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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina (San Diego State University, California); de la Rica, Sara (University of the Basque Country) |
| Abstract: | Learning about the impact of immigration on the labor market outcomes of natives is a topic of major concern for immigrant-receiving countries. There exists an extensive literature evaluating the impact of immigration on the employment and wages of natives in the U.S. Yet, despite the significant degree of occupational segregation by gender regardless of workers' origin, the literature has traditionally treated male and female immigrants as a homogenous group when examining the impact of immigration on native workers. Instead, using data from Spain, where the immigrant population has risen from 4 percent to 10 percent of the population within a decade, we allow for male and female foreign-born workers to have distinct impacts on the employment patterns of native men and women. This proves to be important as foreign-born workers only seem to have a significant impact on the employment pattern of native workers of the same sex. Furthermore, foreign-born male (female) workers do not appear to be perfect substitutes of similarly skilled native male (female) workers, which may help explain the null or small impacts of immigration on native employment and wages. Instead, immigration appears to have affected the task specialization and occupational distribution of natives of the same gender. |
| Keywords: | immigration, gender, task specialization, complements, substitutes, Spain |
| JEL: | F22 J61 J31 R13 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4348&r=lab |
| By: | Kostas Mavromaras (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne and IZA, Bonn); Seamus McGuinness (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin); Yin King Fok (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses panel data and econometric methods to estimate the incidence and the dynamic properties of overskilling among employed individuals. The paper begins by asking whether there is extensive overskilling in the labour market, and whether overskilling differs by education pathway. The answer to both questions is yes. The paper continues by asking whether overskilling is a self-perpetuating labour market state (state dependence), and whether state dependence differs by education pathway. The paper uses a dynamic random effects probit which includes Mundlak corrections and it models the initial conditions following Heckman's method. It finds that there is extensive overskilling state dependence in the workplace, and to the degree that overskilling can be interpreted as skills underutilisation and worker-job mismatch, this is an important finding. Overskilled workers with a higher degree show the highest state dependence, while workers with vocational education show none. Workers with no post-school qualifications are somewhere between these two groups. The finding that higher degree graduates suffer the greatest overskilling state dependence, combined with the well-established finding that they also suffer the highest overskilling wage penalty, offers an additional useful perspective to compare the attributes of vocational and degree qualifications. |
| Keywords: | Overskilling, education pathways, state dependence, dynamic estimation |
| JEL: | J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2009n22&r=lab |
| By: | Fernández-Kranz, Daniel (IE Business School, Madrid); Rodriguez-Planas, Nuria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | While much of the literature that investigates the part-time (PT) / full-time (FT) hourly wage differential and its causes focuses on average effects, very few studies analyze the heterogeneous effects of PT work across different subgroups, despite the policy relevance of understanding channels behind the (raw) PT penalty in different labor markets. This paper is the first to examine the implications of switching to PT work for women's subsequent earnings trajectories, distinguishing by their type of contract: permanent or fixed-term. Using a 21-year unbalanced Social Security records panel of over 76,000 prime-aged women strongly attached to the Spanish labor market, we find that PT work aggravates the segmentation of the labor market insofar there is a PT pay penalty and this penalty is larger and more persistent in the case of women with fixed-term contracts. The paper discusses problems arising in empirical estimation, and how to address them. It concludes with policy implications relevant for Continental Europe and its dual structure of employment protection. |
| Keywords: | fixed-term and permanent contract, hourly wage levels and growth, prime-aged women, fixed-effects estimator, differential measurement error of HS variable, underlying channels |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J21 J22 J31 J62 C23 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4342&r=lab |
| By: | Leilanie Basilio |
| Abstract: | The paper examines whether there is an asymmetry in the distribution of market work and domestic work within families in Australia, and to what extent differences in earnings capacities of spouses can account for the division of labor. Using a Blinder-Oaxaca Tobit-type decomposition, we find that the difference in earnings capacities of Australian couples could explain about 30 and 20 percent of the observed disparities in spousal time allocation in market and domestic work, respectively. Most of the work gaps, however, appear to be accounted for by the differences in labor supply behaviors of partners rather than by the differences in earnings capacities.We further observe that the differences in wages are more relevant for immigrant families originating from non-English speaking countries.Convergence of gender wages would produce the greatest reduction in spousal specialization for this particular group.Given that immigrant women from non-English speaking background have high levels of formal qualifications, our results could assert the significance of improving the returns to human capital attributes of these immigrant women in reducing the imbalance in spousal work distribution. |
| Keywords: | Household time allocation, housework, gender effects |
| JEL: | J22 D13 J16 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0125&r=lab |
| By: | Costain, James (Banco de Espana); Jansen, Marcel (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the cyclical dynamics of Mortensen and Pissarides' (1994) model of job creation and destruction when workers' effort is not perfectly observable, as in Shapiro and Stiglitz (1984). An occasionally-binding no-shirking constraint truncates the real wage distribution from below, making firms' share of surplus weakly procyclical, and may thus amplify fluctuations in hiring. It may also cause a burst of inefficient firing at the onset of a recession, separating matches that no longer have sufficient surplus for incentive compatibility. On the other hand, since marginal workers in booms know firms cannot commit to keep them in recessions, they place little value on their jobs and are expensive to motivate. For a realistic calibration, this last effect is by far the strongest; even a moderate degree of moral hazard can eliminate all fluctuation in the separation rate. This casts doubt on Ramey and Watson's (1997) "contractual fragility" mechanism, and means worker moral hazard only makes the "unemployment volatility puzzle" worse. However, moral hazard has potential to explain other labor market facts, because it is consistent with small but clearly countercyclical fluctuations in separation rates, and a robust Beveridge curve. |
| Keywords: | job matching, shirking, efficiency wages, endogenous separation, contractual fragility |
| JEL: | C78 E24 E32 J64 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4344&r=lab |
| By: | Pouliakas, Konstantinos; Panos, Georgios; Zangelidis, Alexandros |
| Abstract: | The inter-related dynamics of dual job-holding, human capital and occupational choice between primary and secondary jobs are investigated, using a panel sample (1991-2005) of UK employees from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). A sequential profile of the working lives of employees is examined, investigating, first, the determinants of multiple job-holding, second, the factors affecting the occupational choice of a secondary job, third, the relationship between multiple-job holding and job mobility and, lastly, the spillover effects of multiple job-holding on occupational mobility between primary jobs. The evidence indicates that dual job-holding may facilitate job transition, as it may act as a stepping-stone towards new primary jobs, particularly self-employment. |
| Keywords: | Moonlighting; Occupational Choice; Human Capital; Mobility |
