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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Olivier Thévenon |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the response of female labour force participation to the evolution of labour markets and policies supporting the reconciliation of work and family life. Using country-level data from the early 1980s for 18 OECD countries, we estimate the influence of labour market and institutional characteristics on female labour force participation, and full-time and part-time employment participation. The relationship (interactions, complementarity) between different policy measures is also analyzed, as well as potential variations in the influence of policies across different Welfare regimes. The results first highlight how the increase in female educational attainment, the expansion of the service sector the increase in parttime employment opportunities have boosted women’s participation in the labour force. By contrast, there is no such clear relationship between female employment rates and the growing share of public employment. Employment rates react to changes in tax rates, in leave policies, but the rising provision of childcare formal services to working parents with children not yet three years old is a main policy driver of female labour force participation. Different policy instruments interact with each other to improve overall effectiveness. In particular, the coverage of childcare services is found to have a greater effect on women’s participation in the labour market in countries with relatively high degrees of employment protection. The effect of childcare services on female full-time employment is particularly strong in Anglophone and Nordic countries. In all, the findings suggest that the effect of childcare services on female employment is stronger in the presence of other measures supporting working mothers (as, for instance paid parental leave) while the presence of such supports seems to reduce the effectiveness of financial incentives to work for second earners. The effect of cash benefits for families and the duration of paid leave on female labour force participation also vary across welfare regimes. Cet article analyse la réponse de la participation des femmes à la force de travail aux évolutions des marchés du travail et des politiques favorisant la conciliation entre travail et vie familiale. Exploitant des données pour 18 pays de l’OCDE depuis le début des années 1980s, on estime l’influence des caractéristiques du marché du travail et institutionnelles sur la participation des femmes au marché du travail, et sur leurs taux d’emploi à temps plein et à temps partiel. Les interactions et complémentarités potentielles entre les mesures politiques sont aussi testées, tout comme les possibles variations de l’influence des politiques entre les différents Etats-Providence. Les résultats montrent, en premier lieu, comment l’élévation des niveaux d’éducation féminins, l’expansion de l’emploi dans les services et le développement du temps partiel ont favorisé la participation des femmes au marché du travail. En revanche, le développement de l’emploi des femmes n’est pas aussi clairement lié à la croissance de l’emploi dans le secteur public. Les taux d’emploi féminins réagissent aux variations de taux d’imposition, aux politiques de congés, mais l’offre de services d’accueil pour les enfants de moins de trois ans semble être le facteur clé du développement de la participation des femmes au marché du travail. Les différentes mesures politiques interagissent et leurs effets se renforcent mutuellement. En particulier, la couverture des services d’accueil de la petite enfance ont un effet plus important sur la participation des femmes au marché du travail dans les pays offrant une plus grande protection de l’emploi. L’effet des services d’accueil de la petite enfance sur l’emploi à temps plein des femmes est particulièrement important dans les pays anglophones et d’Europe du Nord. Par ailleurs, les résultats suggèrent que l’effet des services de la petite enfance sur l’emploi des femmes est renforcé lorsqu’ils sont associés à d’autres mesures favorisant les mères qui travaillent (comme par exemple le congé payé parental), mais que celles-ci réduisent l’efficacité des incitations financières à travailler pour le partenaire. L’effet des aides financières familiales et de la durée des congés payés sur la participation des femmes au marché du travail varie également entre les différents systèmes de prestations sociales. |
| Keywords: | family policy, work-life balance, institutional complementarity, female labour force participation |
| JEL: | J16 J18 J21 |
| Date: | 2013–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:145-en&r=lab |
| By: | Alexander Hijzen; Leopoldo Mondauto; Stefano Scarpetta |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the impact of employment protection (EP) on the composition of the workforce and worker turnover using a unique firm-level dataset for Italy. The impact of employment protection is analysed by means of a regression discontinuity design (RDD) that exploits the variation in EP provisions across firms below and above a size threshold. Using our RDD approach, we show that EP increases worker reallocation, suggesting that EP tends to reduce rather to increase worker security on average. We further show that this can be entirely explained by the fact that firms facing more stringent EP make a greater use of workers on temporary contracts. Our preferred estimates suggest that the discontinuity in EP increases the incidence of temporary work by 2-2.5 percentage points around the threshold. Moreover, further analysis suggests that the effect of employment protection persists among larger firms well beyond the