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on Labour Economics |
By: | Cristian Bartolucci |
Abstract: | In this paper I propose and estimate an equilibrium search model using matched employer-employee data to study the extent to which wage differentials between men and women can be explained by differences in productivity, disparities in friction patterns, segregation or wage discrimination. The availability of matched employer-employee data is essential to empirically disentangle differences in workers productivity across groups from differences in wage policies toward those groups. The model features rent splitting, on-the-job search and two-sided heterogeneity in productivity. It is estimated using German microdata. I find that female workers are less productive and more mobile than males, I only find significant evidence of discrimination in the construction sector. The total gender wage gap is 38 percent. It turns out that most of the gap, 82 percent, is accounted for by differences in productivity, 6.8 percent is driven by segregation while differences in destruction rates explain 1.2 percent of the total wage-gap. Netting out differences in offer-arrival rates would increase the gap by 2.5 percent. Due to differences in wage setting, female workers receive wages 4.7 percent lower than male ones. |
Keywords: | Labor market discrimination, search frictions, structural estimation, matched employer-employee data. |
JEL: | J70 C51 J64 |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wpaper:116&r=lab |
By: | McGuinness, Seamus (ESRI); Kelly, Elish (ESRI); O'Connell, Philip J. (ESRI); Callan, Tim (ESRI) |
Abstract: | This paper assesses the magnitude and nature of the gender pay gap in Ireland using the National Employment Survey 2003, an employeremployee matched dataset. The results suggest that while a wage bargaining system centred around social partnership was of benefit to females irrespective of their employment status, the minimum wage mechanism appears to improve the relative position of part-time females only. Trade union membership was associated with a widening gender pay gap in the full-time labour market and a narrowing differential among part-time workers. In relation to the motivations for working part-time, which help us to account for selection into part-time employment, our results indicate that when these factors are incorporated into the part-time decomposition, the previously observed wage gap is eliminated. |
Keywords: | Gender wage gap; Wage bargaining regime; Full-time/part-time labour markets; Linked employer-employee data, Ireland |
Date: | 2009–09 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp317&r=lab |
By: | Deborah Cobb-Clark; Michelle Tan |
Abstract: | This paper examines whether men's and women's noncognitive skills influence their occupational attainment and, if so, whether this contributes to the disparity in their relative wages. We find that noncognitive skills have a substantial effect on the probability of employment in many, though not all, occupations in ways that differ by gender. Consequently, men and women with similar noncognitive skills enter occupations at very different rates. Women, however, have lower wages on average not because they work in different occupations than men do, but rather because they earn less than their male colleagues employed in the same occupation. On balance, women's noncognitive skills give them a slight wage advantage. Finally, we find that accounting for the endogeneity of occupational attainment more than halves the proportion of the overall gender wage gap that is unexplained. |
Keywords: | noncognitive skills, personality, occupation, gender wage gap, decomposition |
JEL: | J16 J24 J31 |
Date: | 2009–07 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:612&r=lab |
By: | Mavromaras, Kostas (NILS, Flinders University of South Australia); McGuinness, Seamus (ESRI); O?Leary, Nigel (WELMERC, Swansea University); Sloane, Peter (IZA, Bonn); Fok, Yin King (Melbourne Institute, University of Melbourne) |
Abstract: | Interpretation of the phenomenon of graduate overeducation remains problematical. In an attempt to resolve at least some of the issues this paper makes use of the panel element of the HILDA survey, distinguishing between four possible combinations of education/skills mismatch. For men we find a significant pay penalty only for those who are both overskilled and overeducated, while for women there is a smaller but significant pay penalty in all cases of mismatch. Overeducation does not have any negative effect on the job satisfaction of either men or women, while overskilling either on its own or jointly with overeducation does so. Finally, overeducation has no significant effect on the job mobility of either men or women, though there is a significant positive effect on both voluntary and involuntary job loss in men who are both overskilled and overeducated, with the results again differing for women. At least for a substantial number of workers it appears, therefore, that overeducation represents a matter of choice (or is possibly a consequence of low ability for that level of education), while overskilling imposes real costs on the individuals concerned. |
Keywords: | Overeducation, Overskilling, Wages, Job Mobility, Job Satisfaction, Gender |
Date: | 2009–09 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp314&r=lab |
By: | Mason, Patrick |
Abstract: | This paper contrasts the explanatory power of the mono-cultural and diversity models of racial disparity. The mono-cultural model ignores nativity and ethnic differences among African Americans. The diversity model assumes that culture affects both intra- and interracial labor market disparity. The diversity model seeks to enhance our ability to understand the relative merits of culture versus market discrimination as determinants of racial inequality in labor market outcomes. Our results are consistent with the diversity model of racial inequality. Specifically, racial disparity consists of the following outcomes: 1) persistent racial wage and employment effects between both native and immigrant African Americans and whites, 2) limited ethnicity effects among African Americans, 3) diverse employment and wage effects among native and immigrant African Americans, 4) intra-racial wage penalties (premiums) for immigrant (native) African Americans, and 5) evidence of relatively higher unobserved productivity-linked attributes among Caribbean-English immigrants. There are regional and intertemporal variations in these inequalities. |
