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on Human Capital and Human Resource Management |
| By: | McGuinness, Seamus (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin); Staffa, Elisa (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine the incidence of skill gaps among European employees. We identify the worker and firm level characteristics most commonly associated with skill gaps and investigate the extent to which this particular form of skill mismatch is associated with wage penalties. In 2021, we find that 16.2% of EU employees had essential and non-essential general skill gaps. The incidences for competency specific skill gaps were 29.5% for numeracy skills, 39.7% for technical skills and 49.4% for social skills. Among employees we find that general skill gaps were highly correlated with numeracy, social and technical skills gaps. The more complex the job, the higher the probability for workers to report having a general skill gap or a domain specific skill gap. We find no evidence that skill gaps are associated with negative productivity impacts (proxied by wages). We find that, where skill gaps exist, they are likely to be driven by workers motivated to keep pace with evolving requirements in more complex jobs. This is very different from the usual view of skill gaps as being concentrated among poorly educated workers in low value-added employment lacking essential skills. |
| Keywords: | job complexity, wages, skill gaps, measurement, policy |
| JEL: | J20 J24 J31 J38 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17993 |
| By: | Evan K. Rose; Yotam Shem-Tov |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the earnings and employment penalties associated with a criminal record. Using a large-scale dataset linking criminal justice and employer-employee wage records, we estimate two-way fixed effects models that decompose earnings into worker’s portable earnings potential and firm pay premia, both of which are allowed to shift after a worker acquires a record. We find that firm pay premia explain a small share of earnings gaps between workers with and without a record. There is little evidence of variable within-firm premia gaps either. Instead, components of workers’ earnings potential that persist across firms explain the bulk of gaps. Conditional on earnings potential, workers with a record are also substantially less likely to be employed. Difference-in-differences estimates comparing workers’ first conviction to workers charged but not convicted or charged later support these findings. The results suggest that criminal record penalties operate primarily by changing whether workers are employed and their earnings potential at every firm rather than increasing sorting into lower-paying jobs, although the bulk of gaps can be attributed to differences that existed prior to acquiring a record. |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:25-39 |
| By: | Marta Curull-Sentís; Laia Maynou; Lídia Farré; Libertad González |
| Abstract: | We conduct a survey experiment to examine gender differences in preferences for job attributes, including flexibility, commuting distance, and workplace climate. Both men and women are willing to trade 20–30% of their current wage to avoid inflexible jobs and long commutes. However, a notable gender difference emerges in the willingness-to-pay (WTP) to avoid sexual harassment. Women are willing to trade 50% of their wage for a secure workplace, 14 percentage points more than men. Among recent female victims, this aversion increases to 87%. These findings under-score the detrimental impact of sexual harassment on gender equality and talent allocation in the labor market. |
| Keywords: | compensating wage differentials, gender gaps, sexual harassment, survey experiments, working conditions, working flexibility |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J28 J81 C93 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1500 |
| By: | Prasanna Parasurama; Panos Ipeirotis |
| Abstract: | Algorithmic tools are increasingly used in hiring to improve fairness and diversity, often by enforcing constraints such as gender-balanced candidate shortlists. However, we show theoretically and empirically that enforcing equal representation at the shortlist stage does not necessarily translate into more diverse final hires, even when there is no gender bias in the hiring stage. We identify a crucial factor influencing this outcome: the correlation between the algorithm's screening criteria and the human hiring manager's evaluation criteria -- higher correlation leads to lower diversity in final hires. Using a large-scale empirical analysis of nearly 800, 000 job applications across multiple technology firms, we find that enforcing equal shortlists yields limited improvements in hire diversity when the algorithmic screening closely mirrors the hiring manager's preferences. We propose a complementary algorithmic approach designed explicitly to diversify shortlists by selecting candidates likely to be overlooked by managers, yet still competitive according to their evaluation criteria. Empirical simulations show that this approach significantly enhances gender diversity in final hires without substantially compromising hire quality. These findings highlight the importance of algorithmic design choices in achieving organizational diversity goals and provide actionable guidance for practitioners implementing fairness-oriented hiring algorithms. |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2505.14388 |
| By: | Jan van Ours (Erasmus University Rotterdam and Tinbergen Institute) |
| Abstract: | Team performance depends not only on the individual abilities of its members and cooperation between them but also on psychological factors such as confidence, rivalry, and perceived pressure. In a regular work environment, it is challenging to isolate the contribution of psychological factors. Analyzing sports data can be insightful, as performance metrics are widely available. This paper focuses on two phenomena that highlight the impact of psychological factors: bogey teams and circular triads. A "bogey team" refers to a team that consistently outperforms another team, often defying expectations. Circular triads involve non-transitive match outcomes among trios of teams. Using balanced panel data from the top league of Dutch football, the analysis identifies both bogey team relationships and circular triads in match outcomes. Clearly, psychological factors play a significant role in shaping team performance. |
| Keywords: | Non-transitivity, Circular triads, Bogey Teams, Football |
| JEL: | C25 D01 Z2 |
| Date: | 2025–03–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20250018 |