| JEL: | J62 J22 J24 |
| Date: | 2009–08–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:16859&r=lab |
| By: | Goel, Deepti (Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR)) |
| Abstract: | I examine whether after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 Muslim immigrants and immigrants who fit the Muslim Arab stereotype in Australia perceive a greater increase in religious and racial intolerance and discrimination compared to other immigrant groups. I also examine whether there is a differential change in their labor market outcomes. I find that after 9/11 there is a greater increase in the likelihood of Muslim men and of those who look like Muslims to report a lot of religious and racial intolerance and discrimination relative to other immigrants. Further, I do not find evidence that after 9/11 Muslims or their stereotypes show a differential change in the likelihood of looking for a new main job or of being employed. There is also no evidence of a differential change in hours worked or in wage incomes. This suggests that the Australian labor market did not react to attitudinal changes in society, at least in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. |
| Keywords: | discrimination, immigrants, September 2001, 9/11 |
| JEL: | J61 J71 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4356&r=lab |
| By: | Christian Belzil (Department of Economics, Ecole Polytechnique - CNRS : UMR7176 - Polytechnique - X, IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor, ENSAE - Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Economique, CIREQ - Centre Interuniversitaire de Recherche en Economie Quantitative); J. Hansen (IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor, CIREQ - Centre Interuniversitaire de Recherche en Economie Quantitative, CIRANO - Montréal - , Department of Economics, Concordia University - Concordia University); Nicolai Kristensen (Danish Institute of Governmental Research - AKF, University of Aarhus - University of Aarhus) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we formulate and estimate a structural model of post-schooling training that explicitly allows for possible complementarity between initial schooling levels and returns to training. Precisely, the wage outcome equation depends on accumulated schooling and on the incidence of training. The effect of training on wage growth depends on individual permanent endowments as well as on education. We find evidence of statistically significant complementarity, i.e. the higher educated receive the highest return to the MBA-type training considered here. |
| Keywords: | Skill Complementarity ; Dynamic Treatment Effects ; Dynamic Programming ; Random Coefficients |
| Date: | 2009–03–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00365698_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Picard, Pierre M. (University of Luxembourg); Wildasin, David (University of Kentucky) |
| Abstract: | Economic regions, such as urban agglomerations, face external demand and price shocks that produce income risk. Workers in large and diversified agglomerations may benefit from reduced wage volatility, while firms may outsource the production of intermediate goods and realize benefits from Chamberlinian externalities. Firms may also protect workers from wage risks through fixed wage contracts. This paper explores the relationships between firms' risks, workers' contracts, and the structure of production in cities. |
| Keywords: | labor market, labor contracts, Chamberlinian externalities |
| JEL: | R12 R23 J31 J65 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4357&r=lab |
| By: | Steven J. Davis; R. Jason Faberman; John C. Haltiwanger |
| Abstract: | The authors study vacancies, hires, and vacancy yields (success rate in generating hires) in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, a large representative sample of U.S. employers. The authors also develop a simple framework that identifies the monthly flow of new vacancies and the job-filling rate for vacant positions, the employer counterpart to the job-finding rate for unemployed workers. The job-filling rate moves counter to employment at the aggregate level but rises steeply with employer growth rates in the cross section. It falls with employer size, rises with the worker turnover rate, and varies by a factor of four across major industry groups. The authors' analysis also indicates that more than 1 in 6 hires occur without benefit of a vacancy, as defined by JOLTS. These findings provide useful inputs for assessing, developing, and calibrating theoretical models of search, matching, and hiring in the labor market. |
| Keywords: | Employment ; Labor market |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:09-14&r=lab |
| By: | Woock, Christopher |
| Abstract: | Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 I employ a longitudinal framework to examine the impact of union membership on the earnings losses following a workplace injury, and explore some possible avenues through which unions can mitigate earnings losses. The annual earnings results suggest that those injured workers who were not under union contract the year of injury suffer large and persistent losses in the years following injury. In contrast, union workers who suffer an injury do not suffer significant post-injury earnings losses. Probit estimates suggest that following injury union workers are less likely to change occupations or be fired from their job, but no more likely to be accommodated for their injury. |
| Keywords: | Union; Workers' Compensation; National Longitudinal Survey of Youth; Workplace Injury; Earnings Losses |
| JEL: | J3 J5 |
| Date: | 2009–08–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:16856&r=lab |
| By: | Van Kerm, Philippe (CEPS/INSTEAD) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers new 'distributionally sensitive' summary measures of wage differentials, not solely determined by "the average wage of the average person" but by differences across complete wage distributions. Considerations of risk or inequality aversion in the assessment of wage differentials are explicitly included, transplanting expected utility concepts familiar to income distribution analysts. In an application to the gender pay gap in Luxembourg the disadvantage of women persists with the new generalized measures of wage differentials. This suggests that lower average wages for women are not compensated by less dispersed distributions. The paper also illustrates original estimation of wage distributions in the presence of covariates and under endogenous labour market participation. |
| Keywords: | wage differentials; discrimination ; expected utility ; Singh-Maddala ; Luxembourg |
| JEL: | D63 J31 J70 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:iriswp:2009-08&r=lab |
| By: | Per Krusell; Toshihiko Mukoyama; Aysegul Sahin |
| Abstract: | We analyze a Bewley-Huggett-Aiyagari incomplete-markets model with labor-market frictions. Consumers are subject to idiosyncratic employment shocks against which they cannot insure directly. The labor market has a Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides structure: firms enter by posting vacancies and match with workers bilaterally, with match probabilities given by an aggregate matching function. Wages are determined through Nash bargaining. We also consider aggregate productivity shocks, and a complete set of contingent claims conditional on this risk. We use the model to evaluate a tax-financed unemployment insurance scheme. Higher insurance is beneficial for consumption smoothing, but because it raises workers' outside option value, it discourages firm entry. We find that the latter effect is more potent for welfare outcomes; we tabulate the effects quantitatively for different kinds of consumers. We also demonstrate that productivity changes in the model---in steady state as well as stochastic ones---generate rather limited unemployment effects, unless workers are close to indifferent between working and not working; thus, recent findings are corroborated in our more general setting. |
| JEL: | D31 D52 E32 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15282&r=lab |
