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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Jäntti, Markus (SOFI, Stockholm University); Jenkins, Stephen P. (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper is prepared as a chapter for the Handbook of Income Distribution, Volume 2 (edited by A. B. Atkinson and F. Bourguignon, Elsevier-North Holland, forthcoming). Like the other chapters in the volume (and its predecessor), the aim is to provide comprehensive review of a particular area of research. We survey the literature on income mobility, aiming to provide an integrated discussion of mobility within- and between-generations. We review mobility concepts, descriptive devices, measurement methods, data sources, and recent empirical evidence. |
| Keywords: | intragenerational mobility, intergenerational mobility, income mobility, earnings mobility |
| JEL: | D31 I30 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7730&r=lab |
| By: | Sari Pekkala Kerr; William R. Kerr; William F. Lincoln |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of skilled immigrants on the employment structures of U.S. firms using matched employer-employee data. Unlike most previous work, we use the firm as the lens of analysis to account for a greater level of heterogeneity and the fact that many skilled immigrant admissions are driven by firms themselves (e.g., the H-1B visa). OLS and IV specifications find rising overall employment of skilled workers with increased skilled immigrant employment by firm. Employment expansion is greater for younger natives than their older counterparts, and departure rates for older workers appear higher for those in STEM occupations compared to younger worker. |
| JEL: | F15 F22 J44 J61 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19658&r=lab |
| By: | Esteban Klor; Sebastian Kube; Eyal Winter; Ro'i Zultan (BGU) |
| Abstract: | Conventional wisdom suggests that a global increase in monetary rewards should induce agents to exert higher effort. In this paper we demonstrate that this may not hold in team settings. In the context of sequential team production with positive externalities between agents, incentive reversal might occur: an increase in monetary rewards (either because bonuses increase or effort costs decrease) may lead agents to exert lower effort in the completion of a joint task — even if agents are fully rational, self-centered money maximizers. Herein we discuss this seemingly paradoxical phenomenon and report on two experiments that provide supportive evidence. |
| Keywords: | Incentives, Incentive Reversal, Team Production, Externalities, Laboratory Experiments, Personnel Economics. |
| JEL: | C92 D23 J31 J33 J41 M12 M52 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bgu:wpaper:1309&r=lab |
| By: | Borghans, Lex (Department of Economics and Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market, Maastricht University); Meijers, Huub (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG and Department of Economics, Maastricht University); Weel, Bas ter (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Research and Department of Economics, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | This research provides an economic model of the way people behave during an IQ test. We distinguish a technology that describes how time investment improves performance from preferences that determine how much time people invest in each question. We disentangle these two elements empirically using data from a laboratory experiment. The main findings are that both intrinsic (questions that people like to work on) and extrinsic motivation (incentive payments) increase time investments and as a result performance. The presence of incentive payments seems to be more important than the size of the reward. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations turn out to be complements. |
| Keywords: | incentives, cognitive test scores |
| JEL: | J20 J24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013006&r=lab |
| By: | van den Berg, Gerard J. (University of Mannheim); van der Klaauw, Bas (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | We structurally estimate a novel job search model with endogenous job search effort, job quality dispersion, and effort monitoring, taking into account that monitoring effects may be mitigated by on-the-job search and search channel substitution. The data are from a randomized experiment conducted in the Netherlands. They include registers of post-unemployment outcomes like wages and job mobility, and survey data on measures of search behavior. As such we are the first to study monitoring effects on post-unemployment outcomes. We find that the option to climb the job ladder reduces substitution between search channels during unemployment and compensates for adverse long-run effects of monitoring on wages. We use the structural estimates to compare monitoring to counterfactual policies against moral hazard, like re-employment bonuses and changes in the unemployment benefits path. Replacing monitoring by an overall benefits reduction in a way that is neutral to the worker results in slightly smaller effects with lower administrative costs. |
| Keywords: | unemployment duration, search effort, active labor market policy, wage, job duration, job mobility, treatment, search channels, multi-tasking, randomized social experiment |
