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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Elena Grinza; Stephan Kampelmann; François Rycx |
| Abstract: | Measuring the economic impact of coworkers from different countries of origin sparked intense scrutiny in labor economics, albeit with an uncomfortable methodological limitation. Most attempts involved metrics that eliminate most of the economically relevant distances among different countries of origin. The typical examples of such metrics are diversity indicators that divide the firm’s workforce into blacks and whites, foreigners and natives, non-Europeans and Europeans, etc. We propose an entirely novel approach. It is based on the conversion of the qualitative information on individuals’ countries of origin into an aggregate firm-level diversity indicator, built on the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index (HDI), a standard harmonized measure of cross-country variations that is available for virtually all the countries in the world. By resorting to rich matched employer-employee panel data for Belgium, we use this new aggregate measure to estimate state-of-the-art firm-level wage equations, which control for a wide range of observable and time-invariant unobservable factors, including variations in labor productivity between firms and within firms over time. Our results suggest that the majority of firms do not discriminate against foreigners. Yet, we find that firms with high diversity largely discriminate against them. The wage discrimination in high-diversity firms could be alleviated through a stronger presence of collective bargaining and/or efforts to de-cluster foreigners from low-HDI countries in these firms. |
| Keywords: | diversity; workers’ origin; wages; discrimination; matched employer-employee panel data |
| JEL: | J15 J16 J24 J31 J70 |
| Date: | 2018–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/270859&r=lab |
| By: | Parlow, Anton |
| Abstract: | Increasing female landownership or labor force participation are policies designed to empower women in developing countries. Yet, societies are diverse and I find that across language and ethnic groups not all Pakistani women benefit from these increased economic opportunities in their decision making. I even find negative impacts of labor force participation on empowerment for some groups. This can be explained by different gender expectations along these gendered institutions. |
| Keywords: | Women's Empowerment, Ethnicity, Identity |
| JEL: | J0 J01 O12 |
| Date: | 2018–04–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:86367&r=lab |
| By: | Cristina Lafuente |
| Abstract: | Social security administrative data are increasingly becoming available in many countries. These are very attractive data as they have a long panel structure (large N, large T) and allow to measure many different variables with higher precision. Because of their nature they can capture short, frictional unemployment which is usually hidden in survey data, due to design or timing of interviews. However, the definition of unemployment is also different in both datasets. As a result, the gap between total unemployment and registered unemployment is not constant neither across workers characteristics nor time. In this paper I augment the Spanish Social Security administrative data by adding missing unemployment spells using the institutional framework and the Labour Force Survey as a benchmark. I compare the resulting unemployment rate to that of the Labour Force Survey, showing that both are comparable and thus the administrative dataset is useful for labour market research. Administrative data can also be used to overcome some of the problems of the Labour Force survey such as changes in the structure of the survey. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive guide on how to adapt administrative datasets to make them useful for studying unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Administrative data, survey data, unemployment, temporary contracts |
| JEL: | J21 J60 J80 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edn:esedps:286&r=lab |
| By: | Jason Anastasopoulos; George J. Borjas; Gavin G. Cook; Michael Lachanski |
| Abstract: | How does immigration affect labor market opportunities in a receiving country? This paper contributes to the voluminous literature by reporting findings from a new (but very old) data set. Beginning in 1951, the Conference Board constructed a monthly job vacancy index by counting the number of help-wanted ads published in local newspapers in 51 metropolitan areas. We use the Help-Wanted Index (HWI) to document how immigration changes the number of job vacancies in the affected labor markets. Our analysis begins by revisiting the Mariel episode. The data reveal a marked decrease in Miami’s HWI relative to many alternative control groups in the first 4 or 5 years after Mariel, followed by recovery afterwards. We find a similar initial decline in the number of job vacancies after two other supply shocks that hit Miami over the past few decades: the initial wave of Cuban refugees in the early 1960s, as well as the 1995 refugees who were initially detoured to Guantanamo Bay. We also look beyond Miami and estimate the generic spatial correlations that dominate the literature, correlating changes in the HWI with immigration across metropolitan areas. These correlations consistently indicate that more immigration is associated with fewer job vacancies. The trends in the HWI seem to most strongly reflect changing labor market conditions for low-skill workers (in terms of both wages and employment), and a companion textual analysis of help-wanted ads in Miami before and after the Mariel supply shock suggests a slight decline in the relative number of low-skill job vacancies. |