Keywords: | racial discrimination; racial inequality; immigration; identity; African American; Caribbean; African Diaspora; wage discrimination; employment discrimination; Hispanic; acting white; multi-racial; skin shade |
JEL: | J31 J21 J61 J15 Z13 J7 J16 |
Date: | 2009–05–25 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17497&r=lab |
By: | Michael Clemens |
Abstract: | Large numbers of doctors, engineers, and other skilled workers from developing countries choose to move to other countries. Do their choices threaten development? The answer appears so obvious that their movement is most commonly known by the pejorative term “brain drain.” This paper reconsiders the question, starting from the most mainstream, explicit definitions of “development.” Under these definitions, it is only possible to advance development by regulating skilled workers’ choices if that regulation greatly expands the substantive freedoms of others to meet their basic needs and live the lives they wish. Much existing evidence and some new evidence suggests that regulating skilled-worker mobility itself does little to address the underlying causes of skilled migrants’ choices, generally brings few benefits to others, and often brings diverse unintended harm. The paper concludes with examples of effective ways that developing countries can build a skill base for development without regulating human movement. The mental shift required to take these policies seriously would be aided by dropping the sententious term “brain drain” in favor of the neutral, accurate, and concise term “skill flow.” |
Keywords: | brain drain; migration; development; labor; education; developing; labor mobility; circular migration; higher education; university; training; skilled; high skill; talent; globalization; health workers; high tech; technology transfer |
JEL: | F22 J24 O15 |
Date: | 2009–08 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:180&r=lab |
By: | Dillon, Andrew |
Abstract: | "This paper examines a subjective measure of child labor as an alternative to hours data for eliciting the distribution of children's time between work, school, and leisure. The subjective child labor questions that were developed have two primary advantages. First, the subjective measures avoid proxy respondent bias in child labor reports made by parents in a standard hours module. Second, the subjective child labor module scales responses to elicit the relative distribution of the shares of children's time without relying on hours data which are prone to severe outlier problems. Adult, proxy respondents are found to produce uniformly lower reports of children's time allocated to work and school than the child's own subjective responses. Conditional labor supply functions are also estimated to examine the marginal effects of child, parent, household and school characteristics between the two types of data. Children's subjective responses are found to increase the magnitude of the marginal effects for child's age, parental education, and school availability with limited differences between household composition and asset variables." from authors' abstract |
Keywords: | Child labor, Questionnaire design, Development strategies, Childcare and work, Gender, |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:879&r=lab |
By: | Bagamba, Fred; Burger, Kees; Kuyvenhoven, Arie |
Abstract: | "Although there is growing evidence of the increasing role of nonfarm activities in rural livelihoods, there is still relatively little empirical evidence regarding the factors that influence smallholder farmers to diversify into nonfarm activities. This study analyses the factors that influence household labor allocation decisions and demand for farm labor in Uganda. Data were collected from 660 households in three banana-based production zones with divergent production constraints and opportunities. The determinants of demand for hired labor were estimated with the Tobit model. Linear regression was used to estimate reduced-form equations for the time-allocation decisions of household members. Our findings show that household members respond positively to increases in wages, suggesting that they respond to economic incentives. Increased wage rates negatively affect the use of hired labor, but household size has no effect on the use of hired labor, indicating that the economic rationing of labor hiring has more to do with the market wage than family size or composition. Education and road access have positive effects on the amount of time allocated to off-farm activities. Access to off-farm opportunities, however, takes away the most productive labor from farm production. These findings suggest that investment in road infrastructure and education suited to smallholder production needs could help alleviate bottlenecks in labor markets and improve resource allocation between farm and nonfarm sectors." from authors' abstract |
Keywords: | Smallholder farmers, Labor demand, Non-farm employment, Land management, |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:887&r=lab |
By: | Byrne, Delma (ESRI); McGuinness, Seamus (ESRI) |
Abstract: | This paper uses graduate survey data and econometric methods to estimate the incidence and wage effects of over-education and overskilling among immigrant and ethnic minority graduates from UK universities. The paper empirically demonstrates that immigrant and second-generation ethnic minority graduates were no more likely to experience education or skill mismatch relative to their native counterparts. Furthermore, graduates from immigrant and ethnic minority backgrounds incurred overeducation and overskilling wage penalties that lie well below the level incurred by native graduates. The research stresses the importance of controlling for the effects of location-specific human capital and sample selection when undertaking studies of this nature. |