| JEL: | J64 J65 J68 J62 D83 D82 C31 C32 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7740&r=lab |
| By: | Andriy Zapechelnyuk (School of Economics and Finance, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK); Ro'i Zultan (BGU) |
| Abstract: | The costs of searching for a job vacancy are typically associated with fric- tion that deters or delays employment of potentially productive individuals. We demonstrate that in a labor market with moral hazard where effort is non- contractible, job search costs play a positive role, whose effect may outweigh the negative implications. As workers are provided incentives to exert effort by the threat of losing their job and having to search for a new vacancy, a reduction in job search costs leads to fewer employees willing to exert effort. The overall lower productivity will make more individuals and firms opting to stay out of the labor market, resulting in lower employment and decreased welfare. Eventually, a reduction of jobs search costs below a certain level results in collapse of the labor market. |
| Keywords: | job search, moral hazard, labor market, unemployment insurance |
| JEL: | D83 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bgu:wpaper:1307&r=lab |
| By: | Maria Micevski (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany) |
| Abstract: | The presented model demonstrates how the coexistence of reciprocal and selfish types influences the formation of employment relationships, their profitability, wage differentials, wage competition, and unemployment in the presence of moral hazard. Wage and profitability differentials result from the differences in workers’ reactions to the managers’ wage offers. Moreover, these behavioral differences affect managers’ preferences for worker types. Thus, managers might make higher offers to attract the preferred worker type in a competitive labor market with excess supply of labor compared to a situation without competition. The resulting competitive matching allocates favored reciprocal workers to reciprocal managers. Consequently, unemployment arises first among unfavored reciprocal and selfish workers, respectively. |
| Keywords: | reciprocity, gift exchange, matching, profitability, wage differentials, wage competition, unemployment |
| JEL: | D03 D21 E24 J31 |
| Date: | 2013–11–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1325&r=lab |
| By: | Werner, Thomas; Sell, Friedrich L.; Reinisch, David C. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, the authors present a new approach to estimate the impact of a minimum wage on the labor market of the construction sector in Germany. Instead of estimating the effect on employment, the authors focus on the change of prices on a firm level in order to differentiate between a competitive and a monopsonistic structured labor market. The composition of the sector-specific labor market serves again as a basis to evaluate whether the consequences of the minimum wage can be taken as economically advantageous or disadvantageous. Using firm data monthly conducted by the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, the estimations show that the minimum wage did have a different impact in East and West Germany. In East Germany, we find significant positive price effects of the minimum wage which exclude the possibility of positive employment effects due to monopsonistic structures. On the contrary, our results indicate a competitive sectorspecific labor market and declining employment. In contrast, there was no significant price reaction observed for West Germany. The minimum wage seems too low compared to the wages paid in the West German construction sector. Therefore, the introduction of the minimum wage cannot be assumed to be binding. -- |
| Keywords: | labor market,minimum wage,employment effects,construction industry,difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | J08 J38 J42 J48 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ubwwpe:20134&r=lab |
| By: | Maré, David C. (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust); Fabling, Richard (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust) |
| Abstract: | In New Zealand, the impact of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) was milder than in most other developed countries, with employment declining by 2.5 percent between 2008q4 and 2009q4. Job and worker turnover rates both declined, signalling a reduction in labour market liquidity and difficulties for new entrants and high-turnover groups of workers (Fabling and Maré, 2012). The current paper documents the extent and composition of employment change between 2000 and 2011, focusing on the 2008-2010 period, when the labour market impacts of the GFC were strongest. As in previous downturns, the incidence of cyclical job loss and unemployment fell disproportionately on young and unskilled workers. The paper identifies, by age, gender and earnings level, the sensitivity of employment growth and labour market flows to aggregate employment fluctuations and also to relative fluctuations across industries and regions. The accession rate is particularly sensitive to the economic cycle, most strongly for young workers. Differences in the size of cyclical employment fluctuations reflect differing responsiveness to common shocks and not exposure to different industry and local shocks. Finally, the paper traces outcomes for workers whose jobs end, summarising their duration out of work and the wage increases or reductions they experience when they secure employment. Workers who left or lost jobs spent longer out of work after the GFC and settled for lower earnings growth when they did find a job. Both of these effects had partly but not fully abated within 3 years of the onset of the GFC. |