| JEL: | J6 J61 J63 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24580&r=lab |
| By: | Jesse Rothstein |
| Abstract: | Chetty et al. (2014b) show that children from low-income families achieve higher adult incomes, relative to those from higher income families, in some commuting zones (CZs) than in others. I investigate whether children’s educational outcomes help to explain the between-CZ differences. I find little evidence that the quality of schools is a key mechanism driving variation in intergenerational mobility. While CZs with stronger intergenerational income transmission have somewhat stronger transmission of parental income to children’s educational attainment and achievement, on average, neither can explain a large share of the between-CZ variation. Marriage patterns explain two-fifths of the variation in income transmission, human capital accumulation and returns to human capital each explain only one-ninth, and the remainder of the variation (about one-third) reflects differences in earnings between children from high- and low-income families that are not mediated by human capital. This points to job networks and the structure of local labor and marriage markets, rather than the education system, as likely factors influencing intergenerational economic mobility. |
| JEL: | I24 I3 J12 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24537&r=lab |
| By: | Scott E. Carrell (University of California, Davis); Mark Hoekstra (Texas A&M University); Elira Kuka (Southern Methodist University) |
| Abstract: | A large and growing literature has documented the importance of peer effects in education. However, there is relatively little evidence on the long-run educational and labor market consequences of childhood peers. We examine this question by linking administrative data on elementary school students to subsequent test scores, college attendance and completion, and earnings. To distinguish the effect of peers from confounding factors, we exploit the population variation in the proportion of children from families linked to domestic violence, who have been shown to disrupt contemporaneous behavior and learning. Results show that exposure to a disruptive peer in classes of 25 during elementary school reduces earnings at age 24 to 28 by 3 percent. We estimate that differential exposure to children linked to domestic violence explains 5 percent of the rich-poor earnings gap in our data, and that each year of exposure to a disruptive peer reduces the present discounted value of classmates’ future earnings by $80,000 |
| Keywords: | Peer Effects, Domestic Violence |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:1804&r=lab |
| By: | Gilles Spielvogel; Michela Meghnagi |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the methodology as well as the results of the joint OECD-European Commission project Migration-Demography Database: A monitoring system of the demographic impact of migration and mobility. The objective of the project is to evaluate the contribution of migration to past and future labour market dynamics across EU and OECD countries. After assessing the role of migration over the last five to 10 years in shaping the occupational and educational composition of the labour force, this project looks at the potential contribution of migration to the labour force in a range of alternative scenarios. This paper presents the results from the second part of the project: it focuses on projections over the period 2015-2030, and aims at identifying the drivers of changes in working-age population and active population in European countries, and in particular the role of migration flows. |
| Keywords: | Labour force, Migration, Population projections, Working-age population |
| JEL: | F22 J11 J61 |
| Date: | 2018–05–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:204-en&r=lab |
| By: | T. Aksoy; P. Manasse |
| Abstract: | The “great recession” has affected labor markets in Euro-area countries in very different ways. This chapter documents two important aspects of their response: the impact effect of the recession on the rate of unemployment, and the persistence of high unemployment. We find that countries lie on a trade-off between “resilience” and “persistence”: countries where the rate of unemployment is less affected on impact by output shocks (resilience) typically show higher unemployment persistence. We investigate the role of labor and product market institutions, and find evidence that more protected markets are associated to more resilience at the expense of more persistence. This suggests that implementing front loaded “structural reforms” at times of a fiscal consolidation, as many Southern European countries did during the recent crisis, may foster the rise in unemployment and possibly undermine the political support for the reforms. When we estimate the contribution of product and labor market reforms to the rise of unemployment in Southern Europe, however, we find positive, but relatively small effects that are quickly reversed. |
