|
on Labour Economics |
| By: | Pavlopoulos, Dimitris (CEPS/INSTEAD and University of Leuven); Fouarge, Didier (Research Center for Education and the Labour Market (ROA)); Muffels, Ruud (Tilburg University, Department of Sociology); Vermunt, Jeroen K. (Tilburg University, Department of Methodology and Statistics) |
| Abstract: | Empirical studies have shown that voluntary job-to-job changes have a positive effect on wage mobility. In this paper, we suggest that the impact of a job change on wage growth depends on the position in the wage distribution. Using panel data from the UK and Germany, we investigate the effect of employer changes and within-firm job changes on year-to-year wage mobility. We show that a change of employer results into a wage increase for the low-paid workers but not for the high-paid workers. Within-firm job changes produce, on average, moderate wage gains for the low-paid workers in the UK, but have no effect in Germany. Results on 3-year wage mobility are shown to be very similar to the results on year-to-year wage growth. |
| Keywords: | low pay; high pay ; job mobility ; wage mobility |
| JEL: | J31 J62 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:iriswp:2007-16&r=lab |
| By: | Nikolaj Malchow-Møller (CEBR and University of Southern Denmark); Jakob Roland Munch (University of Copenhagen, CEBR and EPRU); Jan Rose Skaksen (Copenhagen Business School, CEBR and IZA) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we propose and test a novel effect of immigration on the wages of native workers. Existing studies have focused on the wage effects that result from changes in the aggregate labour supply in a competitive labour market. We argue that if labour markets are not fully competitive, the use of immigrants may also affect wage formation at the most disaggregate level - the workplace. Using linked employer-employee data, we find that an increased use of workers from less developed countries has a significantly negative effect on the wages of native workers at the workplace - also when controlling for potential endogeneity of the immigrant share using both fixed effects and IV. Additional evidence suggests that this effect works at least partly through a general effect on the wage norm in the firm of hiring employees with poor outside options (the immigrants). |
| Keywords: | immigration, firm-specific wages, outside options |
| JEL: | F22 J31 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3264&r=lab |
| By: | Philip Du Caju (National Bank of Belgium, Research Department); Catherine Fuss (National Bank of Belgium, Research Department; Université Libre de Bruxelles); Ladislav Wintr (National Bank of Belgium, Research Department) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the extent of downward nominal and real wage rigidity for different categories of workers and firms using the methodology recently developed by the International Wage Flexibility Project (Dickens and Goette, 2006). The analysis is based on an administrative data set on individual earnings, covering one-third of employees of the private sector in Belgium over the period 1990-2002. Our results show that Belgium is characterised by strong real wage rigidity and very low nominal wage rigidity, consistent with the Belgian wage formation system of full indexation. Real rigidity is stronger for white-collar workers than for blue-collar workers. Real rigidity decreases with age and wage level. Wage rigidity appears to be lower in firms experiencing downturns. Finally, smaller firms and firms with lower job quit rates appear to have more rigid wages. Our results are robust to alternative measures of rigidity |
| Keywords: | wage rigidity, matched employer-employee data. |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbb:reswpp:200712-21&r=lab |
| By: | Giovanni Sulis |
| Abstract: | In this paper I study gender wage differentials in Italy using first-order predictions of monopsony and search models. Using different empirical strategies, I provide estimates of the labour supply elasticity facing a single firm. Results indicate that firms can (third degree) wage discriminate because the elasticity of labour supply to the firm is lower for women, as postulated by the monopsony model. I also use the abolition of a wage indexation mechanism (Scala Mobile) as an experiment to test the predictions of monopsony against other models. By comparing correlations of changes in relative employment and relative wages of men and women before and after the reform, I find that relative employment of men responded positively to the exogenous wage increase in the relative wage differential. |
| Keywords: | Monopsony, Gender Wage Differentials, Elasticity of Labour Supply, Employer Size-Effect, Italy |
| JEL: | J31 J41 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:200713&r=lab |
| By: | Ingo Geishecker (University of Göttingen); Holger Görg (GEP, University of Nottingham, CEPR and IZA); Jakob Roland Munch (University of Copenhagen) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of outsourcing on individual wages in three European countries with markedly different labour market institutions: Germany, the UK and Denmark. To do so we use individual level data sets for the three countries and construct comparable measures of outsourcing at the industry level, distinguishing outsourcing by broad region. Estimating the same specification on different data show that there are some interesting differences in the effect of outsourcing across countries. We discuss some possible reasons for these differences based on labour market institutions. |
| Keywords: | international outsourcing, individual wages, labour market institutions |
| JEL: | F16 J31 C23 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3212&r=lab |
| By: | Dirk Engelmann (Royal Holloway, University of London); Dorothea Kübler (Technical University Berlin and IZA) |
| Abstract: | In order to address the impact of regulation on ethical concerns of consumers, we study the effect of a minimum wage. In our experimental market, consumers have monopsony power, firms engage in Bertrand competition, and workers are passive recipients of a wage payment. Two treatments are employed, one with no minimum wage in the first part but with a minimum wage in the second part, and one treatment with a minimum wage at the outset that is abolished in the second part. In both treatments, wages decrease over time in the first part even though some consumers show an interest in fair wages. If a minimum wage is in place, wages decline even faster. Introducing a minimum wage in a mature market raises average wages, while abolishing it lowers them. We discuss the implications of our results, such as the crowding out of ethical behavior through legal regulation. |
| Keywords: | fairness, crowding out, consumer behavior, minimum wage, experimental economics |
| JEL: | C91 J88 K31 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3266&r=lab |
| By: | Sumon Kumar Bhaumik (Brunel University, WDI and IZA); Manisha Chakrabarty (Indian Institute of Management and Keele University) |
| Abstract: | Few researchers have examined the nature and determinants of earnings differentials among religious groups, and none has been undertaken in the context of conflict-prone multireligious societies like the one in India. We address this lacuna in the literature by examining the differences in the average (log) earnings of Hindu and Muslim wage earners in India, during the 1987-2005 period. Our results indicate that education differences between Hindu and Muslim wage earners, especially differences in the proportion of wage earners with tertiary education, are largely responsible for the differences in the average (log) earnings of the two religious groups across the years. By contrast, differences in the returns to education do not explain the aforementioned difference in average (log) earnings. In conclusion, we discuss some policy implications. |
