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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Lídia Farré; Rosa Ferrer |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of a father quota in the parental leave period on households' labor market and fertility decisions. Identification is based on the 2007 reform of the Spanish family benefit system, which extended the sixteen weeks of paid parental leave by two additional weeks exclusively reserved for fathers and non- transferable to mothers. Using a regression discontinuity design, we show that the reform substantially increased the take-up rate of fathers (by as much as 400%), as well as the re-employment probability of mothers shortly after childbirth (by about 11%). However, it did not affect parents' longer-term leave-taking or employment behavior. We also find that the introduction of the two weeks of paternity leave delayed higher- order births and reduced subsequent fertility among older women (by about 15%). These results suggest a limited scope for the father quota to alter household behaviors beyond the parental leave period and reduce gender inequality at the workplace. |
| Keywords: | natural experiment, paternity leave, fertility, labor market and gender |
| JEL: | J48 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:978&r=lab |
| By: | Miguel Á., Malo |
| Abstract: | This report consists of a comprehensive overview of labour market institutions in the small Pacific island countries in order to propose recommendations to improve the performance of their labour markets. We pay particular attention to three countries: Fiji, Palau and Papua New Guinea. We focus on the main pillars of labour market institutions, as employment protection legislation, minimum wage, and labour organization. The analysis considers the possibilities for institutional change in the next future. The main guidelines for eventual reforms are discussed, for the region as a whole and for the above three countries. |
| Keywords: | Pacific; employment protection legislation; minimum wage; unions; institutions; labour law |
| JEL: | J32 J51 J63 J80 K31 O17 O56 |
| Date: | 2017–07–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:79988&r=lab |
| By: | Tomaz Cajner; Tyler Radler; David Ratner; Ivan Vidangos |
| Abstract: | We examine racial disparities in key labor market outcomes for men and women over the past four decades, with a special emphasis on their evolution over the business cycle. Blacks have substantially higher and more cyclical unemployment rates than whites, and observable characteristics can explain very little of this differential, which is importantly driven by a comparatively higher risk of job loss. In contrast, the Hispanic-white unemployment rate gap is comparatively small and is largely explained by lower educational attainment of (mostly foreign-born) Hispanics. Regarding labor force participation, the remarkably low participation rate of black men is largely unexplained by observables, is mostly driven by high labor force exit rates from employment, and has shown little improvement over the last 40 years. Furthermore, even among those who work, blacks and Hispanics are more likely than whites to work part-time schedules despite wanting to work additional hour s, and the racial gaps in this involuntary part-time employment are large even after controlling for observable characteristics. Our findings also suggest that the robust recovery of the labor market in the last few years has contributed significantly to reducing the gaps that had widened dramatically as a result of the Great Recession; however, the disparities remain substantial. |
| Keywords: | Business Cycle ; Discrimination ; Inequality ; Labor Force Participation ; Racial Disparities ; Unemployment |
| JEL: | J00 J15 J16 J64 J7 |
| Date: | 2017–06–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2017-71&r=lab |
| By: | Hunt, Jennifer |
| Abstract: | Using the National Survey of College Graduates, I investigate the degree to which holders of temporary work visas in the United States are mobile between employers. Holders of temporary work visas either have legal restrictions on their ability to change employers (particularly holders of intra-company transferee visas, L-1s) or may be reluctant to leave an employer who has sponsored them for permanent residence (particularly holders of specialty worker visas, H-1Bs). I find that the voluntary job changing rate is similar for temporary visa holders and natives with similar characteristics. For the minority of temporary workers who receive permanent residence, there is a considerable spike in voluntary moving upon receipt of permanent residence, suggesting mobility is reduced during the application period by about 20%. My analysis of reasons for moving suggests that applicants are prepared to pay a small but not large professional price for permanent access to the U.S. labor market. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; monopsony |
| JEL: | J61 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12106&r=lab |
| By: | Jacob Wong (School of Economics, University of Adelaide) |
| Abstract: | A unique general equilibrium model featuring many occupations and aggregate shocks is created to study occupational employment dynamics by imposing a correlated TFP structure across occupations along with distance between occupations. Productivity processes across occupations are correlated with similar occupations experiencing similar fluctuations. Mobility frictions and the correlated-productivity structure produce a systematic relationship between occupational employment correlations and occupational distance that does not arise when productivity processes are independent. Using employment data and measures of task-distance between occupations from the U.S. economy, a negative relationship between the correlation of occupational employment and task-distance separating occupation-pairs is uncovered. |
| Keywords: | Labour reallocation, Occupation switching, Task-distance |
| JEL: | E24 J24 J31 J62 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adl:wpaper:2017-09&r=lab |
| By: | Ferreira, Daniel; Ginglinger, Edith; Laguna, Marie-Aude; Skalli, Yasmine |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of board gender quotas on the labor market for corporate directors. We find that the annual rate of turnover of female directors falls by about a third following the introduction of a quota in France in 2011. This decline in turnover is more pronounced for new appointments induced by the quota, and for appointments made by firms that regularly hire directors who are members of the French business elite. By contrast, the quota has no effect on male director turnover. The evidence suggests that, by changing the director search technology used by firms, the French quota has improved the stability of director-firm matches. |
| Keywords: | Corporate Boards; corporate governance; Gender Quotas; labor markets; Matching; Turnover |
| JEL: | G34 G38 J63 J70 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12117&r=lab |
| By: | Cahuc, Pierre; Carcillo, Stéphane; Minea, Andreea |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of the labor market experience of high school dropouts four years after leaving school by sending fictitious resumes to real job postings in France. Compared to those who have stayed unemployed since leaving school, the callback rate is not raised for those with employment experience, whether it is subsidized or non-subsidized, in the market or non-market sector, if there is no training accompanied by skill certification. In particular, we find no stigma effect associated with subsidized or non-market sector work experience. Moreover, training accompanied by skill certification improves youth prospects only when the local unemployment rate is sufficiently low, which occurs in one fifth of the commuting zones only. |
| Keywords: | Job subsidies; Training; youth unemployment |
| JEL: | J60 J68 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12120&r=lab |
| By: | Efstathiou, Konstantinos; Mathä, Thomas Y.; Veiga, Cindy; Wintr, Ladislav |
| Abstract: | We analyse the use of active labour market policy (ALMP) measures and short-time work arrangements (STWAs) by Luxembourg firms during the years of economic and financial crisis (2008-09) and the subsequent European sovereign debt crisis (2010-13). About 34% of Luxembourg firms used ALMPs between 2008 and 2013. Economy-wide, use of ALMPs increased along both the extensive margin (more firms) and the intensive margin (more measures per firm). The likelihood that a firm hired with recourse to ALMPs is greater for large, domestically oriented, multiple establishment firms, firms facing strong demand, with concerns about labour cost pressures and unavailability of skilled labour. The crisis saw a surge in firms using STWAs. The likelihood of applying for STWAs increases with demand volatility, the share of workers with permanent contracts, export orientation and the inability to shift workers between establishments. Firms reported that 20-25% of jobs in STWAs were saved by this measure. JEL Classification: C25, J63, J68 |
| Keywords: | active labour market policy, crisis, firms, short-time work arrangements, survey |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20172083&r=lab |