| By: | Kamal Lamichhane (Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), The University of Tokyo); Yasuyuki Sawada (Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we estimate wage returns to investment in education for persons with disabilities in Nepal, using information on the timing of being impaired during school-age years as identifying instrumental variables for years of schooling. We employ unique data collected from persons with hearing, physical, and visual impairments as well as nationally representative survey data from the Nepal Living Standard Survey 2003/2004 (NLSS II). After controlling for endogeneity bias arising from schooling decisions as well as sample selection bias due to endogenous labor participation, the estimated rate of returns to education is very high among persons with disabilities, ranging from 19.4 to 33.2%. The coexistence of these high returns to education and limited years of schooling suggest that supply side constraints in education to accommodate persons with disabilities and/or there are credit market imperfections. Policies to eliminate these barriers will mitigate poverty among persons with disabilities, the largest minority group in the world. |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:fseres:2009cf645&r=lab |
| By: | Evelyn Ribi |
| Abstract: | This paper derives the welfare optimal size and intensity of job search assistance programs in a general equilibrium model where the labor market is affected by search frictions. Both instruments have a priori ambiguous fiscal implications: their direct employment stimulating effects broaden the base of the labor income tax and increase revenues, while also incurring direct costs. At optimal levels, the policy instruments trade off the positive effects on the participants against a marginal increase in taxes, which distorts employment decisions and potentially labor market tightness. We find that the higher unemployment insurance benefits, the lower is the optimal program intensity. Further, the introduction of a job search assistance program is more likely to raise welfare if it is highly effective at improving participants' job search skills, direct program costs are low and if the general level of taxation in the economy and thus the labor market participation tax are high. |
| Keywords: | Job search assistance, optimal size, optimal intensity, unemployment insurance |
| JEL: | J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:dp2009:2009-19&r=lab |
| By: | Schels, Brigitte (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "The study explores the way out of benefit receipt by labour market integration of young adults in Germany. Under 25-year-olds are a target group of the German social policy. If they rely on the payment of social benefits a prompt integration into employment or training is the main priority. The aim is to prevent young people from long-term benefit dependency. The causes of long-term benefit receipt can be discussed from different perspectives: Based on diverse labour market theories, poor perspectives of young benefit recipients can depend on low labour market opportunities. But in the political and public discourse in Germany, long-term benefit receipt of young adults is mostly regarded as the consequence of young people's low labour supply and resignation in benefit dependency. The article examines the chances to leave benefit dependency by labour market integration of about 650 18- to 24-year-old benefit recipients in 2005. The analysis is based on the survey 'Life Circumstances and Social Security 2005' of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Germany and on longitudinal register data of the Federal Employment Agency for three years, 2005 to 2007. The analyses show that most young benefit recipients enter a job or training during the observed period of time; though in many cases young adults keep on receiving benefits. Long-term benefit dependency is predominantly a matter of poor job prospects of low quali-fied young people and young single parents. But there is no evidence that ongoing benefit claims may go hand in hand with young people's poor labour supply." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Arbeitslosengeld II-Empfänger, junge Erwachsene, Berufseinmündung, Leistungsbezugsende, Arbeitsmarktchancen |
| JEL: | J2 J13 |
| Date: | 2009–08–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:200916&r=lab |
| By: | Martins, Pedro S. (Queen Mary, University of London); Snell, Andy (University of Edinburgh); Thomas, Jonathan P. (University of Edinburgh) |
| Abstract: | Following insights by Bewley (1999a), this paper analyses a model with downward rigidities in which firms cannot pay discriminate based on a year of entry to a firm, and develops an equilibrium model of wages and unemployment. We solve for the dynamics of wages and unemployment under conditions of downward wage rigidity, where forward looking firms take into account these constraints. Using simulated productivity data based on the post-war US economy, we analyse the ability of the model to match certain stylised labour market facts. |
| Keywords: | labour contracts, business cycle, unemployment, equal treatment, downward rigidity, cross-contract restrictions |
| JEL: | E32 J41 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4346&r=lab |
| By: | Rafael Lalive; Jean-Philippe Wuellrich; Josef Zweimüller |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of employment quota on firms' demand for disabled workers. The Austrian Disabled Persons Employment Act (DPEA) requires firms to provide at least one job to a disabled worker per 25 non-disabled workers, a rule which is strictly enforced by non-compliance taxation. We find that, as a result of the discontinuous nature of the noncompliance tax, firms exactly at the quota threshold employ 0.05 (20 % in relative terms) more disabled workers than firms just below the threshold { an effect that is unlikely driven by purposeful selection below the threshold. The flat rate nature of the non-compliance tax generates strong employment effects for low-wage firms and weak effects for high-wage firms. We also find that growing firms passing the quota threshold react with a substantial time-lag but the magnitude of the long-run effect is similar to the one found in cross-section contrasts. |
| Keywords: | disability, discrimination, employment, employment quota, regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | J15 J20 J71 J78 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:nrnwps:2009_11&r=lab |
| By: | Kopf, Eva (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Since 2005, jobless employable individuals have to be available for the labour market with various activation programmes helping them. One major programme is short-term training teaching certain skills or assisting in job search. However, little is known about the effectiveness of such a short programme for welfare recipients. This study evaluates the effects of seven short-term training types in the introduction period of the reform in spring 2005 on the individual probability of being regularly employed. I use large German administrative datasets and propensity score matching. The results show that within-company training has large positive effects. Furthermore, skill training is more effective than other types. However, comparing skill training participants pair-wise with others does not result in consistent positive effects." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Trainingsmaßnahme - Erfolgskontrolle, arbeitsmarktpolitische Maßnahme, berufliche Reintegration, Arbeitslosengeld II-Empfänger, Integrierte Erwerbsbiografien, IAB-Leistungsempfängerhistorik |
| JEL: | C13 I38 J24 J68 |
| Date: | 2009–08–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:200917&r=lab |
| By: | Hohmeyer, Katrin (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Recent labour market reforms in Germany introduced a workfare programme called One-Euro-Jobs with roughly 700,000 means-tested benefit recipients participating per year. In programme design leeway is given to local actors to respond to regional and individual factors. The legislature has set only key features of One-Euro-Jobs: One-Euro-Jobs are required to be additional and temporary jobs of public interest. Using administrative data for participants who entered the programme in spring 2005 this paper investigates medium-term effects of the programme and the asso-ciation between flexibility in design and effect heterogeneity. First, effects of different types of One-Euro-Jobs (according to planned duration and weekly working hours) compared to non-participation ('waiting') are estimated and second, programme types are compared directly by pairwise matching to disentangle selection and programme effects. As expected lock-in effects are larger for participation with a longer planned duration, whereas this is not the case for more intensive programmes in terms of working hours. In the medium term, One-Euro-Jobs do not generally increase the employment prospects for men in East Germany beyond two years after programme start and longer and more intensive participations even decrease employment prospects. In West Germany, One-Euro-Jobs in general increase the employment chances and longer participations lead to slightly higher employment opportunities roughly two years after programme start. The initial advantages of short participations decrease over time. " (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | C13 I38 J68 |
