|
on Labour Economics |
| By: | Been-Lon Chen (Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan); Mei Hsu (College of Management, National Taiwan Normal University); Chih-Fang Lai (Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan) |
| Abstract: | Labor supply in Europe was declined by about 30% relative to the US over the past 3 decades. The decline comes from hours per worker and employment. This paper studies a matching model and the effects of labor taxes and unemployment benefits. Labor taxes decrease hours and employment, with overstated adverse effects on hours if extensive margins are not considered. Unemployment benefits decrease employment and increase hours, with understated adverse effects on employment if intensive margins are not considered. In baseline, labor taxes and unemployment benefits together explain about 75% of declining labor supply in Europe relative to the US. |
| Keywords: | search, labor taxes, adverse labor markets, hours worked per worker and employment |
| JEL: | E24 E60 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sin:wpaper:14-a014&r=lab |
| By: | Kudlyak, Marianna (Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond); Lange, Fabian (McGill University) |
| Abstract: | We use a novel approach to studying the heterogeneity in the job finding rates of the nonemployed by classifying the nonemployed by labor force status (LFS) histories, instead of using only one-month LFS. Job finding rates differ substantially across LFS histories: they are 25-30% among those currently out of the labor force (OLF) with recent employment, 10% among those currently OLF who have been unemployed but not employed in the previous two months, and 2% among those who have been OLF in all three previous months. This heterogeneity cannot be deduced from the one-month LFS or from one-month responses to the CPS survey questions about desire to work or recent search activity. We conclude that LFS histories is an important predictor of the nonemployed's job finding probability, particularly for those OLF. |
| Keywords: | job finding rate, search process, out of the labor force (OLF), heterogeneity, unemployment |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J21 J22 J30 J41 J60 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8663&r=lab |
| By: | Jeffrey Clemens; Michael Wither |
| Abstract: | We estimate the minimum wage's effects on low-skilled workers' employment and income trajectories. Our approach exploits two dimensions of the data we analyze. First, we compare workers in states that were bound by recent increases in the federal minimum wage to workers in states that were not. Second, we use 12 months of baseline data to divide low-skilled workers into a "target" group, whose baseline wage rates were directly affected, and a "within-state control" group with slightly higher baseline wage rates. Over three subsequent years, we find that binding minimum wage increases had significant, negative effects on the employment and income growth of targeted workers. Lost income reflects contributions from employment declines, increased probabilities of working without pay (i.e., an "internship" effect), and lost wage growth associated with reductions in experience accumulation. Methodologically, we show that our approach identifies targeted workers more precisely than the demographic and industrial proxies used regularly in the literature. Additionally, because we identify targeted workers on a population-wide basis, our approach is relatively well suited for extrapolating to estimates of the minimum wage's effects on aggregate employment. Over the late 2000s, the average effective minimum wage rose by 30 percent across the United States. We estimate that these minimum wage increases reduced the national employment-to-population ratio by 0.7 percentage point. |
| JEL: | I38 J08 J21 J38 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20724&r=lab |
| By: | Estrin, Saul (London School of Economics); Stephan, Ute (Aston University); Vujić, Sunčica (University of Antwerp) |
| Abstract: | Based upon unique survey data collected using respondent driven sampling methods, we investigate whether there is a gender pay gap among social entrepreneurs in the UK. We find that women as social entrepreneurs earn 29% less than their male colleagues, above the average UK gender pay gap of 19%. We estimate the adjusted pay gap to be about 23% after controlling for a range of demographic, human capital and job characteristics, as well as personal preferences and values. These differences are hard to explain by discrimination since these CEOs set their own pay. Income may not be the only aim in an entrepreneurial career, so we also look at job satisfaction to proxy for non-monetary returns. We find female social entrepreneurs to be more satisfied with their job as a CEO of a social enterprise than their male counterparts. This result holds even when we control for the salary generated through the social enterprise. Our results extend research in labour economics on the gender pay gap as well as entrepreneurship research on women's entrepreneurship to the novel context of social enterprise. It provides the first evidence for a "contented female social entrepreneur" paradox. |
| Keywords: | social entrepreneur, gender pay gap, social enterprise, earnings, job satisfaction |
| JEL: | J28 J31 J71 L32 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8650&r=lab |
