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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Jirjahn, Uwe (University of Trier) |
| Abstract: | While there is a strong overlap between membership in employers' associations and collective bargaining coverage, the overlap is far from being perfect. Using unique firm-level data from Germany, this study estimates the determinants of the membership in employers' associations and the coverage by industry-level or firm-level agreements. The analysis particularly focuses on the various constellations of membership and collective bargaining status. The results show that firm-level worker representation, foreign ownership, work organization, firm size, age and East-West differences are important determinants. Altogether, the analysis demonstrates that a more differentiated picture of industrial relations can be obtained by considering both membership in employers' associations and collective bargaining coverage. |
| Keywords: | employers’ associations, industry-level bargaining, firm-level bargaining, foreign ownership, works councils, union density |
| JEL: | F23 F66 J51 J52 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14783&r= |
| By: | Couch, Kenneth A. (University of Connecticut); Fairlie, Robert W. (University of California, Santa Cruz); Xu, Huanan (Indiana University) |
| Abstract: | We explore whether COVID-19 disproportionately affected women in the labor market using CPS data through the end of 2020. We find that male-female gaps in the employment-to-population ratio and hours worked for women with school-age children have widened but not for those with younger children. Triple-difference estimates are consistent with most of the reductions observed for women with school-age children being attributable to additional child care responsibilities (the "COVID motherhood penalty"). Conducting decompositions, we find women had a greater likelihood to telework, higher education levels and a less-impacted occupational distribution, which all contributed to lessening negative impacts relative to men. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, Coronavirus, pandemic, female labor supply, gender inequality, child care, motherhood penalty |
| JEL: | J16 J2 J13 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14811&r= |
| By: | Card, David (University of California, Berkeley); Colella, Fabrizio (University of Lausanne); Lalive, Rafael (University of Lausanne) |
| Abstract: | In spring 2005, Austria launched a campaign to inform employers and newspapers that gender preferences in job advertisements were illegal. At the time over 40% of openings on the nation's largest job-board specified a preferred gender. Over the next year the fraction fell to under 5%. We merge data on filled vacancies to linked employer-employee data to study how the elimination of gender preferences affected hiring and job outcomes. Prior to the campaign, most stated preferences were concordant with the firm's existing gender composition, but a minority targeted the opposite gender - a subset we call non-stereotypical vacancies. Vacancies with a gender preference were very likely (>90%) to be filled by someone of that gender. We use pre-campaign vacancies to predict the probabilities of specifying preferences for females, males, or neither gender. We then conduct event studies of the effect of the campaign on the predicted preference groups. We find that the elimination of gender preferences led to a rise in the fraction of women hired for jobs that were likely to be targeted to men (and vice versa), increasing the diversity of hiring workplaces. Partially offsetting this effect, we find a reduction in the success of non-stereotypical vacancies in hiring the targeted gender, and indications of a decline in the efficiency of matching. For the much larger set of stereotypical vacancies, however, vacancy filling times, wages, and job durations were largely unaffected by the campaign, suggesting that the elimination of stated preferences had at most small consequences on overall job match efficiency. |
| Keywords: | gender preference, workplace gender segregation, anti-discrimination policy |
| JEL: | J16 J68 J63 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14758&r= |
| By: | Maria Chiara Cavalleri; Nhung Luu; Orsetta Causa |
| Abstract: | Inter-regional migration – the movements of the population from one region to another within the same country – can be an important mechanism of spatial economic adjustment, affecting regional demographic and growth patterns. This paper examines the economic and housing-related factors that affect the decision of people to migrate to another region within the same country, drawing empirical evidence from country-specific gravity models of inter-regional migration for 14 OECD countries. The results suggest that inter-regional migrants move in search of higher income and better employment opportunities, but are discouraged by high housing costs. In particular, house prices are found to be an important barrier to migration, especially in countries having experienced strong increases in the level and cross-regional dispersion of house prices. There is however large heterogeneity across countries in terms of what factors matter the most and in terms of the magnitude of the migration response. |