| Date: | 2009–08–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:200920&r=lab |
| By: | Carol Ann MacGregor (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | The rise in cohabitation and the concentration of single parenthood among the lower educated warrants an examination of postnatal educational attainment that considers differences by family structure. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, I examine the prevalence of obtaining additional education (N=3812) in the five years after a birth. Controlling for mothers? background and resources, married mothers are less likely to obtain additional education. Cohabiting mothers return to school more often than married mothers but less often than lone-mothers. Women who experience a union dissolution or divorce are also more likely to obtain additional education. Postnatal educational attainment appears to be an alternate pathway to economic security for women without stable romantic partnerships. |
| Keywords: | Education, Family Structure, Fragile Families |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:crcwel:1173&r=lab |
| By: | R. Alison Felix; James R. Hines, Jr. |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the effect of U.S. state corporate income taxes on union wages. American workers who belong to unions are paid more than their non-union counterparts, and this difference is greater in low-tax locations, reflecting that unions and employers share tax savings associated with low tax rates. In 2000 the difference between average union and non-union hourly wages was $1.88 greater in states with corporate tax rates below four percent than in states with tax rates of nine percent and above. Controlling for observable worker characteristics, a one percent lower state tax rate is associated with a 0.36 percent higher union wage premium, suggesting that workers in a fully unionized firm capture roughly 54 percent of the benefits of low tax rates. |
| JEL: | H22 H25 J31 J51 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15263&r=lab |
| By: | Islam, Asadul; Choe, Chongwoo |
| Abstract: | Microcredit has been shown to be effective in reducing poverty in many developing countries. However, less is known about its effect on human capital formation. In this paper, we develop a model examining the relation between microcredit and child labour. We then empirically examine the impact of access to microcredit on children’s education and child labour using a new and large data set from rural Bangladesh. We address the selection bias using the instrumental variable method where the instrument relies on an exogenous variation in treatment intensity among households in different villages. The results show that household participation in a microcredit program may increase child labour and reduce school enrolment. The adverse effects are more pronounced for girls than boys. Younger children are more adversely affected than their older siblings and the children of poorer and less educated households are affected most adversely. Our findings remain robust to different specifications and methods, and when corrected for various sources of selection bias. |
| Keywords: | Microcredit; child labour; school enrolment; instrumental variable; treatment effect |
| JEL: | A20 C21 O12 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:16842&r=lab |
| By: | Isabell Koske |
| Abstract: | Labour market outcomes have improved markedly in the past years as the beneficial effects of the economic upswing were reinforced by important structural reforms.With the economy on the verge of a severe economic downturn, it is important to avoid alleviating measures that adversely affect the functioning of the labour market in the long run. Moreover, several structural challenges remain which require further reform efforts. Firstly, to raise labour force participation of the elderly the pension system needs to be reformed by removing incentives for early retirement and facilitating gradual exits from the labour force. Secondly, to increase employment rates of younger age cohorts, the length of tertiary studies needs to be reduced by strengthening incentives for rapid graduation. Moreover, potential negative employment effects associated with the relatively high minimum wage compared to the average wage should be avoided. Thirdly, to combat increasing labour market dualism, employment protection legislation on regular work contracts needs to be eased once the current economic crisis subsides and the preferential treatment of student work should be phased out. This Working Paper relates to the 2009 OECD Economic Survey of the Slovenia.<P>Améliorer le fonctionnement du marché de travail de la Slovénie<BR>La situation du marché du travail s’est nettement améliorée ces dernières années, sous l’effet cumulé du redressement économique et d’importantes réformes structurelles. Face à la menace imminente d’un ralentissement économique grave, il est essentiel d’éviter toute mesure de soutien qui pourrait nuire au bon fonctionnement du marché du travail à terme. Des efforts restent en outre à fournir en matière de réformes pour remédier à certaines difficultés structurelles. Tout d’abord, le régime de retraite doit être remanié afin d’améliorer le taux d’activité des travailleurs âgés, en éliminant les incitations à la retraite anticipée et en facilitant la sortie progressive de la population active. Ensuite, pour stimuler l’emploi des jeunes, il faut réduire la durée des études supérieures, en renforçant les mesures d’incitation à l’obtention rapide des diplômes, et éviter par ailleurs les effets potentiellement négatifs sur l’emploi du niveau relativement élevé du salaire minimum. Enfin, pour lutter contre le dualisme croissant du marché du travail, on devra assouplir la législation sur la protection de l’emploi pour les contrats de travail réguliers une fois la crise économique dissipée, et il convient aussi de supprimer progressivement le traitement préférentiel appliqué à l’emploi des étudiants. Ce Document de travail se rapporte à l’Étude économique de l’OCDE de la Slovénie 2009. |
| Keywords: | taux d'activité, Slovenia, Slovénie, labour force participation, labour market dualism, dualisme du marché du travail |
| JEL: | J21 J22 J26 J32 |
| Date: | 2009–08–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:719-en&r=lab |
| By: | Glenn Ellison; Ashley Swanson |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a new data source, American Mathematics Competitions, to examine the gender gap among high school students at very high achievement levels. The data bring out several new facts. There is a large gender gap that widens dramatically at percentiles above those that can be examined using standard data sources. An analysis of unobserved heterogeneity indicates that there is only moderate variation in the gender gap across schools. The highest achieving girls in the U.S. are concentrated in a very small set of elite schools, suggesting that almost all girls with the ability to reach high math achievement levels are not doing so. |
| JEL: | I2 J16 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15238&r=lab |
| By: | Bargain, Olivier (University College Dublin (UCD), IZA, the Geary Institute and CHILD); Doorley, Karina (University College Dublin (UCD) and CEPS/INSTEAD) |
| Abstract: | While financial incentives usually have a significant effect on the labor supply of married women and single mothers, the evidence about the participation elasticity of childless singles, and single males especially, is more scant. This is, however, important in countries like France and Germany, where single individuals constitute the core of social assistance recipients. As yet, there is no conclusive evidence about whether, and to what extent, this group is affected by the financial disincentives embedded in the generous redistributive programs in place in these countries. In this paper, we exploit a particular feature of the main welfare scheme in France (Revenu Minimum d'Insertion, RMI), namely that childless adults under age 25 are not eligible for it. Using a regression discontinuity approach and the French micro-census data, we find that the RMI reduces the employment of uneducated single men by 7%-10%. Important policy implications are drawn. |
| Keywords: | Regression discontinuity; Welfare ; Social Assistance ; Labour Supply |
| JEL: | H52 J21 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:iriswp:2009-10&r=lab |
| By: | Verick, Sher (ILO International Labour Organization) |