threshold and may account for about 20% of the overall incidence of temporary work. There is also evidence that EP reduces labour productivity and this effect is to an important extent due to the impact of EP on worker reallocation and the incidence of temporary work. Cet article analyse l'impact de la protection de l'emploi (PE) sur la composition de la main-d’oeuvre et la rotation des travailleurs en utilisant un ensemble unique de données au niveau des entreprises pour l'Italie. L'impact de la protection de l'emploi est analysé au moyen d’une méthode de régression par discontinuité (RD) qui exploite la variation des dispositions de la PE entre les entreprises de taille inférieure ou supérieure à un certain seuil. À l’aide de notre approche RD, nous montrons que la PE accroît la réallocation des travailleurs, indiquant que la PE a tendance, en moyenne, à réduire plutôt qu’à accroître la sécurité de l’emploi des travailleurs. Nous montrons de plus que cela peut être entièrement expliqué par le fait que les entreprises confrontées à une PE plus stricte recourent plus largement à des travailleurs sous contrats temporaires. Nos estimations privilégiées suggèrent que la discontinuité de la PE augmente l'incidence du travail temporaire de 2 à 2,5 points de pourcentage autour de la valeur seuil. En outre, une analyse plus détaillée suggère que l'effet de la protection de l'emploi persiste parmi les grandes entreprises bien au-delà du seuil et peut représenter environ 20% de l'incidence globale du travail temporaire. Il semble également que la PE réduit la productivité du travail et que cet effet est dans une large mesure dû à l'impact de la PE sur la réallocation des travailleurs et l'incidence du travail temporaire. |
| Keywords: | employment protection, worker reallocation, temporary work contract, labour market duality |
| JEL: | J42 J63 J65 |
| Date: | 2013–07–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:151-en&r=lab |
| By: | Michael W. Elsby; Donggyun Shin; Gary Solon |
| Abstract: | Using 1979-2011 Current Population Survey data for the United States and 1975-2011 New Earnings Survey data for Great Britain, we study wage behavior in both countries, with particular attention to the Great Recession. Real wages are procyclical in both countries, but the procyclicality of real wages varies across recessions, and does so differently between the two countries. U.S. distributions of year-to-year nominal wage change show many workers reporting zero change (suggesting wage stickiness) and many reporting nominal reductions (suggesting wage flexibility), but both findings could be distorted by reporting error. The British data, which are based on employers’ payroll records, show much lower prevalence of zero wage change, but still show surprisingly frequent nominal wage cuts. The complex constellation of empirical regularities defies explanation by simple theories. |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J3 J64 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19478&r=lab |
| By: | Sarah Brown (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield); Jolian McHardy (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield); Karl Taylor (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield) |
| Abstract: | We explore the relationship between employee trust and workplace performance. We present a theoretical framework which serves to establish a link between employee trust and firm performance as well as to identify possible mechanisms through which the relationship may operate. We then analyse matched workplace and employee data in order to ascertain whether the average level of employee trust within the workplace influences workplace performance. We exploit the 2004 and 2011 Work Place and Employee Relations Surveys (WERS) to analyse the role of employee trust in influencing workplace performance in both pre and post recessionary periods. Our empirical findings support a positive relationship between three measures of workplace performance (financial performance, labour productivity and product or service quality) and employee trust at both points in time. We then exploit employee level data from the WERS to ascertain the determinants of employee trust as well as how trust is influenced by measures taken by employers to deal with the recent recession. Our findings suggest that restricting paid overtime and access to training potentially erode employee trust. In addition, we find that job or work reorganisation experienced at either the employee or organisation level are associated with lower employee trust. |
| Keywords: | employee trust; financial performance; labour productivity; product quality. |
| JEL: | J20 J50 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2013012&r=lab |
| By: | Jeremy Lise (University College London); Jean-Marc Robin (Sciences-Po, Paris and University College London) |
| Abstract: | We develop an equilibrium model of on-the-job search with ex-ante heterogeneous workers and firms, aggregate uncertainty and vacancy creation. The model produces rich dynamics in which the distributions of unemployed workers, vacancies and worker-firm matches evolve stochastically over time. We prove that the surplus function, which fully characterizes the match value and the mobility decision of workers, does not depend on these distributions. We estimate the model on US labor market data from 1951-2007 and predict the fit for 2008-12. We use the model to measure the cyclicality of mismatch between workers and jobs. |
| Keywords: | On-the-job search; Heterogeneity; Aggregate fluctuations; Mismatch |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2013-012&r=lab |
| By: | H. Lehmann; A. Zaiceva |
