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on Labour Economics |
| By: | René Böheim (Johannes Kepler University of Linz and IZA Bonn); Ulrike Muehlberger (Vienna University of Economics and B.A.) |
| Abstract: | We analyse the characteristics of workers who provide work on the basis of a civil or commercial contract, but who are dependent on or integrated into the firm for which they work. We argue that these dependent self-employed lose their rights under labour law, receive less favourable benefits from social security protection and are often beyond trade union representation and collective bargaining. Using data from the British Labour Force Survey we test two hypotheses: (1) Dependent self-employed workers are significantly different from both employees and (independent) self-employed individuals, thus forming a distinct group. (2) Dependent self-employed workers have lower labour market skills, less labour market attachment and, thus, less autonomy than self-employed workers. The data support our hypothesis that dependent self-employed workers are a distinct labour market group which differs from both employees and independent self-employed individuals. Men, older workers, those with low education and a low job tenure have greater odds of working in dependent self-employment than their counterparts. Our results suggest that dependent forms of self-employment are used by firms to increase labour flexibility. |
| Keywords: | self-employment, dependency, outsourcing |
| JEL: | K31 J21 L22 |
| Date: | 2006–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1963&r=lab |
| By: | Booth,Alison L.; Ours,Jan C. van (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Taking into account inter-dependence within the family, we investigate the relationship between part-time work and happiness. We use panel data from the new Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia Survey. Our analysis indicates that part-time women are more satisfied with working hours than full-time women. Partnered women's life satisfaction is increased if their partners work full-time. Male partners' life satisfaction is unaffected by their partners' market hours but is increased if they themselves are working full-time. This finding is consistent with the gender identity hypothesis of Akerlof and Kranton (2000). |
| Keywords: | happiness;gender identity; parttime workers;gender differences |
| JEL: | J22 I31 J16 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:200602&r=lab |
| By: | Beffy, Magali; Buchinsky, Mosche; Fougère, Denis; Kamionka, Thierry; Kramarz, Francis |
| Abstract: | We estimate a model of the joint participation and mobility along with the individuals' wage formation in France. Our model makes it possible to distinguish between unobserved person heterogeneity and state-dependence. We estimate the model using state of the art Bayesian methods employing a long panel (1976-1995) for France. Our results clearly show that returns to seniority are small, and for some education groups are close to zero. The specification here is the same as that used in Buchinsky, Fougère, Kramarz and Tchernis (2002) for the case of the United States, where the returns to seniority were found to be quite large. This result also holds when using the method employed by Altonji and Williams (1992) for both countries. It turns out that differences between the two countries relate to firm-to-firm mobility. Using a model of Burdett and Coles (2003), we explain the rationale for this phenomenon. Specifically, in a low-mobility country such as France, there is little gain in compensating workers for long tenures because they tend to stay in the firm for most, if not all, of their career. This is true even in cases where individuals clearly possess substantial amount of firm-specific human capital. In contrast, for a high-mobility country such as the United States, high returns to seniority have a clear incentive effect, and firms are induced to pay the premium associated with firm-specific human capital to avoid losing their most productive workers. |
| Keywords: | individual effects; job mobility; participation; returns to experience; returns to seniority; wage |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J63 |
| Date: | 2006–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5486&r=lab |
| By: | Jens Suedekum (University of Konstanz and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | In this paper I analyze the impact of human capital on local employment growth for the case of West Germany (1977-2002). I find robust evidence that skilled cities grow faster than unskilled ones, but this need not indicate localized human capital externalities are at work. A large initial share of high-skilled workers significantly reduces subsequent growth of highskilled jobs. The observed positive impact on total employment growth is, therefore, due to the fact that low-skilled jobs grow faster than high-skilled jobs decline in initially skilled cities. This evidence is in line with complementarities among skill groups as the major causal link between human capital and employment growth. It challenges theories of self-reinforcing spatial concentration of high-skilled workers due to strong localized spillovers. |
| Keywords: | human capital, local employment growth, externalities |
| JEL: | R11 O40 |
| Date: | 2006–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1969&r=lab |
| By: | Radosveta Ivanova-Stenzel (Department of Economics, Spandauer Str. 1, D-10178 Berlin, Germany. ivanova@wiwi.hu-berlin.de); Dorothea Kübler (Department of Economics and Management, Straße des 17. Juni 135, D-10623 Berlin, Germany. d.kuebler@ww.tu-berlin.de) |
| Abstract: | Does gender play a role in the context of team work? Our results based on a real-effort experiment suggest that performance depends on the composition of the team. We find that female and male performance differ most in mixed teams with revenue sharing between the team members, as men put in significantly more effort than women. The data also indicate that women perform best when competing in pure female teams against male teams whereas men perform best when women are present or in a competitive environment. |