| Abstract: | The current financial and economic crisis has resulted in the worst global recession since World War II. The subsequent destruction of jobs and increased duration of joblessness will ensure that unemployment across the world will continue to rise and stay stubbornly high for some time to come, well after the economy has begun to recover. Beyond this generalization, such downturns have more adverse implications for vulnerable segments of the population such as youth. As presented in this paper, data for both the current and previous financial crises reveals that young people are indeed hit hardest as reflected by rising unemployment rates, which persist long after the economy is growing again. In the wake of the present downturn, young men have been particularly affected, which has been driven by a range of factors including the high proportion of young men in heavily impacted sectors such as construction. In response to this situation, policymakers should utilize targeted crisis interventions that aim to keep youth employed where possible, while also assisting new entrants and those who have lost jobs find employment (or at a minimum stay attached to the labour force), particularly as the economy recovers. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, youth unemployment, financial crisis |
| JEL: | J21 J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4359&r=lab |
| By: | Asghar Zaidi; Edward R. Whitehouse |
| Abstract: | Special pensions for workers in hazardous or arduous jobs have long been a feature of the pension landscape and, recently, they are the subject of a great deal of debate in the pension arenas of many OECD countries. Such pensions are historically rooted in the idea that people who work in hazardous or arduous jobs – say, underground mining – merit special treatment. The rationale for this scheme is that hazardous or arduous work increases mortality and reduces life expectancy, thus reducing the time during which retirement benefits can be enjoyed. This results in such workers being made eligible for earlier access to pension benefits than otherwise available in that country’s general pension scheme...<BR>Les régimes de retraite spéciaux pour les professions dangereuses ou pénibles existent de longue date. Depuis quelques temps, ils suscitent de multiples débats dans de nombreux pays de l’OCDE. Ces régimes ont pour origine l’idée selon laquelle les personnes qui exercent un métier dangereux ou pénible, l’exploitation minière souterraine par exemple, méritent un traitement particulier. Cette idée se justifie par le fait que ces métiers augmentent la mortalité et diminuent l’espérance de vie, réduisant ainsi la période pendant laquelle les personnes qui les exercent peuvent profiter de leurs prestations de retraite. C’est pourquoi elles ont le droit de partir à la retraite avant l’échéance fixée par le régime de retraite général national... |
| Keywords: | pensions, retraites, working conditions, conditions de travail, hazardous job, emploi à risque, arduous job, pénébilité du travail |
| JEL: | H55 J81 |
| Date: | 2009–08–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:91-en&r=lab |
| By: | Beatrix Brügger; Rafael Lalive; Josef Zweimüller |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the role of culture in shaping unemployment outcomes. The empir- ical analysis is based on local comparisons across a language barrier in Switzerland. This Röstigraben separates cultural groups, but neither labor markets nor political jurisdictions. Local contrasts across the language border identify the role of culture for unemployment. Our findings indicate that differences in culture explain differences in unemployment dura- tion on the order of 20 %. Moreover, we find that horizontal transmission of culture is more important than vertical transmission of culture and that culture is about as important as strong changes to the benefit duration. |
| Keywords: | culture, cultural transmission, unemployment duration, regional unemployment |
| JEL: | J21 J64 Z10 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:nrnwps:2009_10&r=lab |
| By: | Fernando Álvarez-Parra; Juan M. Sanchez |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the problem of optimal unemployment insurance (UI) in a repeated moral hazard framework. Unlike existing literature, unemployed individuals can secretly participate in a hidden labor market. This extension modifies the standard problem in three dimensions. First, it imposes an endogenous lower bound for the lifetime utility that a contract can deliver. Second, it breaks the identity between unemployment payments and consumption. And third, it hardens the encouragement of search effort. The optimal unemployment insurance system in an economy with a hidden labor market is simple, with an initial phase in which payments are relatively flat during unemployment and with no payments for long-term unemployed individuals. This scheme differs substantially from the one prescribed without a hidden labor market and resembles unemployment protection programs in many countries. |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedrwp:09-09&r=lab |
| By: | Jacob Funk Kirkegaard (Peterson Institute for International Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper expands on the methodology of Groshen and Potter (2003) for studying cyclical and structural changes in the US economy and analyzes the net structural and cyclical employment trends in the US economy during the last 10 trough-to-trough business cycles from 1949 to the present. It illustrates that the US manufacturing sector and an increasing number of services sectors, including parts of the financial services sector, are experiencing structural employment declines. Structural employment gains in the US labor market are increasingly concentrated in the healthcare, education, food, and professional and technical services sectors and in the occupations related to these industries. The paper concludes that the improved operation of the US labor market during the 1990s has reversed itself in the 2000s, with negative long-term economic effects for the United States. |
| Keywords: | Business cycles, structural change, unemployment duration, occupational/sectoral employment shifts, labor turnover, Okun’s Law relationship, Beveridge curves. |
| JEL: | J21 J24 J62 J63 J64 O14 O51 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iie:wpaper:wp09-5&r=lab |
| By: | John Bound; Brad Hershbein; Bridget Terry Long |
| Abstract: | Gaining entrance to a four-year college or university, particularly a selective institution, has become increasingly competitive over the last several decades. We document this phenomenon and show how it has varied across different parts of the student ability distribution and across region, with the most pronounced increases in competition being found among higher-ability students and in the Northeast. Additionally, we explore how the college preparatory behavior of high school seniors has changed in response to the growth in competition. We also discuss the theoretical implications of increased competition on longer-term measures of learning and achievement and attempt to test them empirically; the evidence and related literature, while limited, suggests little long-term benefit. |
| JEL: | I2 J24 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15272&r=lab |
| By: | Bhattacharya, Manasi (affiliation not available); Bedi, Arjun S. (Institute of Social Studies); Chhachhi, Amrita (Institute of Social Studies) |
| Abstract: | Dominant development policy approaches recommend women's employment on the grounds that it facilitates their empowerment, which in turn is believed to be instrumental in enhancing women's well-being. However, empirical work on the relationship between women's employment status and their well-being as measured by freedom from marital violence yields an ambiguous picture. Motivated by this ambiguity, this paper draws on testimonies of men and women and data gathered from rural Uttar Pradesh, to examine the effect of women's employment and asset status as measured by their participation in paid work and their ownership of property, respectively, on spousal violence. Unlike the existing literature, we treat women's work status and violence as simultaneously determined and find that women's engagement in paid work and ownership of property, are associated with sharp reductions in marital violence. |
| Keywords: | domestic violence, employment status, property ownership, India |
| JEL: | J12 J15 J16 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4361&r=lab |