| Keywords: | house prices, housing, inter-regional migration, internal migration, local labour markets, regional disparities, regional mobility |
| JEL: | R12 R23 R31 J61 |
| Date: | 2021–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1691-en&r= |
| By: | Scott, Douglas (University of Oxford); Freund, Richard (University of Oxford); Favara, Marta (University of Oxford); Porter, Catherine (Lancaster University); Sanchez, Alan (Group for the Analysis od Development (GRADE)) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the difference in short-term employment recovery between young men and women in India, Peru and Vietnam following the national lockdowns imposed in all three countries during 2020. We employ a mediation model to establish whether - and to what extent – commonly suggested mechanisms are responsible for a relatively slower recovery among young women and an increase in the gender employment gap. In line with the literature, we find evidence that the unequal distribution of caring responsibilities explains a meaningful proportion of the disparity in Peru and Vietnam, but a smaller share of the change in the employment gap in India. Contrary to the previous literature, however, we find little evidence that the work activity performed before the pandemic explains the slower female recovery in any of the three study countries. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, job loss, work resilience, gender gap |
| JEL: | J21 J16 J6 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14829&r= |
| By: | Bazen, Stephen (Aix-Marseille University); Joutard, Xavier (Aix-Marseille University); Périvier, Hélène |
| Abstract: | There is a large literature on the existence of a child penalty for mothers after the birth of a child. There is little discernible effect on fathers' labour incomes, although some studies find that there is a premium. We measure the penalty due to the birth of a first child for both parents for cohorts of young adults after leaving the educational system. Using an event study approach, this paper contributes to the literature by examining the child penalty in France not only in terms of monthly earnings, but also the employment rate, working hours, hourly earnings, and other outcomes. Using on a rich dataset, we estimate child penalty by educational level and for different cohorts. We find evidence of a significant child penalty for mothers: 23% in monthly earnings overall, rising to 35% for those with secondary education only. For the 2010 cohort, we observe the same level of absolute child penalties for mothers, whereas the relative penalty has narrowed. This is due to a decrease in monthly earnings, and more precisely in employment rate of fathers before and after the birth of the child in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis. |
| Keywords: | child penalty, young adults, event study |
| JEL: | J08 J16 J13 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14763&r= |
| By: | Pastore, Francesco (Università della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli); Quintano, Claudio (Università degli Studi di Napoli Suor Orsola Benincasa); Rocca, Antonella (University of Naples Parthenope) |
| Abstract: | Purpose: The Italian school-to-work transition (STWT) is astonishingly slow and long in comparison to the other EU countries. The aim of this paper is to analyze its determinants comparing the Italian case with Austria, Poland and the UK in a gender perspective. Design/methodology/ approach: The analysis is based on a Cox survival model with proportional hazard. The smoothed hazard estimates allow us to identify the non-linear path of the hazard function. Findings: We reckon that the actual length of the transition to a stable job is around 30 months. Conversely, it is less than one year in the other countries. Women are particularly penalized, despite being on average more educated than men. Attaining a tertiary degree or a vocational path of education at high secondary school strongly increases the hazard rate. The smoothed hazard estimates support the hypothesis of positive duration dependence at the beginning of the transition and slightly negative thereafter. Practical implications: Stimulating economic growth and investing in education and training are important pre-conditions for shortening the transition. Originality: Despite the duration of the STWT is one of the most important indicators to measure the efficiency of the STWT, it is not easy to measure. The authors build on their previous research work on this topic, but relaxing the assumption of a monotonic hazard rate and using the flexible baseline hazard approach to test for the existence of non-linear duration dependence. Furthermore, they extend the analysis by including student-workers who attended a vocational path of education, in order to detect its effectiveness in allowing young people finding a job sooner. |
| Keywords: | duration, school-to-work transition, Europe, Italy, transition regime |
| JEL: | H52 I2 I24 J13 J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14832&r= |
