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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Brücker, Herbert (University of Bamberg); Jahn, Elke J. (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we examine the labor market effects of migration in Germany on basis of a wage-setting curve. The wage-setting curve relies on the assumption that wages respond to a change in the un- employment rate, albeit imperfectly. This allows one to derive the wage and employment effects of migration simultaneously in a gen- eral equilibrium framework. Using administrative micro data we find that the elasticity of the wage-setting curve is particularly high for young workers and workers with an university degree, while it is low for older workers and workers with a vocational degree. The wage and employment effects of migration are moderate: a 1 percent increase in the German labor force through immigration increases the aggregate unemployment rate by less than 0.1 percentage points and reduces average wages by 0.1 percent in the short run. While native workers benefit from increased wages and lower unemployment, foreign work- ers are adversely affected. |
| Keywords: | Migration; wage-setting curve; labor markets; panel data |
| JEL: | F22 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2008–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2008_004&r=lab |
| By: | Pedro S. Martins |
| Abstract: | If a random firm were to increase its wages, would that decrease the firm’s churning (“excessive” worker reallocation)? Although the trade-off between wage and churning costs has received attention in both the labour and HRM literatures, there seems to be no evidence about the causal impact of wages upon churning. This paper seeks to fill that gap by considering detailed Portuguese matched employer-employee panel data and different identification methods. After presenting comprehensive evidence about job and worker flows and churning, we find that even models based on within-firm time differences do still generate the negative association between wages and turnover found in most research. However, that result no longer holds when we consider instrumental variables based on minimum wages determined by collective bargaining arrangements. One possible interpretation of our finding is that workers’ effort may not be sufficiently sensitive to wages: employers may replace workers priced out of the labour market with more skilled individuals, so that churning does not fall. |
| Keywords: | Worker Turnover, Endogeneity, Personnel Economics, Efficiency Wages |
| JEL: | J31 J50 J63 M50 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgs:wpaper:13&r=lab |
| By: | Andreas Georgiadis |
| Abstract: | We exploit a natural experiment provided by the 1990 introduction of the UK National Minimum Wage (NMW) to investigate the relationship between wages and monitoring and to test for Efficiency Wages considerations in a low-wage sector, the UK residential care homes industry. Our findings seem to support the wage-supervision trade-off prediction of the shirking model, and that employers didn't dissipate minimum wage rents by increasing work intensity or effort requirements on the job. Estimation results suggest that higher wage costs were more than offset by lower monitoring costs, and thus the overall evidence imply that the NMW may have operated as an Efficiency Wage. These findings support Efficiency Wage models used to explain a non-negative employment effect of the Minimum Wage and provide an explanation of recent evidence from the care homes sector that although the wage structure was heavily affected by the NMW introduction, there were moderate employment effects. |
| Keywords: | Efficiency Wages, National Minimum Wage, Wage-supervision trade-off |
| JEL: | J31 J38 J41 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0857&r=lab |
| By: | Jahn, Elke J. (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business); Wagner, Thomas (University of Applied Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a hedonic model of job security (JS). Workers with heterogeneous JS-preferences pay the hedonic price for JS to employers, who incur labor-hoarding costs from supplying JS. In contrast to the Wage-Bill Argument, equilibrium unemployment is strictly positive, as workers with weak JS-preferences trade JS for higher wages. The relation between optimal job insecurity and the perceived dismissal probability is hump-shaped. If firms observe demand, but workers do not, separation is not contractible and firms dismiss workers at-will. Although the workers are risk-averse, they respond to the one-sided private information by trading wage-risk for a higher JS. With two-sided private information, even JS-neutral workers pay the price for a JS guarantee, if their risk premium associated with the wage-replacement risk is larger than the social net loss from production. |
| Keywords: | job security; hedonic market; implicit contract theory; guaranteed employment contract; severance pay contract; asymmetric information; prudence |
| JEL: | D86 J41 J65 K31 |
| Date: | 2008–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2008_006&r=lab |
| By: | Pia M. Orrenius; Madeline Zavodny |
| Abstract: | This study examines how minimum wage laws affect the employment and earnings of low-skilled immigrants and natives in the U.S. Minimum wage increases might have larger effects among low-skilled immigrants than among natives because, on average, immigrants earn less than natives due to lower levels of education, limited English skills, and less social capital. Results based on data from the Current Population Survey for the years 1994?2005 do not indicate that minimum wages have adverse employment effects among adult immigrants or natives who did not complete high school. However, low-skilled immigrants may have been discouraged from settling in states that set wage floors substantially above the federal minimum. |
| Keywords: | Immigrants ; Minimum wage ; Human capital ; Education ; Wages ; Employment |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:feddwp:0805&r=lab |
| By: | Blázquez Cuesta, Maite (Departamento de Análisis Económico (Teoría e Historia Económica). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.); Ramos, Jose (Universidad Europea de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | General education and training are major forces determining earnings. According to the human capital model, wage differentials among individuals over the life-cycle are largely the result of different patterns of investment in human capital. This paper is intended to analyze the effects of recent investments in human capital – general education, vocational/training or language courses - on workers’ relative earnings and on the probability of making an upwards transition in the earnings distribution. The analysis is done for Spain, using the European Community Household Panel (1995-2001). Our results reveal that having been recently in education or training (mainly vocational/training courses) significantly increases the probability of escaping from low pay to better paid jobs, while decreases the risk of falling into low-wage employment. Furthermore, this positive effect is significantly higher among those workers with a third level of general education completed. A separate analysis for females also reveals these positive returns of recent investments in human capital relative earnings, although in this case they appear to be none statistically significant. |
| Keywords: | Education; on-the-job training; low pay; bivariate probit |
| JEL: | C33 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uam:wpaper:200803&r=lab |
| By: | Sylvie Démurger (GATE, University of Lyon, CNRS, ENS-LSH, Centre Léon Bérard, France); Marc Gurgand (Paris School of Economics and Crest,France); Li Shi (School of Economics and Business, Beijing Normal University, China); Yu Ximing (School of Finance,Renmin University of China, Beijing, China) |
| Abstract: | In urban China, urban resident annual earnings are 1.3 times larger than long term rural migrant earnings as observed in a nationally representative sample in 2002. Using microsimulation, we decompose this difference into four sources, with particular attention to path dependence and statistical distribution of the estimated effects: (1) different allocation to sectors that pay different wages (sectoral effect); (2) hourly wage disparities across the two populations within sectors (wage effect); (3) different working times within sectors (hours effect); (4) different population structures (population effect). Although sector allocation is extremely contrasted, with very few migrants in the public sector and very few urban residents working as self-employed, the sectoral effect is not robust to the path followed for the decomposition. We show that the migrant population has a comparative advantage in the private sector: increasing its participation into the public sector does not necessarily improve its average earnings. The opposite holds for the urban residents. The second main finding is that population effect is significantly more important than wage or hours effects. This implies that the main source of disparity is pre-market (education opportunities) rather than on-market. |
| Keywords: | chinese labor market, discrimination, earnings differentials, migration |
| JEL: | J31 J71 O15 P23 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:0808&r=lab |
| By: | Carole Brunet (GATE, University of Lyon, CNRS, ENS-LSH, Centre Léon Bérard, France); Nathalie Havet (GATE, University of Lyon, CNRS, ENS-LSH, Centre Léon Bérard, France) |
| Abstract: | Homeownership and job downgrading : our empirical study stems from previous research on the effects of residential status on microeconomic labour market outcomes. It focuses on employees and assesses the a priori ambiguous impact of homeownership on downgrading. We use the French data set of the 1995-2001 European Household Panel Survey to build a statistical measure of wage downgrading and a subjective measure of overeducation. We estimate a recursive bivariate probit that simultaneously models the residential status choice and its impact on the probability to be in a downgraded/overeducated job. Our results show that homeowners are, ceteris paribus, more wage downgraded and overeducated than renters. Consequently, homeownership could be a source of mismatch between workers and jobs on the labour market. |
| Keywords: | job matching, overeducation, residential status, wage downgrading |