Keywords: | Overeducation, overskilling, ethnic minorities, immigrants |
Date: | 2009–09 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp316&r=lab |
By: | Abo-Zaid, Salem |
Abstract: | Recent empirical evidence suggests that nominal wages in the U.S. are downwardly rigid. This paper studies optimal monetary policy in a labor search and matching framework under the presence of Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity (DNWR). The study shows that when nominal wages are downwardly rigid, optimal monetary policy targets a positive inflation rate; the annual long-run inflation rate is around 2 percent. Positive inflation in this environment “greases the wheels” of the labor market by facilitating real wage adjustments, and hence it eases job creation and prevents excessive increase in unemployment. In addition, there is an asymmetry in the response of the economy to positive and negative productivity shocks, particularly those of large sizes. Finally, the optimal long-run inflation rate predicted by this study is considerably higher than in otherwise neoclassical labor markets, suggesting that the nature of the labor market in which DNWR is studied can matter for policy recommendations. |
Keywords: | Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity; Optimal Monetary Policy; Long Run Inflation Rate; Labor Market Frictions; Labor Search and Matching. |
JEL: | E5 E4 E3 |
Date: | 2009–09–24 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17489&r=lab |
By: | Barrett, Alan (ESRI); McGuinness, Seamus (ESRI); O'Brien, Martin (Central Bank & Financial Services Authority of Ireland); O'Connell, Philip J. (ESRI) |
Abstract: | Much has been written about the labour market outcomes for immigrants in their host countries, particularly with regard to earnings, employment and occupational attainment. However, much less attention has been paid to the question of whether immigrants are as likely to receive employer-provided training relative to comparable natives. As such training should be crucial in determining the labour market success of immigrants in the long run it is a critically important question. Using data from a large scale survey of employees in Ireland, we find that immigrants are less likely to receive training from employers, with immigrants from the New Member States of the EU experiencing a particular disadvantage. The immigrant training disadvantage arises in part from a failure on the part of immigrants to get employed by training-oriented firms. However, they also experience a training disadvantage relative to natives within firms where less training is provided. |
Date: | 2009–09 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp313&r=lab |
By: | Montizaan Raymond; Cörvers Frank; Grip Andries de (ROA rm) |
Abstract: | This paper uses a natural experiment approach to identify the effects of an exogenouschange in future pension benefits on workers’ training participation. We use uniquematched survey and administrative data for male employees in the Dutch public sectorwho were born in 1949 or 1950. Only the latter were subject to a major pension reformthat diminished their pension rights. We find that this exogenous shock to pension rightspostpones expected retirement and increases participation in training courses amongolder employees, although exclusively for those employed in large organizations. |
Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2009015&r=lab |
By: | Alison Booth; Yuji Tamura |
Abstract: | Using the first two waves of the Vietnam Living Standards Survey, we investigate how a father’s temporary absence affects children left behind in terms of their school attendance, household expenditures on education, and nonhousework labour supply in the 1990s. The estimating subsample is children aged 7-18 in households in which both parents usually coreside and the mother has not been absent. Our results indicate that paternal temporary absence increases non housework labour supply by his son. The longer the absence of the father, the larger the impact. One additional month of paternal temporary absence increases a son’s nonhousework labour supply by approximately one week. However, a daughter’s nonhousework labour supply is not affected. We find no evidence that paternal temporary absence influences his children in terms of school attendance or education-related household expenditures. |
Keywords: | parental absence, temporary migration, schooling, human capital investment, child labour, Vietnam, VLSS |
JEL: | I22 O15 P36 |
Date: | 2009–08 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:617&r=lab |
By: | Mason, Patrick L. |
Abstract: | Standard analysis of racial inequality incorporates racial classification as an exogenous binary variable. This approach obfuscates the importance of racial self-identity and clouds our ability to understand the relative importance of unobserved productivity-linked attributes versus market discrimination as determinants of racial inequality in labor market outcomes. Our examination of identity heterogeneity among African Americans suggests racial wage disparity is most consistent with weak colorism, while genotype disparity best describes racial employment differences. Further, among African Americans, the wage data are not consistent with the hypothesis that black-mixed race wage disparity can be explained by differences in unobserved productivity-linked productive attributes. |
Keywords: | racial discrimination; racial inequality; identity; African American; African Diaspora; wage discrimination; employment discrimination; Hispanic; acting white; multi-racial; skin shade |
JEL: | J31 J21 J61 J15 Z13 J7 J16 |
Date: | 2009–05–25 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17496&r=lab |
By: | Guertzgen, Nicole |