| Keywords: | earnings gap, education, decomposition, religion |
| JEL: | J31 J15 I28 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3232&r=lab |
| By: | Lawrence M. Kahn (Cornell University, CESifo and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Using European Community Household Panel data for nine countries for 1996-2001, I investigate the impact of reforms of employment protection systems on employment and on temporary jobs for wage and salary workers. Individual fixed effects models are estimated, with the inclusion of country-specific trends in the dependent variable, addressing the possibly changing labor force composition and the possible endogeneity of the reforms. A basic finding that is robust to all specifications and to the disaggregation of the sample by country is that policies making it easier to create temporary jobs raise the likelihood that wage and salary workers will be in temporary jobs. However, there is no evidence that such reforms raise employment, and in some countries, they appear to lower employment. Thus, these reforms appear rather to encourage a substitution of temporary for permanent work. Reforms of permanent employment protection mandates have small and insignificant effects on employment and temporary jobs on average. Moreover, when I disaggregate by country, such reforms appear more often to lower overall employment and to lower the share of employment in permanent jobs. These are likely to reflect short run impacts of such reforms, which make it easier for firms to discharge substandard workers. |
| Keywords: | employment protection, temporary jobs |
| JEL: | J21 J23 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3241&r=lab |
| By: | Jozef Konings |
| Abstract: | This paper uses longitudinal data of more than 13,000 firms to analyze the effects of on-the-job training on firm level productivity and wages. Workers receiving training are on average more productive than workers not receiving training. This makes firms more productive. On-the-job training increases firm level measured productivity between 1 and 2%, compared to firms that do not provide training. The effect of training on wages is also positive, but much lower than the effect on productivity. Average wages increase only by 0.5%. Sectoral spillovers between firms that train workers are found, but only in firms active in the manufacturing sector. In non-manufacturing no spillovers seem to take place. The results are consistent with recent theories that explain on-the-job training, related to imperfect competition in the labor market, such as monopsony and union bargaining. |
| Keywords: | on-the-job-training, productivity, firm level data, monopsony |
| JEL: | J01 J24 J42 M53 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:19708&r=lab |
| By: | Bart Hobijn; Aysegül Sahin |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of labor market rigidities and frictions on firm-size distributions and dynamics. We introduce a model of endogenous entrepreneurship, labor market frictions, and firm-size dynamics with many types of rigidities, such as hiring and firing costs, search frictions with vacancy costs, unemployment benefits, firm entry costs, and a tax wedge between wages and labor costs. We use the model to analyze how each rigidity explains firm-size differentials between the United States and France. We find that when we include all rigidities and frictions except hiring costs and search frictions, the model accounts for much of the firm-size differentials between the United States and France. The addition of search frictions with vacancy costs generates implausibly large differentials in firm-size distributions.> |
| Keywords: | Labor market ; Corporations - Finance ; Business enterprises - Finance ; Employment ; Unemployment |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednsr:311&r=lab |
| By: | Razzak, Weshah; Timmins, Jason |
| Abstract: | Qualification and occupation-based measures of skilled labour are constructed to explain the skill premium – the wage of skilled labour relative to unskilled labour in New Zealand. The data exhibit a more rapid growth in the supply of skilled labour than the skill premium, and a very large increase in the real minimum wage over the period from 1986 to 2005. We estimate the rate of increase in the relative demand for skills and the elasticity of substitution. The data are consistent with skill shortages and a skill-bias technical change. We examine the effects of the minimum wage, capital complementarity, and the exchange rate on the skill premium. We also test whether the demand for skills and the elasticity of substitution varied across industries and over time. |
| Keywords: | Skill-bias technical change; skill premium; the exchange rate |
| JEL: | J31 C23 O3 |
| Date: | 2007–02–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:1884&r=lab |
| By: | Kenneth Beauchemin; Murat Tasci |
| Abstract: | This paper constructs a multiple-shock version of the Mortensen-Pissarides labor market search model to investigate the basic model’s well-known tendency to under predict the volatility of key labor market variables. Data on U.S. job finding and job separation probabilities are used to help estimate the parameters of a three-dimensional shock process comprising labor productivity, job separation, and matching or ‘allocative’ efficiency. The authors show that the Mortensen-Pissarides labor market search model requires significantly procyclical and volatile job separations to simultaneously account for high procyclical variations in jobfinding probabilities as well as relatively small net employment changes. Hence, the model is more fundamentally flawed than its inability to amplify shocks would suggest. This leads the authors to conclude that the model lacks mechanisms to generate procyclical matching efficiency and labor force reallocation. As for the latter, the authors conjecture that nontrivial labor force participation and job-to-job transitions are promising avenues of research. |
| Keywords: | Labor market ; Business cycles |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwp:0720&r=lab |
| By: | Alberto Alesina (Harvard University); Andrea Ichino (University of Bologna and IZA); Loukas Karabarbounis (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | Gender Based Taxation (GBT) satisfies Ramsey’s optimal criterion by taxing less the more elastic labor supply of (married) women. This holds when different elasticities between men and women are taken as exogenous and primitive. But in this paper we also explore differences in gender elasticities which emerge endogenously in a model in which spouses bargain over the allocation of home duties. GBT changes spouses’ implicit bargaining power and induces a more balanced allocation of house work and working opportunities between males and females. Because of decreasing returns to specialization in home and market work, social welfare improves by taxing conditional on gender. When income sharing within the family is substantial, both spouses may gain from GBT. |
| Keywords: | optimal taxation, economics of gender, family economics, elasticity of labor supply |
| JEL: | D13 H21 J16 J20 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3233&r=lab |