| JEL: | C35 J4 R21 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:0807&r=lab |
| By: | Buonanno, Paolo (Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche); Pozzoli, Dario (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at estimating early labour market outcomes of Italian university graduates across college subjects. We devote great attention to endogenous selection issues using alternative methods to control for potential self-selection associated with the choice of the degree subject in order to unravel the causal link between college major and subsequent outcomes in the labour market. Our results suggest that “quantitative” fields (i.e. Sciences, Engineering and Economics) increase not only the speed of transition into the first job and employment probability but also early earnings, conditional on employment. |
| Keywords: | University to work transition; College subject; Self-selection; Returns to education |
| JEL: | C34 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2008_010&r=lab |
| By: | Bolvig, Iben (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | Low-wage jobs in Denmark are characterized by short durations and a relatively high mobility to higher wage positions, but also to unemployment. This fact might to some extent be attributed to the generous Danish UI system. The theoretical prediction for this relation is twofold. First, a generous UI system will increase reservation wages and thereby increase the effective minimum wage. This will exclude the least productive individuals from employment and thereby increase the lowest skill level among employed individuals. Hence, the Danish low-wage earners will tend to be better qualified and their duration as low-wage earners will therefore tend to be shorter. Second, the generous benefit system will allow the unemployed person to wait for better jobs, and likewise, force the employing firms to provide jobs with better prospects. By exploiting several tightening of the Danish UI system during the late nineties, these hypotheses are tested by analysing low-wage durations following an unemployment-spell using hazard models allowing for correlation between low wage duration and previous unemployment spells. Results show that being eligible for UIB does indeed increase the transition out of low wage, both to higher wage jobs and returning to unemployment. At the same time approaching passive benefit exhaustion initially increases the likelihood of moving to low-wage employment and subsequently increases the likelihood of returning to unemployment after a spell of low wage. Moreover it decreases mobility to subsequent higher wage employment. Hence, decreasing the passive period seems to have a positive effect on the employment rate, but the jobs accepted seem to be of lower quality, i.e. with higher return rates and lower upward wage mobility. |
| Keywords: | No; keywords |
| JEL: | J31 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2008–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2008_011&r=lab |
| By: | Ross, Stephen L.; Zenou, Yves |
| Abstract: | Recent theoretical work has examined the spatial distribution of unemployment using the efficiency wage model as the mechanism by which unemployment arises in the urban economy. This paper extends the standard efficiency wage model in order to allow for behavioural substitution between leisure time at home and effort at work. In equilibrium, residing at a location with a long commute affects the time available for leisure at home and therefore affects the trade-off between effort at work and risk of unemployment. This model implies an empirical relationship between expected commutes and labour market outcomes, which is tested using the Public Use Microdata sample of the 2000 U.S. Decennial Census. The empirical results suggest that efficiency wages operate primarily for blue collar workers, i.e. workers who tend to be in occupations that face higher levels of supervision. For this subset of workers, longer commutes imply higher levels of unemployment and higher wages, which are both consistent with shirking and leisure being substitutable. |
| Keywords: | Efficiency wage; Leisure; Urban unemployment |
| JEL: | J41 R14 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6841&r=lab |
| By: | Javier Ortega; Laurence Rioux |
| Abstract: | A dynamic labor matching economy is presented, in which the unemployed are either entitled tounemployment insurance (UI) or unemployment assistance (UA), and the employees are eithereligible for UI or UA upon future separations. Eligibility for UI requires a minimum duration ofcontributions and UI benefits are then paid for a limited duration. Workers are risk-averse and wagesare determined in a bilateral Nash bargain. As eligibility for UI does not automatically follow fromemployment, the two types of unemployed workers have different threat points, which deliversequilibrium wage dispersion. Most of the variables and parameters of the model are estimated usingthe French sample of the European Community Household Panel (1994-2000). We show thatextending the UI entitlement improves the situation of all groups of workers and slightly lowersunemployment, while raising UI benefits harms the unemployed on assistance and raisesunemployment. Easier eligibility fo r UI also improves the situation of all groups of workers andfavors relatively more the least well-off than longer entitlement. The re-entitlement effect in Francelowers by 10% the rise in the wage and by 13% the rise in unemployment following a 10% increase inbenefit levels. |
| Keywords: | re-entitlement effects, unemployment compensation, matching |
| JEL: | J41 J65 |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0846&r=lab |
| By: | Niko Matouschek; P Ramezzana; Frédéric Robert-Nicoud |
| Abstract: | We endogenize separation in a search model of the labor market and allow for bargaining over the continuation of employment relationships following productivity shocks to take place under asymmetric information. In such a setting separation may occur even if continuation of the employment relationship is privately efficient for workers and firms. We show that reductions in the cost of separation, owing for example to a reduction in firing taxes, lead to an increase in job instability and, when separation costs are initially high, may be welfare decreasing for workers and firms. We furthermore show that, in response to an exogenous reduction in firing taxes, workers and firms may switch from rigid to flexible employment contracts, which further amplifies the increase in job instability caused by policy reform. |
| Keywords: | search, bargaining, asymmetric information, labor market reform |
| JEL: | J41 D82 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0865&r=lab |
| By: | Schleife, Katrin |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically analyzes the relationship between firm-provided IT training and the firm’s proportion of older workers. Using data from the ZEW ICT survey of the years 2004 and 2007, the results show that a firm’s IT intensity plays a crucial role: firms intensively using information technologies employ a significantly smaller proportion of older workers than firms that are less IT-intensive. However, higher participation rates of older workers in IT training are related to a larger proportion of older workers within firms. It turns out that this effect is of particular importance in firms that intensively use IT. |
| Keywords: | older workers, IT training, information technologies |
| JEL: | J14 J21 J24 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7230&r=lab |
| By: | Emma Hall; Carol Propper; John Van Reenen |
| Abstract: | Labor market regulation can have harmful unintended consequences. In many markets, especially for publicsector workers, pay is regulated to be the same for individuals across heterogeneous geographical labor markets.We would predict that this will mean labor supply problems and potential falls in the quality of serviceprovision in areas with stronger labor markets. In this paper we exploit panel data from the population ofEnglish acute hospitals where pay for medical staff is almost flat across the country. We predict that areas withhigher outside wages should suffer from problems of recruiting, retaining and motivating high quality workersand this should harm hospital performance. We construct hospital-level panel data on both quality - as measuredby death rates (within hospital deaths within thirty days of emergency admission for acute myocardialinfarction, AMI) - and productivity. We present evidence that stronger local labor markets significantly worsenhospital outcomes in terms of quality and productivity. A 10% increase in the outside wage is associated with a4% to 8% increase in AMI death rates. We find that an important part of this effect operates through hospitals inhigh outside wage areas having to rely more on temporary "agency staff" as they are unable to increase(regulated) wages in order to attract permanent employees. By contrast, we find no systematic role for an effectof outside wages of performance when we run placebo experiments in 42 other service sectors (includingnursing homes) where pay is unregulated. |
| Keywords: | labor market regulation, hospital quality, hospital productivity, skills |
| JEL: | J45 F12 I18 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0843&r=lab |
| By: | Richard Freeman |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the large cross-country differences in labor institutions that make thema candidate explanatory factor for the divergent economic performance of countries andreviews what economists have learned about the effects of these institutions on economicoutcomes. It identifies three ways in which institutions affect economic performance: byaltering incentives, by facilitating efficient bargaining, and by increasing information,communication, and trust. The evidence shows that labor institutions reduce the dispersion ofearnings and income inequality, which alters incentives, but finds equivocal effects on otheraggregate outcomes, such as employment and unemployment. Given weaknesses in the crosscountrydata on which most studies focus, the paper argues for increased use of micro-data,simulations, and experiments to illuminate how labor institutions operate and affectoutcomes. |
| Keywords: | labour market, unemployment |
| JEL: | J01 |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0844&r=lab |
| By: | Bernd Fitzenberger; Karsten Kohn; Alexander C. Lembcke |