| Abstract: | This paper takes stock of informal employment in Russia analyzing its incidence and determinants. Using the regular waves and an informality supplement of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) it develops several measures of informal employment and demonstrates that the incidence varies widely across the different definitions. We also show that the determinants of informal employment are roughly stable across the different measures: workers who are males, relatively young, unskilled and employed in construction and trade and related services have a higher likelihood to have an informal job. We also take a look at the issue of labor market segmentation along the informal-formal divide by estimating an informal-formal wage gap at the means and across the entire wage distributions. We find only weak evidence for labor market segmentation in Russia when estimating an informal-formal wage gap for salaried workers at the mean. The results of quantile regressions show a wage penalty in the lower half of the distribution and no gap in the upper half for informal employees. In contrast, informal self-employed and entrepreneurs have conditional mean wages that are higher than the mean wages for the formally employed. Across the entire wage distribution, however, we find a negative wage gap in the lowest quartile and a strongly positive wage gap in the highest quartile, pointing to a segmented informal sector with a lower free entry tier and an upper rationed tier. |
| JEL: | J31 J40 P23 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp903&r=lab |
| By: | Yolanda F. Rebollo-Sanz (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); José Ignacio García-Pérez (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide) |
| Abstract: | Reliable empirical evidence about the effects of unemployment insurance benefits (UIB) on individuals’ labour market paths is crucial for designing appropriate labour market policies. In particular, medium and long-run effects of the UIB system can differ markedly from short-term impact when job stability depends on previous labour market history. This paper addresses the effect of the UIB entitlement length on employment stability by taking into account benefits endogeneity, dynamic selection issues and occurrence dependence. The analysis is undertaken for dual labour market, as the one in Spain, where temporary and permanent workers differ in quite many individual and labour market characteristics. We find that the UIB entitlement period lengthens the unemployment spell of all workers but it also has a positive effect on the quality of subsequent job matches, particularly for temporary workers, and when job entrance takes place by the end of benefits entitlement. We simulate alternative UIB designs and conclude that shortening the benefit entitlement length does not seem to lead to significant gains in overall employment stability which increases by 4.3% at most. But at the same time, we find that job turnover also increases so the overall effect is that workers are employed a bit more but at the expense of suffering more job interruptions. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment insurance; Multivariate Mixed Proportional Hazard Model; Job Turnover; Employment Stability; Employment Dynamics |
| JEL: | D63 I14 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:13.03&r=lab |
| By: | Joan Rodgers (University of Wollongong); Iris Day (University of Wollongong) |
| Abstract: | Booth and Wood (2008), using longitudinal data from 2001 through 2004, found a large part-time wage premium for both men and women in Australia. Longitudinal studies of the full-time/part-time wage differential in other countries find small penalties or premiums, or no significant wage differentials. The objective of this paper is to explain the nature of the premium in Australia. We find the premium is pervasive across age groups, occupations and industries. It is not explained by the way part-time work is defined, or by the pay loading received in Australia by employees on casual contracts. We find substantial hourly wage increases accompany a move into part-time employment and similarly large hourly wage decreases occur when moving into full-time employment. The magnitude of these wage changes is smaller when the change from full-time to part-time employment (or vice versa) occurs with a change of employer. For women, we found evidence that the contemporaneous effect on the wage of moving into, or out of, part-time employment is not sustained beyond one, or at most two, years. |
| Keywords: | Full-Time/Part-Time Work Wage Differentials |
| JEL: | J31 J32 J33 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uow:depec1:wp13-04&r=lab |
| By: | Lechner, Michael (University of St. Gallen); Wunsch, Conny (University of Basel); Scioch, Patrycja (OTTO Office GmbH & Co KG) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the link between variation in the supply of workers who participate in specific types of active labour market policies (ALMPs) and firm performance using a new exceptionally informative German employer-employee data base. For identification we exploit that German local employment agencies (LEAs) have a high degree of autonomy in determining their own mix of ALMPs and that firms' hiring regions overlap only imperfectly with the areas of responsibility of the LEAs. Our results indicate that in general firms do not benefit from ALMPs and in some cases may even be harmed by certain programs, in particular by subsidized employment and longer training programs. These findings complement the negative assessment of the cost-effectiveness of ALMPs from the empirical literature on the effects for participants. |
| Keywords: | subsidized employment programs, training programs, regional variation, program evaluation |