| By: | Kuhn, Andreas (University of Zurich); Lalive, Rafael (University of Lausanne); Zweimüller, Josef (University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | We study the short-run effect of involuntary job loss on comprehensive measures of public health costs. We focus on job loss induced by plant closure, thereby addressing the reverse causality problem of deteriorating health leading to job loss as job displacements due to plant closure are unlikely caused by workers' health status, but potentially have important effects on individual workers' health and associated public health costs. Our empirical analysis is based on a rich data set from Austria providing comprehensive information on various types of health care costs and day-by-day work history at the individual level. Our central findings are: (i) overall expenditures on medical treatments (hospitalizations, drug prescriptions, doctor visits) are not strongly affected by job displacement; (ii) job loss increases expenditures for antidepressants and related drugs, as well as for hospitalizations due to mental health problems for men (but not for women); and (iii) sickness benefits strongly increase due to job loss. |
| Keywords: | social cost of unemployment, health, job loss, plant closure |
| JEL: | I12 I19 J28 J65 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4355&r=lab |
| By: | Nicole D. Forry (Child Trends); Sandra L. Hofferth (University of Maryland) |
| Abstract: | With the passage of welfare reform, parents’ ability to not only obtain, but maintain work has become imperative. The role of child care subsidies in supporting parents’ job tenure has received little attention in the literature. This article examines the relationship between receiving a child care subsidy and the likelihood of experiencing a child care-related work disruption using two samples and both cross-sectional and longitudinal regression models. Child care-related work disruptions are found to be less likely among subsidy recipients across samples and methods. Program implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. |
| Keywords: | child care, subsidy, employment, cost, job tenure |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:crcwel:1175&r=lab |
| By: | Waverly W. Ding; Sharon G. Levin; Paula E. Stephan; Anne E. Winkler |
| Abstract: | This study advances the prior literature concerning the impact of information technology on productivity in academe in two important ways. First, it utilizes a dataset that combines information on the diffusion of two noteworthy and early innovations in IT -- BITNET and the Domain Name System (DNS) -- with career history data on research-active life scientists. This research design allows for proper identification of the availability of access to IT as well as a means to directly identify causal effects. Second, the fine-grained nature of the data set allows for an investigation of three publishing outcomes: counts, quality, and co-authorship. Our analysis of a random sample of 3,771 research-active life scientists from 430 U.S. institutions over a 25-year period supports the hypothesis of a differential return to IT across subgroups of the scientific labor force. Women scientists, early-to-mid-career scientists, and those employed by mid-to-lower-tier institutions benefit from access to IT in terms of overall research output and an increase in the number of new co-authors they work with. Early-career scientists and those in top-tier institutions gain in terms of research quality when IT becomes available at their campuses. |
| JEL: | J16 J44 O33 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15285&r=lab |
| By: | Alan S. Blinder; Alan B. Krueger |
| Abstract: | This paper reports on a household survey specially designed to measure what we call the “offshorability†of jobs, defined as the ability to perform the work duties from abroad. We develop multiple measures of offshorability, using both self-reporting and professional coders. All the measures find that roughly 25% of U.S. jobs are offshorable. Our three preferred measures agree between 70% and 80% of the time. Furthermore, professional coders appear to provide the most accurate assessments, which is good news because the Census Bureau could collect data on offshorability without adding a single question to the CPS. Empirically, more educated workers appear to hold somewhat more offshorable jobs, and offshorability does not have systematic effects on either wages or the probability of layoff. Perhaps most surprisingly, routine work is no more offshorable than other work. |
| JEL: | F16 J60 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15287&r=lab |
| By: | Susanne Prantl (Institute for Fiscal Studies and WZB, Berlin); Alexandra Spitz-Oener |
| Abstract: | <p><p>We analyze how an entry regulation that imposes a mandatory educational standard affects entry into self-employment and occupational mobility. We exploit the German reunification as a natural experiment and identify regulatory effects by comparing differences between regulated occupations and unregulated occupations in East Germany with the corresponding differences in West Germany after reunification. Consistent with our expectations, we find that entry regulation reduces entry into self-employment and occupational mobility after reunification more in regulated occupations in East Germany than in West Germany. Our findings are relevant for transition or emerging economies as well as for mature market economies requiring large structural changes after unforeseen economic shocks.</p></p> |
| Keywords: | Entry Regulation, Self-Employment, Occupational Mobility |
| JEL: | J24 J62 K20 L11 L51 M13 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:09/14&r=lab |
| By: | Halliday, Timothy (University of Hawaii at Manoa); Podor, Melinda (University of Hawaii at Manoa) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we quantify the effects of health on time allocation. We estimate that improvements in health status have large and positive effects on time allocated to home and market production and large negative effects on time spent watching TV, sleeping, and consuming other types of leisure. We find that poor health status results in about 300 additional hours allocated to unproductive activities per year. Plausible estimates of the cost of this lost time exceed $10,000. We also find that, for men, better health induces a substitution of market-produced goods for home-produced goods. Particularly, each additional minute spent in home production saves $0.37. |
| Keywords: | labor supply, time allocation, health |
| JEL: | I1 J2 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4368&r=lab |
| By: | Webber, Douglas A. (Cornell University); Ehrenberg, Ronald G. (Cornell University) |
| Abstract: | Median instructional spending per full-time equivalent (FTE) student at American colleges and universities has grown at a slower rate the median spending per FTE in a number of other expenditure categories during the last two decades. We use institutional level panel data and a variety of econometric approaches, including unconditional quantile regression models, to analyze whether noninstructional expenditure categories influence first year persistence and graduation rates of American undergraduate students. Our most important finding is that student service expenditures influence graduation and persistence rates and their marginal effects are larger for students at institutions with lower entrance test scores and more lower income students. Put another way, their effects are largest at institutions that have lower current persistence and graduation rates. Simulations suggest that reallocating some funding from instruction to student services may enhance persistence and graduation rates at those institutions whose rates are currently below the medians in the sample. |
| Keywords: | higher education, productivity, graduation rates |
| JEL: | I2 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4345&r=lab |
| By: | Timothy J. Bartik (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research) |
| Abstract: | This chapter is a draft of Chapter 7 of a planned book, Preschool and Jobs: Human Development as Economic Development, and Vice Versa. This book analyzes early childhood programs’ effects on regional economic development. Four early childhood programs are considered: 1) universally accessible preschool for four-year-olds of similar quality to the Chicago Child Parent Center program; 2) the Abecedarian program, which provides disadvantaged children with high-quality child care and preschool from infancy to age five; 3) the Nurse Family Partnership, which provides low-income first-time mothers with nurse home visitors from the prenatal period until the child is age two; and 4) the Parent Child-Home program, which provides home visits and educational toys and books to disadvantaged families when the child is between the ages of 2 and 3. The book considers the main benefit of state economic development to be the resulting increase in earnings of the original residents who stay in that state. Early childhood programs increase residents’ earnings largely by increasing the quantity and quality of local labor supply. These programs will increase the employability and wages of former child participants in these programs. The book compares the effects on local earnings of early childhood programs with the effects of business incentives (e.g., property tax abatements). Business incentives increase local residents’ earnings by increasing the quantity and/or quality of local labor demand. This chapter considers a problem with early childhood programs: their effects on earnings are mostly long-delayed. The delay occurs because most earnings effects are on former child participants. The chapter considers appropriate discounting of benefits. The chapter considers how the upfront costs of early childhood programs can be delayed or reduced. The chapter considers how the long-run benefits of early childhood programs can be moved up or increased. |
