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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Abdurrahman Aydemir; George J. Borjas |
| Abstract: | Using data drawn from the Canadian, Mexican, and U.S. Censuses, we find a numerically comparable and statistically significant inverse relation between immigrant-induced shifts in labor supply and wages in each of the three countries: A 10 percent labor supply shift is associated with a 3 to 4 percent opposite-signed change in wages. Despite the similarity in the wage response, the impact of migration on the wage structure differs significantly across countries. International migration narrowed wage inequality in Canada; increased it in the United States; and reduced the relative wage of workers at the bottom of the skill distribution in Mexico. |
| JEL: | J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12327&r=lab |
| By: | Ours,Jan C. van; Vodopivec,Milan (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how the potential duration of unemployment benefits affects the quality of post-unemployment jobs. It takes advantage of a natural experiment introduced by a change in Slovenia's unemployment insurance law that substantially reduced the potential benefit duration. Although this reduction strongly increased job finding rates, the quality of the postunemployment jobs remained unaffected: the paper finds that the law change had no effect on either the type of the contract (temporary vs. permanent), the duration of the post-unemployment jobs, or the wage earned in this job. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment insurance;potential benefit duration;job separation rates; post-unemployment wages |
| JEL: | C41 H55 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:200656&r=lab |
| By: | Aki Kangasharju |
| Abstract: | The present paper examines whether subsidised jobs have contributed to the employment in subsidised firms or merely substituted for non-subsidised ones. The data set is an unbalanced panel of some 31,000 firms that are followed annually between 1995 and 2002. The analysis is based on difference-in-differences, which is adjusted by regression and matching methods. The results indicate that wage subsidies stimulate employment, and the magnitude of the effect is as aimed. It is also found that subsidies have no sizable effects on non-subsidised firms of the industry or geographical area in question. |
| JEL: | J18 J38 J23 |
| Date: | 2005–12–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:dpaper:378&r=lab |
| By: | Pekka Sinko |
| Abstract: | The study consists of four essays, which analyse the implications of labour taxation and unemployment insurance (UI) in the models of imperfectly competitive labour markets. The first essay studies the effects of labour taxation on unemployment and efficiency in a search equilibrium model with endogenous job destruction. It is shown that the adverse employment effect of labour taxes is mainly due to the prolonged spells of unemployment. A pure increase in the tax progression may reduce unemployment and facilitate the emergence of low-productivity jobs. In the second essay, the link between taxes and the public benefits is perceived owing to the centralised wage setting institutions. This is shown to promote wage moderation, make wages and employment less sensitive to wage taxation and reduce hours worked. The third essay considers alternative ways to organize the government subsidies in a model, where taxalike payments are collected by the industry level funds in order to finance unemployment benefits. It is shown that equilibrium unemployment is decreasing in the share of UI financed by the employed union members. The fourth essay analyses the effects of UI in a job search model with endogenous search effort. It is shown that UI with a limited potential duration induces more search effort among the long-term unemployed who have exhausted a considerable amount of the current benefits. |
| Keywords: | Labour taxation, unemployment insurance, trade union model, search model |
| JEL: | E24 J50 J30 H20 |
| Date: | 2004–07–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:resrep:111&r=lab |
| By: | Pekka Sinko |
| Abstract: | The study reconsiders the effects of tax progression in imperfectly competitive labour markets. Allowing for the individual supply of working hours, we show that the results derived in the standard model of decentralised wage bargaining do not hold if the wage setting is centralised or highly coordinated. We show that increased progression is more likely to harm employment if either i) the initial tax system is progressive or ii) the wage setting is centralised or co-ordinated. If the wage setting institutions are centralised or strongly co-ordinated, increased progression may be bad for employment even when departing from a proportional tax system. |
| Keywords: | Tax progression, wage setting, employment. |
| JEL: | C10 J30 H20 |
| Date: | 2004–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:dpaper:349&r=lab |
| By: | Heikki Räisänen |
