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on Human Capital and Human Resource Management |
| By: | Grabe, Leonhard (University of Cologne); Sliwka, Dirk (University of Cologne) |
| Abstract: | We study the value of skill management in organizations. In a natural field experiment with 2, 582 service technicians, we vary managers' ability to monitor and manage employee skills. We find that removing managers' access to hard information on employee skills reduced training intensity, work performance, and job satisfaction. Combining detailed personnel records and survey data, we show that the intervention lowered employee efforts to identify training needs and managerial attention to employee development. In particular, high-skill employees received less training to broaden their skill set and, in turn, performance losses are driven by higher completion times for complex work assignments. |
| Keywords: | skill management, training, performance, field experiment |
| JEL: | J24 J28 M12 M53 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17727 |
| By: | Bryson, Alex (University College London); Forth, John (City St George's, University of London); Green, Francis (Institute of Education, University of London) |
| Abstract: | Using linked employer-employee data from the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey we examine how much of the variation in job quality is accounted for by establishment-level variation, and the relative importance of the establishment compared with occupation and employee characteristics. We do so for pay, six dimensions of non-pay job quality and overall job quality. We show that the establishment is the dominant explanatory factor for non-pay job quality, and as important as occupation in accounting for pay. Where you work accounts for between 38% and 76% of the explained variance in job quality, depending on the dimension. We also find that establishments which are 'good' on one dimension of non-pay job quality are 'good' on others. When we relate the estimated establishment effects (after allowing for the effects of occupation and of employee characteristics) to observed establishment characteristics, we find that non-pay job quality is greater in smaller establishments. |
| Keywords: | job quality, decomposition, establishment |
| JEL: | J31 J32 M50 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17724 |
| By: | Dobbelaere, Sabien; McCormack, Grace; Prinz, Daniel; Sóvágó, Sándor |
| Abstract: | Using rich administrative data from the Netherlands, this paper studies the consequences of firm consolidation for workers. For workers at acquired firms, takeovers are associated with an 8.5 percent drop in employment at the consolidated firm and a 2.6 percent drop in total labor income. These effects are persistent even four years later. The paper shows that the primary mechanism for this job loss is labor restructuring at consolidating firms. Workers with higher-than-expected pay relative to their human capital and workers with skills that are likely already present at acquirers are less likely to be retained. |
| Date: | 2023–06–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10477 |
| By: | Evsyukova, Yulia; Rusche, Felix; Mill, Wladislaw |
| Abstract: | We assess the impact of discrimination on Black individuals' job networks across the U.S. using a two-stage field experiment with 400+ fictitious LinkedIn profiles. In the first stage, we vary race via AI-generated images only and find that Black profiles' connection requests are 13 percent less likely to be accepted. Based on users' CVs, we find widespread discrimination across social groups. In the second stage, we exogenously endow Black and White profiles with the same networks and ask connected users for career advice. We find no evidence of direct discrimination in information provision. However, when taking into account differences in the composition and size of networks, Black profiles receive substantially fewer replies. Our findings suggest that gatekeeping is a key driver of Black-White disparities. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination, Job Networks, Labor Markets, Field Experiment |
| JEL: | J71 J15 C93 J46 D85 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:312188 |
| By: | Moens, Eline (Ghent University); Lippens, Louis (Ghent University); Vangronsvelt, Kathleen (University of Antwerp); De Vos, Ans (University of Antwerp); Baert, Stijn (Ghent University) |
| Abstract: | At a time when numerous organisations are urging a return to the office while many employees prefer to continue teleworking, it is crucial to ascertain the optimal level of telework intensity. In the present study, we determine this ideal level with respect to self-rated employee attitudes, behaviour, well-being, social relations and professional growth. Drawing on a five-wave longitudinal dataset, we apply fixed effects regression analyses to investigate associations between telework intensity and various dimensions of workplace experience. We offer more robust empirical evidence for favouring hybrid work schedules over an office-only or telework-only regime owing to significant advances in causal interpretation of linear and non-linear associations compared to the majority of existing studies that examine linear associations based on cross-sectional data. Our results point toward an inverted U-shaped association between telework intensity and self-rated job satisfaction, work-life balance, relationships with colleagues and professional development, with optimal levels peaking around 50% teleworking. For task efficiency and work concentration, the association appears to be concave with a plateau, stabilising at teleworking levels above 70%. Only between telework intensity and employer connectedness do we observe a slightly negative linear association. |
| Keywords: | telework intensity, workplace experience, hybrid work schedules, longitudinal |
| JEL: | I31 J24 J28 J32 J81 M51 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17721 |
| By: | Alves, Julian; Serra Lorenzo, Bruno; Greenberg, Jason; Guo, Yaxin; Harjai, Ravija; Van Reenen, John |
