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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Stark, Oded; Jakubek, Marcin |
| Abstract: | We draw a distinction between the social integration and economic assimilation of migrants, and study an interaction between the two. We define social integration as blending into the host country’s society, and economic assimilation as acquisition of human capital that is specific to the host country’s labor market. We show that a non-integrated migrant finds it optimal to acquire a relatively limited quantity of human capital; with fellow migrants constituting his only comparison group, a non-integrated migrant does not have a relative-deprivation-based incentive to close the income gap with the natives. However, when a migrant is made to integrate, his social proximity to the natives exposes him to relative deprivation, which in turn prompts him to form more destination-specific human capital in order to increase his earnings and narrow the income gap with the natives. In this way, social integration becomes a catalyst for economic assimilation. |
| Keywords: | Assimilation, Integration, Social proximity, Interpersonal comparisons, Relative deprivation, Human capital formation, Consumer/Household Economics, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Labor and Human Capital, D01, F22, J15, J24, J61, O15, Z10, |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:155148&r=lab |
| By: | Jan Eeckhout (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Roberto Pinheiro; Kurt Schmidheiny |
| Abstract: | We investigate the role of complementarities in production and skill mobility across cities. We propose a general equilibrium model of location choice by heterogeneously skilled workers, and consider different degrees of complementarities between the skills of workers. The nature of the complementarities determines the equilibrium skill distribution across cities. We prove that with extreme-skill complementarity, the skill distribution has fatter tails in large cities; with top-skill complementarity, there is first-order stochastic dominance. Using the model to back out skills from wage and housing price data, we find robust evidence of fat tails in large cities. Big cities have big inequality. This pattern of spatial sorting is consistent with extreme-skill complementarity: the productivity of high skilled workers and of the providers of low skilled services is mutually enhanced. |
| Keywords: | complementarity, cities, sorting, price-theoretic measure of skills, population mobility, city size, matching theory, general equilibrium, skill distribution |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:13/18&r=lab |
| By: | Zafar E. Nazarov |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we estimate the effect of benefits and work incentives counseling services on labor market outcomes of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries participating in the vocational rehabilitation (VR) programs in the period between 2003 and 2009 in New York State. By explicitly controlling for non-random selection of beneficiaries into the services using the propensity score matching and instrumental variable methods, the paper contributes to the literature by providing more precise estimates of causal relationships between benefits and work incentives counseling services and several labor market outcomes of beneficiaries. We find that the effect of benefits and work incentives counseling on the probability of successful case closure can be positive, but in certain cases is not statistically significant. At the same time, the estimates of the effects of benefits and work incentives counseling on earnings and working hours at closure are positive and substantial in magnitude. The provision of benefits and work incentives counseling can be considered as a first and important step toward achieving financial independence for the large group of SSI/SSDI beneficiaries with strong employment goals. |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2013-17&r=lab |
| By: | April Yanyuan Wu; Nadia S. Karamcheva; Alicia H. Munnell; Patrick Purcell |
| Abstract: | This paper seeks to determine the impact of the changing lives of women – increased labor force participation/earnings and reduced marriage rates – on Social Security replacement rates. First, our estimates, based on the Health and Retirement Study and Modeling Income in the Near Term, show that Social Security replacement rates have dropped sharply at both the household- and individual-level, and the decline will continue for future retirees. Our second finding is that this aggregate change masks a complex relationship between replacement rates and the marital status and income levels of individuals. The decline in replacement rates over time is largest for married couples with husbands whose earnings are in the top tercile. Decomposing the reasons for the overall decline shows that increases in the labor supply and earnings of women explain more than one-third of the change. In contrast, the impact of changing marital patterns is relatively small. Much of the remaining explanation rests with the increased Full Retirement Age and changing claiming behaviors. |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2013-16&r=lab |
| By: | Spermann, Alexander (Randstad) |
| Abstract: | Sector-specific surcharge collective labor agreements between the bargaining partners in the staffing industry allow for a reduction of wage gaps between agency workers and permanent staff in case of long-term job assignments to user companies. Surcharges up to 50% after a surcharge-free period between four and six weeks close the wage gap in nine industries for the temporary work agencies. The paper summarizes the development that lead to these collective labor agreements and analyzes repercussions on potential upward mobility of previously unemployed who start their career as agency workers in the low-wage sector. Furthermore, it highlights the interaction with the basic income scheme, documents new evidence on sustainable employment and draws conclusions for the precarious work discussion. It turns out that these new surcharges allow agency workers to leave the low-wage sector in case of longer job assignment in the core user company industries such as the metal and electrical industry. |