| JEL: | E02 E65 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp1121&r=lab |
| By: | Julian B. Adam |
| Abstract: | Most of the literature on the effects of German works councils doesnot deal with the issue of potential endogeneity of works council existence. Exploiting exogenous variation in works council authority stemming from a 2001 reform of the German Works Constitution Act, I apply a regression difference-in-difference using establishment panel data. I find that increasing works council size and the introduction of one full-time councilor causally reduces the number of voluntary quits by about 30 percent. This decline is driven entirely by collective voice effects and there is no evidence for monopoly effects in place. Similar to the findings of previous research, the effect is significant only in establishments which are subject to a collective agreement. The results suggest that the effectiveness of works councils either heavily relies on the support of unions, or that works councils mainly serve as a guardian of collective agreements. |
| Keywords: | works councils, codetermination, industrial relations, quits, collective bargaining |
| JEL: | J51 J53 J63 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bav:wpaper:179_adam&r=lab |
| By: | Gilles Spielvogel; Michela Meghnagi |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the methodology as well as the results of the joint OECD-EC project Migration-Demography Database: A monitoring system of the demographic impact of migration and mobility. The objective of the project is to evaluate the contribution of migration to past and future labour market dynamics across OECD countries. After assessing the role of migration over the last five to 10 years in shaping the occupational and educational composition of the labour force, this project looks at the potential contribution of migration to the labour force in a range of alternative scenarios. This paper presents the results from the first part of the project: it focuses on the changes that have taken place in the last 10 years and studies how migration flows have contributed to the dynamics of the labour force, in particular in comparison to other labour market entries. It also analyses the contribution of migration in specific skills categories and in specific occupations. |
| Keywords: | Education, Labour force, Migration, Occupations, Working-age population |
| JEL: | F22 J11 J61 |
| Date: | 2018–05–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:203-en&r=lab |
| By: | Courtney Coile |
| Abstract: | Over the past two decades, labor force participation rates for older men have been rising, reversing a century-long trend towards earlier retirement. Participation rates for older women are rising as well. A number of theories have been put forward to explain the rise in participation at older ages, including improving mortality and health, increasing education and a shift towards less physically demanding work, and changes in employer-provided benefits and Social Security. This paper documents trends in labor force participation and employment at older ages and in the factors that may be contributing to rising participation. A review of these trends and of the relevant literature suggests that increases in education, women’s growing role in the economy, the shift from defined benefit to defined contribution pension plans, and Social Security reforms all likely played some role in the trend towards longer work lives. |
| JEL: | J14 J26 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24576&r=lab |
| By: | Dhamija, Gaurav; Roychowdhury, Punarjit |
| Abstract: | The labor market impacts of women's age at marriage have recently received significant attention from social scientists. The focus of this literature, however, has been the developed world and almost nothing is known about how a delay in marriage affects labor market prospects of women in developing countries. This paper addresses this gap in the existing literature by providing the first comprehensive assessment of the relationship between women's age at marriage and own as well as spousal labor market outcomes specifically in context of a developing country. Using nationally representative household data from India, we find evidence of positive effects of women's age at marriage on their own and their spouses' labor market outcomes. To examine whether these effects are causal or arise due to selection into marriage, we use an instrumental variables-based empirical strategy that utilizes variation in age at menarche to obtain exogenous variation in women's age at marriage. Our results indicate that the positive effects of age at marriage of women on own as well spousal labor market outcomes are not causal and arise purely due to selection. The results are robust to addressing biases due to nonrandom selection of individuals into labor force. Our findings shed new light on theories of labor market in developing countries specifically through the lens of marriage. |
| Keywords: | Age at Marriage, India, Instrumental Variables, Labor Market Outcomes, Selection, Women |
| JEL: | J12 J16 J22 J31 O12 |
| Date: | 2018–05–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:86686&r=lab |