| By: | Sílvio Rendon (Stony Brook University and IZA); Alfredo Cuecuecha (ITAM) |
| Abstract: | It is argued that migration from Mexico to the US and its corresponding return migration are determined by international wage differentials and preferences for origin. We use a model of job search, savings and migration to show that job turnover is a crucial determinant of the migration process. We estimate this model by Simulated Method of Moments (SMM) and find that migration practically disappears if Mexico has American arrival rates while employed. Doubling migration costs reduces migration rates in half, while subsidizing return migration in $300 reduces migration rates of older migrants but increases migration rates of younger migrants. |
| Keywords: | international migration, job search, job turnover, savings, structural estimation |
| JEL: | F22 J64 E20 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3219&r=lab |
| By: | Douglas J. Krupka (IZA) |
| Abstract: | Persistent productivity gains to rural-urban migrants have been documented by a number of researchers. One interpretation of this result is that individuals learn higher value skills in cities than they would have learned in less dense areas. Another explanation for this result, however, is that thicker urban labor markets allow for better matches, which are realized slowly through a process of subsequent job searches. Surprisingly, there has been no empirical test of these two interpretations to this date. This paper uses NLSY79 geocode data to assess whether wage growth of urban workers is due primarily to time spent in the urban environment (and thus learning), or job changes. The evidence suggests that both these processes are probably at work. |
| Keywords: | productivity, agglomeration economies, urban wage premium, matching, learning |
| JEL: | R11 R23 J24 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3230&r=lab |
| By: | Jürgen Maurer (MEA, University of Mannheim); Roger Klein (Rutgers University); Francis Vella (Georgetown University and IZA) |
| Abstract: | We use panel data from the US Health and Retirement Study 1992-2002 to estimate the effect of self-assessed health limitations on active labor market participation of men around retirement age. Self-assessments of health and functioning typically introduce an endogeneity bias when studying the effects of health on labor market participation. This results from justification bias, reflecting an individual’s tendency to provide answers which "justify" his labor market activity, and individual-specific heterogeneity in providing subjective evaluations. We address both concerns. We propose a semiparametric binary choice procedure which incorporates potentially nonadditive correlated individual-specific effects. Our estimation strategy identifies and estimates the average partial effects of health and functioning on labor market participation. The results indicate that poor health and functioning play a major role in the labor market exit decisions of older men. |
| Keywords: | health, retirement, nonadditive correlated effects, semiparametric estimation |
| JEL: | I10 J10 J26 C14 C30 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3257&r=lab |
| By: | Henrietta Lake (IZA (Research Affiliate)) |
| Abstract: | What are the performance benefits of investing in human resources in a low-cost labor environment where returns to such investment are widely perceived as negligible? This paper presents a matched pair case study on the performance effect of human resource management systems at two garment factories manufacturing for export in India. They make the same product for the same buyer with the same local pool of labor. One factory views its workforce as a variable cost to be minimized, limits training, prefers strict hierarchy and job definitions. It relies on a range of factors including the offer of overtime and a lack of available alternatives to workers for retention. The other factory, which is located almost next door and pays the same basic wage, focuses on skills development, opportunities for promotion and encouraging employee participation. Employee turnover at the first factory is almost three times greater than that of the second, its absenteeism one third higher, while its product quality is 2.6 times lower and its production efficiency over 28 percent lower. This study demonstrates that even in a low-wage environment, HRM and work organization have a tangible and independent impact on performance. |
| Keywords: | human resource management, labor productivity, labor standards, India, garments |
| JEL: | J24 J8 O15 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3227&r=lab |
| By: | Hartmut Lehmann (DARRT, University of Bologna, CERT, Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, DIW Berlin and IZA); Norberto Pignatti (DARRT, University of Bologna and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Research on informal employment in transition countries has been very limited because of a lack of appropriate data. A new rich panel data set from Ukraine, the Ukrainian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (ULMS), enables us to provide some empirical evidence on informal employment in Ukraine and the validity of the three schools of thought in the literature on the role of informality in the development process. Apart from providing additional evidence with richer data than usually available in developing countries, the paper investigates to what extent the informal sector plays a role in labor market adjustment in a transition economy. The evidence points to some labor market segmentation since the majority of informal salaried employees are involuntarily employed and workers seem to queue for formal salaried jobs. We also show that the dependent informal sector is segmented into a voluntary "upper tier" and an involuntary lower part where the majority of informal jobs are located. Our contention that informal self-employment is voluntary is confirmed by the substantial earnings premia associated with movements into this state. |
| Keywords: | labor market segmentation, transition economies, Ukraine |
| JEL: | J31 J40 P23 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3269&r=lab |
| By: | Randall K. Q. Akee (IZA) |
| Abstract: | Existing research examining the self-selection of immigrants suffers from a lack of information on the immigrants’ labor force activities in the home country, quotas limiting who is allowed to enter the destination country, and non-economic factors such as internal civil strife in the home country. Using a novel data set from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), I analyze a migration flow to the U.S. that suffers from none of these problems. I find that high-skilled workers (relative to the home country skill distribution) are the most likely to migrate from the FSM to the U.S. and that their behavior is explained mainly by the difference in average wages for their skill group. This finding suggests that previous immigration studies have overemphasized the role played by differences in the distributions of countries’ wages and skills. Including information on the immigrants’ characteristics prior to migration is central to my analysis, which highlights the importance of datasets that contain both home and destination country data on immigrants. Given the home country information, I use weather shocks to predict the probability of outmigration, which overcome the usual endogeneity problems in determining self-selection of immigrants. Second, I conduct nearest neighbor matching for immigrants prior to their leaving the home country using home country wages as the outcome variable to determine the nature of selection on unobservable characteristics. |