| By: | John T. Addison (University of South Carolina, Durham University, and IZA Bonn); McKinley L. Blackburn (University of South Carolina); Chad D. Cotti (University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | Recent attempts to incorporate spatial heterogeneity in minimum-wage employment models have been attacked for using overly simplistic trend controls, and for neglecting the potential impact on employment growth. We investigate whether such considerations call into question our earlier findings of statistically insignificant employment effects for the restaurant-and-bar sector. We find that a focus on employment levels is still appropriate, and nonlinear trend controls do not dislodge our limited support for the existence of minimum-wage effects. |
| Keywords: | minimum wages, employment, employment change, spatial controls |
| JEL: | J23 J38 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:330&r=lab |
| By: | Bart Cockx; Corinna Ghirelli (-) |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of graduating in a recession in Flanders (Belgium), i.e. in a rigid labor market. In the presence of a high minimum wage, a typical recession hardly influences the hourly wage of low educated men, but reduces working time and earnings by about 4.5% up to twelve years after graduation. For the high educated, the working time is not persistently affected, but the penalty on the hourly wage (and earnings) increases with experience, and attains roughly -6% ten years after labor market entry. We also contribute to the literature on inference with few clusters. |
| Keywords: | scars, graduating, labor market rigidity, recession, few clusters, cluster robust |
| JEL: | C12 C41 E32 I21 J22 J23 J31 J6 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:14/894&r=lab |
| By: | bernhard Boockmann |
| Abstract: | This study addresses the impact of offshorability (a job characteristic indicating how easily a job can be offshored) on employment changes and worker mobility in Germany. A composite measure of offshorability for German data is used which broadens existing measurements such as Blinder (2009). Contrary to what the literature suggests, there is no evidence that net employment creation is higher in non-offshorable occupations. Furthermore, both hiring and job separation rates decline with offshorability. Results from a discrete-time hazard rate model confirm that the risk of exit from a job is smaller in more offshorable jobs; most of this is due to lower job-to-job mobility. The exception is for lowskilled workers, whose probability of leaving employment to other labour market states is higher if their jobs are more offshorable. |
| Keywords: | Offshorability, offshoring, employment, job stability, hiring, job loss |
| JEL: | F16 J63 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iaw:iawdip:111&r=lab |
| By: | Saint-Paul, Gilles |
| Abstract: | We study active labor market policies (ALMP) in a matching model. ALMPs are modelled as a subsidy to job search. Workers differ in their productivity, and search takes place along an extensive margin. An additional job seeker affects the quality of unemployed workers. As a result, the Hosios conditions are no longer valid. To replicate the optimum the worker share in bargaining must exceed the Hosios level, and one must impose a tax on job search activity. The coalition in favor of ALMP is also studied. |
| Keywords: | active labor market policies; Hosios condition; job matching |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J41 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10270&r=lab |
| By: | Kudlyak, Marianna (Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond); Lange, Fabian (McGill University) |
| Abstract: | We use a novel approach to studying the heterogeneity in the job finding rates of the nonemployed by classifying the nonemployed by labor force status (LFS) histories, instead of using only one-month LFS. Job finding rates differ substantially across LFS histories: they are 25-30% among those currently out of the labor force (OLF) with recent employment, 10% among those currently OLF who have been unemployed but not employed in the previous two months, and 2% among those who have been OLF in all three previous months. This heterogeneity cannot be deduced from the one-month LFS or from one-month responses to the CPS survey questions about desire to work or recent search activity. We conclude that LFS histories is an important predictor of the nonemployed's job finding probability, particularly for those OLF. |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J30 J41 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2014–12–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedrwp:14-18&r=lab |
| By: | Furtado, Delia (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores how inflows of low-skilled immigrants impact the tradeoffs women face when making joint fertility and labor supply decisions. I find increases in fertility and decreases in labor force participation rates among high skilled US-born women in cities that have experienced larger immigrant inflows. Most interestingly, these changes have been accompanied by decreases in the strength of the negative correlation between childbearing and labor force participation, an often-used measure of the difficulty with which women combine motherhood and labor market work. Using a structured statistical model, I show that the immigrant-induced attenuation of this negative correlation can explain about 24 percent of the immigrant-induced increases in the joint likelihood of childbearing and labor force participation in the U.S. between the years 1980 and 2000. |