| Abstract: | This study analyses the labour market developments of selected 22 European countries during the last ten years. The developments in employment and unemployment as well as the most essential distributive effects are presented. The labour market policy reforms of Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, the United Kingdom and Germany are studied more into detail by assessing the similarities and differences and gathering together the main experiences. Interconnections between incentives and the functioning of the labour market are analysed through the strictness of the employment protection legislation, replacement rates of unemployment insurance benefits and early retirement schemes. There is wide dispersion in employment and unemployment across countries. Female participation in the labour market is rising. Employment rates for the aged workforce have increased during the last few years, but the situation of the young people has not been improved. Common factors for successful labour market policy reforms seem to be benefit reforms, changes in the organisation of the public employment service and activation policies. Employment protection legislation should not be discussed in isolation, but rather in interconnection with the functioning of the labour market. |
| Keywords: | European labour market, employment, labour market policy reforms, incentives |
| JEL: | J20 J00 F00 |
| Date: | 2005–11–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:resrep:116&r=lab |
| By: | Sabrina Di Addario (Bank of Italy and University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | I analyze empirically the effects of both urban and industrial agglomeration on men’s and women’s search behavior and on the efficiency of matching. The analysis is based on the Italian Labor Force Survey micro-data, which covers 520 randomly drawn Local Labor Market Areas (66 per cent of the total) over the four quarters of 2002. I compute transition probabilities from non-employment to employment by jointly estimating the probability of searching and the probability of finding a job conditional on having searched, and I test whether these are affected by urbanization, industry localization, labor pooling and family network quality. In general, the main results indicate that urbanization and labor pooling raise job seekers’ chances of finding employment (conditional on having searched), while industry localization and family network quality increase only men’s. Moreover, neither urban nor industrial agglomeration affect nonemployed individuals’ search behavior; although men with thicker family networks search more intensively. |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:198&r=lab |
| By: | Kari Hämäläinen; Virve Ollikainen |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates the long-run effects of Finnish active labour market programmes in youth labour markets. The effectiveness of programmes is measured by a number of outcomes, including employment, unemployment, programme participation, education, being out of the labour force and annual earnings. A non-parametric propensity score matching approach adapted for the case of multiple programmes is applied to estimate the average programme effects. Our results point out distinct variation in the success of programmes, and indicate that job placement and labour market training are successful not only in promoting employment but also in increasing the earnings of participants. The largest of all programmes, youth practical training, is not found to have any impacts on young persons? labour market careers. |
| Keywords: | active labour market programmes, propensity score, matching, heterogeneous treatment effects JEL classification: C14, J13, J68; active labour market programmes, propensity score, matching, heterogeneous treatment effects |
| JEL: | J13 J68 C14 |
| Date: | 2004–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:resrep:115&r=lab |
| By: | Francine D. Blau; Jed DeVaro |
| Abstract: | Using a large sample of establishments drawn from the Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality (MCSUI) employer survey, we study gender differences in promotion rates and in the wage gains attached to promotions. Several unique features of our data distinguish our analysis from the previous literature on this topic. First, we have information on the wage increases attached to promotions, and relatively few studies on gender differences have considered promotions and wage increases together. Second, our data include job-specific worker performance ratings, allowing us to control for performance and ability more precisely than through commonly-used skill indicators such as educational attainment or tenure. Third, in addition to standard information on occupation and industry, we have data on a number of other firm characteristics, enabling us to control for these variables while still relying on a broad, representative sample, as opposed to a single firm or a similarly narrowly-defined population. Our results indicate that women have lower probabilities of promotion and expected promotion than do men but that there is essentially no gender difference in wage growth with or without promotions. |
| JEL: | J1 J3 J7 |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12321&r=lab |
| By: | Andrew Figura |