| Keywords: | immigration, developing country, self-selection |
| JEL: | O15 J31 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3268&r=lab |
| By: | Theodore Palivos (Department of Economics, University of Macedonia) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the welfare effect of illegal immigration on the host country within a dynamic general equilibrium framework and shows that it is positive for two reasons. First, immigrants are paid less than their marginal product and second, following an increase in immigration, domestic households find it optimal to increase their holdings of capital. It is also shown that dynamic inefficiency may arise, despite the fact that the model is of the Ramsey type. Nevertheless, the introduction of a minimum wage, which leads to job competition between domestic unskilled workers and immigrants reverses all of the above results. |
| Keywords: | Economic Growth, Illegal Immigration |
| JEL: | F2 O4 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcd:mcddps:2007_01&r=lab |
| By: | Fischer, Justina AV (Dept. of Economic Statistics, Stockholm School of Economics); Sousa-Poza, Alfonso (University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the relationship between job satisfaction and measures of health of workers using the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP). Methodologically, it addresses two important design problems encountered frequently in the literature: (a) cross-sectional causality problems and (b) absence of objective measures of physical health that complement self-reported measures of health status. Not only does using the panel structure with individual fixed effects mitigate the bias from omitting unobservable personal psycho-social characteristics, but employing more objective health measures such as health-system contacts and disability addresses such measurement problems relating to self-report assessments of health status. <p> We find a positive link between job satisfaction (and changes over time therein) and subjective health measures (and changes therein); that is, employees with higher or improved job satisfaction levels feel healthier and are more satisfied with their health. This observation also holds true for more objective measures of health. Particularly, improvements in job satisfaction over time appear to prevent workers from (further) health deterioration. |
| Keywords: | job satisfaction; well-being; health; panel data analysis |
| JEL: | I18 I19 J28 |
| Date: | 2007–09–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:hastef:0687&r=lab |
| By: | Marc Gurgand (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales - Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris); David Margolis (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a representative sample of individuals on France's main welfare program (the Revenu Minimum d'Insertion, or RMI) to estimate monetary incentives for employment among welfare recipients. Based on the estimated joint distribution of wages and hours potentially offered to each individual, we compute potential gains from working in a very detailed<br />manner. Relating these gains to observed employment, we then estimate a simple structural labor supply model. We find that potential gains are almost always positive but very small on average, especially for single mothers,<br />because of the high implicit marginal tax rates embedded in the system. Employment rates are sensitive to incentives with extensive margin elasticities<br />for both men and women usually below one. Conditional on these elasticities, simulations indicate that existing policies devoted to reducing marginal tax rates at the bottom of the income distribution, such as the intéressement earnings top-up program, have little impact in this population due to their very limited scope. The recently introduced negative income tax (Prime pour l'emploi), seems to be an exception. |
| Keywords: | Welfare; labor earnings; transfers, tax-system |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00202299_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Julie Moschion (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | Between 1962 and 2005, whereas the activity rate of French men decreased, the activity rate of French women increased from 45,8% to 63,8%. However, women's activity rate remains correlated with the number of children : women with the lowest number of children are also the ones with the highest participation rate in the labour market. To what extent having an additional child reduces the mother's probability to participate in the labour market ? The link between fertility and mothers' participation decisions is complex because they have joint determinants, and influence each other. Hard then to say a priori if the choice of working or not is the cause or the consequence of the decision of having a certain number of children. As Angrist and Evans (1998), we use a source of exogenous and random variation of fertility to measure the causal effect of fertility on French mothers' labour supply. As in the United States, we find that the probability of having a third child is higher among parents with same sex siblings, and that in this case, mothers' participation in the labour market is reduced. Because sex mix is randomly assigned and because it has an effect on participation only through its impact on the probability of having a third child, we produce instrumental variable estimates of the effect of having more than two children on mothers' participation in the labour market. We find that having more than two children reduces significantly the mothers' participation proobability and the hours worked per week. These results are confirmed by the use of twin second birth as the exogenous fertility shock. Also, our results indicate that having more than two children especially affects the labour supply of less graduated mothers but has no effect on fathers' labour supply. |
| Keywords: | Fertility, mothers' labour supply. |
| JEL: | J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:v07074&r=lab |
| By: | Matthias Doepke (University of California, Los Angeles, CEPR, NBER and IZA); Moshe Hazan (Hebrew University and CEPR); Yishay D. Maoz (University of Haifa) |
| Abstract: | We argue that one major cause of the U.S. postwar baby boom was the increased demand for female labor during World War II. We develop a quantitative dynamic general equilibrium model with endogenous fertility and female labor-force participation decisions. We use the model to assess the long-term implications of a one-time demand shock for female labor, such as the one experienced by American women during wartime mobilization. For the war generation, the shock leads to a persistent increase in female labor supply due to the accumulation of work experience. In contrast, younger women who turn adult after the war face increased labor-market competition, which impels them to exit the labor market and start having children earlier. In our calibrated model, this general-equilibrium effect generates a substantial baby boom followed by a baby bust, as well as patterns for age-specific laborforce participation and fertility rates that are consistent with U.S. data. |
| Keywords: | fertility, baby boom, World War II, female labor-force participation |
| JEL: | D58 E24 J13 J20 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3253&r=lab |