| Keywords: | child care, fertility, labor force participation, immigration, tetrachoric correlation |
| JEL: | D10 F22 J13 J22 R23 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8614&r=lab |
| By: | Angelov, Nikolay (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Eliason, Marcus (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | In this study, we estimate the effects of three targeted labour market programmes (LMPs) on the labour market outcomes of occupationally disabled job seekers. Using propensity score matching, we estimate the average treatment effect on the treated of wage subsi-dies, sheltered public employment, and employment at Samhall, a Swedish state-owned company whose aim is to provide employment for persons with disabilites. The control group consists of individuals who are eligible for the targeted LMPs, but have not (yet) received treatment. Using a rich panel data set, containing demographics as well as health and sickness absence measures, we are able to estimate short- to medium-term effects. Our results show large positive effects of all LMPs on labour income, disposable income and employment, and the effects are relatively persistent. However, consistant with the previous empirical literature, we find considerable locking-in effects, measured by a de-crease in un-subsidized employment. Furthermore, the yearly amounts of disability insur-ance paid decrease as a result of program participation, and the decrease becomes more pronounced with time since treatment start. Finally, the effects on disability insurance prevalence are heterogenous, both with respect to the different LMPs and gender. |
| Keywords: | Occupational disability; wage subsidies; locking-in effects; treatment effects |
| JEL: | C21 J14 J23 |
| Date: | 2014–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2014_027&r=lab |
| By: | Schultz-Nielsen, Marie Louise (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit); Tekin, Erdal (American University); Greve, Jane (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether nutritional disruptions experienced during the stage of fetal development impair an individual's labor market productivity later in life. We consider intrauterine exposure to the month of Ramadan as a natural experiment that might cause shocks to the inflow of nutrients essential for fetal development. Specifically, we use administrative data from Denmark to investigate the impact of exposure to Ramadan in utero on labor market outcomes of adult Muslim males, including employment status, annual salary, hourly wage rate, and hours of work. Our findings indicate that potential exposure to nutritional disruptions during a critical stage of fetal development has scarring effects on the fetus expressed as poor labor market outcomes later in life. Specifically, exposure to Ramadan in the 7th month of gestation results in a lower likelihood of employment, a lower salary, and reduced labor supply, but not necessarily a lower wage rate. We also document suggestive evidence that these results may partially be driven by increased disability and to a lesser extent by poor educational attainment among those who were exposed to Ramadan during this particular period in utero. |
| Keywords: | Ramadan, fetal origins, Intrauterine, Denmark, nutrition, wage, labor, Muslim |
| JEL: | I1 I12 J1 J13 J22 J24 J3 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8673&r=lab |
| By: | Etienne Lalé |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of job-security provisions through the lens of a search-matching model with risk-neutral employers, risk-averse workers and incomplete asset markets. This setting limits the ability of agents to reallocate payments over time, and thereby to undo any mandatory transfer between them – a neutrality result known as the ’bonding critique’. We quantify the importance of this mechanism under common parameter values and find that mandatory transfers from the employer to the employee can have large negative effects on labor market equilibrium. Our findings show that the neutrality result with respect to job-security provisions breaks down in a model where there is scope for employment protection. |
| Keywords: | Job-Security Provisions, Incomplete Markets, Search and Matching, Bonding Critique. |
| JEL: | D52 J31 J63 J65 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:uobdis:14/648&r=lab |
| By: | Stephan Humpert (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, Nuremberg, Germany; Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Using three different measures for satisfaction, I investigate gender-specific differences in working time mismatch. While male satisfaction with life or job is slightly not effected by working more or less hours, only over-time lowers male work life balance significantly. Women are more sensitive to the amount of working hours. They prefer part-time employment and are dissatisfied with both changes towards over-time and under-time. |
| Keywords: | Working Hours, Gender Differences, Work Life Balance, European Social Survey (ESS 2012) |
| JEL: | J22 I31 J16 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:327&r=lab |
| By: | Malgouyres, Clément |