| Abstract: | Collective bargaining in Germany takes place either at the industry level or at the firm level; collective bargaining coverage is much higher than union density; and not all employees in a covered firm are necessarily covered. This institutional setup suggests to distinguish explicitly union power as measured by net union density (NUD) in a labor market segment, coverage at the firm level, and coverage at the individual level. Using linked employer-employee data and applying quantile regressions, this is the first empirical paper which simultaneously analyzes these three dimensions of union influence on the structure of wages. Ceteris paribus, a higher share of employees in a firm covered by industry-wide or firm-level contracts is associated with higher wages. Yet, individual bargaining coverage in a covered firm shows a negative impact both on the wage level and on wage dispersion. A higher union density reinforces the effects of coverage, but the effect of union density is negative at all points in the wage distribution for uncovered employees. In line with an insurance motive, higher union density compresses the wage structure and, at the same time, it is associated with a uniform leftward movement of the distribution for uncovered employees. |
| Keywords: | union density, collective bargaining coverage, wage structure, quantile regression, linked employer-employee data, Structure of Earnings Survey 2001, Germany |
| JEL: | J31 J51 J52 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0859&r=lab |
| By: | Barbara Petrongolo; Christopher A. Pissarides |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study the contribution of inflows and outflows to the dynamics of unemployment in three European countries, the United Kingdom, France and Spain. We compare performance in these three countries making use of both administrative and labor force survey data. We find that the impact of the 1980s reforms in Britain is evident in the contributions of the inflow and outflow rates. The inflow rate became a bigger contributor after the mid 1980s, although its significance subsided again in the late 1990s and 2000s. In France the dynamics of unemployment are driven virtually entirely by the outflow rate, which is consistent with a regime with strict employment protection legislation. In Spain, however, both rates contribute significantly to the dynamics, very likely as a consequence of the prominence of fixed-term contracts since the late 1980s. |
| Keywords: | unemployment dynamics, job finding rates, job separation rates |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J6 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0853&r=lab |
| By: | Lokshin, Boris (UNU-MERIT); Mohnen, Pierre (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of the Dutch R&D tax incentives program, known as WBSO, on the wages of R&D workers. In our model these wages are partly determined by the governments WBSO tax disbursements. We construct detailed firm- and time specific R&D tax credit rates as a function of the R&D tax incentives scheme to capture the wage effects of the government R&D support. An instrumentalvariables econometric model is estimated using an unbalanced firm-level panel data covering the period 1996-2004. After controlling for firm and industry effects and business cycle fluctuations, R&D tax incentives are found to increase R&D wages. The R&D wage effect of these incentives is smaller than their effect on real R&D investment, but it is still sizeable. The elasticity of the R&D wage with respect to the fraction of the wage supported by the WBSO scheme is estimated at 0.1. |
| Keywords: | price effect of tax incentives, tax credits, panel data model, R&D workers, wages |
| JEL: | O32 O38 H25 J30 C23 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2008034&r=lab |
| By: | Herbert Emery; Cara L. Brown |
| Abstract: | Using Statistics Canada’s 2001 Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) we examine the impact of disability on the annual earnings and labour force participation of Canadian men and women. Our estimates show large earnings penalties associated with disability ranging from 21 percent for mild disabilities to over 50 percent for very severe disabilities. We also find that disability is associated with a 30 percentage point reduction in labour force participation Our estimates of the impact of disability are comparable to other studies for more severe disability but our estimates of the impact of milder disabilities are substantially and significantly larger. This difference likely reflects improvements in the PALS design over previous Canadian surveys in accurately identifying mild disability versus non-disability. It is also a possibility that over the economic expansion of the 1990s, disabled individuals in the Canadian labour market fell behind their able bodied counterparts |
| Date: | 2008–01–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clg:wpaper:2008-26&r=lab |
| By: | Krasniqi, Mikra |
| Abstract: | This paper compares the traditional neoclassical economic perspective with the recent empirical findings regarding minimum wage effect on employment. The comparison is done by reviewing and analyzing relevant literature and data that have recorded, over time, the changing attitudes toward the issue since the Great Depression era. By taking this approach, the argument is made that in the face of recent scientific findings and empirical research studies, the neoclassical argument that minimum wage laws have a negative effect on employment is gradually losing its appeal among scholars as well as practitioners. As a result, a new public debate is taking place on the issue, which in turn, has begun to have a transformative impact in the policymaking of minimum wage at the state and federal levels. |
| Keywords: | Minimum Wage Laws;Labor Economics; |
| JEL: | E24 |
| Date: | 2007–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8896&r=lab |
| By: | Liliane Bonnal (CRIEF - centre de Recherche sur l'Intégration Economique et Financière - Université de Poitiers); Jean-François Giret (CEREQ - Centre d'études et de recherches sur les qualifications - Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche - ministère de l'Emploi, cohésion sociale et logement, IREDU - Institut de recherche sur l'éducation : Sociologie et Economie de l'Education - CNRS : UMR5225 - Université de Bourgogne) |
| Abstract: | The recruitment of young PhD graduates in the academic sector is linked to a strong uncertainty on their potential teaching and research productivity. When giving tenure<br />to a PhD graduate, employers -universities or research institutions in France- attempt to reduce the asymmetric information on the research abilities of the applicant. However, because of the nature of the scientific work and the way it is rewarded, it is difficult to assess<br />the absolute value of much of the work of PhD graduates in the short term. So, in order to recruit the best PhD graduates for permanent jobs, public employers select from the signals sent by the applicant in their curriculum vitae. Our paper analyses the factors affecting the<br />access duration to a permanent job in the French academic sector. We focus on a sample of 1400 individuals who obtained their PhDs in 2001 and were interviewed in 2004. A discrete time model is used to analyse the main factors influencing the access duration. In order to assess the effect of a post-doctoral position on the academic job search, our empirical approach involves estimation of models that simultaneously explain the access duration to a permanent job and post-doc participation. Our main results indicate that the scientific publications and the sources of financial supports obtained during the PhD have an influence<br />on the access duration to a permanent job, which is coherent with the idea that potentials employers use this information as a proxy of research and teaching abilities. In addition, our results provide consistent support for the hypothesis that a post-doc position may be useful to move up in the job queue for permanent positions in France. |
| Keywords: | France ; PhD ; Academic sector ; Labour market entrance ; Post-doc |
| Date: | 2008–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00283733_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Pozzoli, Dario (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the hazard of rst job for Italian graduates. The anal- ysis is in particular focused on the transition from university to work, taking into account the graduates' characteristics and the eects relating to degree subject. It is used a large data set from a survey on job opportunities for the 1998 Italian graduates. The paper employs a non parametric discrete-time single risk models to study employment hazard. Alternative mixing distributions have also been used to account for unobserved heterogeneity. The results obtained indicate that there is evidence of positive duration dependence after a short initial period of negative duration dependence. In addition, competing risk model with unob- served heterogeneity and non parametric baseline hazard have been estimated to characterize transitions out of unemployment. |
| Keywords: | discrete time survival model; unobserved heterogeneity; competing risk model |
| JEL: | C41 C50 J64 |
| Date: | 2008–04–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2008_008&r=lab |
| By: | Raquel Fonseca; Lise Patureau |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the sources of business cycle comovement within the New Open Economy Macroeconomy framework. It sheds new light on the business cycle comovement issue by examining the role of cross-country divergence in labor market institutions. The authors first document stylized facts supporting that heterogeneous labor market institutions are associated with lower cross-country GDP correlations among OECD countries. They then investigate this fact within a two-country dynamic general equilibrium model with frictions on the good and labor markets. On the good-market side, they model monopolistic competition and nominal price rigidity. Labor market frictions are introduced through a matching function ˆ la Mortensen and Pissarides (1999). Their conclusions disclose that heterogenous labor market institutions amplify the crosscountry GDP differential in response to aggregate shocks. In quantitative terms, they contribute to reduce cross-country output correlation, when the model is subject to real and/or monetary shocks. Their overall results show that taking into account labor market heterogeneity improves their understanding of the quantity puzzle. |