| By: | Ho Fai Chan (Queensland University of Technology); Vincent Lariviére (University of Montreal); Naomi Moy (University of Bologna); Ali Sina Önder (University of Portsmouth); Donata Schilling (London School of Economics); Benno Torgler (Queensland University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the role of complementarities in collaboration and academic productivity using a unique dataset on East German scientists’ publications in fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) after the German re-unification in 1990. We focus on East German scientists’ connections to their peers, their scientific productivity and impact as measured by the number of publications, citation accumulation, and the quality of journals where they publish. East German scientists show a significant convergence to their West German peers in all productivity accounts. We use the similarity of research portfolio to West German research in 1980s as identification and find that the effect of losing a collaborator on the productivity and collaborations of East German scientists differs with respect to their complementarities. Moreover, we find East Germans who collaborated with Soviet scientists on non-Western research fields during the 1980s are significantly more likely to re-wire their collaboration net- works towards Western Europe and the US in 1990s and 2000s. They are also more likely to switch their field of research and collaborate with West Germans who moved to an East German university or research institute after the re-unification. |
| Keywords: | Peer-Effects; Productivity; Institutions; Migration; East Germany |
| JEL: | J61 O33 |
| Date: | 2021–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pbs:ecofin:2021-09&r= |
| By: | Sierminska, Eva (LISER (CEPS/INSTEAD)); Oaxaca, Ronald L. (University of Arizona) |
| Abstract: | We model the process of field specialization choice among beginning economists within a multivariate logit framework that accommodates single and dual primary field specializations and incorporates correlations among field specialization choices. Conditioning on personal, economic, and institutional variables reveals that women graduate students are less likely to specialize in Labor/Health, Macro/Finance, Industrial Organization, Public Economics, and Development/Growth/International and are more likely to specialize in Agricultural/Resource/Environmental Economics. Field-specific gender faculty ratios and expected relative salaries as well as economics department rankings are significant factors for gender doctoral specialization dissimilarity. Preferences and characteristics contribute about equally to field specialization dissimilarity. |
| Keywords: | gender, economics, specialization, salaries |
| JEL: | J01 J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14778&r= |
| By: | Fabian Bald, Marcel Henkel |
| Abstract: | We assess the role of local public goods provision for gender gaps in the labour market. We find that higher fiscal revenues of local governments are associated with decreasing gender employment gaps in German labour market areas because it decreases labour supply for male workers at a higher rate than for female workers. The results are robust when we include instrumental variables that address the endogeneity of local public goods provision. To assess the impact of fiscal transfers across regions on gender gaps we quantify a spatial general equilibrium model with multiple types of workers, who are differently affected by local public goods provision in their labour supply decision. We find that transfers reduce disparities across regions. This goes along with smaller gender gaps in employment in treated regions because female workers are disproportionately pulled into market work and regions with low productivity. |
| Keywords: | gender, local public goods, labor force participation, taxes, transfers |
| JEL: | H4 H7 J1 J2 J6 R2 R5 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rdv:wpaper:credresearchpaper33&r= |
| By: | Lilian N. Rolim; Carolina Troncoso Baltar, Gilberto Tadeu Lima |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of labor productivity growth and workers’s bargaining power on income distribution in a novel agent-based macroeconomic model mostly inspired by the post-Keynesian literature. Its main novelties are a wage bargaining process and a mark-up adjustment rule featuring a broader set of dimensions and coupled channels of interaction. The former allows nominal wages to be endogenously determined by interactions involving firms and workers, which are mediated by workers’s bargaining power. The latter assumes that firms also consider their position relative to workers (through their unit costs) to set their mark-up rates, thus linking the evolution of nominal wages in the bargaining process and labor productivity growth to the functional income distribution. This has implications for the personal income distribution through a three-class structure for households. The model reproduces numerous stylized facts, including those concerning the income distribution dynamics. By capturing the inherent social conflict over the distribution of income, our results show the importance of the coevolutionary interaction between workers’s bargaining power and productivity growth to the dynamics of income inequality and to its relationship with output. This leads to a policy dilemma between promoting productivity growth and improving income equality which can, nonetheless, be attenuated by combining policies and institutions that sustain workers’s strength with policies that stimulate technological innovation and productivity growth. |