| Abstract: | The rapid rise of Chinese exports over the past two decades has raised concerns for manufacturing employment in high-income countries. Spill-overs beyond manufacturing are an important issue given the large size of the non-traded sector in modern economies and household imperfect spatial mobility. In this paper, I follow the methodology developed by Autor et al. (2013a) to estimate the impact of Chinese imports competition onto French local labor markets, with an emphasis on the spill-overs effects beyond manufacturing. I consider a wide array of labor market outcomes, notably the distribution of wages, thus shedding light on the impact of low wage country imports competition on the local degree of wage inequality. I find that local employment and total labor income in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing are negatively affected by rising exposure to imports. Overall the number of jobs displaced by Chinese imports competition is larger outside than within the manufacturing sector. Jobs destructions are concentrated among low and medium-skill occupations in both traded and non-traded sectors. Hourly wages are negatively affected in both sectors in the middle part of the distribution. Local labor markets strongly exposed to Chinese competition did not experience a rise in the dispersion of hourly wages, with even a reduction of lower-tail inequality in the non-tradable sector. I find evidence suggesting that a high-minimum wage explains this reduction in lower-tail inequality, thus providing a striking illustration of how labor market institutions mediate the effect of globalization-induced shocks to labor demand |
| Keywords: | import competition, local labour markets, labour demand, wage structure, China, France |
| JEL: | F16 J23 J31 R11 R23 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eui:euiwps:eco2014/12&r=lab |
| By: | Flabbi, Luca; Macis, Mario; Moro, Andrea; Schivardi, Fabiano |
| Abstract: | We analyze a matched employer-employee panel data set and find that female leadership has a positive effect on female wages at the top of the distribution, and a negative one at the bottom. Moreover, performance in firms with female leadership increases with the share of female workers. This evidence is consistent with a model where female executives are better equipped at interpreting signals of productivity from female workers. This suggests substantial costs of under-representation of women at the top: for example, if women became CEOs of firms with at least 20% female employment, sales per worker would increase 6.7%. |
| Keywords: | executives’ gender; firm performance; gender gap; glass ceiling; statistical discrimination |
| JEL: | J16 J7 M12 M5 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10228&r=lab |
| By: | Kaya, Ezgi (Cardiff Business School) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we explore the recent gender wage gap trends in a sample of European countries with a new approach that uses the direct measures of skill requirements of jobs held by men and women. We find that, during the 1990s and 2000s, the gender wage gap declined in the majority of the European countries. Similar to the U.S. experience, a part of this decline is explained by changes in returns to brain and brawn skills in Austria and in the U.K. However, in contrast to the U.S. experience, the changes in returns to brain and brawn skills had a widening effect on the gender wage gap in Southern European countries and in Ireland?. Furthermore, we find that a substantial part of the changes in the gender wage gaps in European countries and in the U.S. cannot be explained by the changes in brain and brawn skill prices. The findings of this study suggest the importance of changes in labor market institutions in explaining the gender wage gap trends. |
| Keywords: | Gender wage gap; brain skills; brawn skills; decomposition |
| JEL: | J16 J24 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdf:wpaper:2014/23&r=lab |
| By: | Cabrales, Antonio; Dolado, Juan J.; Mora, Ricardo |
| Abstract: | Using the Spanish micro data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), we first document how the excessive gap in employment protection between indefinite and temporary workers leads to large differentials in on-the-job training (OTJ) against the latter. Next, we find that that the lower specific training received by temporary workers is correlated with lower literacy and numeracy scores achieved in the PIAAC study. Finally, we provide further PIAAC cross-country evidence showing that OJT gaps are quite lower in those European labour markets where dualism is less entrenched than in those where it is more extended. |
| Keywords: | cognitive skills; dual labour market; on-the-job training; severance pay |
| JEL: | C14 C52 D24 J24 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10246&r=lab |
| By: | Carlsson, Mikael (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies); Messina, Julián (World Bank, and IZA); Nordström Skans, Oskar (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies) |