| Keywords: | Global Financial Crisis, cyclical job loss, unemployment, earnings growth |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J21 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7745&r=lab |
| By: | Olivier Godechot (IEP Paris - Sciences Po Paris - Institut d'études politiques de Paris - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Paris - PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité - Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques [FNSP], OSC - Observatoire sociologique du changement - Sciences Po - CNRS : UMR7049, MaxPo - Max Planck Sciences Po Center on Coping with Instability in Market Societies - Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies - IEP Paris); Claudia Senik (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - École normale supérieure [ENS] - Paris - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA), UP4 - Université Paris 4, Paris-Sorbonne - Université Paris IV - Paris Sorbonne - Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This paper looks at the association between wage satisfaction and different notions of reference wage, based on a matched employer-employee dataset. It shows that workers' satisfaction depends on otherpeople's income in different ways. Relative income concerns are important, but we also find robust evidence of signal effects. For instance, workers are happier the higher the median wage in their firm, holding their own wage constant. This is true of all employees, whatever their relative position in the firm. This signal effect is stronger for young people and for women. These findings are based on objective measures of earnings as well as subjective declarations about wage satisfaction, awareness of other people's wage and reported income comparisons. |
| Keywords: | Income comparisons ; Income distribution ; Job satisfaction ; Wage satisfaction ; Signal effect ; Matched employer-employee survey data |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00907268&r=lab |
| By: | Lin, Carl (Beijing Normal University) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents evidence that since 1980, relative to other immigrants, the earnings of Taiwanese immigrants have grown rapidly as they assimilate into the U.S. economy. Our estimates indicate that the rising returns to education, pre-migration experience and hours worked per week play pivotal roles for their relatively successful economic assimilation. We investigate the earnings differentials, finding that the growing gap can be largely explained by differences in individual's endowments – of which more than two-thirds can be solely attributed to education. We show that more recently arrival cohorts of Taiwanese immigrants have earned more than the older ones since 1980. |
| Keywords: | Taiwan, immigration, economic assimilation, earnings differential, Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition |
| JEL: | J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7748&r=lab |
| By: | Gorodnichenko, Yuriy (University of California, Berkeley); Song, Jae (U.S. Social Security Administration); Stolyarov, Dmitriy (University of Michigan) |
| Abstract: | We analyze lifetime earnings histories of white males during 1960-2010 and categorize the labor force status of every worker as either working full-time, partially retired or fully retired. We find that the fraction of partially retired workers has risen dramatically (from virtually 0 to 15 percent for 60-62 year olds), and that the duration of partial retirement spells has been steadily increasing. We estimate the response of retirement timing to variations in unemployment rate, inflation and housing prices. Flows into both full and partial retirement increase significantly when the unemployment rate rises. Workers around normal retirement age are especially sensitive to variations in the unemployment rate. Workers who are partially retired show a differential response to a high unemployment rate: younger workers increase their partial retirement spell, while older workers accelerate their transition to full retirement. We also find that high inflation discourages full-time work and encourages partial and full retirement. Housing prices do not have a significant impact on retirement timing. |
| Keywords: | retirement, business cycles |
| JEL: | E24 H55 J26 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7744&r=lab |