| Keywords: | International business cycle, labor market institutions, wage bargaining |
| JEL: | E24 E32 F41 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ran:wpaper:562&r=lab |
| By: | D Blanchflower; Alex Bryson |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the demise of unionisation in British private sectorworkplaces over the last quarter century. We show that dramatic union decline hasoccurred across all types of workplace. Although the union wage premium persistsit is quite small in 2004. Negative union effects on employment growth andfinancial performance are largely confined to the 1980s. Managerial perceptions ofthe climate of relations between managers and workers has deteriorated since theearly 1980s across the whole private sector, whether the workplace is unionised ornot. |
| Keywords: | trade unions, employment growth, financial performance, industrialrelations |
| JEL: | J51 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0864&r=lab |
| By: | Burcu Eyigungor |
| Abstract: | In a reasonably calibrated Mortensen and Pissarides matching model, shocks to average labor productivity can account for only a small portion of the fluctuations in unemployment and vacancies (Shimer (2005a)). In this paper, the author argues that if vintage specific shocks rather than aggregate productivity shocks are the driving force of fluctuations, the model does a better job of accounting for the data. She adds heterogeneity in jobs (matches) with respect to the time the job is created in the form of different embodied technology levels. The author also introduces specific capital that, once adapted for a match, has less value in another match. In the quantitative analysis, she shows that shocks to different vintages of entrants are able to account for fluctuations in unemployment and vacancies and that, in this environment, specific capital is important to decreasing the volatility of the destruction rate of existing matches. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:08-6&r=lab |
| By: | Dohmen, Thomas J; Lehmann, Hartmut; Schaffer, Mark E |
| Abstract: | We use a rich personnel data set from a Russian firm for the years 1997 to 2002 to analyze how the financial crisis in 1998 and the resulting change in external labour market conditions affect the wages and the welfare of workers inside a firm. We provide evidence that large shocks to external conditions affect the firm’s personnel policies, and show that the burden of the shock is not evenly spread across the workforce. The firm takes advantage of a high-inflationary environment and of a fall in workers’ outside options after the financial crisis and cuts real wages. Earnings are curbed most for those who earned the highest rents, resulting in a strong compression of real wages. The fact that real wages and real compensation levels never recovered to pre-crisis levels even though the firm’s financial situation was better in 2002 than before the crisis and the differential treatment of employee groups within the firm can be taken as evidence that market forces strongly influence the wage policies of our firm. |
| Keywords: | firm-level wage setting; Internal labour markets; personnel data; Russia |
| JEL: | J23 J31 P23 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6845&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas Lange (University of Konstanz, ifo Institute for Economic Research Munich & University of Paderborn) |
| Abstract: | The interregional mobility of high skilled workers might induce an underinvestment in local public higher education when sub-federal entities independently decide on education expenditures to maximize local output. This well-known result is due to interregional spillovers and provides a justification for coordinated education policy or rather a federal intervention. However, things might change completely when taking into account the interregional mobility of students. Now, local education expenditures not only affect labor migration (through wage differentials) but also student migration flows. The model in this paper then shows that local output maximization does not necessarily imply underprovision of higher education, since regions now have an incentive to attract students as future human capital. The stay rates of graduates in equilibrium and the sensitivity of wages to migration are key determinants of local policy. Furthermore, results depend on local government objectives or rather the weighting of natives relative to foreigners. Therefore, the paper also considers natives’ preferred local policy. |
| Keywords: | higher education, student mobility, labor mobility, local public finance |
| JEL: | I22 J61 H77 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pdn:wpaper:11&r=lab |
| By: | Alex Bryson; Harald Dale-Olsen |
| Abstract: | Using linked private sector employer-employee panel data for Britain and Norway weexplore the effects of unionization on workplace closure and employment growth over theperiod 1997-2004. Unions prolonged the life of low-wage workplaces in Britain, whereasNorwegian unions increased (reduced) closure hazards in high (low) waged workplaces.Contrary to earlier studies, unions had no effect on workplace growth in Britain. In Norway,union workplaces experienced 4 percent per annum lower growth. However, the estimation ofa dynamic panel data model for Norway indicates positive long-term causal effects of uniondensity on employment. |
| Keywords: | Unions, closure, employment growth, comparative, system-GMM |
| JEL: | J51 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0867&r=lab |
| By: | Jonathan Wadsworth; Augustin de Coulon |
| Abstract: | While most studies of the decision to immigrate focus on the absolute income differencesbetween countries, we argue that relative change in purchasing power or status, as capturedby an individual's ranking in the wage distribution, may also be important. This will in turnbe influenced by differential levels of supply, demand and migration costs across the skilldistribution and across countries. Using data on Indian immigrants in the United States andthe UK matched to comparable data on individuals who remained in India, we show that theaverage Indian immigrant will experience a fall in their relative ranking in the wagedistribution compared to the position they would have achieved had they remained in theorigin country. The fall in relative rankings is larger for immigrants to the UK than to theUS, and largest of all for those with intermediate skills. |
| Keywords: | immigration, wages, relative ranking |
| JEL: | J31 J61 J68 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0851&r=lab |
| By: | Andrew Sharpe, Jean-François Arsenault and Simon Lapointe |
| Abstract: | The apprenticeship system is generally associated with the construction industry. However, the manufacturing industry actually employs a greater amount of persons in apprenticeable occupations than construction. With the rise in value of the Canadian dollar and increased international competition from developing countries, manufacturing industries must increasingly invest in the skills of their workers. Apprenticeship training is often viewed as a possible solution to this challenge. The objective of this report is to discuss issues related to skilled labour shortages and to apprenticeship in manufacturing. The report finds that in recent years the manufacturing sector has suffered from low output and employment growth. In contrast with these findings, the manufacturing sector is reporting increasing shortages of skilled labour. These conflicting indicators suggest that skills shortages in the manufacturing sector are a result of a strong overall labour market rather than dependent on sector specific developments. Growing skills shortages underline the importance for the manufacturing to train and retain employees despite the poor market conditions prevailing in the sector. In this context, apprenticeship programs are highly relevant to the manufacturing sector as 14 per cent of its workforce is in apprenticeable occupations. However, strong growth in the number of apprentices in manufacturing has not been followed by a commensurate increase in the number of completions. Much needs to be done if the apprenticeship system is to significantly foster the international competitiveness of the Canadian manufacturing sector through the development of a highly skilled workforce. |
| Keywords: | Apprenticeship, Apprenticeship completion rates, Trades, Canadian manufacturing developments, Manufacturing apprenticeships, Skilled labour shortage, Government policy, Labour Market Information (LMI) |
| JEL: | J21 J24 J48 L16 M51 M53 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sls:resrep:0802&r=lab |
| By: | Dillon, Andrew |
| Abstract: | "This paper investigates children's time allocation to schooling, home production, and market production using a unique data set collected from northern Mali. Production shocks from harvest period pest infestations induce households to withdraw children from school and increase the probability that they are selected into farm work. Health shocks to women increases the probability that a child participates in the family business and childcare activities. These results are robust to varying assumptions about the structure of unobserved heterogeneity at the household and village levels. Different measures of household assets are also constructed to test whether assets serve as a buffer against increased child labor in response to shocks. Assets such as livestock have mixed effects on child labor and schooling, depending on the shock and asset type. However, household durables are substitutes for increased child labor when households face health shocks." from Author's Abstract |
| Keywords: | Child labor, Production shocks, Health shocks, Labor substitution effects, Schooling, Education, Gender, Women, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:755&r=lab |
| By: | Eichhorst, Werner (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Feil, Michael (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Braun, Christoph |