| By: | Jordahl, Henrik (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Persson, Lovisa (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | We measure labor productivity in home care using new data from the recent introduction of digital time measurement in Swedish municipalities. By measuring worker utilization (delivered hours as a share of worked hours) we avoid several problems that have plagued previous studies of public sector productivity. The time use measure exposes substantial variation in productivity between home care units, suggesting room for improvement. More productive units deliver a larger share of the hours approved by care managers and have equally satisfied users. |
| Keywords: | Public sector productivity; Digitalization; Time use; Choice reforms |
| JEL: | H42 H44 L33 |
| Date: | 2018–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1212&r=lab |
| By: | Xiaofang Dong; Siqi Zheng; Matthew E. Kahn |
| Abstract: | High skilled workers gain from face to face interactions. If the skilled can move at higher speeds, then knowledge diffusion and idea spillovers are likely to reach greater distances. This paper uses the construction of China’s high speed rail (HSR) network as a natural experiment to test this claim. HSR connects major cities, that feature the nation’s best universities, to secondary cities. Since bullet trains reduce cross-city commute times, they reduce the cost of face-to-face interactions between skilled workers who work in different cities. Using a data base listing research paper publication and citations, we document a complementarity effect between knowledge production and the transportation network. Co-authors’ productivity rises and more new co-author pairs emerge when secondary cities are connected by bullet train to China’s major cities. |
| JEL: | O15 O31 R4 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24539&r=lab |
| By: | Pilar Garcia-Gomez; Silvia Garcia-Mandico; Sergi Jiménez-Martín; Judit Vall-Castello |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze the association between financial incentives and retirement decisions using aggregate data for over four decades in Spain. We calculate an implicit tax rate on remaining in employment for an additional year and examine its correlation with employment rates for older workers. The results suggest that financial incentives play a role in explaining the retirement patterns of both employed and unemployed workers. |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaeee:eee2018-12&r=lab |
| By: | Anna Maria Mayda; Giovanni Peri; Walter Steingress |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we estimate the effect on housing prices of the expansion of the Vancouver SkyTrain rapid transit network during the period 2001–11. We extend the canonical residential sorting equilibrium framework to include commuting time in the household utility function. We estimate household preferences in the sorting model using confidential micro data and geographic information systems (GIS) data on the SkyTrain network. Using these preference estimates and observed data for 2001, we simulate the equilibrium effects of expanding the SkyTrain. In our counterfactual analysis, the SkyTrain expansion increases housing prices not only in neighborhoods where the expansion occurred, but also in those with access to pre-existing segments of the network. We show how these network housing price effects depend on household commuting patterns, and discuss the implications of our results for targeted taxation policies designed to capture the housing price appreciation stemming from a public transit investment. |
| Keywords: | International topics, Labour markets |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocawp:18-19&r=lab |
| By: | Jonathan Colmer |
| Abstract: | Temperature-driven reductions in the demand for agricultural labor are associated with increases in the share of workers engaged in manufacturing, suggesting that the ability of non-agricultural sectors to absorb workers may play a key role in attenuating the economic consequences of weather-driven changes in agricultural productivity. Exploiting firm-level variation in the propensity to absorb these workers, I find that this reallocation is associated with relative expansions in manufacturing activity in exible labor market environments. Counter-factual estimates suggest that in the absence of labor reallocation the aggregate consequences of temperature increases would be up to 40% higher. |
| Keywords: | labor reallocation, agricultural productivity, labor regulation, industrial production |
| JEL: | O13 Q54 J62 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1544&r=lab |
| By: | Kamila Cygam-Rehm; Christoph Wunder |
| Abstract: | This study estimates the causal effect of working hours on health. We deal with the endogeneity of working hours through instrumental variables techniques. In particular, we exploit exogenous variation in working hours from statutory workweek regulations in the German public sector as an instrumental variable. Using panel data, we run two-stage least squares regressions controlling for individual-specific unobserved heterogeneity. We find adverse consequences of increasing working hours on subjective and several objective health measures. The effects are mainly driven by women and parents of minor children who generally face heavier constraints in organizing their workweek. |
| Keywords: | Working time, health, standard workweek, Germany |
| JEL: | I10 J22 J81 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp967&r=lab |