| Keywords: | preschool, economic development, early childhood, education, business incentives |
| JEL: | J13 J24 I21 R23 R31 R30 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:09-150&r=lab |
| By: | Timothy J. Bartik (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper is a draft of Chapter 8 of a planned book, Preschool and Jobs: Human Development as Economic Development, and Vice Versa. This book analyzes early childhood programs’ effects on regional economic development. Four early childhood programs are considered: 1) universally accessible preschool for four-year-olds of similar quality to the Chicago Child Parent Center program; 2) the Abecedarian program, which provides disadvantaged children with high-quality child care and preschool from infancy to age five; 3) the Nurse Family Partnership, which provides low-income first-time mothers with nurse home visitors from the prenatal period until the child is age two; and 4) the Parent Child-Home program, which provides home visits and educational toys and books to disadvantaged families when the child is between the ages of 2 and 3. The book considers the main benefit of state economic development to be the resulting increase in earnings of the original residents who stay in that state. Early childhood programs increase residents’ earnings largely by increasing the quantity and quality of local labor supply. These programs will increase the employability and wages of former child participants in these programs. The book compares the effects on local earnings of early childhood programs with the effects of business incentives (e.g., property tax abatements). Business incentives increase local residents’ earnings by increasing the quantity and/or quality of local labor demand. This chapter considers the effects of early childhood programs and business incentives on the income distribution. A key issue is whether early childhood programs should be targeted on the poor, or made universally available for free. Relevant considerations in addressing this issue include how benefits of early childhood programs benefit with family income, and the political feasibility of targeted versus universal programs. |
| Keywords: | preschool, economic development, early childhood, education, business incentives |
| JEL: | J13 J24 I21 R23 R31 R30 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:09-151&r=lab |
| By: | Fuchs, Michaela (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "This paper studies the impact of the local industrial structure on employment dynamics in Western Germany. Following an approach of Combes/Magnac/Robin (2004) for France, local employment growth is decomposed into internal growth resulting from employment changes in existing plants and into external growth determined by employment decisions of newly established plants. The dynamics of both components are estimated simultaneously, taking explicitly into account the timing of the impact of specialization, diversity, and competition in a region. The analysis is conducted for 24 sectors in the West German labor market regions from 1993 to 2002. Estimation results emphasize the positive influence of diversity on both internal and external employment growth, whereas there is no clear result on specialization. A high degree of competition fosters external employment, but is detrimental to internal employment. Dynamic panel regressions show that static externalities dominate. Importantly, the impact of the local industrial structure on employment dynamics does not differ between small and larger plants, nor are there fundamental differences between Western Germany and France." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Beschäftigungsentwicklung - Determinanten, regionale Verteilung, Wirtschaftsstruktur, Wettbewerbsbedingungen, IAB-Betriebs-Historik-Panel, Betriebsgröße, Westdeutschland, Frankreich, Bundesrepublik Deutschland |
| JEL: | C33 O18 R11 |
| Date: | 2009–08–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:200918&r=lab |
| By: | Alan S. Blinder (Princeton University); Alan B. Krueger (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | This paper reports on a pilot study of the use of conventional household survey methods to measure something unconventional: what we call offshorability, defined as the ability to perform one’s work duties (for the same employer and customers) from abroad. Notice that offshorability is a characteristic of a person’s job, not of the person himself. We see this research as important for two main reasons. First, one of us has argued previously that offshoring is potentially a very important labor market phenomenon in the United States and elsewhere, perhaps eventually amounting to a third Industrial Revolution. In the first Industrial Revolution, the share of the U.S. workforce engaged in agriculture declined by over 80 percentage points. In the second Industrial Revolution, which is still in progress, the share of American workers employed in manufacturing has declined by almost 25 percentage points so far, with most of the migration going to the service sector. The estimates presented here, like those of Blinder (2009b), suggest that the share of U.S. workers performing what Blinder (2006) called impersonal service jobs (defined precisely below) might shrink significantly while the share performing personal service jobs rises. Second, while readers must judge for themselves, we deem the pilot study to have been successful by several criteria that we will explain later. So we hope our survey methods will be replicated, improved upon, and eventually incorporated into some regular government survey, such as the Current Population Survey (CPS). Doing so would enable the U.S. government to track this important phenomenon over time. |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:cepsud:1169&r=lab |
| By: | Rania Antonopoulos; Taun N. Toay |
| Abstract: | This paper considers public employment guarantee programs in the context of South Africa as a means to address the nexus of poverty, unemployment, and unpaid work burdens--all factors exacerbated by HIV/AIDS. It further discusses the need for genderinformed public job creation in areas that mitigate the "time-tax" burdens of women, and examines a South African initiative to address social sector service delivery deficits within the government's Expanded Public Works Programme. The authors highlight the need for well-designed employment guarantee programs--specifically, programs centered on community and home-based care--as a potential way to help offset the destabilizing effects of HIV/AIDS and endemic poverty. The paper concludes with results from macroeconomic simulations of such a program, using a social accounting matrix framework, and sets out implications for both participants and policymakers. |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_570&r=lab |
| By: | Huber, Martin (University of St. Gallen); Lechner, Michael (University of St. Gallen); Wunsch, Conny (University of St. Gallen) |
| Abstract: | Using exceptionally rich linked administrative and survey information on German welfare recipients we investigate the health effects of transitions from welfare to employment and of assignments to welfare-to-work programmes. Applying semi-parametric propensity score matching estimators we find that employment substantially increases (mental) health. The positive effects are mainly driven by males and individuals with bad initial health conditions and are largest for males with poor health. In contrast, the effects of welfare-to-work programmes, including subsidized jobs, are ambiguous and statistically insignificant for most outcomes. Robustness checks that include a semi-parametric instrumental variable approach do not provide reasons for concern. |
| Keywords: | welfare programs, health effects |
| JEL: | I38 J68 I10 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4370&r=lab |
| By: | Garey Ramey; Valerie A. Ramey |