| JEL: | J68 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7614&r=lab |
| By: | Eichhorst, Werner (IZA); Tobsch, Verena (E-x-AKT WIRTSCHAFTSFORSCHUNG) |
| Abstract: | This paper gives an overview of the transformation of the German labor market since the mid-1990s with a special focus on the changing patterns of labor market segmentation or 'dualization' of employment in Germany. While labor market duality in Germany can partially be attributed to labor market reforms promoting in particular non-standard forms of employment and allowing for an expansion of low pay, structural changes in the economy as well as strategic choices by employers and social partners also play a prominent role. |
| Keywords: | Germany, non-standard work, low pay, labor market segmentation |
| JEL: | J21 J31 J58 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7609&r=lab |
| By: | Kevin E. Cahill, (Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College); Michael D. Giandrea, (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); Joseph F. Quinn (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | Controlling for career employment later in life, the retirement patterns of men and women in America have resembled one another for much of the past two decades. Is this relationship coming to an end? Recent research suggests that the retirement patterns of the Early Boomers – those born between 1948 and 1953 – have diverged from those of earlier cohorts. Gender differences appear to be emerging as well in the way that career men and women exit the labor force, after nearly two decades of similarities. This paper explores these gender differences in detail to help determine whether we are witnessing a break in trend or merely a short-term occurrence. We use data on three cohorts of older Americans from the nationally-representative, longitudinal Health and Retirement Study (HRS) that began in 1992. We explore by gender the types of job transitions that occur later in life and explore, in particular, the role of four potentially relevant determinants: the presence of dependent children; a parent in need of caregiving assistance; occupational status on the career job; and self-employment status. We find that, among career men and women, child and parental caregiving are not significant drivers of the retirement transitions of the Early Boomers, all else equal. Gender differences that may exist with respect to these characteristics are therefore unlikely to lead to persistent gender differences in retirement patterns. In contrast, self employment continues to be a statistically significant determinant of bridge job transitions and phased retirement. This finding, combined with the fact that men are much more likely than women to be self employed later in life, could lead to some differences by gender going forward, though the impact is likely to be limited given that the large majority of older workers are in wage-and-salary employment. Older Americans – both men and women – are responding to their economic environment by working later in life and exiting the labor force gradually. While some determinants of these decisions likely impact men and women differently, gender differences with respect to the retirement patterns of the Early Boomers appear to be the result of broader macroeconomic forces. The evidence to date suggests that gender differences may dissipate as the recovery ensues. |
| Keywords: | Economics of Aging, Partial Retirement, Gradual Retirement |
| JEL: | J26 J14 J32 H55 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bls:wpaper:ec130090&r=lab |
| By: | Peng, Fei; Kang, Lili |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of shifts in the relative supply and demand of skills on the skill premiums and wage inequality in the British labour market 1972-2002. We test the Katz and Murphy (1992) hypothesis that the changes of skill premiums can be explained by their relative supply shifts, given stable or steadily growing relative demand. Alternatively, Machin (2001) hypothesis holds if the changes of skill premiums can be explained by relative demand shifts, given stable or steadily growing relative supply. From co-variation of relative skill wages and relative labour supplies of skills, we reject the hypothesis that the relative labour demand for skill is stable over time for either males or females. By using detrended relative skill wages and supplies, we infer that the acceleration of relative demand for skills caused a positive association between relative skill wages and labour supplies for males in the 1980s and the 2000s, and for females after the 1970s. Hence, the steadily growing relative demand in Katz and Murphy (1992) can only broadly fit with the cyclical co-variation of skill premiums and supply for males, but not for the long term increasing trend of skill premiums and supply of females. We find the acceleration of relative demand for skilled workers after the 1970s as suggested in Machin (2001) hypothesis. |
| Keywords: | wage inequality, labor supply, labor demand |
| JEL: | J22 J23 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2013–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:50195&r=lab |