| Abstract: | An important step in understanding why employment fluctuates cyclically is determining the relative importance of cyclical movements in permanent and temporary plant-level employment changes. If movements in permanent employment changes are important, then recessions are times when the destruction of job specific capital picks up and/or investment in new job capital slows. If movements in temporary employment changes are important, then employment fluctuations are related to the temporary movement of workers across activities (e.g., from work to home production or search and back again) as the relative costs/benefits of these activities change. I estimate that in the manufacturing sector temporary employment changes account for approximately 60 percent of the change in employment growth over the cycle. However, if permanent employment changes create and destroy more capital than temporary employment changes, then their economic consequences would be relatively greater. The correlation between gross permanent employment changes and capital intensity across industries supports the hypothesis that permanent employment changes do create and destroy more capital than temporary employment changes. |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2006-23&r=lab |
| By: | Aline Valette (LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - [CNRS : UMR6123] - [Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I][Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II]) |
| Abstract: | Regarding changes in French and British labour market as in their educational system since the Eighties, one may address the evolution of their labour market segmentation. Is the predominance of Internal Labour Market in France and Occupational Labour Market in Great Britain (Eyraud, Marsden, Silvestre,1990) still relevant ? We propose a more complex segmentation of labour market with four segments based on tenure, labour mobility and their wage return to account for nowadays situation. Empirical investigations we carried out are based on national labour surveys (Enquête Emploi for France, LFS and GHS for Great Britain). In this paper we expose first investigations and explain which further methods we propose to use in order to characterise French and British labour market segmentation. |
| Keywords: | French labour market; British labour market; labour market segmentation; Internal Labour Market; Occupational Labour Market; United-Kingdom; France |
| Date: | 2006–06–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00082338_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Tuuli Juurikkala (Bank of Finland Institute for Economies in Transition); Olga Lazareva (CEFIR) |
| Abstract: | Just as in established market economies, many Russian firms provide non-wage benefits such as housing, medical care or day care to their employees. Interpreting this as a strategic choice of firms in an imperfect labor market, this paper examines unique survey data for 404 large and medium-size industrial establishments from 40 Russian regions. We find strong evidence that Russian industrial firms use social services to reduce the costs of labor turnover in the face of tight labor markets. The strongest effect is observed for blue-collar workers. We also find that the share of non-monetary compensation decreases with improved access to local social services. |
| Keywords: | Non-wage benefits, labor turnover, labor attachment, Russia |
| JEL: | J32 J33 J42 J63 M52 P31 |
| Date: | 2006–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfr:cefirw:w0062&r=lab |
| By: | Sándor Csengodi (Corvinus University of Budapest); Rolf Jungnickel (HWWA); Dieter Urban (Johannes Gutenberg - University Mainz) |
| Abstract: | This study discriminates FDI technology spillover from learning effects. Whenever learning takes time, our model predicts that foreign investors deduct the economic value of learning from wages of inexperienced workers and add it to experienced ones to prevent them from moving to local competitors. Hence, the national wage bill is unaffected by foreign takeovers. In contrast to learning, technology spillover effects occur whenever a worker with MNE experience contributes more to local firms’ than to MNEs’ productivity. In this case, experienced MNE workers are hired by local firms and the host country obtains a welfare gain. We investigate empirically wages, productivity, and worker turnover during the course of foreign takeovers on employee-employer matched data of Hungary and find evidence consistent with learning, but not with FDI technology spillovers. |
| Keywords: | FDI, foreign takeover, cross-border M&A, wage regression, employee-employer matched data, propensity score matching, FDI technology spillover |
| JEL: | F2 J3 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:208&r=lab |
| By: | Sari Pekkala |
| Abstract: | This survey presents findings from recent empirical studies on economic impacts of immigration with particular emphasis on European and Nordic countries. The survey consists of three parts. First, we look at the extent of immigration as an economic phenomenon in various host countries. The second part deals with the assimilation of immigrant workers in host country labor markets and the use of social benefits by immigrants. Third, the effect of immigration on natives? labor market outcomes is discussed. And finally, we survey studies on the impact of immigration on the host country public sector. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, assimilation, employment, unemployment, earnings, social benefits, welfare, labor market outcomes, public sector |
| JEL: | J61 J68 H53 J31 J23 |
| Date: | 2005–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:dpaper:362&r=lab |
| By: | Justin McCrary; Heather Royer |