Abstract: | Using a large linked employer-employee data set, this paper studies the extent to which employers insure workers against transitory and permanent firm-level shocks. Particular emphasis is given to the question of whether the amount of wage insurance depends on the nature of industrial relations. Adopting the identification strategy proposed by Guiso et al. (2005), it is shown that wage insurance is particularly apparent for individuals subject to collective wage agreements. While collective contracts alone are sufficient to fully insure workers against transitory shocks in small plants, they provide only partial insurance in medium-sized and large plants. At large employers, the joint existence of collective contracts and works councils helps to provide full insurance against transitory shocks, but provides only partial insurance against permanent shocks. This finding is consistent with the amount of insurance against permanent shocks being constrained by the possibility of considerable job losses and bankruptcy. |
Keywords: | Wage insurance,linked employer-employee data,collective bargaining |
JEL: | J31 J51 |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:09043&r=lab |
By: | Cörvers Frank; Dupuy Arnaud (ROA rm) |
Abstract: | In this paper, we estimate the demand for workers by sector and occupation usingsystem dynamics OLS techniques to account for the employment dynamics dependenceacross occupations and sectors of industry. The short run dynamics are decomposed intointra and intersectoral dynamics. We find that employment by occupation and sectoris significantly affected by the short run intersectoral dynamics, using Dutch data forthe period 1988-2003. On average, these intersectoral dynamics account for 20 of thepredicted occupational employment. |
Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2009014&r=lab |
By: | Andrew Leigh |
Abstract: | Using a dataset covering over 10,000 Australian primary school teachers and over 90,000 pupils, I estimate how effective teachers are in raising students’ test scores from one exam to the next. Since the exams are conducted only every two years, it is necessary to take account of the teacher’s work in the intervening year. Even after adjusting for measurement error, the resulting teacher fixed effects are widely dispersed across teachers, and there is a strong positive correlation between a teacher’s gains in literacy and numeracy. Teacher fixed effects show a significant association with some, though not all, observable teacher characteristics. Experience has the strongest effect, with a large effect in the early years of a teacher’s career. Female teachers do better at teaching literacy. Teachers with a master’s degree or some other form of further qualification do not appear to achieve significantly larger test score gains. Overall, teacher characteristics found in the departmental payroll database can explain only a small fraction of the variance in teacher performance. |
Keywords: | educational economics, educational finance, efficiency, productivity |
JEL: | I21 J24 C23 |
Date: | 2009–08 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:619&r=lab |
By: | Guifu, Chen; Shigeyuki, Hamori |
Abstract: | Oaxaca’s study (1973), along with the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) questionnaire (2004 and 2006 pooling data), is used as the basis for this study in estimating the formal-informal employment hourly income differential, as well as the formal and informal male-female employment hourly income differential in urban China. The results indicate that differences in the characteristics between formal and informal employment account for a much higher percentage of the hourly income differential than do discrimination. In addition, ignoring the sample selection bias, one finds the formal male-female, the informal male-female hourly income differential and the degree of discrimination against informal women’s employment will be overestimated; conversely, the degree of discrimination against formal women’s employment will be underestimated. |
Keywords: | formal employment; informal employment; income differentials; Chinese labor market |
JEL: | J40 J70 |
Date: | 2009–09 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17585&r=lab |
By: | Alison L. Booth |
Abstract: | In almost all European Union countries, the gender wage gap is increasing across the wages distribution. In this lecture I briefly survey some recent studies aiming to explain why apparently identical women and men receive such different returns and focus especially on those incorporating psychological factors as an explanation of the gender gap. Research areas with high potential returns to further analysis are identified. Several examples from my own recent experimental work with Patrick Nolen are also presented. These try to distinguish between the role of nature and nurture in affecting behavioural differences between men and women that might lead to gender wage gaps. |
Keywords: | glass ceiling, experimental economics, personality differences, behaviour |
JEL: | C9 J16 J71 |
Date: | 2009–07 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:611&r=lab |
By: | Barrett, Alan (ESRI); Bergin, Adele (ESRI); Kelly, Elish (ESRI) |
Abstract: | We estimate the impact of immigration on the wages of natives in Ireland applying the technique proposed by Borjas (2003). Under this method, the labour market is divided into a number of skill cells, where the cells are defined by groups with similar levels of experience and education (or experience and occupation). Regression analysis is then employed to assess whether the average wages of natives across skill cells is affected by the share of immigrants across cells. When the cells are based on education/experience, our results suggest a negative relationship between native wages and immigrant shares. However, the opposite appears to hold when the cells are based on occupation/experience. These contradictory findings suggest that care should be exercised when applying this method as inaccurate impressions of the impact of immigration on wages may arise. |
Date: | 2009–09 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp318&r=lab |
By: | Yann Algan (Sciences Po, OFCE); Christian Dustmann (University College London, CReAM); Albrecht Glitz (Universitat Pompeu Fabra); Alan Manning (Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics) |
Abstract: | A central concern about immigration is the integration into the labour market, not only of the first generation, but also of subsequent generations. Little comparative work exists for Europe’s largest economies. France, Germany and the UK have all become, perhaps unwittingly, countries with large immigrant populations albeit with very different ethnic compositions. Today, the descendants of these immigrants live and work in their parents’ destination countries. This paper presents and discusses comparative evidence on the performance of first- and second-generation immigrants in these countries in terms of education, earnings, and employment. |