| By: | Bruno Crépon (CREST-INSEE, CEPR and IZA); Marc Ferracci (Université Marne-la-Vallée and CREST-INSEE); Denis Fougère (CNRS, CREST-INSEE, CEPR and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Econometric evaluations of public-sponsored training programmes generally find little evidence of an impact of such policies on transition rates out of unemployment. We perform the first evaluation of training effects for the unemployed adults in France, exploiting a unique longitudinal dataset from the unemployment insurance system. Using the so-called timing-ofevents methodology to control for both observed and unobserved heterogeneity, we find that training does not accelerate the exit from unemployment, but has a significant and positive effect on the duration of the subsequent employment spell. Accounting for training duration, we find that longer training spells cause longer unemployment spells, but also longer employment spells, suggesting that training improves the matching process between jobseekers and firms. |
| Keywords: | training programmes, unemployment duration, multiple spells, unobserved heterogeneity |
| JEL: | J24 J41 J58 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3215&r=lab |
| By: | Randall K. Q. Akee (IZA); David A. Jaeger (College of William and Mary, University of Bonn and IZA); Konstantinos Tatsiramos (IZA) |
| Abstract: | Using recently-available data from the New Immigrant Survey, we find that previous selfemployment experience in an immigrant’s country of origin is an important determinant of their self-employment status in the U.S., increasing the probability of being self-employed by about 7 percent. Our results improve on the previous literature by measuring home-country self-employment directly rather than relying on proxy measures. We find little evidence to suggest that home-country self-employment has a significant effect on U.S. wages in either paid employment or self employment. |
| Keywords: | self-employment, entrepreneurship, New Immigrant Survey |
| JEL: | J61 J21 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3250&r=lab |
| By: | Krishna Patel (Georgetown University); Francis Vella (Georgetown University and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper employs United States Census data to study the occupational allocation of immigrants. The data reveal that the occupational shares of various ethnic groups have grown drastically in regional labor markets over the period 1980 to 2000. We examine the extent to which this growth can be attributed to network effects. That is, we examine the relationship between the occupational choice decision of recently arrived immigrants with those of established immigrants from the same country. We also consider the earnings implications of these immigrant networks for recent arrivals. The empirical evidence strongly suggests the operation of networks in the immigrant labor market. First, we find evidence that new arrivals are locating in the same occupations as their countrymen. Moreover, this location decision is operating at the level of regional labor markets. Second, we find that individuals who locate in the "popular" occupations of their countrymen enjoy a large and positive effect on their hourly wage and their level of weekly earnings. |
| Keywords: | network effects, immigrants, occupational choice, earnings |
| JEL: | J24 J3 J61 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3217&r=lab |
| By: | Almas Heshmati (University of Kurdistan Hawler, HIEPR and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This study is a descriptive analysis of the labor market conditions in Iraqi Federal Kurdistan Region. It explores a number of integrated factors that covariate and determine the level and patterns of the labor market outcomes in the region. In the first step, each of the determinants of unemployment is described and establishes their causal and directions of possible effects. In the second step, the characteristic of the current labor market policy is investigated. Finally, after providing knowledge about the nature of (un)employment and current policy measures, a number policy measures are proposed to reduce the rate of unemployment or to reduce the negative effects of unemployment and to promote skills, capability and development potential. |
| Keywords: | employment, mismatch, government policy, skills, wages, public sector, Kurdistan |
| JEL: | E24 I28 J24 J31 J45 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3247&r=lab |
| By: | James C. Rockey |
| Abstract: | This paper asks if and how constitutions affect labour market outcomes. This question is motivated by Rodrik (1999), who suggests that 'democracies pay higher wages' and Persson and Tabellini (2003) who provide evidence that constitutions impact on economic outcomes. An empirical analysis using treatment effect estimators and Bayesian Model Averaging provides robust causal evidence that presidential democracies are associated with lower wages, after controlling for other potential determinants such as the level of income per capita. |
| Keywords: | Democracy, Constitutions, Wages, Factor Shares, Bayesian Model Averaging |
| JEL: | P16 J31 C11 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:uobdis:07/600&r=lab |
| By: | Rob Euwals (CPB, Netspar and IZA); Marike Knoef (Tilburg University, Netspar and CentERdata); Daniel van Vuuren (CPB and Netspar) |
| Abstract: | During the 1980s and 1990s, the Netherlands experienced a strong increase in the labour force participation of women. This study investigates the increase of participation over the successive generations of women, and produces an educated guess for future participation. For this purpose, we estimate a binary age-period-cohort model for the generations born between 1925 and 1986, using data from the Dutch Labour Force Survey 1992-2004. The results indicate that the increasing level of education, the diminishing negative effect of children, and unobserved cohort effects have played an important role. According to our estimates, the increase in unobserved cohort effects has stopped since the generation born in 1955. This result is in line with results of studies on social norms and attitudes towards the combination of female employment and family responsibilities, which show a similar pattern over the successive generations. We observe that future participation growth importantly depends on the evolvement of attitudes towards the combination of paid work and children. We have therefore constructed two alternative future scenarios, the first with constant norms with respect to this factor, and the second with a further evolvement. It is estimated that the remaining growth will compensate for about one third of the structural fiscal deficit caused by population ageing in the Netherlands. |
| Keywords: | female labour force participation, age-period-cohort-analysis, future development |
| JEL: | J11 J21 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3225&r=lab |
| By: | Ulf Rinne (IZA and Free University of Berlin); Marc Schneider (IZA and Free University of Berlin); Arne Uhlendorff (IZA and DIW DC) |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the treatment effects of public training programs for the unemployed in Germany. Based on propensity score matching methods we extend the picture that has been sketched in previous studies by estimating treatment effects of medium-term programs for different sub-groups with respect to vocational education and age. Our results indicate that program participation has a positive impact on employment probabilities for all sub-groups. Participants also seem to find more often higher paid jobs than non-participants. However, we find only little evidence for the presence of heterogeneous treatment effects, and the magnitude of the differences is quite small. Our results are thus - at least in part - conflicting with the strategy to increasingly provide training to individuals with better employment prospects. |