| By: | Nagler, Paula (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | The introduction of unemployment insurance savings accounts (UISA) in Chile in October 2002 brought in more comprehensive unemployment protection while decreasing the opportunity costs of job change. Being the first to empirically investigate the effect of UISA on employment duration, this paper examines (i) whether the introduction of UISA affected employment duration among formal private sector workers, and (ii) the magnitude of this effect. The analysis is performed on longitudinal social protection data and uses survival analysis techniques, including non-parametric, semi-parametric and parametric analysis, and competing-risk models. The paper finds that workers participating in the scheme show an increased hazard ratio of leaving employment, or accelerated time to employment termination. The effect is larger for workers becoming unemployed or inactive compared to workers changing jobs. The results provide strong support that the introduction of UISA led to shorter employment duration and higher mobility of the workforce in Chile. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment Insurance Savings Accounts, Employment Duration, Survival Analysis, Chile |
| JEL: | C41 J63 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013039&r=lab |
| By: | Rainer Eppel (WIFO); Helmut Mahringer (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | We construct two matching scenarios to estimate the long-term impact of targeted wage subsidies in Austria on the subsequent labour market integration of previously unemployed participants. Even if substantial dead-weight loss is taken into account, the treated experience a significant increase in employment in the seven years from program start and spend considerably less time in unemployment and out of the labour force than similar nonparticipants. The effect increases with age and with pre-treatment unemployment duration. It is particularly large for older workers and the long-term unemployed. Hence, wage subsidies are particularly effective in helping disadvantaged unemployed individuals back into employment. Cumulated earnings rise significantly for the treated as a result of their relative increase in employment. Participation in the program does, however, not exert a positive influence on the quality of jobs in terms of the average wage level. |
| Date: | 2013–11–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2013:i:456&r=lab |
| By: | Lucas Van Der Velde (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Joanna Tyrowicz (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw; National Bank of Poland); Karolina Goraus (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw) |
| Abstract: | Given the proliferation of methods to estimate gender wage gap, practical issues arise. The aim of this paper is to compare estimates of the adjusted wage gap from different methods and sets of conditioning variables. We apply available parametric and non-parametric methods to LFS data from Poland for 2012. While the raw gap amounts to nearly 10% of the female wage, after the correction for the endowments, the adjusted wage gap estimates range between 15% and as much as 25% depending on the method and the choice of conditional variables. The differences across methods and conditioning variables do not exceed 3pp. The largest differences emerged between methods estimating gap at the mean and those operating at quantiles. Within the same moment, methods which account for selection into employment yielded higher estimates of the adjusted wage gap. When expanding the conditioning set, to account for possible sorting of women into lower paid jobs, estimates of gap increase. While the actual point estimators of adjusted wage gap are slightly different, all of them are roughly twice as high as the raw gap, which corroborates the policy relevance of this methodological study. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, transition, Poland, decomposition methods |
| JEL: | J22 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2013-28&r=lab |
| By: | Sala, Hector (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Trivín, Pedro (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | The Spanish labour market disproportionately booms in expansions and bursts in recessions; meanwhile, its regions' relative position persists: those with the highest unemployment rates in 1996 were also in the worse position in 2012. To examine this twofold feature, we apply Blanchard and Katz's (1992) methodology and evaluate how the Spanish labour market reacts to regional employment shocks in a variety of cases. Shock responses are channelled via changes in unemployment, labour market participation, and spatial mobility. Our results provide evidence of asymmetric responses across business cycle phases (1996-2007 and 2008-2012). While changes in participation rates are the main adjustment mechanism in expansion, unemployment and spatial mobility become the central ones in recession. We also provide evidence of real wage rigidities in both periods, but strong asymmetries in house prices, which are sticky in recession but notably reactive in expansion. We conclude with a cluster analysis showing that high and low unemployment regions have similar responses in the short-run while, in the long-run, the former are more reactive in terms of spatial mobility. Overall, we provide evidence that people are more willing to migrate when a regional shock occurs in relatively worse economic contexts. |
| Keywords: | employment, unemployment, regional labour markets, Spain |
