SALOMONS |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a simple and empirically tractable model of labor demand to explain recent changes in the occupational structure of employment as a result of technology, offshoring and institutions. This framework takes account not just of direct effects but indirect effects through induced shifts in demand for different products. Using data from 16 European countries, we find that the routinization hypothesis of Autor, Levy and Murnane (2003) is the most important factor behind the observed shifts in employment but that offshoring does play a role. We also find that shifts in product demand are acting to attenuate the impacts of recent technological progress and offshoring and that changes in wage-setting institutions play little role in explaining job polarization in Europe. |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:ces11.34&r=lab |
| By: | Ghazala Azmat; Rosa Ferrer |
| Abstract: | This paper documents and studies the gender gap in performance among associate lawyers in the United States. Unlike most high-skilled professions, the legal profession uses widely-accepted and objective methods to measure and reward lawyers' productivity: the number of hours billed to clients and the amount of new client revenue generated. We find clear evidence of a gender gap in annual performance. Male lawyers bill ten-percent more hours and bring in more than double the new client revenue. We show that the differential impact across genders in the presence of young children and the differences in aspirations to become a law-firm partner account for a large part of the difference in performance. These gaps in performance have important consequences for gender gaps in earnings. While individual and firm characteristics explain up to 50 percent of the gap in earnings, the inclusion of performance measures explains most of the remainder. |
| Keywords: | performance measures, gender gaps, lawyers |
| JEL: | M52 J16 K40 J44 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1136&r=lab |
| By: | Olsson, Martin (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Tåg, Joacim (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | Using linked employer-employee data from Sweden, a difference-in-difference approach, and 201 private equity buyouts undertaken between 1998 and 2004, we show that unemployment risk declines and labor income increases for employees in the wake of a private equity buyout. Unemployment risk declines despite lower employment growth for continuing establishments – attributable to hiring freezes rather than to layoffs – and a lack of change in firm level employment growth. A plausible explanation is relaxed financial constraints: the effects are strongest in industries dependent on external finance for growth, for non-divisional buyouts, and for buyouts just prior to 2001. |
| Keywords: | Buyouts; Employment; Financial Constraints; LBO; Private Equity; Restructuring |
| JEL: | G24 G32 G34 J20 L25 |
| Date: | 2012–03–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0906&r=lab |
| By: | Jahn, Elke; Weber, Enzo |
| Abstract: | This paper fills a gap in the literature by investigating whether temporary agency employment substitutes regular employment. To take into account the interaction between the two employment forms, we identify a SVAR model with correlated innovations by volatility regimes. We show that a positive shock to temporary agency employment increases overall employment, but also leads to substitution of regular jobs. |
| Keywords: | temporary agency employment; substitution effect; Germany |
| JEL: | C32 J21 J41 |
| Date: | 2012–03–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bay:rdwiwi:23597&r=lab |
| By: | Pavlina R. Tcherneva |
| Abstract: | The conventional approach of fiscal policy is to create jobs by boosting private investment and growth. This approach is backward, says Research Associate Pavlina R. Tcherneva. Policy must begin by fixing the unemployment situation because growth is a byproduct of strong employment-not the other way around. Tcherneva proposes a bottom-up approach based on community programs that can be implemented at all phases of the business cycle; that is, a grass-roots job-guarantee program run by the nonprofit sector (with participation by the social entrepreneurial sector) but financed by the government. A job-guarantee program would lead to full employment over the long run and address an outstanding fault of modern market economies. |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:levypn:12-02&r=lab |
| By: | Bednarzik, Robert W. (Georgetown University); Szalanski, Joseph (affiliation not available) |
| Abstract: | A gap in the displaced worker-training literature is that the post-retraining period has not been studied over the long term. The approach here will be to examine in-depth the experience of a selected few displaced worker trainees over a 20 to 25 year period following their training. With our small sample, but in-depth examination, we will begin to remedy this gap in the literature. To understand better the training programs available for displaced steelworkers, we also interviewed people involved with the development and delivery of training. Further, when we discovered the grass roots growth of organizations to help displaced workers generally, we interviewed them as well. Our findings of the experience of 30 displaced steelworkers in Pittsburgh confirm those in the literature of training program attributes that increase the likelihood of their leading to a job. They include programs that are small scale, linked to the local job market, and focus on developing analytical skills. Two other key components perhaps helping account for the retraining success were assessment and auditing. Entrance into the training program required an intensive screening or assessment process to ensure that (1) the program was right for them, and (2), more importantly, they were capable of handling and grasping the content of the training. Helping displaced workers with tuition payments at a community college also has merit. |