| Abstract: | We analyze how firms adjust their labor in response to idiosyncratic shifts in their production function and demand curves using a unique data-set of Swedish manufacturing firms. We show that permanent shocks to firm-level demand is a main driving force behind both job and worker reallocation. In contrast, shocks to physical productivity and temporary demand shocks have a very limited impact on firm-level employment despite being important determinants of other firm-level fundamentals. We also present evidence suggesting that the adjustment to permanent demand shocks is fairly unconstrained. Most notably, firms primarily downsize through increased separations of both short- and long-tenured workers even when they could have adjusted their employment through reduced hires. |
| Keywords: | Technology; Demand; Job Creation; Rigidities; Worker Flows |
| JEL: | C33 J23 J63 O33 |
| Date: | 2014–12–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2014_013&r=lab |
| By: | Michele Belloni; Claudia Villosio |
| Abstract: | The financial deficits of many social security systems caused by ageing populations and stagnating economies are forcing workers to retire later from the labour market. An extended working life combined with rapid technological progress in many sectors, is likely making older workers’ skills obtained in school obsolete. In this context, lifelong investment in training is widely recognized among the international research and policy community as a key element to increase or at least limit the decline in productivity of older workers. This paper investigates the relationship between training undertaken by European older workers and their wages, relying on the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. Undertaking training activities is associated with 6.3% higher wages. This premium is sizeable and is similar to that of attaining an upper or post-secondary degree instead of a primary or lower-secondary degree. Training wage premiums are highly heterogeneous across countries: they are highest in Austria, Germany, Greece, and Italy and are about half that in France and Spain. No premium is found for Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Training premiums of the first group of countries can be overestimated due to training endogeneity and sample selection bias. |
| Keywords: | Older workers, Training, Wages, Cognitive abilities, Sample selection bias, Attrition |
| JEL: | J14 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wplabo:140&r=lab |
| By: | Abowd, John M; Kramarz, Francis; Perez-Duarte, Sebastien; Schmutte, Ian M. |
| Abstract: | We test for sorting of workers between and within industrial sectors in a directed search model with coordination frictions. We fit the model to sector-specific vacancy and output data along with publicly-available statistics that characterize the distribution of worker and employer wage heterogeneity across sectors. Our empirical method is general and can be applied to a broad class of assignment models. The results indicate that industries are the loci of sorting - more productive workers are employed in more productive industries. The evidence confirms assortative matching can be present even when worker and employer components of wage heterogeneity are weakly correlated. |
| Keywords: | industries; sorting |
| JEL: | J30 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10130&r=lab |
| By: | Fuchs, Michaela (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Weyh, Antje (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "We analyze the relation between population aging and the decline of unemployment in East Germany for the years from 1996 to 2012. To this we scrutinize both a direct and an indirect effect of aging on unemployment. The direct effect includes a decomposition of the East German unemployment rate into three components considering changes in the workforce's age structure, labor market participation, and age-specific unemployment rates. Results show that changes in the age structure of the workforce counteracted unemployment decline since 2005. Spatial panel regressions on the small-scale regional level, however, point towards an indirect effect of aging on unemployment that works through the increasing competition for labor. Overall results show that the declining unemployment rate in East Germany is indeed affected by aging as evidenced by a declining youth share and an increasing old-age share. This indicates that a reversed cohort crowding effect has taken place." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Bevölkerungsentwicklung, demografischer Wandel - Auswirkungen, Arbeitslosigkeitsentwicklung, Beschäftigungseffekte, Erwerbsbevölkerung, Altersstruktur, Arbeitslosenquote, Ostdeutschland |
| JEL: | C33 J11 J64 O18 |
| Date: | 2014–11–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201426&r=lab |
| By: | Arvid Raknerud; Marit Rønsen (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Women make up almost 50 percent of the employed population in Norway, but only about 25 percent of the entrepreneurs. Using registry data on the whole population we address gender differences in the propensity to become an entrepreneur. We do so by analysing transition from ordinary wage employment into entrepreneurship, defined as either sole proprietorship or owner- managed incorporated entrepreneurship. We focus on the impact of the family and household situation and show that children are no barrier to female entrepreneurship. This result holds also when we look at the establishment of an incorporated business, which represents a bigger investment decision than mere self-employment. Moreover, we find that gender differences with regard to the impact of family and household characteristics are generally smaller for incorporated entrepreneurship than for self-employment. For example, while there is a clear positive effect on women’s – but not men’s – propensity to become self-employed if the partner is highly educated, the impact of the partner’s education is ambiguous both for men and women in the case of incorporated entrepreneurship. The strongest predictor of entrepreneurship among the partner characteristics, both for men and women, is whether or not the partner is an entrepreneur. Although our results do not bring a clear answer to why there are so few female entrepreneurs in Norway, an important insight from our analyses is that the family and household situation can be ruled out as a major explanation. |