| JEL: | J20 E24 J61 R11 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7746&r=lab |
| By: | Brunello, Giorgio (University of Padova); Comi, Simona (University of Milan Bicocca) |
| Abstract: | Due to pension reforms, minimum retirement age increased substantially in Italy between the second part of the 1990s and the early 2000s. We compare the training participation of pre- and post - reform cohorts of private sector employees and estimate that adding one year to minimum retirement age increases training incidence by 6.9 to 10.7 percent, depending on the empirical specification. We find that policies that increase the residual working horizon are effective in increasing training participation by senior workers, and that traditional training policies that aim at reducing training costs by providing subsidies are ineffective. |
| Keywords: | pension reforms, training, Italy |
| JEL: | J24 J26 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7755&r=lab |
| By: | Olga Alonso-Villar (Universidade de Vigo); Coral del Rio (Universidade de Vigo and EQUALITAS) |
| Abstract: | Based on harmonized and detailed occupation titles and making use of measures that do not require pair-wise comparisons among demographic groups, this paper shows that the occupational segregation of Black women dramatically declined from 1940 to 1980 (especially in the 1960s and 1970s), it slightly decreased from 1980 to 2000, and it remained stagnated in the first decade of the 21st century. To assess the reduction in segregation, this paper extends recent measures that penalize the concentration of Black women in low-paid jobs and finds that the integration process slightly reversed after 2000. Regarding the role that education has played, this study highlights that only from 1990 onward, Black women with either some college or university degrees have lower segregation (as compared with their peers) than those with lower education. Nevertheless, in 2010, Black women with university degrees still tend to concentrate in occupations that have wages below the average wage of occupations that high-skilled workers fill. |
| Keywords: | occupational segregation, local segregation measures, race, gender, Black women, status, wages, United States. |
| JEL: | J15 J16 J71 D63 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2013-304&r=lab |
| By: | Riedl, Maximilian |
| Abstract: | In this paper I present a simple theoretical model where firms and trade unions negotiate over wages. Firms have the possibility to offshore parts of the ir production and trade union members have a disutility from individual job loss fears. I show that higher job loss fears result in lower wages. As a Nash bargaining result, firms can use potential but non realized offshoring as a threat to enforce lower wages. Using a large German household survey, I can show evidence that increasing potential offshoring lowers wages through high job loss fears. -- |
| Keywords: | offshoring,wage bargaining,job loss fears |
| JEL: | F16 J50 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cegedp:174&r=lab |
| By: | Forlani, Emanuele; Lodigiani, Elisabetta; Mendolicchio, Concetta (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "This paper contributes to the literature on the impact of immigrants on native female labour supply. By segmenting the market by educational levels, we are able to investigate which nativeborn women are more affected by an increase of low-skilled immigrants working in the household service sector. We present a model of individual choice with home production and, using an harmonized dataset (CNEF), we test its main predictions. Our sample includes countries implementing different family policies. Our results suggest that the share of immigrants working in services in a given local labour market is positively associated with the probability of nativeborn women to increase their labour supply at the intensive margin (number of hours worked per week), if skilled, and at the extensive margin (participation decision), if unskilled. Moreover, they show that these effects are larger in countries with less family-supportive policies." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) Additional Information Auch erschienen als: DEM working papers series 58 |
| Keywords: | Einwanderer, ausländische Arbeitnehmer, Hochqualifizierte, Niedrigqualifizierte, Arbeitskräfteangebot, Frauen, Erwerbsbeteiligung, Familienpolitik, Australien, Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Großbritannien, USA, Schweiz, Bundesrepublik Deutschland |
| JEL: | J22 J61 |
| Date: | 2013–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201320&r=lab |
| By: | Deuchert, Eva; Kauer, Lukas |
| Abstract: | Many countries provide hiring subsidies aimed at promoting the employment of people with disabilities. The effectiveness of these subsidy schemes remains unclear. The subsidy lowers wages and may thus increase employment, but may also signal lower quality of the applicant (who has to disclose a disability), which deter employers from hiring. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of employer incentives provided by the Swiss Disability Insurance using a small scale social field experiment. Participants write application letters, where it is randomly decided whether the application discloses the subsidy to the potential employer or not. The effectiveness of the hiring subsidy is measured by call-back rates for interviews. The study is conducted in two waves. The first wave focuses on graduates from sheltered Vocational Education & Training Programs. The second wave is implemented in a sample of clients from employment consulting services. Our results reveal that the subsidy is ineffective or even counterproductive in a group of adolescents who are at the end of their vocational training program, but may increase call-back rates in a group of clients of job coaching services. |