Date: | 2009–09 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:200922&r=lab |
By: | Arusha Cooray; |
Abstract: | This study shows that despite a strong empirical association between gender differentials in enrolment ratios and democracy, that democracy alone does not explain gender differentials in education in Africa and Asia. The results indicate that income, employment in agriculture, religious heterogeneity and colonialism also help explain the under-representation of girls in education in these regions. Countries in which the duration of suffrage has been longer, tend to perform better on average in terms of gender equality in education. |
JEL: | O11 O15 O43 O57 |
Date: | 2009–08 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:acb:camaaa:2009-20&r=lab |
By: | Federico Cingano (Banca d'Italia); Piero Cipollone (Banca d'Italia) |
Abstract: | We estimate the private (individual) and social return to schooling in Italy and its macro regions. Our estimates take into account the effects of schooling on employment and wages, as well as the key features of the Italian tax and social security system. We find that the individual return to schooling compares favourably with the return to financial assets (especially in the South). At the social level, the available infrastructure-capital data indicates that the return to schooling exceeds that to infrastructures in the South. Recent evidence on peer effects and the consequences of increased education for health and crime suggest the overall social effects of schooling could be even greater |
Keywords: | schooling, wages, employment probability |
JEL: | I2 J31 O18 R11 |
Date: | 2009–09 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_53_09&r=lab |
By: | Alison L. Booth; Hiau Joo Kee |
Abstract: | According to the 1911 Census, the proportion female of those receiving university education was around 22%, growing to 29% in 1921. By 1952 it had dropped to under 20%, due to easy access into universities for returning war-veterans. From the early 1950s, the university-educated gender gap began to reduce in response to women’s changing expectations of labour-force participation, fertility and age at first marriage. By 1987, Australian women were more likely than men to be enrolled at university. However, these aggregate figures disguise considerable heterogeneity across fields of study. |
Keywords: | higher education, gender, Australia |
JEL: | I23 J1 N3 |
Date: | 2009–07 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:610&r=lab |
By: | Gernandt, Johannes |
Abstract: | Using data from the German Socio Economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 1984 to 2007, this paper analyses the amount, the development and the explanations of wage mobility, as well as volatility in West Germany, measured by ranks in the wage distribution. Individual wage mobility decreased between 1984/1987 and 2004/2007, while inequality increased steadily from the mid 1990s onwards. Mobility is highest in the middle section of the distribution. Better qualified persons, younger persons and employees of larger firms have higher chances of moving upwards. Wages are more volatile in the low-wage sector and for individuals moving downwards in the wage distribution. |
Keywords: | Wage mobility,ranks,inequality,distribution,SOEP |
JEL: | J31 J60 D31 |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:09044&r=lab |
By: | Maja Micevska |
Abstract: | 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. [WP no. 205]. |
Keywords: | rural households, productivity, wage employment, data set, India, Himalayas, Nonfarm employment; Rural households; Incomes; Education; India, |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2226&r=lab |
By: | Liew , Venus Khim-Sen; Chia, Ricky Chee-Jiun; Puah, Chin-Hong |
Abstract: | This study tests the hysteresis hypothesis of unemployment in fourteen OECD countries by examining the stationarity of unemployment rates using several panel unit root tests. Empirical results show that the hysteresis hypothesis cannot be rejected for majority of the OECD when the tests are conducted on the basis of individual countries. However, rejection is obtained when cross-country interdependence in unemployment rates is incorporated in the estimation. Therefore, it is crucial to consider the cross-country labor markets interdependence when testing the hysteresis hypothesis as the labor market institutions and the stabilization policy of the labor markets in these OECD countries can play an important role in maintaining the unemployment to sustainable levels. |
Keywords: | Unemployment; Hysteresis Hypothesis; Panel Unit Root Test; Parametric Test; Non-Parametric Test; OECD |
JEL: | N1 E24 C14 C23 |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:9915&r=lab |
By: | Knabe, Andreas; Rätzel, Steffen |
Abstract: | We reexamine the claim that the effect of income on subjective well-being suffers from a systematic downward bias if one ignores that higher income is typically associated with more work effort. We analyze this claim using German panel data, controlling for individual unobserved heterogeneity, and specifying the impact of working hours in a non-monotonic form. Our results suggest that the impact of working hours on happiness is rather small and exhibits an inverse U-shape. We do not find evidence that leaving working hours out of the analysis leads to an underestimation of the income effect. |
Keywords: | Happiness,life satisfaction,income,disutility of labor |
JEL: | D60 I31 |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:200912&r=lab |
By: | Jeemol Unni |