| Keywords: | team incentives, gender, tournaments |
| JEL: | C72 C73 C91 D82 |
| Date: | 2005–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trf:wpaper:91&r=lab |
| By: | Magdalena Muszynska (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | In this study we look at the circumstances under which motherhood and employment are compatible. Comparing two countries, Italy and Norway, we analyze the impact of macro factors and individual characteristics on employment decisions of first- and second-time mothers. Our results show that in Norway, where flexible forms of employment are a popular way to reconcile family life and employment, not only many women start to work when their child is small, but the fertility is also relatively high. In Italy, characterized by high rigidities of the labor market and where flexible forms of employment are hardly available, relatively few mothers enter employment and fertility is low. In addition, we found that in both countries better educated women and women with more work experience return to their jobs relatively soon after childbirth. The majority of women with a low level of education and who did not work before the childbirth do not take up work when the child is small. |
| Keywords: | Italy, Norway, female employment, fertility, working life |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2004–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2004-030&r=lab |
| By: | Michele Moretto; Sergio Vergalli |
| Abstract: | This paper tries to explain why most migration flows show some observable jumps in their processes, a phenomenon that seems to be sympathetic with the characteristic of irreversibility of migration. We present a real option model where the choice to migrate depends on both the differential wage between the host country and the country of origin, and on the probability of being fully integrated into the host country. The theoretical results show that the optimal migration decision of a single individual consists of waiting before migrating in a (coordinate) mass of individuals. The dimension of the migration flow depends on the behavioural characteristics of the ethnic groups: the more "sociable" they are, the larger the size of the wave and the lower the differential wage required. A second part of the paper is devoted to calibrating the model and simulating some migration flows to Italy in the last decade. The calibration is able to replicate the observable migration jumps in the short term. In particular, the calibrated model is able to conjecture the induced labour demand elasticity level of the host country and the behavioural rationale of the migrants. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubs:wpaper:ubs0507&r=lab |
| By: | Alessandro Cigno (University of Florence, CESifo, CHILD and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | A Beveridgean pension scheme invariably introduces a wedge between the wage rate and the marginal take-home pay. A Bismarckian one can do so only if it is not actuarially fair, or in the presence of credit rationing. Interestingly, if the two possible sources of distortion are present at the same time, they will tend to offset each other. The distortion may even change sign (the wedge may become a premium). In any case, the same pension contribution will discourage labour less if the scheme is Bismarckian, than if it is Beveridgean. |
| Keywords: | tax wedge, Bismarck, Beveridge, public pensions, implicit pension tax, labour |
| JEL: | H31 H55 J38 |
| Date: | 2006–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1967&r=lab |
| By: | Marcel Fafchamps (University of Oxford); Jackline Wahba (University of Southampton and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | Using detailed survey data from Nepal, this paper examines the determinants of child labor with a special emphasis on urban proximity. We find that children residing in or near urban centers attend school more and work less in total but are more likely to be involved in wage work or in a small business. The larger the urban center, the stronger the effect is. Urban proximity is found to reduce the workload of children and improve school attendance up to 3 hours of travel time from the city. In areas of commercialized agriculture located 3 to 7 hours from the city, children do more farm work. Urban proximity effects are accounted for by a combination of local labor supply and demand conditions, most notably the local importance of agriculture, the education level of the parents, and the local wage rate. Child servants, which represent a small proportion of all children, work much harder than other children and appear particularly at risk. |
| Keywords: | child labour, Nepal, child schooling, urban proximity |
| JEL: | J10 J22 J24 J40 N35 |
| Date: | 2006–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1966&r=lab |
| By: | Hernæs, Erik (The Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Piggott, John (The University of New South Wales and the Frisch Centre); Zhang, Tao (The Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Strøm, Steinar (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | The decision by firms to offer an occupational pension is investigated with a unique linked employer-employee dataset, supplemented with detailed actuarial calculations of the cost to the firms of offering occupational pensions and constructed tax gains from pension contributions versus cash wage, driven by lower tax on wages than on pensions. The tax gains which can be shared between employers and employees by the degree of wage moderation, are clearly associated with the occurrence of an occupational pension plan. An occupational pension is associated with longer average tenure in the firm. Occupational pensions typically are found in large firms, and individual wage negotiations, a high degree of unionization and requirement of long training are all positively associated with an occupational pension. Hence, financial and productivity incentives are found to operate within a moderating institutional framework. |