| Keywords: | Hiring subsidies, Effectiveness, Social field experiment |
| JEL: | I38 C93 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:econwp:2013:35&r=lab |
| By: | Vanessa LUTGEN (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)); Bruno VAN DER LINDEN (FNRS, UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES), IZA and CESifo) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies equilibrium unemployment in a two-region economy where homogeneous workers and jobs are free to move and the housing market clears. Because of the Internet, searching for a job in another region without first migrating there is nowadays much simpler than in the past. Search-matching externalities are amplified by this possibility and by the fact that some workers can simultaneously receive a job offer from each region. The rest of the framework builds on Moretti (2011). We study numerically the impacts of various local shocks in a stylized US economy. Contrary to what could be expected, increasing matching effectiveness in the other region yields growing regional unemployment rates. We characterize the optimal allocation and conclude that the Hosios condition is not sufficient to restore efficiency. In the efficient allocation, the regional unemployment rates are much lower than in the decentralized economy and nobody searches in the other region. |
| Keywords: | Matching; Search then move; Spatial equilibrium; Regional economics; Unemployment differentials |
| JEL: | J61 J64 R13 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–10–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2013024&r=lab |
| By: | Trax, Michaela; Brunow, Stephan; Suedekum, Jens |
| Abstract: | Using comprehensive data for German establishments, we estimate plant-evel production functions to analyze if cultural diversity affects total factor productivity. We distinguish diversity in the establishment's workforce and in the aggregate labor force of the region where the plant is located. We find that a larger share of foreign workers . either in the establishment or in the region . does not affect productivity. However, there are spillovers associated with the degree of fractionalization of the group of foreigners into different nationalities. The aggregate level is, quantitatively, at least as important for productivity as the workforce composition inside the establishment. -- |
| Keywords: | cultural diversity,plant-level productivity,knowledge spillovers |
| JEL: | R23 J21 J31 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:119&r=lab |
| By: | Yahong Zhang |
| Abstract: | The recent financial crisis and subsequent recession have spurred great interest in the sources of unemployment fluctuations. Previous studies predominantly assume a single economy-wide labour market, and therefore abstract from differences across sector-specific labour markets in the economy. In Canada, such differences are substantial. From 1991 to 2010, employment in the tradable sector is almost three times as volatile as that in the non-tradable sector, and wages are about twice as volatile. To capture the labour market differences at the sectoral level, I introduce a segmented labour market structure to a medium-scale dynamic stochastic general-equilibrium model with financial and labour market frictions and estimate the model using Canadian data from 1991 to 2010. I find that, in the long run, unemployment fluctuations are mainly driven by the shocks to firms’ net worth and production technology in the non-tradable sector and the shocks to the foreign interest rate. In the short run, however, it is the shocks to firms’ net worth in the tradable sector that account for about 50 per cent of unemployment fluctuations. I also find that inclusion of the recent financial crisis data in the estimation is crucial for assessing the effects of the financial wealth shocks. |
| Keywords: | Business fluctuations and cycles; Economic models; Labour markets |
| JEL: | E32 E44 J6 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocawp:13-40&r=lab |