Abstract: | In this paper, with empirical data, the Capabilities Approach to identify 'conversion factors' that are not typically addressed in the utility approach is used. The two approaches are juxtaposed to examine how institutions such as caste and religion mediate access and returns to education of men and women. The effort is to discuss whether, the capabilities approach provides any advantage in addressing questions of inequity that may be mediated through such institutions. The main innovation in this paper is a comparison between the knowledge generated through use of traditional data sources to measure access and returns to education compared with knowledge about the dynamics of capability formation generated through a mixture of traditional quantitative and some qualitative data within the capabilities approach. |
Keywords: | institutions, knowledge, attendance,Child Labour, school, children, Education, Capabilities approach, human capital, caste, religion, India, traditional data, quantitative, qualitative, data, men, women, |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2227&r=lab |
By: | Charles Beach (Queen's University); Alan Green (Queen's University); Christopher Worswick (Carleton University) |
Abstract: | As labour markets change, the question arises whether Canada’s immigration policy – and our “point system” in particular – is doing a good job of identifying potential immigrants who will fare well on arrival in Canada. |
Keywords: | economic growth and innovation, immigration point system, Canadian immigration policy |
JEL: | J61 J68 J11 |
Date: | 2009–09 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdh:ebrief:87&r=lab |
By: | Fischer, Justina AV; Somogyi, Frank |
Abstract: | Unionists and politicians frequently claim that globalization lowers employment protection of workers. This paper tests this hypothesis in a panel of 28 OECD countries from 1985 to 2003, differentiating between three dimensions of globalization and two labor market segments. While overall globalization is shown to loosen protection of the regularly employed, it increases regulation in the segment of limited-term contracts. We find the economic one to drive deregulation for the regularly employed, but the social one to be responsible for the better protection of workers in atypical employment. We offer political economy arguments as explanations for these differential effects. |
Keywords: | Globalization; international trade; integration; employment protection; labor standards; unions; cross-country analysis; panel data analysis |
JEL: | F16 F15 J81 O57 J83 C33 |
Date: | 2009–09–25 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17535&r=lab |
By: | Boeters, Stefan; Feil, Michael |
Abstract: | Labour market reforms that are designed to stimulate labour supply at the lower end of the wage distribution can never be precisely restricted to affect only the target group. Spillovers to and feedback from other segments of the labour market are unavoidable and may counteract the direct effects of the reform. An adequate representation of heterogeneous labour markets becomes therefore an important issue for the assessment of reforms. We analyse the possible interactions between labour market segments in a combined, consistent microsimulation-AGE model with a flexible representation of substitution possibilities and different wage-forming regimes. We look at a stylised reform and find labour-demand cross-price elasticities between the low and medium skilled to be the main drivers of the results. Interaction with the high-skilled segment is less pronounced. |
Keywords: | Applied general equilibrium model,microsimulation,discrete working time choice,heterogeneous labour markets,labour market reform |
JEL: | D58 J22 J51 |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:08043r&r=lab |
By: | J L Ford; K Park; S Sen |
Abstract: | Given falling birth rates, ageing baby boomers approaching retirement age as well as a pension crisis in most advanced economies, understanding the characteristics of the labour supply function of the elderly have taken on a new significance. Even in developing countries, with labour surplus economies, this is a major issue as these poor countries try to build a pension scheme with at least a minimum amount of state provision for the elderly. What motivates retired people to enter or continue in the labour force is the focus of our analysis. We use panel data from Korea which is an interesting country since it transited from developing to developed economy status within the last few decades and therefore exhibits characteristics of both underdevelopment and economic advancement. The econometric methods include probit models of: pooled data; panel data with random effects; and 2SCML, to allow for possible endogeneity bias induced by the self-declared health status of the elderly. We stress the crucial importance of pecuniary and non-pecuniary factors in determining labour supply of the elderly. Contrary to expectations, non-pecuniary factors such as health status are crucial in the decision-making process of whether to work or not to work for the elderly. |
Keywords: | labour force participation of the retired, pension benefits, probit estimation, panel data, random effects, demographic factors, family background, helath status, income, assets |
JEL: | J14 J26 J32 C23 C25 |
Date: | 2009–07 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bir:birmec:09-08&r=lab |
By: | Aleksander Berentsen; Guido Menzio; Randall Wright |
Abstract: | We study the long-run relation between money, measured by inflation or interest rates, and unemployment. We first document in the data a positive relation between these variables at low frequencies. We then develop a framework where unemployment and money are both modeled using microfoundations based on search and bargaining theory, providing a unified theory for analyzing labor and goods markets. The calibrated model shows that money can account for a sizable fraction of trends in unemployment. We argue it matters, qualitatively and quantitatively, whether one uses monetary theory based on search and bargaining, or an alternative ad hoc specification. |
Date: | 2009–09 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:iewwpx:442&r=lab |
By: | Dickey, Heather; Watson, Verity; Zangelidis, Alexandros |