| Abstract: | This paper uses age-at-school-entry policies to identify the effect of female education on fertility and infant health. We focus on sharp contrasts in schooling, fertility, and infant health between women born just before and after the school entry date. School entry policies affect female education and the quality of a woman’s mate and have generally small, but possibly heterogeneous, effects on fertility and infant health. We argue that school entry policies manipulate primarily the education of young women at risk of dropping out of school. |
| JEL: | C3 D1 I1 J2 |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12329&r=lab |
| By: | Aki Kangasharju; Sanna-Mari Hynninen; Jaakko Pehkonen |
| Abstract: | This study demonstrates that a stochastic frontier approach applied to regional level data offers a convenient and interesting method to examine how regional differences in matching efficiency and structural factors contribute to aggregate unemployment. The study reveals notable and temporally stable differences in matching efficiency across travel-to-work areas in Finland. If all areas were as efficient as the most efficient one, the number of hirings would increase by about 40 per cent. This would reduce the aggregate unemployment rate from the current 8.5 per cent level to 6.0 per cent. If all the areas shared the same structural characteristics as the most favourable area, the aggregate unemployment rate would drop to 7.1 per cent. |
| Keywords: | Efficiency, matching, aggregate unemployment, regional labour markets |
| Date: | 2006–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:dpaper:383&r=lab |
| By: | Heikki Räisänen |
| Abstract: | This study analyses the job-broking function of the Finnish Public Employment Service (PES). The empirical analysis is based on the Finnish job vacancy microdata in 2002 and 2003 including information on over 320,000 job vacancies each year. The open job vacancy period, the recruitment duration and various outcomes of the filling process are analysed mainly by applying logit regression estimations. As the duration of the recruitment process is of ultimate importance in taking into use the potential employment hidden into open job vacancies, the factors which have an effect on duration are analysed. Low risk for both long vacancy period and recruitment duration are found for job duration less than 3 months, filling the vacancy with PES job-seeker and using the job assignment. The effects of two alternative or additional policy methods, job assignments and job announcements are found consistent in all estimations: the more selective job assignment which may lead to sanctions for the job-seeker is much more effective when filling the vacancy with PES applicant than the job announcement of purely informative character, which seems to have little or no effect at all on the filling of vacancies. A policy conclusion is drawn to recommend cutting the excessive and costly use of announcements and to selectively increase the volume of assignments in cooperation with the employers. |
| Keywords: | job-broking, open vacancy duration, recruitment duration, vacancy filling, job assignment, job announcement |
| JEL: | J68 H41 |
| Date: | 2005–01–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:dpaper:352&r=lab |
| By: | Takis Venetoklis; Heikki Ervasti |
| Abstract: | In this paper we focus on the level of subjective well-being and its determinants among the unemployed as compared with those currently in paid labour. In theoretical terms, strongly contradictory views prevail on the effects of unemployment on subjective well-being. Whereas the traditional deprivation theory maintains that unemployment is a major psychological stressor, the incentive theory suggests that the level of well-being among the unemployed is far too high for them to actively and effectively search for a new job and to reenter the labour market. Using the European Social Survey (ESS) data our empirical analysis suggests that perhaps, neither of these theories are entirely correct. The deprivation theory points to the right direction by stressing the psychological factors associated with unemployment but makes a notable mistake by disregarding the economic factors which prove to be mot most crucial factor for the well-being of the unemployed. The incentive theory gets no support at all in our empirical analysis. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment, subjective well-being, deprivation theory, incentive theory |
| Date: | 2006–05–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:dpaper:391&r=lab |
| By: | Mark Doms; Ethan Lewis |
| Abstract: | The positive correlations found between computer use and human capital are often interpreted as evidence that the adoption of computers have raised the relative demand for skilled labor, the widely touted skill-biased technological change hypothesis. However, several models argue the skill- intensity of technology is endogenously determined by the relative supply of skilled labor. The authors use instruments for the supply of human capital coupled with a rich dataset on computer usage by businesses to show that the supply of human capital is an important determinant of the adoption of personal computers. Their results suggest that great caution must be exercised in placing economic interpretations on the correlations often found between technology and human capital. |
| Keywords: | Labor supply ; Computers |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:06-10&r=lab |