| Abstract: | "Over the last decade, both the availability of quantitative indicators on labor market institutions and of studies trying to explain differences in national labor market performance through institutional variables have burgeoned significantly. It is now time to review these indicators and the empirical findings. Therefore, this paper has a threefold objective: first, we provide an overview of the aggregate indicators of core labor market institutions such as employment protection, the generosity of the benefit system, active labor market policies, taxation and collective bargaining. We assess the reliability of selected indicators. Second, we review the most relevant macro-econometric studies that made use of these indicators in order to explain diverging patterns of national employment performance. Third, and finally, this paper draws some preliminary conclusions regarding the further development of aggregate indicators and possible directions for future empirical research." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Arbeitsmarktpolitik, institutionelle Faktoren, Arbeitsmarktindikatoren, Kündigungsschutz, Arbeitslosenversicherung, Arbeitslosenunterstützung, Leistungshöhe, arbeitsmarktpolitische Maßnahme, Tarifverhandlungen, Steuerpolitik, Reliabilität, Arbeitsmarktforschung, empirische Forschung, Arbeitsmarktentwicklung - internationaler Vergleich, Arbeitslosenquote, OECD |
| JEL: | J60 J68 J21 |
| Date: | 2008–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:200822&r=lab |
| By: | Jordan D. Matsudaira; Rebecca M. Blank |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of changes in earnings disregards for welfare assistance received by single mothers following welfare reform in 1996. Some states adopted much higher earnings disregards (women could work full time and still receive welfare), while other states did not. We explore the effect of these changes on women's labor supply and income using several data sources and multiple estimation strategies. Our results indicate these changes had little effect on labor supply or income. We show this is because few women used these earnings disregards. This is surprising and we discuss why this might occur. |
| JEL: | H53 I38 J22 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14038&r=lab |
| By: | James P Smith (Visiting Professor of Economics, University College Dublin + The RAND Corporation) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines impacts of childhood health on SES outcomes observed during adulthood- levels and trajectories of education, family income, household wealth, individual earnings and labor supply. The analysis is conducted using data that collects these SES measures in a panel who were originally children and who are now well into their adult years. Since all siblings are in the panel, one can control for unmeasured family and neighborhood background effects. With the exception of education, poor childhood health has a quantitatively large effect on all these outcomes. Moreover, these estimated effects are larger when unobserved family effects are controlled. |
| JEL: | I10 J00 |
| Date: | 2008–04–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:200814&r=lab |
| By: | Blázquez Cuesta, Maite (Departamento de Análisis Económico (Teoría e Historia Económica). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.); Llano, Carlos (Departamento de Análisis Económico (Teoría e Historia Económica). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.); Moral Carcedo, Julian (Departamento de Análisis Económico: Teoría e Historia Económica. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | Studying the relation between workers’ nationality and their commuting time has been of paramount importance in countries with high immigration rates and ethnical heterogeneity. Most of these studies focus on the spatial mismatch of racial minorities, and consider urban and social structures of the countries/cities where this segregation phenomenon may occur.Currently, immigration is one of the main challenges of the Spanish society. Foreign residents in Madrid region increased 639 % between 1996 and 2004. In this paper we explore the connection between commuting time, residential location and worker’s nationality using an ordered logit model. Our findings reveal that immigrants from ‘transition economies’ and ‘third world’ countries are significantly more likely to suffer higher commuting times compared to natives. These differences can be explained by both housing and labour market restrictions due to discrimination. This commuting penalty is in line with the spatial mismatch hypothesis and residential segregation. |
| Keywords: | Commuting flows; Immigration; Spatial mismatch; Labour mobility |
| JEL: | R15 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uam:wpaper:200805&r=lab |
| By: | Nobuaki Yamashita; Kyoji Fukao |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the hypothesis that expansion of overseas operations of Japanese manufacturing multinational enterprises (MNEs) reduces home employment. While the existing studies are mainly based on the industry level, this paper presents the evidence using newly constructed firm-level panel data set over the period 1991-2002. In spite of concerns expressed about the adverse effects of FDI on the domestic economy, the evidence does not support the view that overseas operations expand at the cost of home employment in Japan. On the contrary, the findings suggest that overseas operations have somewhat helped to maintaining the level of home employment in Japanese manufacturing during the period under study. However, the results are sensitive to the estimation method used and whether the estimation is based on the panel data set is balanced or unbalanced. |
| Keywords: | Multinational Enterprises, FDI, Labour demand, hollowing out of manufacturing, Japan |
| JEL: | F14 F16 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hst:hstdps:d08-251&r=lab |
| By: | Jean Bourdon (IREDU - Institut de recherche sur l'éducation : Sociologie et Economie de l'Education - CNRS : UMR5225 - Université de Bourgogne); Claire Bonnard (IREDU - Institut de recherche sur l'éducation : Sociologie et Economie de l'Education - CNRS : UMR5225 - Université de Bourgogne); Jean-Jacques Paul (IREDU - Institut de recherche sur l'éducation : Sociologie et Economie de l'Education - CNRS : UMR5225 - Université de Bourgogne) |
| Abstract: | At the beginning of the 1990s, Beltramo, Bourdon and Paul presented a report for the French Commissariat au Plan on the prospect for the labour market for scientists, and other papers, which showed earnings differences between engineering graduates performing tasks in R&D or not (the first ones receiving 7% less than the others, other parameters taken into consideration). The objective of this paper is to assess to what extent, 15 years later, these results, which indicated lower earnings for researchers, is still valid. <br />The data used in this study is similar to that in our former work. The data is generated from the survey launched each year (each two years until 2002) by the CNISF (Conseil National des Ingénieurs et des Scientifiques de France) amongst the engineering graduates, whatever their age and experience. Usually, around 40,000 engineers answer the questionnaire. In this paper, we used the data from the survey conducted in 2006 and we consider only engineers working in companies. Those employed by public administrations, universities or public research are not taken into account. Weights have been used to correct for the representation of the different schools and the different ages in the sample. <br />In the first part of the study, earnings of engineers working in R&D will be compared with those of the other engineers. Using regression models, personal attributes will be considered (gender, degree, etc.). Specific attention will be devoted to differences in experience. The levels of responsibility which are implied by different types of activities will then be taken into consideration. <br />In the last part of the paper, the satisfaction of engineers involved in R&D and other activities will be scrutinised. |
| Keywords: | France ; R&D ; Graduates ; Labour market ; Earnings ; Scientists ; Engineers |
| Date: | 2008–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00283558_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Hesselius, Patrik (Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation); Johansson, Per (IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation); Vikström, Johan (IFAU- Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation) |
| Abstract: | We test if social work norms are important for work absence due to self-perceived sickness. To this end, we use a randomized social experiment designed to estimate the effect of monitoring on work absence. The treated were exposed to less monitoring of their eligibility to use sickness insurance, which increased their non-monitored work absence. Based on a difference in differences analysis, we find that the not directly treated also increased their absence as a result of the experiment. By using an instrumental variables estimator, we find significant endogenous social interaction effects. A 10 per cent exogenous shock in work absence would lead to an immediate 5.7 per cent decrease in the hazard out of sickness absence: the long-run effect is calculated as a 13.3 per cent decrease in the corresponding hazard. |
| Keywords: | Work norms; social insurance; social interactions; sickness absence |
| JEL: | C14 C23 C41 J22 Z13 |
| Date: | 2008–05–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2008_008&r=lab |
| By: | Mohrenweiser, Jens; Zwick, Thomas |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the short-term costs and benefits of apprenticeship training in Germany. It calls into question the popular stylised fact that apprenticeship training always leads to net costs during the apprenticeship period. We analyse the impact of the proportion of different occupational groups of apprentices on firm performance. We use representative matched employer–employee panel data that allow us to correct for different sources of estimation bias. We show that the proportion of apprentices in trade, commercial, craft and construction occupations has a direct positive impact on firm performance: the companies cover their training costs immediately. In contrast, companies with apprentices in the manufacturing occupations face net training costs during the apprenticeship period but gain by the long-term employment of its graduate apprentices. |
| Keywords: | apprenticeship training, performance, panel data estimation |
| JEL: | C33 D24 J24 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7228&r=lab |