| Keywords: | Agent-based modeling; labor productivity; wage bargaining; personal income inequality; functional income inequality |
| JEL: | C63 D31 D33 E2 |
| Date: | 2021–11–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2021wpecon27&r= |
| By: | Bengtsson, Erik (Department of Economic History, Lund University); Molinder, Jakob (Department of Economic History, Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | Much of the income equalization that took place during the first half of the twentieth century was driven by shifts in the shares of the incomes of the rich, such as the top 1 percent. But the available studies using tabulated data have not been wholly able to account for the relative decline in top earners’ incomes. In this paper, we present the first evidence on the composition of the top groups from the Belle Epoque to the early post-WW2 period. Using information on 21,055 individual tax-payers in two elite areas in greater Stockholm, we show that the absolute top stratum (the richest 0.1 percent) was dominated by an economic elite of CEOs and bankers, while a remarkably large fraction of the top 1 percent consisted of professionals such as medical doctors and engineers. There was a distinction within the elite between capital-rich “rentiers” and those affluent whose income came from wages and business. The incomes of the top stratum were built on the ownership or leadership of companies producing mass consumption goods, machinery, or banking and insurance. We relate the peak of income inequality in the first quarter of the twentieth century to the historical circumstances of a globalized economy with growing mass markets in all the industrializing countries. These circumstances, jointly with an economic policy that was still relatively laissez faire allowed great fortunes to be accumulated. In the 1920s and 1930s policy turned away from globalization and to stronger regulation, at the same time as steeper competition and growing unionization undermined the super profits of the previous quarter- century. Increased state interventionism in the economy and an expansive education policy also undermined the high relative incomes of professionals; we document the declining advantages of professions such as medical doctors, pharmacists, and lawyers when compared with the average income throughout the period. |
| Keywords: | incomes; inequality; income distribution; Sweden; élites; tax data; Stockholm |
| JEL: | D31 N14 N34 |
| Date: | 2021–10–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:luekhi:0230&r= |
| By: | Orsetta Causa; Nhung Luu; Michael Abendschein |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a descriptive analysis of patterns and trends of worker transitions across European countries and the United States, with an emphasis on differences across socio-economic groups. Understanding labour market transitions is important to gauge the scope of labour market reallocation and scarring effects from the COVID-19 crisis. Results of this work show that labour market transitions vary significantly from one country to another and also within countries from one socio-economic group to another. For instance, women are much more likely than men to move in and out of jobs. This reflects the unequal burden of family-related work, which contributes to the higher propensity of women to drop out of the labour force. Zooming in on labour market transitions over the great financial crisis provides an illustration of the long-lasting effects and scarring risks associated with recessions on labour market transitions, especially for young people entering the labour market. The results of this granular analysis inform the policy debate for an efficient and inclusive recovery. While current priorities vary across countries based on economic and social context, one overarching challenge for the recovery is to facilitate hiring dynamics and to minimise long-term unemployment and scarring risks among vulnerable groups who have been hardest hit and face higher risks of scarring from the recession, in particular young people and women. |
| Keywords: | business cycle, COVID-19, cross-country data, differences across socio-economic groups, job mobility, Labour reallocation, labour transitions, worker flows |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J2 J31 J62 |
| Date: | 2021–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1692-en&r= |
| By: | David H. Bernstein (University of Miami); Andrew B. Martinez (Office of Macroeconomic Analysis, U.S. Department of the Treasury) |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the most abrupt changes in U.S. labor force participation and unemployment since the Second World War, and with different consequences for men and women. This paper models the U.S. labor market to help interpret the pandemic's effects. After replicating and extending Emerson's (2011) model of the labor market, we formulate a joint model of male and female unemployment and labor force participation rates for 1980-2019 and use it to forecast into the pandemic to understand the pandemic's labor-market consequences. Gender-specific differences were particularly large at the pandemic's outset; lower labor force participation persists. |
| Keywords: | Labor force participation, unemployment, general-to-specific modeling, cointegration |