| Keywords: | Occupational pensions; tax gains; tenure; linked employer-employee datasets |
| JEL: | C25 D21 G23 |
| Date: | 2006–01–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2006_001&r=lab |
| By: | Michiel Evers; Daniël van Vuuren; Ruud de Mooij |
| Abstract: | This paper performs a meta-analysis of empirical estimates of uncompensated labour supply elasticities. We find that much of the variation in elasticities can be explained by the variation in gender, participation rates, and country fixed effects. Country differences appear to be small though. There is no systematic impact of the model specification or marital status on reported elasticities. The decision to participate is more responsive than is the decision regarding hours worked. Even at the intensive margin, we find that the elasticity for women exceeds that for men. For men and women in the Netherlands, we predict an uncompensated labour supply elasticity of 0.1 (or 0.2 if an alternative specification is preferred) and 0.5, respectively. These values are robust for alternative samples and specifications of the meta regression. |
| Keywords: | labour supply; meta-analysis; uncompensated elastisity |
| JEL: | J22 H2 |
| Date: | 2005–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpb:discus:51&r=lab |
| By: | Abigail Wozniak (University of Notre Dame and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | This paper asks how deregulation intended to promote competition in the commercial banking industry affected the compensation structure for banking employees. Using establishment-based data from the Employment Cost Index Survey of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, I obtain measures of the level and distribution of wage and benefits compensation within industries. I then compare changes in compensation in the banking industry to changes in unaffected industries across states and over time to identify the effects of deregulation. Banking deregulation had no effect on compensation levels or inequality in the industry as a whole, but this masks conflicting changes within the compensation structure. Manager wages fell while non-manager wages held steady, leading to a large decline in between-occupation compensation inequality. In contrast, between-establishment inequality increased dramatically. Deregulation also led to increases in inequality among managers despite their falling wages and to significant shifts in the types of non-wage benefits banking employees received. |
| Keywords: | total compensation, compensation inequality, product market competition, commercial banking |
| JEL: | J31 L11 |
| Date: | 2006–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1957&r=lab |
| By: | Jan M. Hoem (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | By current European standards, Sweden has had a relatively high fertility in recent decades. During the 1980s and 1990s, the annual Total Fertility Rate (TFR) for Sweden undulated considerably around a level just under 1.8, which is a bit lower than the corresponding level in France and well above the level in West Germany. (In 2004 the Swedish TFR reached 1.76 on an upward trend.) The Swedish completed Cohort Fertility Rate (CFR) was rather constant at 2 for the cohorts that produced children in the same period; for France it stayed around 2.1 while the West-German CFR was lower and declined regularly to around 1.6. In this presentation, I describe the background for these developments and explain the unique Swedish undulations. Part of the explanation of the trend and level in Swedish fertility is the extensive battery of public family policies in the country. They reflect the great generosity, high flexibility, and universalistic approach of the whole system, where family policies are coordinated with educational policies and labor-market policies in an effort to promote the status of women and achieve equity for all residents. The state has been engaged in the development of high-quality all-day childcare arrangements available to all children, and has conducted campaigns to influence public attitudes toward a woman-friendly political culture. Reforms have been motivated by gender-equality considerations and by a drive to induce women to participate in the labor force and to induce men into parenting and childrearing. Legal rules are individualistic, as highlighted by the abolishment of the public widow’s pension and by a tax system where income tax is levied from the individual and not from the married couple or the household, as in Germany. Welfare-state benefits are directed similarly to the individual, not to the family. Policies can be said to focus on the equal right of working women to have children rather than of the right of mothers to have a job. There is no inclination in the Swedish system to encourage a mother to stay home and take care of her children; if anything there has been a move toward securing both-parent participation in childrearing. |
| Keywords: | Sweden, fertility |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2005–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2005-009&r=lab |
| By: | Katy Cornwell |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the role of language in labour earnings in South Africa over the period 1996 to 1998. Our pooled cross-section comprises of over 160,000 working age adults, and the analysis considers the decision to participate in the labour force, employment prospects and labour earnings. Models include variables for individual mother tongue in addition to population group. After conditioning on a number of socio-economic and demographic factors, we find that having English as one's mother tongue is one of the pivotal determinants of labour earnings. These results are robust across two models of sample selection. Such findings shed light on the economic consequences of South Africa's national policy of linguistic heterogeneity. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment, Income, South Africa, Language Policy, Race. |
| JEL: | J64 J21 J23 J19 J31 |
| Date: | 2006–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msh:ebswps:2006-5&r=lab |