| By: | Hielke Buddelmeyer (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne); Duncan McVicar (Queen's University Management School, Queen's University, Belfast); Mark Wooden (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | It is widely assumed that contingent forms of employment, such as fixed-term contracts, labour-hire and casual employment, are associated with low quality jobs. This hypothesis is tested using data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, a nationally representative household panel survey covering a country with a high incidence of non-standard employment. Ordered logit regression models of job satisfaction are estimated that hold constant all time-invariant individual differences as well as a range of observed time-varying characteristics. The results indicate that, among males, both casual employees and labour-hire workers (but not fixed-term contract workers) report noticeably lower levels of job satisfaction. Restricting the sample to persons aged 20-59 increases the estimated magnitudes of these effects. Negative effects for women are mainly restricted to labour-hire workers. We also show that the relationships between job satisfaction and contract type vary with educational attainment and the length of job tenure. Working hours arrangements also mediate the relationship. |
| Keywords: | Contingent employment, job satisfaction, non-standard employment, HILDA Survey, panel data |
| JEL: | J28 J41 J81 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2013n29&r=lab |
| By: | Daniela Piazzalunga |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the gender and ethnic wage differentials for female immigrants, applying the Oaxaca decomposition to estimate the level of discrimination. The gender pay gap is quite small (7.42%), but it's not explained by observable differences, whilst the ethnic wage gap is larger (27.11%), but the explained components account for about 30%. Ultimately, we will evaluate how the multiple levels of discrimination (due to being a woman and a foreigner at the same time) intersect, following the decomposition suggested by Shamsuddin (1998). The double-negative effect is estimated to be 56-62%. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, gender, wage discrimination, Oaxaca decomposition, double-negative effect |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J61 J71 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wchild:11&r=lab |
| By: | Chris Dawson (School of Management, University of Bath); Michail Veliziotis (University of the West of England, Bristol) |
| Abstract: | This paper is concerned with whether employees on temporary contracts in Britain report lower well-being than those on permanent contracts, and whether this relationship is mechanised by differences in certain aspects of job satisfaction. Previous research has identified a well-being gap between permanent and temporary employees but has not addressed what individual and contract specific characteristics contribute to this observed difference. Using data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), this paper finds that a large proportion of the difference in self-reported well-being between permanent and temporary employees appears to be explained by differences in satisfaction with job security. Other dimensions of job satisfaction are found to be less important. This leads us to believe that an employment contract characterised by a definite duration lowers individual well-being principally through a heightened feeling of job insecurity. |
| Keywords: | Temporary employment, well-being, job satisfaction |
| JEL: | J28 J41 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwe:wpaper:20131309&r=lab |
| By: | Sabina Avdagic |
| Abstract: | Using new data, the paper examines the effect of employment protection legislation (EPL) on aggregate and youth unemployment in advanced OECD economies and in Central and Eastern Europe during 1980-2009. The analysis assesses both the direct and indirect effects of EPL on levels of unemployment, as well as the short-term and long-term effects of changes in EPL on changes in unemployment. The results offer no clear support for the argument that EPL is a cause of either aggregate or youth unemployment. While EPL reaches statistical significance at conventional levels in some models, the results are sensitive to small changes in the sample or the use of alternative estimators. The only finding that appears robust concerns the interaction between EPL and the tax wedge, which suggests some scope for reform complementarity in tackling youth labour market problems. On the whole, the analysis suggests that government efforts to tackle unemployment by deregulating EPL alone may well be unwarranted. |
| Keywords: | employment protection legislation, aggregate unemployment, youth unemployment |
| JEL: | J4 J48 P16 P52 |
| Date: | 2013–09–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cel:dpaper:17&r=lab |
| By: | Arias, Javier; Artuc, Erhan; Lederman, Daniel; Rojas, Diego |
| Abstract: | Informal employment is ubiquitous in developing countries, but few studies have estimated workers'switching costs between informal and formal employment. This paper builds on the empirical literature grounded in discrete choice models to estimate these costs. The results suggest that inter-industry labor mobility costs are large, but entry costs into informal employment are significantly lower than the costs of entry in formal employment. Simulations of labor-market adjustments caused by a trade-related fall in manufacturing goods prices indicate that the share of informally employed workers rises after liberalization, but this is due to entry into the labor market by previously idle labor. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Work&Working Conditions,Labor Standards |
| Date: | 2013–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6614&r=lab |
| By: | Kohei Daido (School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University); Ken Tabata (School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the role played by the social norms of working hours in a household labor- leisure and fertility decision model. We suppose that social norms enforce workers not to deviate from the ideal level of working hours, which depends on past and current observations of working hours in workplaces. We show that the social norms lead to multiple equilibria: one with long working hours and a low fertility rate and another with short working hours and a high fertility rate. Our results may help to explain the long working hours and low fertility rate that are observed in Japan. |