| By: | Blanco, Mariana (University of Rosario); Dalton, Patricio S. (Tilburg University); Vargas, Juan F. (University of Rosario) |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether and how the type of unemployment benefit institution affects productivity. We designed a field experiment to compare workers' productivity under a welfare system, where the unemployed receive an unconditional monetary transfer, with their productivity under a workfare system, where the transfer is received conditional on the unemployed spending some time on ancillary activities. First, we find that having an unemployment benefit institution, regardless of whether it makes transfers conditional or unconditional, increases workers' productivity. Second, we find that productivity is higher under Welfare than under Workfare. Becoming unemployed under Welfare comes at the psychological cost of a drop in self-esteem, presumably due to the shame or stigma associated with receiving an unconditional unemployment benet. We document the empirical relevance of precisely this channel. The differences we observe in productivity suggest that this psychological cost acts as an extra non- monetary incentive for workers under Welfare to put a higher effort in their work. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment Benefits, Workfare, Productivity, Self-esteem, Shame. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:warwcg:177&r=lab |
| By: | Lechmann, Daniel S.; Schnabel, Claus |
| Abstract: | Utilising a large representative data set for Germany, this study contrasts absenteeism of self-employed individuals and paid employees. We find that absence from work is clearly less prevalent among the self-employed than among paid employees. Only to a small extent, this difference can be traced back to differences in health status and job satisfaction. Furthermore, the gap in absenteeism is apparently not driven by different behaviour in case of sickness as we find no difference in the prevalence of presenteeism between the two groups. We suspect that different behaviour in case of healthiness plays a role, highlighting potential shirking and moral hazard problems in paid employment. -- Unter Verwendung eines großen repräsentativen Datensatzes für Deutschland stellt diese Studie Fehlzeiten von Selbständigen und abhängig Beschäftigten gegenüber. Dabei zeigt sich, dass es bei Selbständigen weit weniger verbreitet ist, dem Arbeitsplatz fernzubleiben, als bei abhängig Beschäftigten. Dieser Unterschied kann nur zu einem kleinen Teil auf Unterschiede im Gesundheitszustand und der Arbeitsplatzzufriedenheit zurückgeführt werden. Anscheinend ist der Unterschied bei den Fehlzeiten auch nicht durch unterschiedliches Verhalten im Krankheitsfall zu erklären, da wir keine Unterschiede zwischen beiden Gruppen hinsichtlich Präsentismus feststellen. Wir vermuten, dass unterschiedliches Verhalten bei Gesundheit eine Rolle spielt, was auf mögliche Probleme von Moral Hazard und gezieltem Fernbleiben in abhängiger Beschäftigung hindeutet. |
| Keywords: | absenteeism,Germany,self-employed,sick leave |
| JEL: | I19 J22 J23 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwqwdp:092013&r=lab |
| By: | Alan Duncan (Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin University); Mark Harris (School of Economics and Finance, Curtin University); Anthony Harris (Centre for Health Economics (CHE), Monash University); Eugenio Zucchelli (University of Lancaster, UK) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a discrete-choice behavioural model of labour supply to examine the role of ill-health on single parents’ employment. The model provides estimates of individual preferences over a given set of labour market states and allows these preferences to be influenced by a measure of mental health, a latent health index purged of reporting bias and various measures of health shocks. Exploiting longitudinal data from the HILDA Survey, we find that psychological well-being, ill-health and health shocks significantly influence single parents’ marginal disutility of work and marginal utility of income. Further, we apply behavioural microsimulation methods to estimate the likely labour supply responses among single parents in Australia from restricting eligibility to access disability support via the Australian Disability Support Pension (DSP) scheme. Our simulation exercise reveals that imposing tighter DSP eligibility rules has a moderate but positive effect on single mothers’ employment. |
| Keywords: | health, disability, wellbeing, health shocks, discrete choice, behavioural microsimulation, labour supply |
| JEL: | C10 C25 C51 I10 I19 J01 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ozl:bcecwp:wp1307&r=lab |
| By: | Keisuke Kawata (Hiroshima University); Kentaro Nakajima (Tohoku University); Yasuhiro Sato (Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | We develop a competitive search model involving multiple regions, geographically mobile work- ers, and moving costs. Equilibrium mobility patterns are analyzed and characterized, indicating that shocks to a particular region, such as a productivity shock, can propagate to other regions through workersf mobility. Moreover, equilibrium mobility patterns are not efficient due to the existence of moving costs, implying that they affect social welfare not only because they are costs but also be- cause they distort equilibrium allocation. By calibrating our framework to Japanese regional data, we demonstrate that the impacts of eliminating migration costs are comparable to those of a 30% productivity increase. |
| Keywords: | geographical mobility of workers, competitive job search, moving costs, labor market inte- gration |
| JEL: | J61 J64 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:1329&r=lab |
| By: | Slobodan Djajic (The Graduate Institute); Alice Mesnard (City University) |