| JEL: | C32 C52 E24 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwc:wpaper:2021-006&r= |
| By: | Ghosh, Saurabh; Mazumder, Debojyoti |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we try to explain the role of Non-bank Financial Intermediation (NBFI) to percolate and propel a real shock to the rest of the economy through the bank-NBFI interactions. We propose a simple theoretical model which identifies the channels and distinguishes between idiosyncratic, structural and sectoral shocks, cleanly. In our model, the non-deposit taking Non-bank Financial companies (NBFCs) which are the provider of risky, small and fragmented loans, are financed by borrowing from commercial banks. This link connects the NBFCs with the commercial banks and, in turn, with the rest of the economy. A higher realization of the failed firms (idiosyncratic shock) in the NBFC financed sector and a rise in the sector-wide productivity risk (sectoral risk) increase the interest rate charged by the banks and unemployment rate but reduces the real wages and per capita capital formation of the economy. However, when the average number of failed firms increases (structural shock), the reverse happens. |
| Keywords: | NBFC, Bank-NBFC interaction, Real Shock, Search and matching unemployment |
| JEL: | E44 G21 G23 J64 |
| Date: | 2021–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110596&r= |
| By: | Kroher, Martina (Leibniz Center for Science and Society (LCSS)); Leuze, Kathrin (University of Jena); Thomsen, Stephan L. (Leibniz University of Hannover); Trunzer, Johannes (Leibniz University of Hannover) |
| Abstract: | In 1999, the "Bologna Process" was initiated to improve higher education enrolment, study success and students' employability across Europe, mainly by introducing the two-cycle degree structure of Bachelor (BA) and Master (MA). More than 20 years later, we examine whether these goals were met by reviewing quantitative articles from sociology and economics. We find that the literature is surprisingly small, selective, and ambiguous. While enrolment seems to have increased in countries implementing the reform more quickly, the evidence on study success is mixed and hardly available regarding student mobility. The results on employment outcomes are more consistent, with BA graduates having lower labour market returns than graduates with MA or traditional degrees. Altogether, studies often do not allow for causal conclusions and only provide a fragmented picture, which makes evidence-based adjustments in reform implementation difficult. This calls for further research using better data, more state-of-the-art methods and deeper theoretical reasoning. |
| Keywords: | universities, education, employment, inequality, economics, sociology |
| JEL: | I23 I28 Z13 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14757&r= |
| By: | Bahia, Kalvin (GSMA); Castells, Pau (GSMA); Cruz, Genaro (GSMA); Masaki, Takaaki (World Bank); Rodriguez Castelan, Carlos (World Bank); Sanfelice, Viviane (Temple University) |
| Abstract: | What are the impacts of expanding mobile broadband coverage on poverty, household consumption and labor market outcomes in developing countries? Who benefits from improved coverage of mobile internet? To respond to these questions, this paper applies a difference-in-differences estimation using panel household survey data combined with geospatial information on the rollout of mobile broadband coverage in Tanzania. The results reveal that being covered by 3G networks has a large positive effect on total household consumption and poverty reduction, driven by positive impacts on labor market outcomes. Working age individuals living in areas covered by mobile internet witnessed an increase in labor force participation, wage employment, and non-farm self-employment, and a decline in farm employment. These effects vary by age, gender and skill level. Younger and more skilled men benefit the most through higher labor force participation and wage employment, while high-skilled women benefit from transitions from self-employed farm work into non-farm employment. |
| Keywords: | Africa, consumption, labor force participation, welfare, Tanzania |
| JEL: | F63 I31 L86 O12 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14720&r= |
| By: | Aronsson, Thomas (Department of Economics, Umeå University); Bastani, Spencer (Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU), Uppsala and Research Institute for Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm, Sweden; Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies (UCFS), Uppsala Center for Labor Studies (UCLS), CESIfo, Germany.); Tayibov, Khayyam (Department of Economics and Statistics, School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University, Växjö) |
| Abstract: | We integrate social exclusion, operationalized in terms of long-term unemployment, into the theory of optimal redistributive taxation. Our results show how an optimal mix of education policy, public employment, and support to the unemployed, in conjunction with optimal income taxation, contributes to redistribution and reduced long-term unemployment. The second-best optimum most likely implies overprovision of education relative to a policy rule that balances the direct marginal benefit and marginal cost, whereas public employment and unemployment benefits are underprovided. Our calibration shows how the policy mix varies with the government’s preferences for redistribution and the characteristics of those risking long-term unemployment. |