| By: | Libor Dušek (CERGE-EI, Prague); Juraj Kopecsni (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | We provide evidence on the policy risk of social security in Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia by computing the changes in the social security wealth induced by the pension reforms undertaken since the 1990s. Methodologically we follow upon McHale’s (2001) study of selected reforms in G7 countries. However, as we measure the differential impact of the reform on workers of different genders, ages, and levels of education, we are able to capture the aggregate, intergenerational, and intragenerational aspects of the policy risk. Overall, the paper documents that also a pay-as-you-go system is not a secure source of retirement income since pension reforms do change the future contributions and benefits in different directions for different workers, and the magnitude of the reductions in social security wealth sometimes exceeds several years’ worth of the workers’ earnings. |
| Keywords: | social security, policy risk, pension reforms |
| JEL: | H55 G32 P35 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2008_09&r=lab |
| By: | Cristini, Annalisa (Department of Economics); Pozzoli, Dario (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | Using data from the 2004 Workplace Employee Relations Survey on British establishments and two surveys on manufacturing firms located in the North of Italy, we look at the diffusion of new workplace practices in the two countries and at their impact on the firm's value added. We find that the adoption of innovation practices has spread substantially more across the British manufacturing firms than across the Italian ones; however our results also indicate that the practices' association with the firms' VA is much lower in Britain than in Italy. The counterfactual analysis shows that had the Italian workplaces the same characteristics of the British ones, in terms of diffusion of practices, capital intensity and skills, their average predicted value added would triplicate. On the other hand, were the Italian establishments to move and operate in the British context, their performance would improve very modestly. For the British establishments, we also investigate whether management practices improve job satisfaction. |
| Keywords: | Workplace practices; Financial Performance; Italy; UK |
| JEL: | C33 J41 J53 L20 |
| Date: | 2008–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2008_009&r=lab |
| By: | Christophe Hachon (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | Using a capital-skill complementarity technology, we analytically show that an increase in the direct redistributivity of Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) pension systems has a positive impact on wages and on wage inequalities. We also show that life expectancy<br />inequalities play an important role in the achievement of these results. Then, we calibrate our model and we and that, if life expectancy inequalities are suffciently high, a more redistributive pension system increases the wealth and the welfare of every agent of the economy. Moreover, such a policy decreases the tax rate of the pension system. |
| Keywords: | Inequality, Pension System, Redistribution, Capital-Skill Complementarity |
| Date: | 2008–06–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00285040_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Natasha Bilkic (University of Paderborn); Thomas Gries (University of Paderborn); Margarethe Pilichowski (University of Paderborn) |
| Abstract: | Education is a sequence of risky investments in human capital over a long period of time. At each moment a student decides to leave school and enter the labor market, or stay in the education system. Their departure from school will eventually determine their academic attainment level. Therefore, the major purpose of this paper is to derive a timing rule for leaving school and thus answer the question: How long should I go to school? To solve this problem we apply the real option approach. Real option theory offers a different perspective of the human capital investment decision under uncertainty and irreversibility. As future income is uncertain, we model future earnings as a continuous stochastic process. We use dynamic programming techniques to derive an income threshold at which a student should finally leave school irreversibly, and we determine the expected optimal duration of education. Unlike other approaches using real option theory we are able to provide a full analytical discussion of various determinants affecting the timing decision to start work. Among other things, we find that an increasing initial income differential, and the expected income growth extend the duration of education. Education costs and future income risk reduce the years of schooling. |
| Keywords: | human capital theory, uncertainty, irreversibllity, optimal stopping |
| JEL: | J24 I2 D8 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pdn:wpaper:10&r=lab |
| By: | Pin, Jose R. (IESE Business School); Gallifa, Angela (IESE Business School) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the role of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the labor market. A PPP is a form of collaboration between private agents and the public sector in order to achieve certain objectives. Public private partnerships abound in areas such as infrastructure, health and education, but not in the labor market. The paper is in three parts: economic analysis of PPP; evidence from major PPPs in various countries (with descriptions of successful examples); and recommendations. The economic analysis suggests that PPPs have an important role to play in labor affairs. Public sector intervention in the labor market is justified by market failures and society's demand for equality, which the private sector cannot guarantee; and yet it also has undesirable side-effects. PPP is therefore an effective instrument for solving market and management failures arising from public provision of services. The best way to explain how PPPs work in practice is to describe the different types of PPP and present interesting cases in large (developed) countries. The examples confirm the variety of PPPs, depending on each country's economic circumstances and institutional framework. Based on this combination of economic theory and practical examples, we make some recommendations as to how the human resources industry should use PPPs to meet the challenges of a creative and changing environment. Terms such as "globalization", "flexicurity" and "personalisation" should be high on the agenda of policymakers and the HR industry in their efforts to create successful PPPs. |
| Keywords: | labour markets; Public-private partnerships; |
| Date: | 2008–05–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:iesewp:d-0744&r=lab |
| By: | Sharon L. Maccini; Dean Yang |
| Abstract: | How sensitive is long-run individual well-being to environmental conditions early in life? This paper examines the effect of weather conditions around the time of birth on the health, education, and socioeconomic outcomes of Indonesian adults born between 1953 and 1974. We link historical rainfall for each individual's birth-year and birth-location with current adult outcomes from the 2000 wave of the Indonesia Family Life Survey. Higher early-life rainfall has large positive effects on the adult outcomes of women, but not of men. Women with 20% higher rainfall (relative to normal local rainfall) in their year and location of birth are 3.8 percentage points less likely to self-report poor or very poor health, attain 0.57 centimeters greater height, complete 0.22 more grades of schooling, and live in households that score 0.12 standard deviations higher on an asset index. These patterns most plausibly reflect a positive impact of rainfall on agricultural output, leading to higher household incomes and food availability and better health for infant girls. We present suggestive evidence that eventual benefits for adult women's socioeconomic status are most strongly mediated by improved schooling attainment, which in turn improves socioeconomic status in adulthood. |
| JEL: | I1 I2 I3 O1 O15 Q5 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14031&r=lab |
| By: | Pascal Zurn; Jean-Christophe Dumont |
| Abstract: | This paper examines health workforce and migration policies in New Zealand, with a special focus on the international recruitment of doctors and nurses. 2. The health workforce in New Zealand, as in all OECD countries, plays a central role in the health system. Nonetheless, maybe more than for any other OECD country, the health workforce in New Zealand cannot be considered without taking into account its international dimension. 3. New Zealand has the highest proportion of migrant doctors among OECD countries, and one of the highest for nurses. There is no specific immigration policy for health professionals, although the permanent and temporary routes make it relatively easy for doctors and nurses who can get their qualification recognised to immigrate in New Zealand. At the same time, New Zealand also has high emigration rates of health workers, mainly to other OECD countries. International migration is thus at the same time an opportunity and a challenge for the management of the human resources for health (HRH) in New Zealand. 4. Increasing international competition for highly skilled workers raises important issues such as sustainability and ability to compete in a global market. In this context, new approaches to improve the international recruitment of health workers, as well as developing alternative policies, may need to be considered. As for international recruitment, better coordination and stronger collaboration between main stakeholders could contribute to more effective and pertinent international recruitment. <BR>5. Ce document examine les effectifs de professionnels de la santé et les politiques migratoires de la Nouvelle-Zélande, en se concentrant plus particulièrement sur le recrutement international de médecins et d'infirmières. 6. En Nouvelle-Zélande comme dans tous les pays de l'OCDE, ces professionnels jouent un rôle crucial dans le système de santé. Dans ce pays, pourtant, peut-être plus que dans tout autre pays de l'OCDE, on ne saurait étudier les travailleurs de la santé sans prendre en compte la dimension internationale de cette population. 7. La Nouvelle-Zélande compte la proportion de médecins immigrés la plus élevée de tous les pays de l'OCDE, celle des infirmières immigrées comptant aussi parmi les plus fortes. Le pays ne s'est pas doté d'une politique d'immigration particulière concernant ces professions même si Les filières d'immigration permanente ou temporaire font qu'il est relativement facile pour les médecins et les infirmières qui parviennent à faire reconnaître leurs diplômes d'aller s'installer en Nouvelle-Zélande. En parallèle, le pays présente également des taux élevés d'émigration de travailleurs de la santé (principalement vers les autres pays de l'OCDE). En matière de gestion des ressources humaines de la santé, les migrations internationales représentent donc à la fois une chance et une difficulté pour la Nouvelle-Zélande. 8. La concurrence internationale croissante pour attirer des travailleurs hautement qualifiés soulève des problèmes importants comme la soutenabilité et la capacité à affronter cette concurrence sur un marché mondialisé. Dans ce contexte, il faudrait peut-être réfléchir à de nouvelles stratégies pour améliorer le recrutement international de travailleurs de la santé et élaborer d'autres mesures possibles. Quant à ce recrutement, l'amélioration de la coordination et le renforcement de la collaboration entre les principales parties prenantes pourraient contribuer à le rendre plus effectif et plus approprié. |