Abstract: | This paper presents an empirical examination of individuals’ motivations for multiple-job holding or moonlighting. Theoretical models of moonlighting suggest that individuals to hold a second job for either financial reasons (they face hours-constraints in their first job) or non-pecuniary motives (heterogeneous jobs). We assess the relative importance of these reasons using a purposefully collected stated preference data set. We find that individuals respond to financial constraints by having multiple-jobs, but these financial motives are not sufficient to explain moonlighting. We also find that individuals are attracted to the non-pecuniary aspects of the second jobs, such as job satisfaction and entrepreneurial opportunities. Furthermore, we find evidence that second job holding may be a hedging strategy against job insecurity in the primary job. Our empirical results contribute to a better understanding of this labour market behaviour. |
Keywords: | Multiple-job holding; discrete choice experiment |
JEL: | J22 |
Date: | 2009–09 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17575&r=lab |
By: | Berliant, Marcus; Kung, Fan-chin |
Abstract: | The modern literature on city formation and development, for example the New Economic Geography literature, has studied the agglomeration of agents in size or mass. We investigate agglomeration in sorting or by type of worker, that implies agglomeration in size when worker populations differ by type. This kind of agglomeration can be driven by asymmetric information in the labor market, specifically when firms do not know if a particular worker is of high or low skill. In a model with two types and two regions, workers of different skill levels are offered separating contracts in equilibrium. When mobile low skill worker population rises or there is technological change that favors high skilled workers, integration of both types of workers in the same region at equilibrium becomes unstable, whereas sorting of worker types into different regions in equilibrium remains stable. The instability of integrated equilibria results from firms, in the region to which workers are perturbed, offering attractive contracts to low skill workers when there is a mixture of workers in the region of origin. |
Keywords: | Adverse Selection; Agglomeration |
JEL: | R13 R12 D82 |
Date: | 2009–09–28 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17567&r=lab |
By: | Andrew Leigh; Chris Ryan |
Abstract: | Outside the United States (U.S.), very little is known about long-run trends in school productivity. We present new evidence using two data series from Australia, where comparable tests are available back to the 1960s. For young teenagers (aged 13-14), we find a small but statistically significant fall in numeracy over the period 1964- 2003, and in both literacy and numeracy over the period 1975-1998. The decline is in the order of one-tenth to one-fifth of a standard deviation. Adjusting this decline for changes in student demographics does not affect this conclusion; if anything, the decline appears to be more acute. The available evidence also suggests that any changes in student attitudes, school violence, and television viewing are unlikely to have had a major impact on test scores. Real per-child school expenditure increased substantially over this period, implying a fall in school productivity. Although we cannot account for all the phenomena that might have affected school productivity, we identify a number of plausible explanations. |
Keywords: | education production function, literacy, numeracy |
JEL: | H52 I21 I22 |
Date: | 2009–08 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:618&r=lab |
By: | Mohammad Nashir Uddin (Shahjalal University of Science & Technology (SUST)); Mohammad Hamiduzzaman (Shahjalal University of Science & Technology (SUST)); Bernhard G. Gunter (American University and Bangladesh Development Research Center (BDRC)) |
Abstract: | In Bangladesh, children are accustomed to working in industrial and manufacturing plants, small scale factories, metal works, construction, as well as in many informal sector activities. Based on a survey conducted in Sylhet city, this study found that child workers are suffering from different physical and psychological problems and that more than half of them receive their medical assistance from local health care providers who have no recognized qualifications. The study maintains that working from an early age impedes the children’s physical growth and intellectual and psychological development, which then also has negative effects on their long-term health and earning potential. |
Keywords: | risky child labor, physical health, mental health, Bangladesh |
Date: | 2009–07 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bnr:wpaper:8&r=lab |
By: | Lant Pritchett; Martina Viarengo |
Abstract: | Does the government control of school systems facilitate equality in school quality? There is a trade-off. On the one hand, government direct control of schools, typically through a large scale hierarchical organization, could produce equalization across schools by providing uniformity in inputs, standards, and teacher qualifications that localized individually managed schools could not achieve. But there is a tendency for large scale formal bureaucracies to “see” less and less of localized reality and hence to manage on the basis of a few simple, objective, and easily administratively verified characteristics (e.g. resources per student, formal teacher qualifications). Whether centralized or localized control produces more equality depends therefore not only on what “could” happen in principle but what does happen in practice. When government implementation capacity is weak, centralized control could lead to only the illusion of equality: in which central control of education with weak internal or external accountability actually allows for much greater inequalities across schools than entirely “uncontrolled” local schools. Data from Pakistan, using results from the LEAPS study, and from two states of India show much larger variance in school quality (adjusted for student characteristics) among the government schools—because of very poor public schools which continue in operation. We use the PISA data to estimate school specific learning achievement (in mathematics, science, and reading) net of individual student and school average background characteristics and compare public and private