| Abstract: | Guest-worker programs have been providing rapidly growing economies with millions of temporary foreign workers over the last couple of decades. With the duration of stay strictly limited by program rules in most of the host countries and wages paid to guest workers often set at sub-market levels, many of the migrants choose to overstay and seek employment in the underground economy. This paper develops a general-equilibrium model that relates the flow of guest workers transiting to the underground economy to the rules of the program, enforcement measures of the host country and market conditions facing migrants at home and abroad. |
| Keywords: | Temporary migration, undocumented workers, underground economy |
| JEL: | F22 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1324&r=lab |
| By: | Barr, Tavis (Beijing Normal University); Lin, Carl (Beijing Normal University) |
| Abstract: | Social scientists are often interested in assessing relative changes between two groups over time, for example, the convergence of black-white wages from 1940 to 1990. In such situations, we need a control group for both treatment groups to remove biases resulting from time trends and unobserved factors. Smith and Welch (1989) propose a decomposition technique that handles this situation using a difference-in-differences like method, attributing relative changes to four different effects. However, a method for specifying the contribution of every variable in the equation, referred to as the detailed decomposition, has not been developed. We present a detailed decomposition and provide a Stata estimator for practitioners to implement our method. Using the convergence of black-white wage between 1960 and 1970 as an example, our detailed decomposition result shows that education accounts for 73 percent of the value of change in characteristics while experience explains only 3 percent. |
| Keywords: | Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, detailed decomposition, synthetic cohort, wage gap, repeated cross sections |
| JEL: | C20 J70 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7743&r=lab |
| By: | Bijwaard, Govert (NIDI - Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute); Wahba, Jackline (University of Southampton) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the impact of the income earned in the host country on return migration of labor migrants from developing countries. We use a three-state correlated competing risks model to account for the strong dependence of labor market status and the income earned. Our analysis is based on administrative panel data of recent labor immigrants from developing countries to the Netherlands. The empirical results show that intensities of return migration are U-shaped with respect to migrants' income, implying a higher intensity in low- and high- income groups. Indeed, the lowest-income group has the highest probability of return. We also find that ignoring the interdependence of labor market status and the income earned leads to an overestimating the income effect on departure. |
| Keywords: | migration dynamics, labour market transitions, competing risks, immigrant assimilation |
| JEL: | F22 J61 C41 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7732&r=lab |
| By: | Koerselman, Kristian (Abo Akademi University); Uusitalo, Roope (HECER) |
| Abstract: | Investing in human capital increases lifetime income, but these investments may involve substantial risk. In this paper we use a Finnish panel spanning 22 years to predict the mean, the variance and the skew of the present value of lifetime income, and to calculate certainty equivalent lifetime income at different levels of education. We find that university education is associated with about a half a million euro increase in discounted lifetime disposable income compared to vocational high school. Accounting for risk does little to change this picture. By contrast, vocational high school is associated with only moderately higher lifetime income compared to compulsory education, and the entire difference is due to differential nonemployment. |
| Keywords: | lifetime income, risk, education, human capital |
| JEL: | C33 I24 J31 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7752&r=lab |
| By: | Aaberge, Rolf (Statistics Norway); Atkinson, Anthony B. (Nuffield College, Oxford); Modalsli, Jorgen Heibo (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | This paper is concerned with the question of whether top income earners are permanently there or only temporarily receive the highest incomes. How much mobility is there at the top of the income distribution, and how has mobility changed over time? The paper makes both a methodological and an empirical contribution to answering these questions. The first part of the paper introduces a family of top income mobility measures based on differences in average annual incomes of top income earners in short-term and long-term distributions of income. Norwegian income tax records are then employed to study top income mobility in Norway since 1967. The results reveal low levels of top income mobility, but a relatively large increase in mobility starting at the same time as the income shares of the top income receivers started to increase around 1990. |
| Keywords: | top income shares, income mobility, inequality |
| JEL: | J31 E24 D63 N34 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7729&r=lab |