| Keywords: | program evaluation, active labor market policy, effect heterogeneity, public training programs, matching |
| JEL: | J64 J68 H43 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3240&r=lab |
| By: | Erkki Koskela (University of Helsinki and IZA); Mikko Puhakka (University of Oulu) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the stability and dynamics of an overlapping generations model with imperfectly competitive labour markets. By focusing on the right-to-manage wage bargaining we assume that wage is negotiated after the capital stock decision. With Cobb-Douglas utility and production functions the steady state is unique and the steady state capital stock depends positively both on the trade union’s bargaining power and on the wage elasticity of labour demand. That elasticity depends either on lower decreasing returns to scale and/or more intensive product market competition. Finally, we show that the steady state equilibrium is a saddle. |
| Keywords: | overlapping generations economy, capital accumulation, flexible wage negotiation, stability and dynamics |
| JEL: | J51 C62 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3246&r=lab |
| By: | Ruth Uwaifo Oyelere (Georgia Institute of Technology and IZA) |
| Abstract: | There is data evidence that welfare has improved post democracy in Nigeria. However, the distribution or concentration of the benefits in subgroups of the population is unknown. In this paper, the question of differential welfare impacts, across and within gender, post democracy in Nigeria is explored. I make use of simple econometric tools to test two null hypotheses. First, there is no disparity in the income and returns to education benefits of the shift to democracy across gender in Nigeria. Second, there are no within gender disparities of the shift to democracy on income and returns to education in Nigeria. From the results, both null hypotheses are rejected. Though men and women benefited from reforms post democracy, gender differences exist. Specifically, I find on average higher income benefits for men post democracy. Nigeria. However, disparities in income benefits are at lower levels of education. Men and women have similar income benefits at the tertiary level. Interestingly, I find the reverse when considering returns to education. On average, women experienced a greater change in returns to education post democracy in Nigeria but this disparity is primarily at the tertiary level. I also find inequality has increased post democracy in Nigeria, more so among women than men. |
| Keywords: | gender, democracy, income gap, disparities, returns to education, Nigeria, inequality |
| JEL: | O15 P00 J16 D63 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3221&r=lab |
| By: | Hedberg, Charlotta (Stockholm University Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS) |
| Abstract: | International migrants often achieve subordinate positions in the labour market or are left outside it. On the basis of unique, longitudinal data, this article investigates the socio-economic mobility of the foreign-born adult population in two Swedish cities, 1993–2002. Patterns of entrance, exit and exclusion from the labour market are compared between foreign- and native-born populations, focussing on variations between ‘distressed’ neighbourhoods and surrounding city regions. The results reveal that the foreign-born population experiences high labour turnover, generally with increasing employment stability, but that considerable vulnerability remains. However, surprisingly small differences were found between residents of ‘distressed’ and other neighbourhoods. Consequently, ethnic rather than residential status influenced the employment situation of foreign-born adults in Swedish cities. |
| Keywords: | Labour mobility; Segregation; Foreign Born; Life course; Sweden |
| JEL: | J15 J61 J63 R12 |
| Date: | 2008–01–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sulcis:2008_001&r=lab |
| By: | Marco Caliendo (IZA and IAB); Alexander S. Kritikos (Hanseatic University Rostock, GfA and IAB) |
| Abstract: | Fostering and supporting start-up businesses by unemployed persons has become an increasingly important issue in many European countries. These new ventures are being supported by various governmental programs. Potential benefits include not only the end of unemployment for the new entrepreneur but also some further positive effects, e.g., direct job creation. However, it is often feared that the previously unemployed lack the basic qualifications to become entrepreneurs. Empirical evidence on skill-composition, direct job creation and other key variables is rather scarce, largely because of inadequate data availability. We base our analysis on a unique and very informative survey data containing a representative sample of over 3,100 start-ups founded by unemployed persons in Germany. Individuals were subsidized under two different schemes, and we are able to draw on extensive pre- and post-founding information concerning the characteristics of the business (start-up capital, industry, etc.) and of the business founders (education, motivation, preparation, etc.). We find that formerly unemployed founders are motivated by push and pull factors. Using a proportional hazard duration model with unobserved heterogeneity allows us to analyze the characteristics which drive success of the businesses. While survival rates 2.5 years after business founding are quite high (around 70%) for both programs and genders, the characteristics of the newly developed businesses are heterogeneous. |
| Keywords: | start-up subsidies, self-employment, unemployment, direct employment effects, survival |
| JEL: | J68 M13 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3220&r=lab |
| By: | Chandra Bhadra (Tribhuvan University, Nepal) |
| Abstract: | The general objective of the study is to assess the impact of Women Migrant Workers’ (WMWs) remittance in poverty reduction. The specific objectives are to investigate the financial aspect, to explore the human factors, and to examine WMWs’ perception and preferences of the State’s policy. |
| Keywords: | International, Labor, Migration, Napalese, women, Impact, remittances, Poverty, reduction |
| JEL: | F1 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esc:wpaper:4407&r=lab |
| By: | Randall K. Q. Akee (IZA) |
| Abstract: | I report the measurement error in self-reported earnings for a developing country. Administrative data from the Federated States of Micronesia’s (FSM) Social Security office are matched to the FSM Census data for the wage sector employed. I find that the error in annual self-reported earnings is centered on zero but less efficient than results from the US. Additionally the error is not classical in nature - I find evidence for mean reversion in the data. Using previous annual earnings history contained in the FSM Social Security data, I construct accurate measures of past deviations of administratively recorded earnings to identify the impact of transitory income on current reporting of earnings. Prior earnings volatility is an important determinant of the error in earnings for the current period. However, the effect of prior shocks diminish significantly over time - suggesting that information on transitory income shocks will be helpful in evaluating the usefulness of self-reported earnings measures in applied work. Finally, I use information on an exogenous and transitory shock to FSM household incomes (typhoons) to correct for errors in self-reported earnings. I find that the coefficients from these corrected regressions approach those that use administrative data on earnings in a consumption regression. |