| Keywords: | Fertility, Work-life balance, Social norms, Peer effects |
| JEL: | O40 J11 J22 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kgu:wpaper:108&r=lab |
| By: | Tony Champion; Mike Coombes; Ian Gordon |
| Abstract: | This paper uses evidence from the (British) Longitudinal Study to examine the influence on occupational advancement of the city-region of residence (an escalator effect) and of relocation between city-regions (an elevator effect). It shows both effects to be substantively important, though less so than the sector of employment. Elevator effects are found to be associated with moves from slacker to tighter regional labour markets. Escalator effects, on the other hand, are linked with residence in larger urban agglomerations, though not specifically London, but also across most of the Greater South East and in second/third order city-regions elsewhere. Sectoral escalator effects are found to be particularly strong in knowledge-intensive activities, with concentrations of these, as of other advanced job types (rather than of graduate labour), contributing strongly to the more dynamic city-regional escalators. The impact of the geographic effects is found to vary substantially with both observed and unobserved personal characteristics, being substantially stronger for the young and for those whose unobserved attributes (e.g. dynamic human capital) generally boost rates of occupational advance. |
| Keywords: | Escalator region, labour migration, elevator effect, city-regions, social mobility, career progression |
| JEL: | J24 J61 J62 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0139&r=lab |
| By: | Bellou, Andriana (University of Montreal); Cardia, Emanuela (University of Montreal) |
| Abstract: | WWII induced a dramatic increase in female labor supply, which persisted over time, particularly for women with higher education. Using Census micro data we study the qualitative aspects of this long term increase through the lenses of the occupations women held after the war. Almost two decades after its end, we find that WWII had lasting, albeit complex but interesting effects on the occupational landscape. It led to a significant increase in the presence of young women, who were of working age at the time of the war, in manufacturing and professional/managerial occupations, while it entailed a decrease in the presence of older cohorts in clerical. Though differently, the effects surprisingly extended to the next generation of women who were too young to be working at the time of the war. For this cohort, the increase was concentrated in clerical and manufacturing. The entry of this very young cohort in clerical jobs and the exit of the older, suggests within-gender crowding-out; the increased presence of both cohorts in manufacturing, that the legacy of the wartime Rosies permeated occupational choices. |
| Keywords: | WWII, occupations |
| JEL: | J24 J31 N42 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7615&r=lab |
| By: | Alexandra Bibbee |
| Abstract: | The NZ labour market is among the most flexible in the OECD, and outcomes for its young people have been among the best. However, labour-market opportunities are heavily determined by initial education, where New Zealand’s system is also successful and innovative in many ways. Average PISA results are among the OECD’s highest, but the dispersion of performance is also high, indicating a sizable group of underachievers. Those in disadvantaged groups tend to have poor scholastic outcomes. These initial educational handicaps show up in higher drop-out rates and youth joblessness, greatly limiting these youths’ future life chances. Indeed, intergenerational persistence in educational and employment outcomes appears very high. From both a social and economic point of view, it will be essential to develop more fully the human capital of the fast growing demographic group of ethnic minorities. Better teaching quality is needed, with more attention devoted to diversity of student needs and learning approaches to keep children in school. A related problem is the apparently large divergence between the nature of skills supplied by the education sector and the skills demanded by employers. A greater role for youth apprenticeships could help to raise skill levels while aligning them better to the economy’s needs. All this has an important bearing on the government’s ambition to secure strong and sustainable growth with rising living standards and equal opportunities for all. This Working Paper relates to the 2013 OECD Economic Survey of New Zealand (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/new-zealand-2maori013.htm). Améliorer la transition de l'école vers l'emploi en Nouvelle-Zélande Le marché du travail néo-zélandais est l’un des plus flexibles de la zone OCDE, et l’un de ceux qui affiche les meilleurs résultats pour l’emploi des jeunes. Néanmoins, les débouchés professionnels sont largement déterminés par la formation initiale, autre domaine dans lequel la Nouvelle-Zélande se montre performante et novatrice à de nombreux égards. Les résultats moyens obtenus à l’enquête PISA font partie des plus élevés de la zone OCDE, mais la dispersion des scores est également importante, ce qui donne à penser qu’une proportion non négligeable d’élèves est en situation d’échec. De manière générale, les personnes issues d’un milieu défavorisé n’ont pas de bons résultats scolaires. Ces handicaps rencontrés au stade de la formation initiale se manifestent par des taux élevés d’abandon scolaire et de chômage chez