| Keywords: | temporary agency work, staffing industry, collective labor agreement, low-wage sector, precarious work |
| JEL: | I2 J2 J4 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izapps:pp67&r=lab |
| By: | Huber, Martin; Lechner, Michael; Wunsch, Conny |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we assess the impact of firms introducing part-time work schemes for gradual labour market exit of elderly workers on their employees’ labour market outcomes. The analysis is based on unique linked employer-employee data that combine high-quality survey and administrative data. Our results suggest that partial or gradual retirement options offered by firms are an important tool to alleviate the negative effects of low labour market attachment of elderly workers in ageing societies. When combined with financial incentives to hire unemployed or young jobseekers as replacement, they seem to be particularly beneficial, especially when labour market conditions are difficult. Under such circumstances, they can even have positive spill-over effects on younger workers. Firms should thus be encouraged to offer such schemes. |
| Keywords: | part-time work, elderly employees, treatment effects, matching |
| JEL: | J14 J26 C21 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:econwp:2013:16&r=lab |
| By: | Taylor, Mark P. |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effects of initial labour market entry conditions on a range of subsequent job outcomes for men and women who entered the British labour market between 1991 and 2009, using data from the British Household Panel Survey and its successor Understanding Society. We find that the unemployment rate on leaving full-time education has large impacts on initial labour market outcomes including status, wages and employment stability, which persist over the subsequent ten years. These effects are more pronounced for men than women and indicate that young people entering the labour market during the current period of economic stagnation will suffer a lasting scar as a consequence. |
| Date: | 2013–08–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2013-12&r=lab |
| By: | Serafinelli, Michel |
| Abstract: | I present direct evidence on the role of firm-to-firm labor mobility in enhancing the productivity of firms located near highly productive firms. Using matched employer-employee and balance sheet data for the Veneto region of Italy, I identify a set of high-wage firms (HWF) and show they are more productive than other firms. I then show that hiring a worker with HWF experience increases the productivity of other (non-HWF) firms. A simulation indicates that worker flows explain 10-15 percent of the productivity gains experienced by other firms when HWFs in the same industry are added to a local labor market. |
| Keywords: | productivity, agglomeration advantages, linked employer-employee data, labor mobility. |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J61 R2 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–06–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:49055&r=lab |
| By: | Jeremy Lise (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London); Costas Meghir (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Yale University); Jean-Marc Robin (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | We develop an empirical search-matching model which is suitable for analysing the wage, employment and welfare impact of regulation in a labour market with heterogeneous workers and jobs. To achieve this we develop an equilirium model of wage determination and employment which extends the current literature on equilibrium wage determination with matching and provides a bridge between some of the most prominent macro models and microeconometric research. The model incorporates productivity shocks, long-term contracts, on-the-job search and counter-offers. Importantly, the model allows for the possibility of assortative matching between workers and jobs due to complementarities between worker and job characteristics. We use the model to estimate the potential gain from optimal regulation and we consider the potential gains and redistributive impacts from optimal unemployment insurance policy. The model is estimated on the NLSY using the method of moments. |
| Keywords: | sorting, mismatch, search-matching, wage dynamics |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:13/16&r=lab |
| By: | Raymundo M. Campos-Vazquez (El Colegio de Mexico); Roberto Velez-Grajales (Centro de Estudios Espinosa Yglesias) |
| Abstract: | Using a national representative sample for Mexico, we analyse the effect of a husband having a working mother on the probability that he has a working wife. Our results show that labour force participation by a husband’s mother increases the probability of the labour force participation of his wife by 15 percentage points. The effect is mainly driven by males with less than a high school education. One possible confounding factor is the effect of labour force participation of the wife’s mother on the wife’s labour participation decision. However, in a different sample, we do not find any effect of work force participation of wives’ mothers on wives’ decisions to join the labour force. Finally, we test the effect of the work force participation of a husband’s mother on the husband’s preferences regarding child-rearing practices. We find that having a working mother strongly reduces the probability that daughters will be tasked to care for siblings and fosters preferences for a more egalitarian allocation of educational resources among children. Hence, promoting female labour force participation can have important dynamic implications, especially for developing countries. |