| Keywords: | measurement error, earnings, instrumental variables, transitory income |
| JEL: | C80 D01 O15 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3263&r=lab |
| By: | Rao, Surekha; O'Dell, CYnthia |
| Abstract: | Wal-Mart symbolizes the strength of economic and commercial activity in any region. Wal-Mart has built a business empire on its low-cost model. Customers love Wal-Mart stores for its low prices. At the same time, Wal-Mart is under a barrage of criticism for labor practices and indirect burdens on our social and welfare programs. Some of the business practices of Wal-Mart like the employees’ wage-benefits package, and the underemployment of women and minorities are the subject of ongoing debate at the national level. Our main objective is to review this issue within a regional context. We examined whether what is being alleged about the business practices of Wal-Mart at the national level is mirrored at the regional level, like northwest Indiana. The findings presented are from a survey designed to analyze the impact of the business practices of Wal-Mart on customers and employees. Our results concur with earlier national studies that there are hidden costs for the community which shops and supports Wal-Mart and that a large number of employees are older, work part time, earn below the regional average income, and depend on state welfare programs. We found gender differences in employment, earnings, and career advancement opportunities. The price of low cost goods may be too high for the region economy and it will likely affect women more than men. |
| Keywords: | discrimination; gender; cost; benefits |
| JEL: | A1 J28 J70 M21 |
| Date: | 2007–06–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:6628&r=lab |
| By: | Julie Moschion (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | In France, having more than two children has a causal negative impact on mothers' labour supply. The question addressed in this paper is whether some family policies alter this effect. The idea is that by improving the conditions of the conciliation between family life and professional life, family policies could reduce the negative impact of having more than two children on mothers' participation. Conversely, some family policies could increase this effect by inciting mothers to have an entry-exit strategy on the labour market according to the different periods of their lives, rather than to reconcile family and professional ressponsibilities. To address this issue, we focus on two different types of family policy : the paid parental leave and the supply of child care for young kids. To measure the effect of these family policies, we have spotted temporal or spatial changes that modify the conditions in which individual decisions are taken. Firstly, we show that after the July 1994 extension of the Allocation parentale d'éducation to parents of two children (among which one is less than three years old), that is when families of two and more than two children have the same incentive to take a paid parental leave, having more than two children has no longer a negative effect on the participation probability of mothers. In addition, this is particularly true for young women having no more than the school-leaving certificate, which happen to be the main beneficiaires of the benefit. Secondly, using the heterogeneity in the geographical distribution of two-years-old in pre-elementary public schools, we find that supplying mothers of two years old children with developed child care modifies the effect of fertility on mothers' labour supply and seems to help mothers to better conciliate family and professional life but our estimates are less convincing. |
| Keywords: | Fertility, women's participation in the labour market, family policies. |
| JEL: | J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:v07073&r=lab |
| By: | Zhong Zhao (IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the evolution of earnings inequality in urban China from 1989 to 2006. After decomposing the variance of log of earnings into transitory and permanent two parts, we find that both components are important contributors to the total variance of earnings. We also find that the share of the transitory part has been decreasing from early 1990 to 2004; however, this decreasing trend is reversed from 2004 to 2006. Compared female to male, though these two populations share similar trends in the changes of transitory and permanent components, changes are more pronounced for female than for male. Our results suggest that the time-invariant part and time related part in permanent earnings are negatively correlated. This implies converge of earnings profile in long run and also implies that there is more mobility within the distribution of long-term earnings. |
| Keywords: | earnings inequality, covariance structure of earnings, China |
| JEL: | D31 O15 J31 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3270&r=lab |
| By: | Guillermina Jasso (New York University and IZA); Eva M. Meyersson Milgrom (Stanford University) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a framework for studying individuals’ ideas about what constitutes just compensation for chief executive officers (CEOs) and reports estimates of just CEO pay and the principles guiding ideas of justice. The sample consists of students pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in Sweden and the United States. The framework, based on justice theory and making use of Rossi’s factorial survey method, enables assessment of ideas of fairness in CEO compensation, including (1) the just CEO compensation, in the eyes of each observer; (2) the principles of microjustice - observers’ ideas about "who should get what" based on characteristics of CEOs and their firms; and (3) principles of macrojustice - ideas about the just level and dispersion in compensation across all CEOs. Our estimates yield the following main results: First, there is broad agreement on the median just CEO compensation but substantial inter-individual variation in the principles of microjustice and the other principles of macrojustice. Second, there is remarkable similarity in the distributions of the principles of microjustice and macrojustice across the MBA groups. Other important results include a pervasive gender attentiveness among MBA students and tolerance for large variability in CEO pay. |
| Keywords: | justice theory, fairness, CEO compensation, factorial survey method, MBA students, gender, inequality, Gini coefficient, Atkinson measure, Theil’s inequality measures |
| JEL: | D31 D6 D8 G30 I3 J16 J31 J33 M14 M52 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3236&r=lab |
| By: | Frédéric Docquier (FNRS, IRES, Catholic University of Louvain, World Bank and IZA); B. Lindsay Lowell (ISIM, Georgetown University); Abdeslam Marfouk (Free University of Brussels) |
