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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Moritz Kuhn; Iourii Manovskii; Xincheng Qiu |
| Abstract: | Spatial differences in labor market performance are large and highly persistent. Using data from the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom, we document striking similarities in spatial differences in unemployment, vacancies, job finding, and job filling within each country. This robust set of facts guides and disciplines the development of a theory of local labor market performance. We find that a spatial version of a Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides model with endogenous separations and on-the-job search quantitatively accounts for all the documented empirical regularities. The model also quantitatively rationalizes why differences in job-separation rates have primary importance in inducing differences in unemployment across space while changes in the job-finding rate are the main driver in unemployment fluctuations over the business cycle. |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J63 J64 R13 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29399&r= |
| By: | Luca Citino (Bank of Italy); Andrea Linarello (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the effects of increased import competition from China on the Italian labour market. In line with recent studies (Autor et al., 2013, 2014), we take two complementary approaches and study the effects on both local labour markets and manufacturing workers. Our analysis shows that Italy’s local labour markets, which were more exposed to Chinese trade because of their industry composition, ended up suffering larger manufacturing and overall employment losses. Nevertheless, back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that the aggregate effect on total manufacturing employment is modest. At the individual level, contrary to what has been documented for many developed countries, workers initially employed in more exposed manufacturing industries did not suffer long-term losses in terms of lower earnings or more discontinuous careers. While they were indeed less likely than other similar workers to continue working in manufacturing, they were also able to carry out successful transitions towards the non-tradable sector, in other areas with better job opportunities. |
| Keywords: | import competition, Italy, China, manufacturing, local labor market, worker mobility. |
| JEL: | F14 F16 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_1345_21&r= |
| By: | Katherine B. Coffman; Paola Ugalde Araya; Basit Zafar |
| Abstract: | Many decisions – such as what educational or career path to pursue – are dynamic in nature, with individuals receiving feedback at one point in time and making decisions later. Using a controlled experiment, with two sessions one week apart, we analyze the dynamic effects of feedback on beliefs about own performance and decision-making across two different domains (verbal skills and math). We find significant gender gaps in beliefs and choices before feedback: men are more optimistic about their performance and more willing to compete than women in both domains, but the gaps are significantly larger in math. Feedback significantly shifts individuals' beliefs and choices. Despite this, we see substantial persistence of gender gaps over time. This is particularly true among the set of individuals who receive negative feedback. We find that, holding fixed performance and decisions before feedback, women update their beliefs and choices more negatively than men do after bad news. Our results highlight the challenges involved in overcoming gender gaps in dynamic settings. |
| JEL: | C91 D80 J16 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29382&r= |
| By: | Schmidtke, Julia (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Hetschko, Clemens (University of Leeds); Schöb, Ronnie (FU Berlin); Stephan, Gesine (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany ; FAU); Eid, Michael (FU Berlin); Lawes, Mario (FU Berlin) |
| Abstract: | "Using individual monthly panel data from December 2018 to December 2020, we estimate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and two lockdowns on the mental health and subjective well-being of German workers. Employing an event-study design using individual-specific fixed effects, we find that the first and the second wave of the pandemic reduced workers’ mental health substantially. Momentary happiness and life satisfaction also decline in response to Covid-19, but to a smaller extent. We observe adaptation in our study outcomes between waves of the pandemic. This applies to a lesser extent to indicators of well-being in certain areas of life, such as satisfaction with the job and with leisure, which are negatively affected, too. Women do not seem to suffer greater well-being losses than men. However, workers in the German short-time work scheme are particularly negatively affected. Our results imply that increased anxiety about the future and restricted personal freedoms are among the drivers of the well-being impact of the pandemic." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | I19 I31 |
| Date: | 2021–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202113&r= |
| By: | Zhang, Guangli (Sinquefield Center for Applied Economic Research, Saint Louis University) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents new evidence on how UI (Unemployment Insurance) benefit pay frequencies affect the job search behaviors of UI claimants in the United States. By exploiting quasi-experimental variations in states' benefit pay schedules, I find that switching from biweekly to weekly pay significantly increases UI claimants' unemployment durations. This observed effect can be partly rationalized by the more frequent end-of-the-month positive benefit shocks under weekly pay schedules. I conclude that the previously overlooked policy parameter, benefit pay frequency, has important effects on the job search behaviors of UI claimants. |
| Keywords: | unemployment insurance; natural experiment; benefit pay frequency |
| JEL: | H55 J65 |
| Date: | 2021–10–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:sluecr:2021_003&r= |
| By: | Nicholas Bloom; Scott W. Ohlmacher; Cristina J. Tello-Trillo; Melanie Wallskog |
| Abstract: | Using confidential Census matched employer-employee earnings data we find that employees at more productive firms, and firms with more structured management practices, have substantially higher pay, both on average and across every percentile of the pay distribution. This pay-performance relationship is particularly strong amongst higher paid employees, with a doubling of firm productivity associated with 11% more pay for the highest-paid employee (likely the CEO) compared to 4.7% for the median worker. This pay-performance link holds in public and private firms, although it is almost twice as strong in public firms for the highest-paid employees. Top pay volatility is also strongly related to productivity and structured management, suggesting this performance-pay relationship arises from more aggressive monitoring and incentive practices for top earners. |
| JEL: | J0 L0 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29377&r= |