| Keywords: | female labour supply; family; preferences; social norms; role models |
| JEL: | D10 J12 J16 J22 O54 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:emx:ceedoc:2013-06&r=lab |
| By: | Aranki, Ted; Macchiarelli, Corrado |
| Abstract: | The decision to cease working is traditionally influenced by a wide set of socio-economic and environmental variables. In this paper, we study transitions out of work for 26 EU countries over the period 2004-2009 in order to investigate the determinants of retirement based on the Eurostat Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). Applying standard survivor analysis tools to describe exits into retirement, we do not find any significant differences in the patterns into retirement between the average euro area and EU non-euro area countries. Moreover, we find that shifts into retirement have increased during the onset of the 2009 economic and financial crisis. Income, together with flexible working arrangements, is found to be important as regards early retirement decisions, compared to retiring beyond the legal retirement age. Finally, we show that institutional measures (such as, state/health benefits, minimum retirement age) could not be sufficient alone if individuals withdraw earlier from the labour market due to a weakening of their health. Especially, these latter results are of importance for structural and macroeconomic policy, for instance, in increasing the employment of both people and hours worked against the background of population ageing. JEL Classification: J14, J26, C41 |
| Keywords: | ageing population, Cox regressions, duration analysis, EU countries, hazard model, Retirement |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20131517&r=lab |
| By: | KOBAYASHI Yohei; KUME Koichi; OIKAWA Keita; SONE Tetsuro |
| Abstract: | Against the background of the country's aging population, this paper empirically estimates the effect of the social security burden on the employment level and structure in Japan, using firm-level microdata matched with social security insurance data. In particular, we use dynamic panel data methods to estimate labor demand functions and thereby evaluate the degree to which social security contributions influence corporate labor demand. We specifically examine the impact of firm characteristics such as the presence of labor unions and the intensity of competition in the product market. Our empirical results indicate that social security contributions do not have a statistically significant impact on employment. However, companies that face harsh competition in their product and labor markets tend to substitute non-regular workers for regular ones in response to an increase in social security contribution rates. |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:13067&r=lab |
| By: | Zuzana Brixiová; Thierry Kangoye |
| Abstract: | Drawing on the 2007 and 2010 Swaziland Labor Force Surveys, this paper provides first systematic evidence on recent youth employment challenges in Swaziland, a small, land-locked, middle-income country with one of the highest youth unemployment rates in Africa. The paper first documents the various labor market disadvantages faced by the Swazi youth, such as high unemployment and discouragement, and how they changed from 2007 to 2010. A multinomial logit regression analysis is then carried out to analyze the socio-economic drivers of the unfavorable youth labor market outcomes on the supply side. Since many of the factors that can unlock the employment potential of the Swazi youth are on the demand side of the labor market, the paper examines the barriers to job creation and youth entrepreneurship. It concludes with experiences of other countries that could inform design of more effective interventions for youth employment in Swaziland. |
| Keywords: | youth employment and entrepreneurship, multivariate analysis, policies, Africa |
| JEL: | J11 J08 L26 O11 |
| Date: | 2013–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wdi:papers:2013-1052&r=lab |
| By: | Gush, Karon; Scott, James; Laurie, Heather |
| Abstract: | Economic theory suggests that when a primary earner within a couple loses their job, one potential response is for the secondary earner to seek additional paid work to bolster their household finances. Yet, the empirical quantitative evidence regarding any such added worker effect is mixed. To investigate why this might be, we explore the processes behind household responses to job loss through qualitative interviewing techniques. The findings indicate that the use of additional spousal labour is only one response of many alternatives and typically only invoked in cases of serious financial hardship. |
| Date: | 2013–08–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2013-13&r=lab |
| By: | Sorger, Gerhard; Stark, Oded; Wang, Yong |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the growth dynamics of a developing country under migration. Assuming that human capital formation is subject to a strong enough, positive intertemporal externality, the prospect of migration will increase growth in the home country in the long run. If the external effect is less strong, there exists at least a level effect on the stock of human capital in the home country. In either case, the home country experiences a welfare gain, provided that migration is sufficiently restrictive. These results, obtained in a dynamic general equilibrium setting, extend and strengthen the results of Stark and Wang (2002) obtained in the context of a static model. |
| Keywords: | Overlapping-generations growth model, Intertemporal human capital externalities, Long-run growth effect of the prospect of migration, Social welfare gains, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Labor and Human Capital, F22, I30, J24, J61, O15, O40, |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:155027&r=lab |