| Abstract: | This paper updates and extends the Docquier-Marfouk data set on international migration by educational attainment. We use new sources, homogenize definitions of what a migrant is, and compute gender-disaggregated indicators of the brain drain. Emigration stocks and rates are provided by level of schooling and gender for 195 source countries in 1990 and 2000. Our data set can be used to capture the recent trend in women’s brain drain and to analyze its causes and consequences for developing countries. We show that women represent an increasing share of the OECD immigration stock and exhibit relatively higher rates of brain drain than men. The gender gap in skilled migration is strongly correlated with the gender gap in educational attainment at origin. Equating women’s and men’s access to education would probably reduce gender differences in the brain drain. |
| Keywords: | brain drain, gender, human capital, migration |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3235&r=lab |
| By: | Etienne Dumont (Université Laval and CIRPÉE); Bernard Fortin (Université Laval and CIRPÉE); Nicolas Jacquemet (University of Paris 1, CES and PSE); Bruce Shearer (Université Laval, CIRPÉE and IZA) |
| Abstract: | We analyse how physicians respond to contractual changes and incentives within a multitasking environment. In 1999 the Quebec government (Canada) introduced an optional mixed compensation system, combining a fixed per diem with a discounted (relative to the traditional fee-for-service system) fee for services provided. We combine panel survey and administrative data on Quebec physicians to evaluate the impact of this change in incentives on their practice choices. We highlight the differentiated impact of incentives on various dimensions of physician behaviour by considering a wide range of labour supply variables: time spent on seeing patients, time devoted to teaching, administrative tasks or research, as well as the volume of clinical services and average time per clinical service. Our results show that, on average, the reform induced physicians who changed from FFS to MC to reduce their volume of (billable) services by 6.15% and to reduce their hours of work spent on seeing patients by 2.57%. Their average time spent per service increased by 3.58%, suggesting a potential quality-quantity substitution. Also the reform induced these physicians to increase their time spent on teaching and administrative duties (tasks not remunerated under the feefor- service system) by 7.9%. |
| Keywords: | physician payment mechanisms, multitasking, mixed-payment systems, incentive contracts, labour supply, self-selection, panel estimation |
| JEL: | I10 J22 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3229&r=lab |
| By: | Razzak, Weshah; Timmins, Jason |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effect of four types of education qualifications, as a proxy for human capital and skill levels, on GDP per capita, and compute the average percentage returns. We also test the effect of the product of each proxy of human capital with R&D on GDP per capita. We find that only university qualification and its product with R&D to have a positive effect on the average economy-wide productivity. |
| Keywords: | Labour productivity; education qualification; R&D |
| JEL: | D20 J08 C23 |
| Date: | 2007–02–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:1880&r=lab |
| By: | Giuseppe Bertola (University of Turin); Daniele Checchi (University of Milan and IZA); Veruska Oppedisano (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | We discuss how a schooling system’s structure may imply that private school enrolment leads to worse subsequent performance in further education or in the labour market, and we seek evidence of such phenomena in Italian data. If students differ not only in terms of their families’ ability to pay but also in terms of their own ability to take advantage of educational opportunities ("talent" for short), theory predicts that private schools attract a worse pool of students when publicly funded schools are better suited to foster progress by more talented students. We analyze empirically three surveys of Italian secondary school graduates, interviewed 3 year after graduation. In these data, the impact of observable talent proxies on educational and labour market outcomes is indeed more positive for students who (endogenously) choose to attend public schools than for those who choose to pay for private education. |
| Keywords: | private schooling, talent |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3222&r=lab |
| By: | Himanshu Sekhar, Rout; Prasant Kumar , Panda |
| Abstract: | Achieving Gender parity has become a great concern for the world today. It is considered as a part of development strategy in many countries. When all people- both men and women have equal access to services and resources, enjoy equal rights, and get equal opportunity to develop capabilities without any bias or preferences , then the development of the country would be faster. It strengthens countries' abilities to grow, to reduce poverty, and to govern effectively. Despite considerable efforts in advocacy, creation of awareness, different strategies and programmes, Gender discrimination remains pervasive in many dimensions of life-worldwide. Though the nature and magnitude of the discrimination vary from country to country, in no part of the world gender parity is completely achieved in legal, social and economic fronts. Gender gaps are widespread in access to and control of resources, in economic opportunities, in power, and political voice. Women are still exploited, discriminated, and subject to harassment and violence. Again in the current years the focus has been changed from women empowerment to gender development. The former is a mean but not all for gender parity. In this perspective an edited volume covering the various dimensions and strategies of gender development is highly imperative. Rural women are mainly employed in agriculture-its allied activities and agro-based enterprises. There exists a glaring gender bias in terms of ownership , nature of works assigned, wages payment ,freedom in choice of work. Though the women contribute a significant proportion of agricultural production, they are discriminated, ill-paid and their role is largely neglected. There is a need for an appropriate legal-institutional frame work, change of societal attitude, and supported mechanization of agriculture on the need of lessening drudgery activities and work-stress for women, in reducing gender disparity in agriculture sector and sustainable development. Similarly the women, nearly half of the total population, are lagging behind in access to the existing health care and educational opportunities in the country. A proper level of awareness and conducive environment need to be developed for this. Promotion of health, education and an appropriate level of awareness will largely contribute to women development and facilitate them to enjoy their right. More over provision of employment and economic empowerment of women can be considered as one of the important dimensions of gender development. Formation of Self Help Group among poor women those are unable to access market individually, on their own capacity and provision of micro credit financing to them are great support and help them to start income generating micro enterprises and get rid of poverty. This not only helps to empower women but also provides them economic and social justice. This is an initiative to address these issues and draw the attention of the policy makers and planners. |
| Keywords: | Women in Development; Gender and Development |
| JEL: | A3 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:6559&r=lab |