| By: | Xiao, Jing (CIRCLE, Lund University); Lindholm Dahlstrand, Åsa (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between acquisitions and mobility of knowledge workers and managers in small technology companies and how individual skills and capabilities moderate the relationship. Relying on the matched employer-employee data of the Swedish high-tech sectors from 2007 to 2015, we find that acquisitions increase the likelihood of employee departures, mainly in the form of switching to another employer, but that these acquisition effects are weaker for employees with technological competences. Moreover, we also find that managers, compared to other employees, are more likely to exit from the (national) labor market after acquisitions. Our results show that acquiring firms tend to gain access to and retain knowledge workers with engineering background. |
| Keywords: | Acquisitions; Target employee mobility; High-tech sectors; Knowledge workers; Technological capabilities; Managerial capabilities |
| JEL: | C23 G34 J63 L26 |
| Date: | 2021–10–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2021_012&r= |
| By: | Corina Boar; Danial Lashkari |
| Abstract: | Based on responses in the General Social Survey, we construct an index that captures non-monetary qualities of occupations, such as respect, learning, and work hazards, relevant to the well-being of workers. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data, we document that the children of richer US parents are more likely to select into occupations that rank higher in terms of this index. We rationalize this fact by introducing occupational choice with preferences over the intrinsic qualities of occupations into a standard theory of intergenerational mobility. Estimating the model allows us to infer the equivalent monetary compensation each worker receives from the intrinsic qualities of their chosen occupation. Earnings adjusted to reflect this additional compensation show substantially larger persistence of income from parents to children. Our model further predicts that the trends in the composition of labor demand in the US over the past three decades decreased intergenerational persistence, and also led to higher growth in the welfare of the average worker than that implied by observed earnings. |
| JEL: | E2 J2 J6 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29381&r= |
| By: | Teodora Boneva (University of Bonn); Thomas Buser (University of Amsterdam); Armin Falk (briq and the University of Bonn); Fabian Kosse (LMU Munich) |
| Abstract: | We present evidence on the role of the social environment for the development of gender differences in competitiveness and earnings expectations. First, we document that the gender gap in competitiveness and earnings expectations is more pronounced among adolescents with low socioeconomic status (SES). We further document that there is a positive association between the competitiveness of mothers and their daughters, but not between the competitiveness of mothers and their sons. Second, we show that a randomized mentoring intervention that exposes low-SES children to predominantly female role models causally affects girls' willingness to compete and narrows both the gender gap in competitiveness as well as the gender gap in earnings expectations. Together, the results highlight the importance of the social environment in shaping willingness to compete and earnings expectations at a young age. |
| Keywords: | competitiveness, socioeconomic status, Inequality |
| JEL: | J16 J13 D63 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2021-049&r= |
| By: | Katherine Lim; Mike Zabek |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study declines in women's labor force participation by race and ethnicity as well as the presence of children. We find that increases in labor force exits were larger for Black women, Latinas, and women living with children. In particular, we find larger increases in pandemic-era labor force exits among women living with children under age 6 and among lower-earning women living with school-age children after controlling for detailed job and demographic characteristics. Latinas and Black women also had larger increases in labor force exits during the pandemic relative to White women. Differences in the presence of children and household structure explain one-quarter of the excess labor force exits among women of color. |
| Keywords: | Women; Labor Force Participation; Race; Ethnicity; Labor Supply; COVID-19 |
| JEL: | H31 I14 I18 J16 J70 |
| Date: | 2021–10–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2021-67&r= |
| By: | Omar Bamieh (University of Vienna); Andrea Cintolesi (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | We measure the extent to which familism accounts for the intergenerational transmission of jobs in regulated professions. Before 2004, local committees graded the Italian bar exams for lawyers, and after 2004, exams were randomly assigned to external committes for grading. We proxy for family ties with the number of successful candidates sharing a family name and law firm address with an already registered lawyer. We estimate that the number of new entrants with a family tie drops by at least 10 percent, while the number of new lawyers does not change, showing that familism accounts for an important part of the intergenerational transmission in our setting. While we do not find significant differences by gender, familism is stronger in areas with low social capital, which also feature lower rents from licenses. |
| Keywords: | lawyers, regulated professions, familism. |
| JEL: | J44 J62 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_1350_21&r= |
| By: | Tyler Anbinder; Cormac Ó Gráda; Simone Wegge |
| Abstract: | We use databases we have created from the records of New York’s Emigrant Savings Bank, founded by pre-Famine Irish immigrants and their children to serve Famine era immigrants, to study the social mobility of bank customers and, by extension, Irish immigrants more generally. We infer that New York’s Famine Irish had a greater range of employment opportunities open to them than perhaps commonly acknowledged, and that the majority were eventually able to move a rung or two up the American socio-economic ladder, supporting the conviction of many Famine immigrants that the U.S. was indeed “the best country in the world.” |
| Keywords: | Famine; Migration; Ireland; New York |
| JEL: | N0 N3 J6 G21 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucn:wpaper:202121&r= |
| By: | Soumitra Shukla |
| Abstract: | Despite widespread caste disparities, compensatory hiring policies remain absent from the Indian private sector. This paper employs novel administrative data on the job search from an elite college and evaluates policies to promote hiring diversity. Application reading, written aptitude tests, large group debates, and job choices do not explain caste disparities. Disparities arise primarily between the final round, comprising non-technical personal interviews, and job offers; the emergence closely parallels caste revelation. For promoting diversity, hiring subsidies — similar in spirit to the government-proposed Diversity Index — are twice as cost-effective as improving pre-college achievement. Conversely, quotas mirror a hiring tax and reduce university recruitment by 7%. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets; Inequality; Affirmative Action; Disadvantaged Communities; Diversity & Inclusion |
| JEL: | J15 J44 J71 J78 |
| Date: | 2021–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgif:1331&r= |