| Keywords: | training, displaced workers |
| JEL: | J24 J68 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6429&r=lab |
| By: | Pieter VANLEENHOVE |
| Abstract: | In line with the Earned Income Tax Credit in the United States and the Working Family Tax Credit in the United Kingdom, the Flemish government implemented in 2007 a similar in-work tax credit in order to increase the employment rate and to make working financially more attractive. This paper investigates how total labour supply changes and checks if the cost reductions due to these behavioural reactions are large enough to defend such expensive policies. It appears that married women alter their labour supply decision the most. However, due to the small tax credit, total labour supply effects are of minor size and hardly offset the large costs. Only a more generous tax credit leads to a higher activation of unemployed, however the budgetary cost is huge |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:ces11.22&r=lab |
| By: | Taskin, Temel |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study the interaction between self insurance and public insurance. In particular, we provide evidence on the relationship between unemployment insurance benefits and home production using the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and the state-level unemployment insurance data of the U.S. The empirical results suggest that moving to a two times more generous state would decrease time spent on home production about 20% for unemployed. Then we pursue a quantitative assessment using a dynamic competitive equilibrium model in which households do home production as well as market production. The model is able to generate the empirical facts regarding unemployment benefits and home production. The fact that unemployment insurance benefits crowd out home production is interpreted as a substitution between the two insurance mechanisms against loss of earnings during unemployment spells. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment insurance; home production; public insurance; self insurance; heterogeneous agents models |
| JEL: | D13 J65 D91 E21 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:37583&r=lab |
| By: | Martine Mariotti |
| Abstract: | I exploit the sudden increase in employment in 1975, 1976 and 1977 in some former homelands by comparing the long term adult physical outcomes of children benefitting from the employment increase to those not subject to it. Using a standard difference in difference approach I find that there was some malnutrition in the homelands resulting in stunting in African men born during the shock providing support to the foetal origins hypothesis. The employment shock did not affect other long term outcomes such as education and general health, although there is some evidence of an improvement in long term health. This study provides previously unmeasured individual level information on the quality of life in the homelands during apartheid, an era when African living standards were neglected but unmeasured because of a lack of data collection |
| Keywords: | Apartheid; living standards; stunting; difference-in-difference; foetal origins hypothesis |
| JEL: | I31 N37 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:hpaper:003&r=lab |
| By: | Mario Pianta (Department of Economics, Society & Politics, Università di Urbino "Carlo Bo"); Matteo Lucchese (Department of Economics, Society & Politics, Università di Urbino "Carlo Bo") |
| Abstract: | This article explores the way economic cycles influence the relationship between innovation and employment in manufacturing industries. We investigate whether the ups and downs of cycles alter the possibility of exploiting technological opportunities and affecting patterns of job creation. A model that explains industries’ employment change by combining technology and demand is proposed; the empirical test is based on data on 21 manufacturing sectors from 1995 to 2007 for Germany, France, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands and Spain. Results show that, in upswings, employment change is affected by new products, exports and wage growth, while during downswings new processes contribute to restructuring and job losses. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Cycles, Employment, Demand. |
| JEL: | L6 J20 O30 E32 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urb:wpaper:12_03&r=lab |
| By: | Berger, Allen N.; Kick, Thomas; Schaeck, Klaus |
| Abstract: | Little is known about how socioeconomic characteristics of executive teams affect corporate governance in banking. Exploiting a unique dataset, we show how age, gender, and education composition of executive teams affect risk taking of financial institutions. First, we establish that age, gender, and education jointly affect the variability of bank performance. Second, we use difference-in-difference estimations that focus exclusively on mandatory executive retirements and find that younger executive teams increase risk taking, as do board changes that result in a higher proportion of female executives. In contrast, if board changes increase the representation of executives holding Ph.D. degrees, risk taking declines. -- |
| Keywords: | Banks,executives,risk taking,age,gender,education |
| JEL: | G21 G34 I21 J16 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdps:032012&r=lab |
| By: | Giovanni Facchini (Erasmus University Rotterdam, University of Milan, CEPR, CES-Ifo, CReAM, IZA and LdA); Anna Maria Mayda (Georgetown University, Centro Studi Luca d’Agliano, CEPR and IZA); Mariapia Mendola (University of Milan Bicocca and Centro Studi Luca d’Agliano) |