| Abstract: | After three decades of decline, the amount of time spent by parents on childcare in the U.S. began to rise dramatically in the mid-1990s. Moreover, the rise in childcare time was particularly pronounced among college-educated parents. Why would highly educated parents increase the amount of time they allocate to childcare at the same time that their own market returns have skyrocketed? After finding no empirical support for standard explanations, such as selection or income effects, we offer a new explanation. We argue that increased competition for college admissions may be an important source of these trends. The number of college-bound students has surged in recent years, coincident with the rise in time spent on childcare. The resulting “cohort crowding†has led parents to compete more aggressively for college slots by spending increasing amounts of time on college preparation. Our theoretical model shows that, since college-educated parents have a comparative advantage in college preparation, rivalry leads them to increase preparation time by a greater amount than less-educated parents. We provide empirical support for our explanation with a comparison of trends between the U.S. and Canada, and a comparison across racial groups in the U.S. |
| JEL: | J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15284&r=lab |
| By: | Ulrich Trautwein |
| Abstract: | The systematic of key cognitive competencies is of high scientific and societal relevance, as is the availability of high-quality data on cognitive competencies. In order to make well-informed decisions, politicians and educational authorities need high-quality data about the effectiveness of formal and non-formal educational environments. Similarly, researchers need strong data to test complex theoretical models about how individual biographies are shaped by the interplay between individual and institutional affordances and constraints. Innumerable data sets offer some form of information on competencies such as respondents’ years at school and their school grades. Such data are relatively easy to collect. When it comes to making informed political and educational decisions, however, there are increasing calls for a more systematic use of standardized competence tests. The production, storage, and use of standardized test data on competencies in specific domains is expensive, complex, and time-consuming, however. This chapter argues that there is a paucity of adequate data on cognitive competencies in important domains, especially of longitudinal data from standardized competence tests, and that for many important questions there are no good alternatives to high-quality standardized tests of cognitive competencies. Furthermore, it outlines some challenges in the construction and application of standardized competence tests and makes several recommendations. |
| Keywords: | cognitive competencies, assessment, intelligence, school grades |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsw:rswwps:rswwps86&r=lab |
| By: | Andrä Wolter |
| Abstract: | During the last five years higher education research in Germany seems to be in a significant upturn. This is a side effect partly of the obvious boom of empirical educational research in general and partly of the reform movement that has affected the German higher education system since middle of the 1990s. The demand for data in the field of higher education will increase considerably in future. The available data infrastructure for higher education research in Germany consists of two complementary main sources: on the one hand the official higher education statistics, on the other hand survey-based research. All in all, there are no serious or principle obstacles to access to the available data stock. Access in particular to some of the most important surveys could be improved by the establishment of a Forschungsdatenzentrum at HIS Hochschul-Informations-System. Furthermore, there are some deficiencies in the present data provision. New topics and demands of data provision have to be integrated into official statistics and survey based research – e.g. such issues as migration status, competencies, lifelong learning, quality of studies, institutional effects, international mobility, programs to promote younger scholars etc.. In particular there is a lack of panel designs. The very new National Education Panel Study (NEPS) will eliminate some but not all of these deficiencies. |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsw:rswwps:rswwps88&r=lab |
| By: | Jean-Charles Billaut (LI - EA 2101 - Laboratoire d'Informatique - Université François Rabelais - Tours - Polytech'Tours); Denis Bouyssou (LAMSADE - Laboratoire d'analyse et modélisation de systèmes pour l'aide à la décision - CNRS : UMR7024 - Université Paris Dauphine - Paris IX); Philippe Vincke (CODE - CODE - Université Libre de Bruxelles) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a critical analysis of the "Academic Ranking of World Universities", published every year by the Institute of Higher Education of the Jiao Tong University in Shanghai and more commonly known as the Shanghai ranking. After having recalled how the ranking is built, we first discuss the relevance of the criteria and then analyze the proposed aggregation method. Our analysis uses tools and concepts from Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM). Our main conclusions are that the criteria that are used are not relevant, that the aggregation methodology is plagued by a number of major problems and that the whole exercise suffers from an insufficient attention paid to fundamental structuring issues. Hence, our view is that the Shanghai ranking, in spite of the media coverage it receives, does not qualify as a useful and pertinent tool to discuss the "quality" of academic institutions, let alone to guide the choice of students and family or to promote reforms of higher education systems. We outline the type of work that should be undertaken to oer sound alternatives to the Shanghai ranking. |
| Keywords: | Shanghai ranking; multiple criteria decision analysis; evaluation models; higher education. |
| Date: | 2009–05–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00388319_v2&r=lab |
| By: | Schneider, Andrea (Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg) |
| Abstract: | Post-docs signal their ability to do science and teaching to get a tenure giving universities the possibility of separating highly talented agents from the low talented ones. However separating that means signalling effort for the highly talented becomes even more important in a two-dimensional signalling case. This attracts notice to time constraints. Under weak conditions separating equilibria do not exist if time constraints are binding. The existing equilibria are more costly but without additional information compared to the one-dimensional case. Considering this, the efficiency of the current two-dimensional academic job market signalling can be improved by switching to a one-dimensional one. |
| Keywords: | Multi-dimensional signalling; Academic job market; Teaching and Research |
| JEL: | D82 I23 J41 |
| Date: | 2009–08–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:vhsuwp:2009_095&r=lab |
| By: | Strawinski, Pawel (University of Warsaw) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an international comparison of external rates of return to education. As is pointed out in the literature social return rate exceeds the pure technical rate of return by a considerable margin. However, measuring social return is delicate due to methodological and data problems. The exploited approach is based on a comparative advantage theory. It allows us to control for potential endogeneity problem and a self-selection into different education regimes. We find that external return is positive in all European countries. However the magnitude of these returns varies. It seems that the external return is higher in small economies in which the number of highly educated people is low. |
| Keywords: | return to education; private return ; social return |
| JEL: | I21 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:iriswp:2009-09&r=lab |
| By: | Aïcha Serghini Idrissi (Centre Emile Bernheim, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels.); Patricia Garcia-Prieto (Centre Emile Bernheim, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels.) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we argue that Leading Academic Performance (LAP) expectations in universities are gendered, hindering female academic leadership. Integrating concepts from social identity theory of leadership, prototypicality, and social identity performance we describe how evaluations of female academic performance are shaped by gender social identity negatively affecting the career advancement of female faculty. We then illustrate how female academics can perform their academic and/or female social identities in order to be considered as leading academic performers. |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:09-030&r=lab |