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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Raquel Vale Mendes |
| Abstract: | This paper studies gender wage differentials among top managers in the Portuguese economy. The objective is to investigate whether men and women within the same occupational group, with relatively high levels of human capital, and who are evaluated basically on their performance, are treated unequally in relation to pay. The Oaxaca wage differential decomposition method is used, relying on 1999 micro data gathered by the Portuguese Ministry of Social Security and Employment. The main findings indicate that a substantial portion of the wage gap between male and female top managers in Portugal is explained by wage discrimination. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p127&r=lab |
| By: | Paulo Madruga; José Vieira |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of regions on low wage incidence and mobility in Portugal. In particular, we intend to examine to what extent there are significant differences between the region of Lisbon and the rest of the country. The results indicate that, everything else the same, the region is an important determinant of the probability of the individual being found into the low wage class (defined as two-thirds of the median hourly wage), even in a small country like Portugal. It is also affects the probability of leaving low-pay. In particular, equally-skilled workers working in the region of Lisbon are less-likely to be low-paid than the other workers. They are also more likely to escape from the low-pay segment. Other variables of great importance on low pay determination and mobility, and in both regions, are the level of education of the workers, gender and the size of the firm. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p55&r=lab |
| By: | Tom Hertz (American University; American University) |
| Abstract: | Minimum wages have been in place for South Africa's one million domestic service workers since November of 2002. Using data from seven waves of the Labour Force Survey, this paper documents that the real wages, average monthly earnings, and total earnings of all employed domestic workers have risen since the regulations came into effect, while hours of work per week and employment have fallen. Each of these outcomes can be linked econometrically to the arrival of the minimum wage regulations. The overall estimated elasticities suggest that the regulations should have reduced poverty somewhat for domestic workers, although this last conclusion is the least robust. |
| Keywords: | minimum, wage, south africa, hertz, earnings, hours |
| JEL: | H3 I31 J31 |
| Date: | 2005–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:05-120&r=lab |
| By: | Nuno M. O. Romão; Vitor M. A. Escaria |
| Abstract: | This paper intends to analyse to what extent does a worker who, along with a job move undergoes a spatial move, gain a wage increase. For that matter, a sample of Quadros de Pessoal is used with information gathered regarding all the workers that are part of those tables, simultaneously for the years 1997 and 1998 as well as their working places. This information is initially used to carry out a bivariate analysis allowing characterizing the workers that change jobs, those who change working places and those who experience both changes. Afterwards, a wage equation is estimated, namely an Augmented Mincer Equation, taking into account both the hourly wage and the wage, making it possible to verify the influence of spatial mobility (through three levels of mobility, according to the distance between the old and new jobs) on the wage. In fact, the results of these estimations suggest that the longer the distance between the old and the new job, higher wage the moving worker will get. KEYWORDS Wage mobility, job mobility, spatial mobility, Portugal JEL Classification: J31, J61, J62, R23 |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p584&r=lab |
| By: | Simonetta Longhi; Peter Nijkamp; Jacques Poot |
| Abstract: | Most ‘wage curve’ studies treat local labour markets as independent ‘islands’ in the national economy. However, when a local labour market is in close proximity of other labour markets, a local shock that increases unemployment may not lead to lower pay rates if employers fear outward migration of their workers. Hence, the unemployment elasticity of pay will be greater, the more isolated the local labour market is. Wages are also expected to be higher in regions that interact strongly with other regions. These hypotheses are confirmed by means of an estimation of wage curves with data for 327 regions of western Germany over the period 1990-97. Key words: Unemployment, wage formation, spatial analysis, local monopsony, Germany JEL classification: J21, J30, R23 |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p115&r=lab |
| By: | José Vieira; João Couto; Maria Teresa Borges-Tiago |