| Abstract: | Using census data for 1996, 2001 and 2007 we study the labor market effect of immigration in South Africa. In this period the share of foreign born over the total population has grown by almost fifty percent, and both the characteristics and geographical distribution of immigrants show substantial variation over time. We exploit these features of the data to carry out an analysis that combines both the “spatial correlation” approach pioneered by Card (1990) and the variation across schooling and experience groups used by Borjas (2003). We estimate that increased immigration has a negative effect on natives’ employment outcomes, but not on total income. Furthermore, we find that skilled South Africans appear to be the most negatively affected subgroup of the population. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Labor market effects, South Africa |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:331&r=lab |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | When you think of someone who is an engineer, do you imagine a man or a woman wearing a hardhat? How about when you imagine a teacher standing in front of a class of schoolchildren? If you answer “a man” to the first question, and “a woman” to the second, there’s probably a reason. And the reason is simply that more men than women pursue careers in fields such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics, while women are over-represented in the humanities and medical sciences. This type of gender segregation in the labour market is still prevalent in many countries. But will it continue? Girls now do as well as, and often better than, boys in most core school subjects; and proficiency in a subject influences 15-year-olds’ thinking about the kind of career they want to pursue. Or does it? |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduddd:14-en&r=lab |
| By: | Jake Anders (Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK.) |
| Abstract: | The association between household income and university entry is a matter of clear academic and policy interest. This paper sheds new light on the matter using the LSYPE, a recent longitudinal survey from England. While those in the top income quintile group are more likely than those in the bottom quintile group to attend university (66% vs. 24%), much of this gap is explained by earlier educational outcomes. The paper also examines admissions decisions in more detail, separating applying from attending. This analysis yields results suggesting most of the difference in participation rates is driven by the application decision. The attendance gap conditional on having applied is much smaller (85% vs. 68%) and closes completely when earlier educational outcomes are taken into account. Finally, the paper considers attendance at high quality Russell Group universities. By contrast with the main analysis, the Russell Group attendance gap persists even among those who attend university. The findings suggest policies aimed at reducing the university participation gap at point of entry face small rewards. More likely successful are policies aimed at closing the application gap, for example encouraging a wider cross-section of the population to apply and ensuring they have the necessary qualifications. |
| Keywords: | Higher Education, Household Income, Socioeconomic Gradient, Intergenerational Mobility |
| JEL: | I24 J62 |
| Date: | 2012–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1201&r=lab |
| By: | Maria B. Chiarolla (Bielefeld University); Oliver Claas (Institute of Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the implications of bilateral bargaining over wages and employment between a producer and a union representing a finite number of identical workers in a monetary macroeconomic model of the AS--AD type with government activity. Wages and aggregate employment levels are set according to an efficient (Nash) bargaining agreement while the commodity market is cleared in a competitive way. It is shown that, for each level of union power, measured by the share it obtains of the total production surplus, efficient bargaining implies no efficiency loss in production. Depending on the level of union power, temporary equilibria may exhibit voluntary overemployment or underemployment with the competitive equilibrium being a special case. Due to the price feedback from the commodity market and to income-induced demand effects, all temporary equilibria with a positive labor share are not Nash bargaining-efficient with respect to the set of feasible temporary equilibrium allocations. While higher union power induces a larger share of the surplus and a higher real wage, it always implies lower output and employment. Moreover, the induced nominal equilibrium wage is not always a monotonically increasing function of union power. Therefore, all temporary equilibria with efficient bargaining are only ``Second-best'' Pareto optimal, i.\,e.\ bargaining power and production efficiency do not lead to temporary optimality. The dynamic evolution of money balances, prices, and wages is analyzed being driven primarily by government budget deficits and expectations by consumers. It is shown that for each fixed level of union power, the features of the dynamics under perfect foresight are structurally identical to those of the same economy under competitive wage and price setting. These are: stationary equilibria with perfect foresight do not exist, except on a set of parameters of measure zero; balanced paths of monetary expansion or contraction are the only possibilities inducing constant allocations; for small levels of government demand, there exist two balanced paths generically, one of which with high employment and production is always unstable, while the other one may be stable or unstable. |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bie:wpaper:465&r=lab |