| Abstract: | Monopsony power is an important feature of modern labour markets. We examine its impact on workers. We report the first representative survey of Non-Compete-Agreements (NCA) in the UK and find that about 26% of workers appear to be covered, a higher fraction than in comparable surveys in the US (18%) and Italy (16%). Although NCAs are more prevalent for skilled workers, a large number of low skilled workers are also subject to NCAs (e.g. over a fifth of plant operators). Moreover, although NCAs are associated with higher training (conditional on other measures of skills), we argue that such benefits are unlikely to justify their high prevalence. Finally, we examine the impact of over 2, 000 M& UK panel data between 1997 and 2022 (over 900, 000 observations). The data suggests that M&A tends to reduce employment growth in the merged entity (from 3% a year prior to the merger to about zero in the subsequent five years), particularly in target firms. However, there is no evidence of any falls in average wage growth (in acquirer or target) as monopsony would predict - if anything, average wages are higher. Nor does profitability or productivity change post-merger. |
| Keywords: | management practices; productivity; competition |
| JEL: | L2 M2 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2024–01–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:126835 |
| By: | Bächli, Mirjam (University of Lausanne); Lalive, Rafael (University of Lausanne); Pellizzari, Michele (University of Geneva) |
| Abstract: | Searching for jobs is challenging, and online platforms now often offer tailored job recommendations. In a randomized controlled trial with over 1, 250 participants, we evaluate recommendations based on prior experience and based on skill profiles assessed at study enrolment, respectively. We find that on average both types of recommendations improve job finding rates. Profile-based recommendations are especially effective for individuals with limited experience and mismatch in the prior job, while experience-based recommendations may slower job finding for those with limited experience but a well-matched previous job. These findings highlight the need to align job search advice with jobseekers' skills. |
| Keywords: | occupation recommendations, online job search, jobseekers |
| JEL: | J24 J62 J64 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17713 |
| By: | Allemand, Mathias; Kirchberger, Martina; Sveta Milusheva; Newman, Carol Frances; Roberts, Brent; Thorne, Vincent |
| Abstract: | Despite extensive evidence on the importance of non-cognitive skills for labor market outcomes, to what extent training can affect specific skills in adulthood remains an open question. This paper conducts a randomized controlled trial with low-skilled employed workers in Senegal where workers were randomly assigned to receive a training intervention designed to affect conscientiousness-related skills. The study found that treated workers were significantly more likely to stay in their job and had higher earnings nine months after the intervention. The findings suggest that non-cognitive skills can be affected later in the life cycle and targeted training can have substantial labor market returns. |
| Date: | 2023–03–27 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10378 |
| By: | Axel Gottfries; Gregor Jarosch |
| Abstract: | We model and analyze employer cartels that fix wages by committing to a wage ceiling. The setting is a frictional labor market with large employers that compete for workers via posted wages. Wage fixing reduces competition both inside and outside the cartel, leading to market-wide wage depression. Competition from outside employers disciplines the cartel and hence governs its wage impact and profitability. Consequently, wage-fixing schemes are more likely to emerge and remain stable when the labor market has slack, concentration is high, the span of control is small, product demand is elastic, and firms also collude in the product market. We describe a simple sufficient statistic to gauge the harm caused by a wage-fixing cartel. |
| JEL: | E0 J0 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33501 |
| By: | Patrick M. Kline |
| Abstract: | This chapter reviews the theory of monopsonistic wage setting, its empirical implications, and some puzzles the framework has struggled to explain. We begin by examining the fundamentals of monopsonistic wage determination. The core of the theory is a mapping from the distribution of worker outside options to wages. We study non-parametric shape restrictions that ensure this mapping is unique. Building on these results, we introduce a menu of tractable parametrizations of labor supply to the firm, some of which are shown to emerge naturally from equilibrium search models. Next, we review why wage markdowns do not necessarily signal inefficiency and discuss some criteria for assessing misallocation in a monopsony model with search frictions. Turning to the model’s empirical implications, we examine how the magnitude of productivity-wage passthrough depends on the super-elasticity of labor supply to the firm and establish that compensating differentials for firm amenities depend on the curvature of the outside option distribution. We show that firm-specific shifts in either productivity or amenities can be used as instruments to identify labor supply elasticities and review strategies for estimating non-constant elasticities. We then consider extensions of the basic model involving third-degree wage discrimination and examine their ability to rationalize patterns of worker-firm sorting. Monopsony models traditionally assume that firms commit to posted wages. Relaxing this assumption, we develop a connection between the first-order conditions of the monopsony model and models of bargaining with incomplete information. These models explain why bilateral inefficiencies may persist in the presence of negotiation, yield predictions about the response of within-firm wage dispersion to productivity shocks, and suggest reasons why some productivity shifters may not constitute excludable instruments. Next, we endogenize productivity by allowing for efficiency wages, non-constant returns to scale, and price-cost markups. Empirical monopsony estimates often suggest that firms enjoy implausibly large profit margins. We argue that allowing for non-constant labor supply elasticities and firm adjustment costs can potentially resolve this difficulty. Finally, we review why the strong passthrough of minimum wages to product prices presents a challenging puzzle for standard monopsony models and discuss potential reconciliations to this puzzle involving firm heterogeneity, quality changes, and lumpy price adjustment. |
| JEL: | J30 J42 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33467 |