| JEL: | F22 I10 J12 |
| Date: | 2008–05–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaad:33-en&r=lab |
| By: | Vindigni, Andrea |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role that idiosyncratic uncertainty plays in shaping social preferences over the degree of labor market flexibility, in a general equilibrium model of dynamic labor demand where the productivity of firms evolves over time as a Geometric Brownian motion. A key result demonstrated is that how the economy responds to shocks, i.e. unexpected changes in the drift and standard deviation of the stochastic process describing the dynamics of productivity, depends on the power of labor to extract rents and on the status quo level of firing costs. In particular, we show that when firing costs are relatively low to begin with, a transition to a rigid labor market is favored by all and only the employed workers with idiosyncratic productivity below some threshold value. A more volatile environment, and a lower rate of productivity growth, i.e. "bad times", increase the political support for more labor market rigidity only where labor appropriates of relatively large rents. Moreover, we demonstrate that when the status quo level of firing costs is relatively high, the preservation of a rigid labor market is favored by the employed with intermediate productivity, whereas all other workers favor more flexibility. The coming of better economic conditions need not favor the demise of high firing costs in rigid high-rents economies, because "good times" cut down the support for flexibility among the least productive employed workers. The model described provides some new insights on the comparative dynamics of labor market institutions in the U.S. and in Europe over the last few decades, shedding some new light both on the reasons for the original build-up of "Eurosclerosis", and for its the persistence up to the present day. |
| Keywords: | employment protection, firing costs, productivity, political economy, rents, volatility, growth, institutional divergence. |
| JEL: | D71 D72 E24 J41 J63 J65 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uca:ucapdv:106&r=lab |
| By: | Rachel Ngai; Christopher A. Pissarides |
| Abstract: | We examine the implications of tax and subsidy policies for employment in the "three worlds of welfare", Anglo-Saxon, Continental European and Scandinavian. We argue that home production is key to a proper evaluation of the employment outcomes. Anglo-Saxon low-support policies encourage more overall market employment. Continental transfer polilcies encourage more home production in services with close substitutes at home. Scandinavian policies give incentives to move home production in social services to the market but discourage other service activity. We find support for our claims in sectoral employment data for five representative countries, United States, Britain, France, Italy and Sweden. |
| Keywords: | welfare state, employment, social services, tax and subsidy, three worlds of welfare |
| JEL: | E24 I38 J22 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0856&r=lab |
| By: | Zheng, Jianghuai; Wang, Chengsi; Song, Shunfeng |
| Abstract: | Traditional Development Economics defines economic development in the view of transferring rural surplus labor force. It implies the industrialization is in a static state at a certain level while it is in a process of continuous industrial upgrade in reality. Under the circumstances, we analyze phenomenon followed by the upgrading of industrial structure such as return migration and mid-aged rural labors’ difficulty in job-hunting and demonstrated the influence of land centralization based on the practice of industrial upgrade and rural change in Suzhou. Finally it come to the conclusion that because of the extensive competition on simple-labor market, the industrial upgrade will make a adverse employment shock upon mid-aged rural labor which will lead to the more uncertainty of peasants to get jobs in the industrial section . If government takes an improper policy of land centralization, peasants will lose guarantee in the future and resist the land centralization. After the comparison between one-off compensation and land cooperation, a further demonstration show that the method of one-off compensation will depress peasants’ enthusiasm in land centralization while the form of land cooperation can guarantee and promote peasants’ welfare under the given institution of land ownership. As a result, land cooperation allows the smooth operation of land centralization and supports the industrial upgrade to some extent. |
| Keywords: | Over-confidence，Regional Government Competition，Redundant Construction，Yangzte River Delta |
| JEL: | O10 O53 O13 O14 |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8921&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Hurd; Susann Rohwedder |
| Abstract: | The simple one-good model of life-cycle consumption requires that consumption be continuous over retirement; yet prior research based on partial measures of consumption or on synthetic panels indicates that spending drops at retirement, a result that has been called the retirement-consumption puzzle. Using panel data on total spending, nondurable spending and food spending, the authors find that spending declines at small rates over retirement, at rates that could be explained by mechanisms such as the cessation of work-related expenses, unexpected retirement due to a health shock or by the substitution of time for spending. In the low-wealth population where spending did decline at higher rates, the main explanation for the decline appears to be a high rate of early retirement due to poor health. They conclude that at the population level there is no retirement-consumption puzzle in their data, and that in subpopulations where there were substantial declines, conventional economic theory can provide the main explanation. |
| Keywords: | retirees-economic conditions, retirement-economic aspects, consumption, panel data |
| JEL: | D91 J26 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ran:wpaper:563&r=lab |
| By: | Ralf Fendel, Eliza M. Lis and Jan-Christoph Rülke |
| Abstract: | This paper uses monthly survey data for the G7 countries for the time period 1989 - 2007 to explore the link between expectations on nominal wages, prices and unemployment rate as suggested by the traditional and Samuelson-and-Solow-type Phillips curve. Three ma- jor ¯ndings stand out: First, we ¯nd that survey participants trust in the original as well as the Samuelson-and-Solow-type Phillips curve relationship. Second, we ¯nd evidence in favor of nonlinearities in the expected Samuelson-and-Solow-type Phillips curve. Third, when we take into account a kink in the expected Phillips curve indicating that the slope of the Phillips curve di®ers during the business cycle, we ¯nd strong evidence of this feature in the data which con¯rms recent the- oretical discussions in the literature that the Phillips curve is °atter in case of an economic downturn. |
| Keywords: | Phillips curve, Forecasting, Panel data model |
| JEL: | C23 E37 E31 |
| Date: | 2008–06–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:cegedp:73&r=lab |
| By: | Scott E. Carrell; Richard L. Fullerton; James E. West |
| Abstract: | To estimate peer effects in college achievement we exploit a unique dataset in which individuals have been exogenously assigned to peer groups of about 30 students with whom they are required to spend the majority of their time interacting. This feature enables us to estimate peer effects that are more comparable to changing the entire cohort of peers. Using this broad peer group, we find academic peer effects of much larger magnitude than found in previous studies that have measured peer effects among roommates alone. We find the peer effects persist at a diminishing rate into the sophomore, junior, and senior years, indicating social network peer effects may have long lasting effects on academic achievement. Our findings also suggest that peer effects may be working through study partnerships versus operating through establishment of a social norm of effort. |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14032&r=lab |
| By: | Alex Bryson; Satu Nurmi |
| Abstract: | Using nationally representative panel data for British private sector workplaces this paperpoints to the importance of distinguishing between workplace and firm size when analysingemployment growth, and finds that the factors associated with growth differ markedlybetween single independent establishments and those belonging to multi-site firms. Resultsalso differ according to whether one adjusts for sample selection arising from workplacesurvival, and according to whether one distinguishes between growth per se and internal,organic employment growth. We find evidence at the plant level that is consistent withcreative job destruction. |
| Keywords: | employment growth, workplace survival, workplace age, workplace size, humancapital, sunk costs |
| JEL: | J21 J23 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0861&r=lab |
| By: | Trevon D. Logan |
