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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Kevin Lang (Institute for Economic Development, Boston University); Michael Manove (Institute for Economic Development, Boston University); William T. Dickens (The Brookings Institution) |
| Abstract: | We analyze race discrimination in labor markets in which wage offers are posted. If employers with job vacancies receive multiple applicants, they choose the most qualified but may choose arbitrarily among equally qualified applicants. In the model, firms post wages, workers choose where to apply, and firms decide which workers to hire. Labor-market frictions greatly amplify racial disparities, so mild discriminatory tastes or small productivity differences can produce large wage differentials between the races. Compared with the nondiscriminatory equilibrium, the discriminatory equilibrium features lower net output, lower wages for both white and black workers and greater profits for firms. |
| JEL: | J70 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bos:iedwpr:dp-145&r=lab |
| By: | Heisz, Andrew; Larochelle-Côté, Sébastien |
| Abstract: | Numerous studies of working hours have drawn important conclusions from cross-sectional surveys. For example, the share of individuals working long hours is quite large at any given point in time. Moreover, this appears to have increased over the past two decades, raising the call for policies designed to alleviate working hours discrepancies among workers, or reduce working time overall. However, if work hours vary substantially at the individual level over time, then conclusions based upon studies of cross-sectional data may be incomplete. Using longitudinal data from the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, we find that there is substantial variation in annual working hours at the individual level. In fact, as much as half of the cross-sectional inequality in annual work hours can be explained by individual-level instability in hours. Moreover, very few individuals work chronically long hours. Instability in work hours is shown to be related to low-job quality, non-standard work, low-income levels, stress and bad health. This indicates that working variable work hours is not likely done by choice; rather, it is more likely that these workers are unable to secure more stable employment. The lack of persistence in long work hours, plus the high level of individual work hours instability undermines the equity based arguments behind working time reduction policies. Furthermore, this research points out that policies designed to reduce hours instability could benefit workers. |
| Keywords: | Labour, Employment |
| Date: | 2006–03–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2006278e&r=lab |
| By: | Rulof Burger (Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University); Rachel Jafta (Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University) |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically assesses the impact of post-1994 policy making on racial discrimination in the South African labour market. The post-apartheid government has implemented a series of remedial measures, including an ambitious set of black empowerment and affirmative action policies. The first part of the paper gives an overview of the South African labour market post-1994 and the most important legislation, regulations and other measures aimed at redressing the inequalities of the past. We then argue that some assessment of whether the aims of these measures are being achieved is necessary. The empirical part of the paper employs the decomposition techniques of Oaxaca (1973) and Blinder (1973), Brown, Moon and Zoloth (1980) and Juhn, Murphy and Pierce (1991, 1993) to analyse three stages of the employment process: employment, occupational attainment and wage determination. Fifteen nationally representative household surveys are used to compare the evolution of discriminatory hiring and remuneration practices between 1995 and 2004 and across population groups. The results suggest that affirmative action policies have had no observable effect on the racial employment gap, and its impact on the wage distribution is limited to a small narrowing of wages at the top of the wage distribution. There appears to have been a shift away from “pure discrimination” and towards differential returns to education, which is consistent with an increasingly important role for the quality of education in labour market outcomes. |
| Keywords: | growth, Discrimination, South Africa |
| JEL: | J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers18&r=lab |
| By: | Renuka Metcalfe (University of Swansea) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers dynamic equilibria in wage bargaining unifying for the first time the models of Coles and Wright (1998) and Pissarides and producing in contrast to the Coles and Wright model, a non-deficient equilibrium. In sharp contrast to the Pissarides model we analyse a fully dynamic model with non-linear cost functions and risk-averse agents, to provide overall, saddle-path stability and unique wage and employment outcome which is devoid of limit cycles. |
| Keywords: | Wage determination, job matching, unemployment, labour markets, bargaining. |
| JEL: | J23 J31 J40 J64 |
| Date: | 2006–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sur:surrec:1106&r=lab |
| By: | Jakob Roland Munch; Michael Rosholm; Michael Svarer (Department of Economics, University of Aarhus, Denmark) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of home ownership on individual job mobility and wages in Denmark. We find that home ownership has a negative impact on job-to-job mobility both in terms of transition into new local jobs and new jobs outside the local labour market. In addition, there is a clear negative effect of home ownership on the unemployment risk and a positive impact on wages. These results are robust to different strategies for correcting for the possible endogeneity of the home owner variable. |
| Keywords: | Home ownership, job mobility, duration model |
| JEL: | J6 R2 |
| Date: | 2006–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2006-06&r=lab |