| Keywords: | : Entrepreneurship; gender; work and family; partner’s characteristics; probit regression; linked registry data |
| JEL: | L26 J13 J16 J22 C23 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:790&r=lab |
| By: | Lauren Hersch Nicholas |
| Abstract: | We use Health and Retirement Study data linked to the Department of Labor’s O*Net classification system to examine the relationship between lifetime exposure to occupational demands and retirement behavior. We consistently found that both non-routine cognitive analytic and non-routine physical demands were associated with worse health, earlier labor force exit, and increased use of Social Security Disability Insurance. The growing share of workers in jobs with high levels of cognitive demand may contribute to growth in DI use. |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2014-15&r=lab |
| By: | Florian Hoffmann; Thomas Lemieux |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the potential reasons for the surprisingly different labor market performance of the United States, Canada, Germany, and several other OECD countries during and after the Great Recession of 2008-09. Unemployment rates did not change substantially in Germany, increased and remained at relatively high levels in the United States, and increased moderately in Canada. More recent data also show that, unlike Germany and Canada, the U.S. unemployment rate remains largely above its pre-recession level. We find two main explanations for these differences. First, the large employment swings in the construction sector linked to the boom and bust in U.S. housing markets can account for a large fraction of the cross-country differences in aggregate labor market outcomes for the three countries. Second, cross-country differences are consistent with a conventional Okun relationship linking GDP growth to employment performance. In particular, relative to pre-recession trends there has been a much larger drop in GDP in the United States than Germany between 2008 and 2012. In light of these facts, the strong performance of the German labor market is consistent with other aggregate outcomes of the economy. |
| JEL: | J21 J64 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20694&r=lab |
| By: | Gary Charness (University of California at Santa Barbara); Ramón Cobo-Reyes (University of Exeter Business School.); Angela Sanchez (University of Exeter Business School.) |
| Abstract: | We investigate how donating worker earnings for voluntary extra work, a form of corporate social responsibility, affects worker behavior. In our experiment, participants performed a realeffort task. Subjects were asked to enter real data (from an unrelated experiment) for 60 minutes and were paid on a piece-rate basis. After the 60 minutes, they were then asked if they wished to stay for up to another 30 minutes; we varied the piece-rate pay and whether it was paid to the worker or to a charity. Our results show that when the piece rate paid is relatively high, workers do more extra work when they are directly paid this piece rate as compared to when their earnings are instead paid to a charity. However, with low piece rates, this relationship reverses and workers are much more motivated when the money is donated to a charity instead of when it is paid directly to them. This approach is potentially a win-win outcome for at least firms and charities. We also find that when we only pay a small amount to workers, their behavior differs only modestly from the situation in which we do not pay at all. |
| Keywords: | labor market, gift exchange-game, delegation, responsibility-allevietion, experiments. |
| Date: | 2014–04–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gra:wpaper:14/06&r=lab |
| By: | María F. Prada; Sergio S. Urzúa |
| Abstract: | We investigate the role of mechanical ability as another dimension that, jointly with cognitive and socio-emotional, affects schooling decisions and labor market outcomes. Using a Roy model with a factor structure and data from the NLSY79, we show that the labor market positively rewards mechanical ability. However, in contrast to the other dimensions, mechanical ability reduces the likelihood of attending four-year college. We find that, on average, for individuals with high levels of mechanical and low levels of cognitive and socio-emotional ability, not attending four-year college is the alternative associated with the highest hourly wage (ages 25-30). |
| JEL: | C38 J24 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20752&r=lab |
| By: | Eichhorst, Werner (IZA); Kendzia, Michael J. (Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)) |