| Abstract: | This is the first paper to document the effect of health on the migration propensities of African Americans in the American past. Using both IPUMS and the Colored Troops Sample of the Civil War Union Army Data, I estimate the effects of literacy and health on the migration propensities of African Americans from 1870 to 1910. I find that literacy and health shocks were strong predictors of migration and the stock of health was not. There were differential selection propensities based on slave status - former slaves were less likely to migrate given a specific health shock than free blacks. Counterfactuals suggest that as much as 35% of the difference in the mobility patterns of former slaves and free blacks is explained by differences in their human capital, and more than 20% of that difference is due to health alone. Overall, the selection effect of literacy on migration is reduced by one-tenth to one-third once health is controlled for. The low levels of human capital accumulation and rates of mobility for African Americans after the Civil War are partly explained by the poor health status of slaves and their immediate descendants. |
| JEL: | I1 I2 J1 J2 N3 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14037&r=lab |
| By: | Donald Boyd; Hamilton Lankford; Susanna Loeb; Jonah Rockoff; James Wyckoff |
| Abstract: | The gap between the qualifications of New York City teachers in high-poverty schools and low-poverty schools has narrowed substantially since 2000. Most of this gap-narrowing resulted from changes in the characteristics of newly hired teachers, and largely has been driven by the virtual elimination of newly hired uncertified teachers coupled with an influx of teachers with strong academic backgrounds in the Teaching Fellows program and Teach for America. The improvements in teacher qualifications, especially among the poorest schools, appear to have resulted in improved student achievement. By estimating the effect of teacher attributes using a value-added model, the analyses in this paper predict that observable qualifications of teachers resulted in average improved achievement for students in the poorest decile of schools of .03 standard deviations, about half the difference between being taught by a first year teacher and a more experienced teacher. If limited to teachers who are in the first or second year of teaching, where changes in qualifications are greatest, the gain equals two-thirds of the first-year experience effect. |
| JEL: | I21 J24 J45 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14021&r=lab |
| By: | Laia Castany (Universitat de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | The level of training provided by small firms to their employees is below that provided by their larger counterparts. The provision of firm-related training is believed to be associated to certain characteristics of the firm. In this paper we argue that small firms provide fewer training opportunities as they are less likely to be associated with these characteristics than large firms. The suitability of estimating training decisions as a double-decision process is examined here: first, a firm has to decide whether to provide training or not and, second, having decided to do so, the amount of training to provide. The differences in training provision between small and large firms are decomposed in order to analyse the individual contribution of these characteristics to explaining the gap. The results show that small firms face greater obstacles in accessing training and that the main reasons for that are related to their technological activity and the geographical scope of the market in which they operate. |
| Keywords: | Continuous training, Firm size, Innovative activity |
| JEL: | J21 L11 M53 L25 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0028&r=lab |
| By: | Maja Micevska (Indian Council for Research on International Economic Rela); Dil Bahadur Rahut (Indian Council for Research on International Economic Rela) |
| Abstract: | Nonfarm activities generate on average about 60 percent of rural households' incomes in the Himalayas. This paper analyzes the determinants of participation in nonfarm activities and of nonfarm incomes across rural households. A unique data set collected in the Himalayan region of India allows us to deal with the heterogeneity of rural nonfarm activities by using aggregations into categories that are useful both analytically and for policy purposes. We conduct an empirical inquiry that reveals that education plays a major role in accessing more remunerative nonfarm employment. Other household assets and characteristics such as land, social status, and geographical location also play a role |
| Keywords: | Nonfarm employment; Rural households; Incomes; Education; India |
| JEL: | O15 O18 Q12 R11 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:icrier:205&r=lab |
| By: | James Heintz (Univ. of Massachusetts); Carlos Oya (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London); Eduardo Zepeda (International Poverty Centre) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the growth, employment, and poverty record of The Gambia focusing on the macroeconomic environment and the structure and functioning of labour markets. Its aim is to identify areas where current policies can be improved or where more knowledge needs to be generated to better inform inclusive development strategies. The growth pattern of The Gambia does not appear to be pro-poor, as improvements in the rate of growth appear to have at best halted the spread of poverty. Weak productivity performance and the low quality of employment help explain the poverty record. On the macroeconomic side, an excessive emphasis on inflation reduction and reliance on rudimentary monetary policy instruments have helped sustain a high-interest rate environment, which discourages investment and employment creation. As part of an alternative policy package, The Gambia could reformulate macroeconomic policies to target growth instead of inflation, select a more effective mix of policy instruments, and pursue financial reforms to increase the supply of credit to the economy and particularly to employment-intensive activities. In addition, targeted public investments are essential for sustaining more rapid growth and improvements in employment opportunities. A review of the available evidence suggests that labour markets in The Gambia do not function in a way conducive to poverty reduction. The employment situation conforms to the typical configuration, whereby traditional activities and informality dominate rural and urban areas. The Gambia also faces high open unemployment rates in cities, particularly among the youth. Measures to increase the labour mobility of the poor are urgently needed. The Gambia has benefited from a rapid increase in literacy and basic education, although more progress is needed to improve the quality of education and, particularly, to provide comprehensive training that adequately meets the demand for skilled labour. Finally, there is an urgent need to overhaul labour institutions with the aim of improving labour conditions, reducing labour segmentation and improving knowledge systems. |
| Keywords: | Towards an Employment-centred Development strategy for Poverty Reduction in The Gambia: Macroeconomic and Labour Market Aspects |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:cstudy:16&r=lab |
| By: | Ivan O. Kitov (Institute for the Geospheres' Dynamics, Russian Academy of Sciences); Oleg I. Kitov (Warwick University) |
| Abstract: | The evolution of labor force participation rate is modeled using a lagged linear function of real economic growth, as expressed by GDP per capita. For the U.S., our model predicts at a two-year horizon with RMSFE of 0.28% for the period between 1965 and 2007. Larger part of the deviation between predicted and measured LFP is explained by artificial dislocations in measured time series induced by major revisions to the CPS methodology in 1979 and 1989. Similar models have been developed for Japan, the UK, France, Italy, Canada, and Sweden. |
| Keywords: | labor force participation, real GDP per capita, prediction |
| JEL: | C2 E6 J2 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2008-90&r=lab |
| By: | Paul Benjamin; Jan Theron (Cheadle, Thompson & Haysom Inc Attorneys & Professor of Law, University of Cape Town) |
| Abstract: | Abstract: The World Bank’s Doing Business survey seeks to measure and compare the costs to business of various types of regulation, including labour regulation. As such it is an important driver of labour market ‘reform’ globally and in South Africa. It may also be encouraging a tendency of different systems of regulation to converge. Focussing on labour regulation, the study considers the validity of endeavours to measure labour regulation, and identifies a number of methodological problems that constrain any such endeavour. It then focuses specifically on the methodology utilised in the Doing Business survey, and its results for South Africa. It presents evidence that certain scores arrived at in the case of South Africa are incorrect, materially affecting South Africa’s ranking in terms of the survey. These errors can be attributed to shortcoming in the survey’s methodology as well as the simplistic conceptions of law reflected in the surveys. This finding does not imply endeavours to measure the costs of regulation are without value. Instead the study advocates developing different indicators to measure the impact of labour regulation, and drawing on existing data and research to arrive at more objective results. |
| Keywords: | South Africa: labour regulation, Doing Business Survey |
| JEL: | A1 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctw:wpaper:96107&r=lab |
| By: | Baldwin, John R.; Gu, Wulong |
| Abstract: | This paper has three main objectives. First, it presents the long-term trends in outsourcing and offshoring across Canadian industries. Second, it examines the relationship between offshoring and changes in trade patterns at the industry level. It focuses on two major drivers that some have suggested are behind the recent trends toward offshoring: globalization and technological changes associated with information and communications technologies. Third, the paper examines the economic impact of offshoring by investigating the relationship between the extent of offshoring and productivity growth, shifts to high value-added activities and changes in labour markets. |
| Keywords: | International trade, Business performance and ownership, Business adaptation and adjustment |
| Date: | 2008–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp5e:2008055e&r=lab |