| Keywords: | long-term unemployment; education; optimal income taxation; public sector employment |
| JEL: | D82 H21 J31 J83 |
| Date: | 2021–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:umnees:1004&r= |
| By: | Valeria Cirillo; Dario Guarascio; Zachary Parolin |
| Abstract: | The emergence of the platform economy has served as a defining feature of increasingly fragmented labour markets. Recent research on platform work, however, has struggled to quantify the economic conditions of platform workers relative to other occupations and to determine whether the economic disadvantages of platform workers are primarily channelled through lower incomes or other dimensions of precarity. This study uses representative survey data of platform workers in Italy to investigate their size, composition, and economic insecurity. We find that platform workers face greater economic insecurity relative to all other occupation classes, and a rate of economic insecurity that is not significantly different from that of unemployed adults. Higher levels of insecurity are not primarily channelled through lower incomes; instead, higher rates of insecurity persist when accounting for family incomes, suggesting that other dimensions of precarity associated with platform work matter as much as income differences in shaping economic insecurity. |
| Keywords: | Low-pay employment; Stratification; Technological change; Inequality |
| JEL: | J40 J80 J81 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sap:wpaper:wp208&r= |
| By: | Walwei, Ulrich (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany ; Univ. Regensburg); Deller, Jürgen (Leuphana University of Lüneburg) |
| Abstract: | "Taking an international comparative perspective, this paper deals with driving forces of and potential obstacles to the labor market participation of older workers. It focuses in depth on four case studies that appear to be prototypical for different contexts. Given the high variance of cultures of work and welfare state systems in Europe and its neighbouring countries, Germany, Israel, Italy and Sweden were selected with the aim of examining the development and situation of older workers in great detail. Each country stands for a specific configuration, e.g. because it may represent a trend reversal, a continuously outstanding performance or lasting problems. The cases also include information on pension reforms and approaches to better manage aging workforces. In face of the different country situations, it becomes obvious that one size of policies does not fit all. Independent of national policies, employability over the life cycle requires more attention. Regarding future developments, several domains of organizational practices are indispensable for appropriately managing an aging workforce, including skill improvement and a healthy work environment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Bundesrepublik Deutschland ; Israel ; Italien ; Schweden ; Pandemie ; Auswirkungen ; Beschäftigungsfähigkeit ; Determinanten ; Diversity Management ; Erwerbsbeteiligung ; human resource management ; institutionelle Faktoren ; internationaler Vergleich ; lebenslanges Lernen ; ältere Arbeitnehmer ; Reformpolitik ; Rentenpolitik ; Arbeitsmarktpolitik ; Wohlfahrtsstaat ; 1993-2018 |
| JEL: | J14 J26 M54 |
| Date: | 2021–11–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202116&r= |
| By: | Paulo Bastos (World Bank); Natália P. Monteiro (Department of Economics/NIPE, University of Minho); Odd Rune Straume (Department of Economics/NIPE, University of Minho and Department of Economics, University of Bergen) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effects of unexpected revenue shocks on worker compensation. We propose a new methodology to identify the unexpected component of demand shocks at the firm-level, which uses gaps between observed and recently forecasted GDP growth in export destinations (weighted by the initial share of destinations in firms' total sales). Using employer-employee panel data, we find that unexpected demand shocks are partly transmitted to workers in the form of higher average wages, with most of the rises occurring close to the top of the within-firm wage distribution. We find little evidence of adjustments in the skill composition of the workforce. The unequal average distribution of rents is mainly driven by wage effects in firms managed by high-skilled managers, and by changes in overtime and other pay. This suggests that different types of managers implement different pay systems in the firm. |
| Keywords: | Unexpected revenue shocks, firm performance, exports, rent sharing, managers. |
| JEL: | F16 F66 J6 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nip:nipewp:13/2021&r= |
| By: | de Gendre, Alexandra (University of Sydney); Schurer, Stefanie (University of Sydney); Zhang, Angela (University of Sydney) |