| Abstract: | Despite a more recent debate about ever deeper segmentation, we argue that since industrialization, Germany has continually experienced a dual labor market. One segment contains the primary segment of better paid and more attractive jobs, while the secondary segment encompasses rather low paid, less stable and less attractive jobs. It has been argued that this dualization is the result of firms which are likely to hire full-time and long-term workforce for its core activities performed by the core workforce while relying on more flexible forms of employment for other activities. Based on an in-depth examination of the structure of the workforce since the founding of the German state, this paper seeks to explore the factors which account for the origin, evolution and the peculiarities of the country's core workforce. It will be shown that a non-negligible part of the working population has always been subjected to marginalization, but that the dividing line between the two segments has changed over time as has the character of the respective groups. |
| Keywords: | workforce segmentation, industrialization, core workforce, peripheral workforce |
| JEL: | N34 J42 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8648&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Siegenthaler (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Michael Graff (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Massimo Mannino (University of St. Gallen) |
| Abstract: | While Switzerland’s recent growth of employment was high in historical and international perspective, the reasons for this “job miracle” were not well understood. As the “miracle” was not anticipated by economic forecasters, it consequently resulted in systematic and persistent forecast errors. This paper shows that the “miracle” is related to a substantial increase in the labor intensity of economic activity. To this end, we present a number of stylized facts reflecting shifts and structural changes that affected the Swiss economy around 2000. Then, we discuss potential drivers of the “miracle” which are consistent with these facts. Finally, we demonstrate how they contribute to understand why, during the last ten years, forecasters systematically underestimated the growth of domestic employment. Finally, we highlight that immigration was not only a consequence of the “miracle”, but also an important cause, as it created additional jobs in Switzerland by raising local demand for goods and, most importantly, services. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Labor Market, employment forecasts, local multipliers, free movement of persons, Swiss job miracle |
| JEL: | C52 E24 J21 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kof:wpskof:14-368&r=lab |
| By: | Alfonso Arpaia; Aron Kiss; Alessandro Turrini |
| Abstract: | The paper sheds light on developments in labour market matching in the EU after the crisis. First, it analyses the main features of the Beveridge curve and frictional unemployment in EU countries, with a view to isolate temporary changes in the vacancy-unemployment relationship from structural shifts affecting the efficiency of labour market matching. Second, it explores the main drivers of job matching efficiency, notably with a view to gauge whether mismatches became more serious across skills, economic sectors, or geographical locations and to explore the role of the policy setting. It emerges that labour market matching deteriorated after the crisis, but with a great deal of heterogeneity across EU countries. Divergence across countries increased. Matching deteriorated most in countries most affected by current account reversals and the debt crisis. The lengthening of unemployment spells appears to be a significant driver of matching efficiency especially after the crisis, while skill and sectoral mismatches also played a role. Active labour market policies are associated with a higher matching efficiency and some support is found to the hypothesis that more generous unemployment benefits reduce matching efficiency. |
| JEL: | J23 J24 E32 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:euf:ecopap:0527&r=lab |
| By: | Enrico MARELLI; Elena VAKULENKO |
| Abstract: | Youth unemployment is a troublesome problem in many European countries. In the first part of the paper, we consider the aggregate trends in some EU countries and in Russia; we especially investigate the recent period after the global crisis and Great Recession. We then consider the different types of determinants, including macroeconomic conditions, structural determinants, labour market institutions and regulations. However, the focus of our analysis is on the role played by individual and family determinants such as age, gender, education level, marital status, health, household income, housing condition. The econometric part of the paper makes use of Eurostat micro-level data EU-SILC for Italy and RLMS-HSE data set for Russia. We consider a Heckman probit model to estimate the unemployment risk of young people in the period 2004-2011. Our main research question is to explain the probability of being unemployed for young people in terms of their personal characteristics and compare these outcomes with results for the same model for adult people. We take also into account some macro variables, such as living in urban areas or the regional unemployment rate. The results are of interest, since the two countries have quite different labor market institutions, besides having different levels of youth unemployment. However, most of the explanatory variables act in the same direction in both countries and it is interesting to compare the relative size of such effects (that we measure through the “average partial effectsâ€). |