| Abstract: | The interest in the analysis of job satisfaction has increased among economists. Indeed, reported levels of satisfaction have been seen as a good predictor of individual behaviour such as job turnover, productivity and absenteeism. Because of this, several studies have tried to identify the determinants of job satisfaction. This paper is concerned with job satisfaction in Portugal. For this purpose, we use the first six waves of the European Household Panel Data (ECHP). The panel nature of the data allows us to use a random effects estimator in order to control for unobservable individual heterogeneity. The results indicate that wages matter for job satisfaction but do not tell the whole story. In particular, having a good health status, a permanent contract and working the public sector influences positively the level satisfaction. We also find a great heterogeneity in satisfaction by regions, even in a small country as Portugal. These findings are valid for overall job satisfaction as well as for satisfaction with specific job domains such as pay, security, type of work and hours worked. Key words: job satisfaction, wages, regions, unobserved heterogeneity JEL Code: J28 |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p667&r=lab |
| By: | Jens Suedekum; Uwe Blien |
| Abstract: | We address the effects of wages on employment growth on the basis of a theoretical model from which cost and demand effects can be derived. In the empirical analysis we take a highly disaggregated perspective and apply a newly developed shift-share regression technique on an exhaustive and very accurate data set for West Germany. The regression shows that the impact of regional wages on employment growth is significantly negative. There is some variation of this effect across sectors, but in no case we find support for the claim that an exogenous wage increase leads to higher employment growth. Keywords: Employment Growth, Shift-Share-Analysis, Regional Wages, Purchasing Power Argument. JEL- Classification: J23, E24, R11 |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p641&r=lab |
| By: | Maud Hensen; Robert de Vries |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the relationship between geographical mobility and education-job mismatches. School-leavers might adjust to local labour market frictions by accepting some education-job mismatch combined with a mobility decision. We focus on the relationship between the mobility decision and the following education-job mismatches: a job below the educational level, outside the educational field, part-time or flexible jobs at the beginning of the career. For this purpose we use data about school-leavers from secondary education and higher vocational education in the period 1996-2001. The analysis is conducted at a disaggregated spatial level to incorporate differences in behaviour of school-leavers at the regional level. We find that school-leavers who are more mobile have a lower probability to have a job below the acquired educational level compared with school-leavers who are less mobile. Moreover, school-leavers who are more mobile experience especially a lower probability of a part-time or a flexible job. This result suggests that school-leavers not only try to prevent a job below the acquired educational level, but also other education-job mismatches in their mobility decision. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p158&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas de Graaff; Piet Rietveld |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the case where workers have to choose between the location of work, leisure, commuting hours and the frequency to work out-of-home. Both a short-run and a long-run model are presented. In the short-run, workers are not able to set their optimal amount of commuting time, where in the long-run commuting time is treated as an endogenous variable. Moreover, frequency of working out-of-home is explicitly taken in to account, where it is assumed that there is op optimal frequency of commuting trips. An empirical model and estimation results for the Netherlands are offered. Preliminary results are that workers have an intrinsic preference to work out-of-home approximately 2.5 days a week and need at least 14 hours of leisure time. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p294&r=lab |
| By: | Anna Iara; Iulia Traistaru |
| Abstract: | The transition to a market economy and increased economic integration have fostered regional disparities in Central and Eastern European countries. This paper investigates whether and to what extent wages could act as an equilibrating mechanism in these countries by adjusting to local market conditions. Using regional data for the 1990s, we estimate static and dynamic wage curve models for Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania. We find empirical evidence for a wage curve in Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland suggesting that wages could help equilibrate labour markets following labour demand shocks. In the case of Romania, the unemployment elasticity of pay is not significantly different from zero. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p191&r=lab |
