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on Human Capital and Human Resource Management |
| By: | Aleksander S. Kritikos; Mika Maliranta; Veera Nippala; Satu Nurmi |
| Abstract: | We examine how the gender of business-owners is related to the wages paid to female relative to male employees working in their firms. Using Finnish register data and employing firm fixed effects, we find that the gender pay gap is – starting from a gender pay gap of 11 to 12 percent – two to three percentage-points lower for hourly wages in female-owned firms than in male-owned firms. Results are robust to how the wage is measured, as well as to various further robustness checks. More importantly, we find substantial differences between industries. While, for instance, in the manufacturing sector, the gender of the owner plays no role for the gender pay gap, in several service sector industries, like ICT or business services, no or a negligible gender pay gap can be found, but only when firms are led by female business owners. Businesses in male ownership maintain a gender pay gap of around 10 percent also in the latter industries. With increasing firm size, the influence of the gender of the owner, however, fades. In large firms, it seems that others – firm managers – determine wages and no differences in the pay gap are observed between male- and female-owned firms. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, gender pay gap, discrimination, linked employer-employee data |
| JEL: | J16 J24 J31 J71 L26 M13 |
| Date: | 2024–04–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pst:wpaper:343 |
| By: | Sydnee Caldwell (University of California-Berkeley and NBER); Ingrid Haegele (LMU and IAB); J?rg Heining (IAB) |
| Abstract: | We use novel surveys of firms and workers, linked to administrative employer-employee data, to study the prevalence and importance of individual bargaining in wage determination. We show that simple survey questions accurately elicit firms’ bargaining strategies. Using the elicited strategies for 772 German firms, we document that the majority of firms are willing to engage in individual wage bargaining. Labor market factors predict firms’ strategies better than firm characteristics. Survey responses from nearly 10, 000 full-time workers indicate that most worker-firm interactions begin with the worker rejecting the offer and remaining at the incumbent firm. There is substantial heterogeneity in workers’ bargaining behavior, which translates into within-firm wage inequality. Firms that set pay via individual bargaining have a 3 percentage point higher gender wage gap. |
| Keywords: | wage bargaining, employer-employee, Germany, wage inequality, gender wage gap |
| JEL: | D83 J31 J41 J53 L21 |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:25-413 |
| By: | Coly, Caroline; Suteau, Margaux |
| Abstract: | This article discusses evidence on the economic costs of sexual harassment. We first review the available data sources that allow researchers to measure these costs. Next, we identify studies highlighting the effect of sexual harassment on occupational segregation, job turnover, wage penalties, productivity losses for companies, and female labour participation. In assessing the existing policies, we review the evidence on anti-harassment training, targeted enforcement, and diversity programmes and we find promising options for policymakers. Also we note that there are still some limitations from persisting sexist attitudes too. By discussing a novel survey experiment, we illustrate the importance of beliefs in sustaining cultures of harassment, while also being potential pathways for solutions. We conclude our review by suggesting that combining accountability measures with interventions to shift norms is crucial for much-needed cultural transformation across gender relations to eliminate sexual harassment. |
| Keywords: | sexual harassment; gender inequality; labour market |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2025–03–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127729 |
| By: | Tsegay Tekleselassie; Marc Witte; Jonas Radbruch; Lukas Hensel; Ingo E. Isphording |
| Abstract: | We conduct a field experiment with job seekers to investigate how feedback influences job search and labor market outcomes. Job seekers who receive feedback on their ability compared to other job seekers update their beliefs and increase their search effort. Specifically, initially underconfident individuals intensify their job search. In contrast, overconfident individuals do not adjust their behavior. Moreover, job seekers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for feedback predicts treatment effects: only among underconfident individuals with positive WTP, we observe significant increases in both search effort and search success. We present suggestive evidence that this pattern arises from heterogeneity in how job seekers perceive the relevance of relative cognitive ability to job search returns. While the intervention appears cost-effective, job seekers’ WTP remains insufficient to cover its costs. |
| Keywords: | job search, overconfidence, feedback, willingness-to-pay, field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 J24 J64 J22 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11746 |
| By: | Giovanna d’Adda; Jessica Gagete Miranda; Giovanni Righetto |
| Abstract: | We study how the influence of social networks on individual labor market outcomes varies across occupations, specifically between manual and cognitive jobs. Using data from over fourteen million Brazilian workers and exploiting exogenous job termination due to mass layoffs, we confirm that social networks reduce unemployment duration and increase wages in the new job, but show that these effects are heterogeneous depending on workers’ occupations at the time of displacement. Manual workers benefit more from networks in terms of job reentry but less in terms of wages compared to workers performing cognitive tasks. We argue that these different patterns are due to the fact that networks reduce the likelihood that manual workers find new jobs in the same occupation, given that occupational change is associated with reductions in wages. |
| Keywords: | Social networks, Labor Market Outcomes, Mass-Layoff, Brazil |
| JEL: | J01 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fbk:wpaper:2025-02 |
| By: | Findeisen, Sebastian; Dauth, Wolfgang; Schlenker, Oliver |
| Abstract: | New technologies drive productivity growth, yet the distribution of gains may be unequal. We study how labor market institutions - specifically shop-floor worker representation - mediate the impact of automation. Combining German individual-level administrative records with plant-level data on industrial robot adoption, we find that works councils reduce the separation risk for incumbent workers during automation events. When labor markets are tight and replacement costs are high, incumbent workers become more valuable from the firm's perspective. Consequently, we document that the moderating effects of works councils diminish. Older workers, who face greater challenges reallocating to new employers, benefit the most from organized labor in terms of wages and employment. Finally, we observe that works councils do not hinder robot adoption; rather, they spur the use of higher-quality robots, encourage more worker training during robot adoption, and foster higher productivity growth thereafter. |
| Keywords: | automation, organized labor, work councils, labor market tightness, worker re-training |
| JEL: | J20 J30 J53 O33 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:315741 |