les jeunes, qui limitent grandement leurs chances dans la vie. De fait, la persistance intergénérationnelle des résultats en matière d’éducation et d’emploi ressort comme étant très élevée. D’un point de vue économique et social, il sera essentiel de développer davantage le capital humain du groupe démographique constitué par les minorités ethniques, en croissance rapide. Il convient d’améliorer la qualité de l’enseignement, et notamment d’accorder davantage d’attention à la diversité des besoins et méthodes d’apprentissage des élèves pour les maintenir à l’école. Autre problème connexe, il semble y avoir un décalage important entre la nature des compétences acquises dans le système éducatif et de celles demandées par les employeurs. Le développement de l’apprentissage pourrait permettre d’élever les niveaux de compétences des jeunes et de les aligner plus étroitement sur les besoins de l’économie. Tout ceci aura une incidence importante sur l’ambition que s’est donnée le gouvernement d’assurer une croissance solide et durable, porteuse d’une élévation des niveaux de vie et de chances égales pour tous. Ce Document de travail se rapporte à l’Étude économique de l’OCDE de la Nouvelle-Zélande 2013 (www.oecd.org/fr/eco/etudes/nouvelle-zel ande-2013.htm). |
| Keywords: | human capital, training, teaching quality, skills, vocational education, education funding, Maori, labour market matching, youth activation policies, youth unemployment, qualifications, youth minimum wage, tertiary education, school choice, student loans, schooling, assessments and evaluation in education, education achievement, apprenticeships, student grants, private returns to education, early childhood education, NEET, education attainment, Pasifika, careers education, achèvement des études, adéquation du marché du travail, mesures actives pour les jeunes, aides publiques pour les étudiants, qualifications, formation professionnelle, prêts étudiants, compétences, Non scolarisés, scolarisation, rendements privés de l’éducation, éducation des jeunes enfants, apprentissage, choix de l'école, financement de l'éducation, ni employés ni en formation, Maori, chômage des jeunes, îliens du Pacifique, niveau d’études, salaire minimum des jeunes, évaluation et appréciation de l’éducation, qualité de l’enseignement, formation, enseignement supérieur, capital humain |
| JEL: | H52 I21 I22 I24 I25 I28 J21 J23 J24 J62 J63 |
| Date: | 2013–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1087-en&r=lab |
| By: | Maury Gittleman, (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); Brooks Pierce, (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) |
| Abstract: | It is well known that earnings inequality in the United States has been on the rise over the last three decades. Compensation inequality, while much less studied, has been moving upward as well. Motivated in part by an attempt to explain a widening of inequality in the upper part of the distribution, Lemieux, MacLeod and Parent (2009) investigated the relationship between the use of performance pay schemes and wage inequality using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Viewing such a contractual arrangement as a channel through which rising demand for skill is translated into increased inequality, they estimated that pay for performance accounts for about one-fifth of the growth in the variance of male wages between the late 1970s and the early 1990s, and for almost all of the increase in wage inequality in the top quintile during the same period. In this paper, we also assess the relationship between performance pay and inequality, making a number of different contributions to the literature. First, the dataset we use, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employee Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), allows us to look at a much broader concept of pay than that used by LMP, which consists largely of hourly earnings inclusive of performance pay (bonuses, piece-rates and commissions). It is important to relate methods of pay to total compensation because any effects noted on wages may be offset or amplified when one moves to broader definitions of compensation. Second, there are numerous types of bonuses, not all of which fall under the rubric of pay for performance. While LMP are forced by the limitations in the PSID to treat all types of bonuses as being the same, in some of our analyses, we are able to distinguish among them. Third, while the LMP analysis ends in the mid-1990s, our investigation is of a more recent time period, 1994 to 2010. Finally, allowing greater precision in our estimates, our dataset is significantly larger than the PSID. Our results suggest that while the presence of performance pay jobs is associated with higher levels of inequality, such jobs have made only a modest contribution toward an increase in inequality in the period under study. |
| Keywords: | pay for performance, compensation inequality |
| JEL: | J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bls:wpaper:ec130060&r=lab |
| By: | Gill, David; Prowse, Victoria; Vlassopoulos, Michael |
| Abstract: | We use an online real-effort experiment to investigate how bonus-based pay and worker productivity interact with workplace cheating. Firms often use bonus-based compensation plans, such as group bonuses and firm-wide profit sharing, that induce considerable uncertainty in how much workers are paid. Exposing workers to a compensation scheme based on random bonuses makes them cheat more but has no effect on their productivity. We also find that more productive workers behave more dishonestly. These results are consistent with workers’ cheating behavior responding to the perceived fairness of their employer’s compensation scheme. |