| Abstract: | Worldwide, single mothers are profoundly time and income constrained, making them heavily reliant on government transfers. We examine how welfare reforms that introduced mutual obligations affected the economic position of single mothers and the development of their children over the past two decades in Australia. Using nationally representative longitudinal data, we show that disposable incomes of single-mother households were significantly reduced relative to partnered mothers since the 2005 Welfare-to-Work Act came into effect in July 2006, a downward trend that was aggravated by the Global Financial Crisis and the 2013 suspension of grandfathered single parenting payment rules. The reform diminished parenting and family payments for single mothers, who compensated income loss by increasing reliance on disability pension payments, work hours, and child-care expenditures. We then use nationally representative cohort data to estimate the impact of single motherhood on child skill development, following children who entered primary school when their mothers were affected by the Welfare-to-Work reform. We find unadjusted single-motherhood gaps of 0.2 SD in cognitive and 0.3 SD in non-cognitive skills. Non-cognitive skill gaps are only partially explained by differences in observable characteristics, while cognitive skill gaps are fully explained by observable characteristics. Differences in disposable household income between single and partnered mother households explain over 50% of the observed cognitive ability gaps in childhood and 25% in late adolescence. In the presence of positive spillover effects, we propose that welfare payments to vulnerable families may function as a social investment rather than a sunk cost. |
| Keywords: | welfare dependence, family benefits, adversity, single motherhood, child development |
| JEL: | I32 I38 J12 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14752&r= |
| By: | Chen, Hung-Ju; Miyazaki, Koichi |
| Abstract: | This study analytically investigates the effects of pay-as-you-go social security and educational subsidies on the fertility rate, retirement age, and GDP per capita growth rate in an overlapping generations model, where parents invest resources toward their children's human capital. We find that an old agent retires fully when his or her labor productivity is low and retires later when the labor productivity is high. Under the unique balanced-growth-path (BGP) equilibrium, when an old agent is still engaged in work, tax rates are neutral to the fertility rate, higher tax rates encourage him or her to retire earlier, a higher social security tax rate depresses the GDP per capita growth rate, and a higher tax rate for educational subsidies can accelerate growth. However, when an old agent fully retires, higher tax rates increase the fertility rate, a higher social security tax rate lowers the GDP per capita growth rate, and a higher tax rate for educational subsidies boosts growth. Additionally, if an old agent's labor productivity increases, the fertility rate also increases. We also conduct numerical simulations and analyze how an old agent's labor productivity affects the retirement age, fertility rate, and GDP per capita growth rate under the BGP equilibrium. |
| Keywords: | Pay-as-you-go social security; educational subsidy; fertility; endogenous retirement; GDP per capita growth rate |
| JEL: | H55 I25 J13 J26 |
| Date: | 2021–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110626&r= |
| By: | Aleksandra Parteka (Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland); Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz (Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland); Dagmara Nikulin (Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a sample of over 9.5 million workers from 22 European countries to study the intertwined effects of digital technology and cross-border production links on workers' wellbeing. We compare the social effects of technological change exhibited by three types of innovation: computerisation (software), automation (robots) and artificial intelligence (AI). To fully quantify work-related wellbeing, we propose a new methodology that corrects the information on remuneration by reference to such non-monetary factors as the work environment (physical and social), career development prospects, or work intensity. We show that workers' wellbeing depends on the type of technological exposure. Employees in occupations with high software or robots content face worse working conditions than those exposed to AI. The impact of digitalisation on working conditions depends on participation in global production. To demonstrate this, we estimate a set of augmented models for determination of working conditions, interacting technological factors with Global Value Chain participation. GVC intensification is accompanied by deteriorating working conditions - but only in occupations exposed to robots or software, not in AI-intensive jobs. In other words, we find that AI technologies differ from previous waves of technological progress - also in their impact on workers' wellbeing within global production structures. |
| Keywords: | digital technologies, working conditions, GVC, Global Value Chains, artificial intelligence, AI |
| JEL: | F1 F6 J8 O3 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gdk:wpaper:66&r= |
| By: | Subedi, Mukti Nath; Bharadwaj, Bishal; Rafiq, Shuddhasattwa |
| Keywords: | Decentralized energy system,education,labour market,caste,gender |
| JEL: | I25 J15 Q42 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:246816&r= |