| By: | Olga M. Fuentes (Institute for Economic Development,Boston University); Simon Gilchrist (Institute for Economic Development,Boston University) |
| Abstract: | We examine the evolution of the demand for skilled workers relative to unskilled workers in the Chilean manufacturing sector following Chile’s liberalization of trade in the late 1970’s. Following such trade reforms, the standard Heckscher-Olin model predicts that a low labor-cost country like Chile should experience an increased demand for low skilled workers relative to high skilled workers. Alternatively, if trade liberalization is associated with the adoption of new technologies, and technology is skill-biased, the relative demand for skilled workers may rise. Using a newly available plant-level data set that spans the sixteen year period 1979-1995, we find that the relative demand for skilled workers rose sharply during the 1979-1986 period and then stabilized. The sharp increase in demand for skilled workers coincided with an increased propensity to adopt new technologies as measured by patent usage. Plant-level analysis of labor demand confirms a significant relationship between the relative demand for skilled workers and technology adoption as measured by patent usage and other technology indicators. Our results suggest that skill-biased technological change is a significant determinant of labor demand and wage structures in developing economies. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bos:iedwpr:dp-150&r=lab |
| By: | Finnie, Ross; Meng, Ronald |
| Abstract: | This study assesses the effects of literacy and numeracy skills on the labour market outcomes of Canadian high school drop-outs. We find that these skills have significant effects on the probability of being employed and on hours and weeks of work for both men and women, and also have strong (direct) influences on men's, but not women's, incomes. These findings imply that high school curricula that develop literacy and numeracy skills could provide significant returns even for those who do not complete their programs and wind up at the lower end of the labour market. Our findings similarly suggest that training programs catering to drop-outs could substantially improve these individuals' labour market outcomes by developing these basic skills. The results also have implications for dual labour market theory, since it is often assumed that the secondary market is characterized by minimal returns to human capital'contrary to what is found here. |
| Keywords: | Labour, Education, Employment, Literacy |
| Date: | 2006–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2006275e&r=lab |
| By: | Zhang, Xuelin; Palameta, Boris |
| Abstract: | Based on a sample drawn from Statistics Canada's Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID: 1993 to 1998 and 1996 to 2001), the study finds that young (17 to 34 years old) and single workers were more likely than older (35 to 59 years old) and married and divorced workers to participate in adult schooling and to obtain a post-secondary certificate. Workers with less than a high school education who might have the greatest need to increase their human capital investment were less likely to participate in adult education than workers with high school or more education. The study shows that male workers who obtained a post-secondary certificate while staying with the same employer generally registered higher wage and earnings gains than their counterparts who did not go back to school, regardless of age and initial level of education. On the other hand, men who obtained a certificate and switched jobs generally realized no significant return to their additional education, with the exception of young men (17 to 34 years old) who would receive significant returns to a certificate, whether they switched employer or stayed with the same employer. Obtaining a certificate generated significant wage and earnings returns for older women (aged 35 to 59) who stayed with the same employer, and significant wage returns for young women who switched employers. |
| Keywords: | Labour, Education, Salaries and wages, Adult education |
| Date: | 2006–03–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2006276e&r=lab |
| By: | Giuseppe Croce |
| Abstract: | The model developed in this paper highlights the structure of costs and benefits on which the decisions of investment in human capital by firms and workers depend under the hypothesis of imperfect labour markets. In this case, the wage after the training period remains below productivity. Several options of training policy are analysed through the model and their outcomes compared for what concerns the level of training and other outcomes. It is confirmed that a training subsidy financed by a tax on wage of trained workers does not determine the desired effects when labour market is imperfect. On the contrary, a subsidy can be effective if it is financed through profit taxation. Moreover, when workers’ union and employers bargain over wage of trained workers, a positive effect on the total number of trainees in the economy can arise. |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sap:wpaper:90&r=lab |
| By: | Mariana Marchionni (Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata) |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0029&r=lab |
| By: | Julián Messina (CSEF, Università di Salerno, Via Ponte don Melillo, 84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy.); Giovanna Vallanti (Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom.) |
| Abstract: | We exploit homogeneous firm level data of manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors to study the impact of firing restrictions on job flow dynamics across 14 European countries. We find that more stringent firing laws dampen the response of job destruction to the cycle, thus making job turnover less counter-cyclical. Moreover, the impact of firing costs on job creation and job destruction varies across sectors, depending on sector-specific trend growth. Our findings clearly suggest that such costs are more important in contracting than in growing sectors. |
| Keywords: | Gross Job Flows, Europe, Business Cycle, Firing Costs. |
| JEL: | J23 J63 J68 |
| Date: | 2006–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20060602&r=lab |