| Keywords: | Bonus, compensation, cheating, dishonesty, lying, employee crime, productivity, slider task, real effort, experiment. |
| JEL: | C91 J3 J33 |
| Date: | 2013–07–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:50166&r=lab |
| By: | Christine Ho (Singapore Management University) |
| Abstract: | One-fifth of children aged below five with employed mothers benefit from grandparent provided child care as their main source of daycare in the U.S. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we investigate how grandchild care needs relate to intergenerational transfers of time and money and grandparents’ labor supply behavior. We find that grandparents with a new born grandchild are more likely to provide grandchild care while married grandparents are also more likely to be employed and provide financial help. Grandparents with grandchildren living close by provided higher time transfers while married grandmothers with resident grandchildren also worked longer hours. |
| Keywords: | Grandchild care, Intergenerational Transfers, Grandparents’ Labor Supply |
| JEL: | D13 J13 J14 J22 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:siu:wpaper:06-2013&r=lab |
| By: | Armando Barrientos; Juan Miguel Villa |
| Abstract: | Abstract The paper examines labour market outcome effects from participation in Familias en Acción in urban areas, a conditional cash transfer programme in Colombia. There is considerable interest in the potential impact of antipoverty transfers on labour market outcomes in developing countries. The available literature finds at best very marginal effects, both positive and negative, of participation on labour market outcomes. Relying on a regression discontinuity design and a large panel dataset, the paper finds significant and largely positive effects on labour market outcomes. These effects are heterogeneous in household composition and gender, confirming that the effects of antipoverty transfers on labour supply reflect a re-organisation of household productive resources in response to the transfer. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bwp:bwppap:18513&r=lab |
| By: | James Bailey (Department of Economics, Temple University) |
| Abstract: | Between 1992 and 2009, 30 US states adopted laws mandating that health insurance plans cover screenings for prostate cancer. Because prostate cancer screenings are used almost exclusively by men over age 50, these mandates raise the cost of insuring older men relative to other groups. This paper uses a triple-difference empirical strategy to take advantage of this quasi-random natural experiment in raising the cost of employing older workers. Using IPUMS data from the March Supplement of the Current Population Survey, this paper finds that the increased cost of insuring older workers results in their receiving 2.8% lower hourly wages, being 2% less likely to be employed, and being 0.7% less likely to have employer-sponsored health insurance. |
| Keywords: | Older Workers, Prostate Cancer Screening, Health Insurance, Mandated Benefits, Triple-Difference |
| JEL: | J20 J30 I13 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tem:wpaper:1302&r=lab |
| By: | Azam, Mehtabul (Oklahoma State University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine the intergenerational occupational mobility in India among men born during 1945-85. Following Long and Ferrie (2013, American Economic Review), we not only distinguish between prevalence and association, but also use the Altham Statistics – which involves comparison of all possible odds ratios, for example, the odds that the son of a white collar father would get a white collar job compared with the odds that the son of a low-skilled father would get a white collar job – as measure of distance between son-father occupation associations across cohorts. We extend the analysis to the differences in mobility across social groups, and attempt to isolate the specific odds ratios that account for the largest part of the difference. We find no evidence of difference in mobility in successive ten year birth cohorts; however, looking at the longer time period (birth cohort 1945-54 vs. 1975-84), we find that the mobility in the 1975-84 birth cohort is higher than the mobility in the 1945-54 birth cohort. Although the mobility among Scheduled Castes/Tribes (SC/STs) in the 1945-64 birth cohort was not different than the mobility observed in the entire 1945-64 birth cohort, SC/STs born during 1965-84 experienced a higher mobility when compared with the entire 1965-84 birth cohort. Similarly, when compared with the higher castes, SC/STs experienced lower mobility in the 1945-64 birth cohort; however, the mobility among SC/STs has been higher than the mobility among higher castes in the 1965-84 birth cohort. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, occupation, India, caste |
| JEL: | J62 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7608&r=lab |
| By: | Michail Veliziotis (University of the West of England, Bristol) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use British Household Panel Survey data to examine the relationship between individual trade union status and unpaid overtime in Britain. The findings indicate that in the for-profit, non-caring sector of the economy, union covered employees supply fewer unpaid overtime hours than non-covered ones due to union protection and the weakening of economic incentives caused by union bargaining. On the other hand, in the non-profit, caring sector, union members offer more unpaid extra hours than covered non-members because of their specific pro-social motivations. Additional evidence is presented that confirms that union members are actually characterized by a specific pro-social ethos. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwe:wpaper:20131304&r=lab |