| Keywords: | youth unemployment, individual determinants of unemployment, regional unemployment, Heckman Probit. |
| JEL: | J64 |
| Date: | 2014–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pia:papers:0001/2014&r=lab |
| By: | Sorgner, Alina (University of Jena); Fritsch, Michael (University of Jena); Kritikos, Alexander S. (University of Potsdam, DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | Based on representative micro data for Germany, we compare the incomes of self-employed with those of wage workers. Our results show that the median self-employed entrepreneur with employees earns significantly more than the median salaried employee, while the median solo entrepreneur earns less. However, solo entrepreneurship pays for those with a university entrance degree but no further professional qualification as well as for those who were in the upper percentiles of the income distribution in their previous salaried job. Surprisingly, the variation in hourly incomes of solo entrepreneurs is higher than that of entrepreneurs with employees. |
| Keywords: | income, entrepreneurship, self-employment, start-ups, Germany |
| JEL: | L26 D22 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8651&r=lab |
| By: | Guertzgen, Nicole; Hank, Karsten |
| Abstract: | Exploiting unique German administrative data, we estimate the association between an expansion in maternity leave duration from two to six months in 1979 and mothers' post-birth long-term sickness absence over a period of three decades after childbirth. Using a regression discontinuity design, we first show that the leave extension caused mothers to significantly delay their return to work within the first year after childbirth. We then compare the number and length of spells of long-term sickness absence of returned mothers who gave birth before and after the change in leave legislation. Our findings suggest that among those returned, mothers subject to the leave extension exhibit a higher incidence of long-term sickness absence as compared to control mothers. This also holds true after controlling for observable differences in pre-birth illness histories. At the same time, there are no pronounced effects on mothers' medium-run labor market attachment following the short-run delay in return to work, which might rationalize a negative causal health effect. Breaking down the results by mothers' pre-birth health status suggests that the higher incidence of long-term sickness absence among the treated may be explained by the fact that the reform has facilitated re-entry of a negative health selection into the labor market. |
| Keywords: | maternity leave policies,health,administrative data,regression discontinuity design |
| JEL: | J10 J16 J18 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:14109&r=lab |
| By: | Ken-ichi Hashimoto (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University); Ryonfun Im (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University) |
| Abstract: | We construct a continuous-time overlapping-generations model with labor market friction in order to examine the relationship between bubbles, economic growth, and unemployment. We show that the existence of bubbles is contingent upon the equilibrium unemployment rate. Asset bubbles can (not) exist when unemployment is low (high), which leads to higher (lower) interest rates and economic growth through labor market efficiency. Hence, economic growth under the bubble regime where bubbles can exist is higher than that under the non-bubble regime where bubbles cannot exist. Furthermore, policy or parameter changes that have a positive effect on the labor market shift the economy from a non-bubble regime to a bubble regime. |
| Keywords: | overlapping generations, endogenous growth, labor market friction, unemployment |
| JEL: | J64 O41 O42 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koe:wpaper:1431&r=lab |
| By: | Rodrigo Ceni (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes how the informality responds to the quality of the labor enforcement and the bundle of benefits that the formal workers receive in different countries of Latin America. Countries with different levels of informality were compared, highlighting the features that could induce these different levels. In a general equilibrium framework, the government chooses a level of government enforcement and a bundle of benefits maximizing the workers’ utility subject to a budget constraint, a representative firm chooses the share of workers in formality and informality that they want to hire, and the workers offer a share of time in formality and informality. I estimate the main parameters of the model, the production function, the quality of government enforcement and the quality of benefits, for five countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay. Differences in the quality functions of the government enforcement and benefits are found, as well as in the fines established to enforce the agents. |
| Keywords: | Informality, labor regulation, enforcement, Latin America |
| JEL: | E26 H26 H53 O17 O54 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-21-14&r=lab |