| By: | Kondoh Kenji |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates permanent and temporary immigration and remittance under the coexistence of unionized and non-unionized manufacturing firms in a two-sector economy. The impacts of immigration as well as remittance on respectively wages, employment, the union-nonunion wage gap and national welfare are analyzed. It is found that permanent immigration brings positive effects on most variables (except the competitive wage), but enlarges the wage gap and causes income redistribution. The effects of temporary immigration diverge depending on which sector immigrants are allowed to work in and which good is remitted more heavily. In particular, if temporary immigrants work in manufacturing only, then all wages and the union-nonunion wage gap fall. JEL Classification Numbers: F22, J51 Keywords: Temporary and Permanent Immigration, Labor Unions, Remittance, Wages |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p58&r=lab |
| By: | Roberto Basile; Luca De Benedictis |
| Abstract: | The existence and persistence of large spatial disparities in un-employment within national economies is a central issue in regional economics. Previous empirical analyses have largely disregarded the role of fundamentals. On the contrary in this paper we explore the link between labour productivity, international trade and regional un-employment differentials. We base our empirical analysis on the predictions of a simple General Oligopolistic Equilibrium effciency-wage trade model. Using semi parametric regression methods, controlling for industry-mix and labour force participation, we give evidence of a non linear negative relationship between labour productivity and regional unemployment, in the cases of European regions. Instead, no significant relationships between these variables have been found for the United States. Keywords: Productivity, Regional Unemployment, Oligopoly, Non parametrics. JEL Classification: C14, D50, F12, F16, J41, L13, R10. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p38&r=lab |
| By: | Simonetta Longhi; Peter Nijkamp; Iulia Traistaru |
| Abstract: | Standard labor market theories predict that workers employed in more specialized areas earn higher wages in comparison with similar workers employed in less specialized areas. Empirical studies for the US generally confirm the existence of a positive effect of sectoral specialization on wages and on unemployment. However, these relationships might not hold in labor markets that are characterized by substantially higher collective bargaining coverage and more centralized bargaining systems. In the EU, for example, collective wage agreements impose identical wages across regions belonging to the same country, thus leaving little room for regional wage flexibility. Using regional data for EU member states, we model regional unemployment as a function of regional specialization measures. The comparison between such countries, that are still characterized by separate and independent collective agreements on wages, can give us new insights on the effects that collective bargaining may have on the relationship between sectoral specialization of regions and regional unemployment rates. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p447&r=lab |
| By: | Jekaterina Dmitrijeva; Mihails Hazans |
| Abstract: | Monthly panel (1998-2003) data from regional labor offices in Latvia are used to conclude on the specificity of matching process in this transition economy and to evaluate the impact of active labor market policy programs on outflows from unemployment. Results confirm that the hiring process is driven by stock-flow matching rather than by traditional matching function: stock of unemployed at the beginning of the month and vacancies arriving during the month are the key determinants of outflow from unemployment to employment, while stock of vacancies and inflow of unemployed are not significant. In the context of such “correct” specification of the matching process, the policy evaluation is performed. We find positive and very significant effect of training on outflows from unemployment to employment, thus providing some evidence against cuts in training expenditures. Fixed effects estimates allow discriminating between regions in terms of matching efficiency. JEL: J41, J64, J68 Keywords: stock-flow matching, augmented matching function, labour market policy, training |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p360&r=lab |
| By: | Raquel Llorente Heras; Carlos Iglesias Fernández; Juan R. Cuadrado-Roura |
| Abstract: | In the context of the process of construction of a single labour market in the Economic Union, one of the greatest problems is the existence of certain levels of structural unemployment. From this point of view, the imbalance between the qualification characteristics of work supply and demand as well as the determining factors of geographical mobility among jobs become a relevant explication factor. The aim of the paper will be to carry out a comparative analysis of some of the most important characteristics of employment in European countries. For this, how different employed population groups are distributed by sectors of activity and labour occupations will be analysed, how these structures have been modified over time, and the patterns of labour mobility that interconnect activities and occupations in the framework of labour mobility, in order to see whether these evolutions are leading to an assimilation of labour characteristics in the countries, or not. Keywords: labour mobility, employment, service sector, European Union. JEL-Code: J62, L80, F02 |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa04p223&r=lab |