schools for 34 countries. For these countries there is, on average, exactly the same inequality in adjusted learning achievement across the private schools as across the public schools. But while inequality is the same on average, in some countries, such as Denmark, there was much more equality within the public sector while in others, such as Mexico, there was much more inequality among the public schools. Among the 18 non-OECD participating PISA countries the standard deviation across schools in adjusted quality was, on average, 36 percent higher in government than in private schools. In cases with weak states the proximate cause of high inequality again was that the public sector distribution of performance had a long left tail—schools with extremely poor performance. Relying on blinded weak states for top-down control of educational systems can be lose-lose relative to localized systems relying on bottom-up control—producing worse average performance and higher inequality. |
Keywords: | education; inequality; centralized; localized; bureaucracy |
JEL: | I20 H42 H11 |
Date: | 2009–08 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:178&r=lab |
By: | Rabe B (Institute for Social and Economic Research); Taylor M (Institute for Social and Economic Research) |
Abstract: | Neighbourhood characteristics affect the social and economic opportunities of their residents. While a number of studies have analysed housing adjustments at different life stages, little is known about neighbourhood quality adjustments. Based on a model of optimal housing consumption we analyse the determinants of residential mobility and the neighbourhood quality adjustments made by those who move, drawing on data from the British Household Panel Survey and Indices of Multiple Deprivation. We measure neighbourhood quality both subjectively and objectively and find that not all life-course events that trigger moves lead to neighbourhood quality adjustments. Single people are negatively affected by leaving the parental home and couples by a husbandÂ’s unemployment. Couples having a new baby move into better neighbourhoods. |
Date: | 2009–09–17 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2009-28&r=lab |
By: | Lykke E. Andersen (Institute for Advanced Development Studies); Beatriz Muriel (Maestrias para el Desarrollo, Universidad Catolica Boliviana); Horacio Valencia (Institute for Advanced Development Studies) |
Abstract: | This paper analyses non-agricultural work supplied by rural households in Bolivia. It is shown that roughly 50% of all rural households complement their incomes through non-agricultural work, but that households in the lowlands are more likely to do so than households in the highlands. Since non-agricultural work pays several times better than agricultural work, access to this source of complementary income constitutes an important opportunity to escape rural poverty. |
Keywords: | Rural labor markets, Bolivia, non-farm labor |
JEL: | J22 J43 R23 Q12 |
Date: | 2009–04 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adv:wpaper:200901&r=lab |
By: | Kimhi, Ayal |
Abstract: | This comment critically discusses the theoretical and empirical treatment of corner solutions in the analysis of labor decisions on farm households. As more and more labor decisions are analyzed jointly, the more ambitious becomes the theoretical justification of empirical applications. "Cutting corners" in theoretical models puts the validity of empirical conclusions in doubt. In such cases relying on intuitive theoretical justification of empirical modeling is preferred. |
Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, |
Date: | 2009–08 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:huaedp:53198&r=lab |
By: | Jakobi, Anja P.; Teltemann, Janna |
Abstract: | In this paper, we quantitatively assess education policy change in OECD countries. While research in social policy has shown that convergence in welfare provision can only partially be assessed in OECD countries, it has yet to be assessed to what extent this also concerns the sector of education. By distinguishing educational expenditures, educational governance and educational outputs, we analyze this sector for OECD countries since the 1990s. The paper is structured as follows: We first outline the importance of education and schooling in contemporary social policy. In a second step, we present concepts of convergence and divergence in welfare state development, concluding with assumptions on the state of education policy. In a third step, we present the data and methods used. Afterwards, we track changes in educational expenditures, educational governance and educational outputs. In a concluding section, we compare the findings and outline their significance for research on policy convergence and social policies, as well as for internationalization of education policy. The paper has a mainly empirical aim, contributing to the debate on policy change and convergence in social policy. |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:sfb597:93&r=lab |
By: | Roy Costilla (LLECE/UNESCO Santiago) |
Abstract: | A socioeconomic gradient describes the relationship between a social outcome and socioeconomic status for individuals in a specific jurisdiction, such as a school, a province or state, or a country (Willms, 2003a). Within this framework, this presentation will analyze the relationship between students' performance in mathematics and reading and their socioeconomic and cultural status in the case of Latin American and Caribbean primary school students that were assessed by the Second Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study-SERCE, OREALC/UNESCO Santiago (2008). It is shown that there is a considerably variation of the strength of this relationship among countries, suggesting different degrees of success in reducing the disparities associated with socioeconomic and cultural status. |
Date: | 2009–09–16 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:usug09:12&r=lab |
By: | Todd M. Gabe; Jaison R. Abel |
Abstract: | This paper examines the micro-foundations of occupational agglomeration in U.S. metropolitan areas, with an emphasis on labor market pooling. Controlling for a wide range of occupational attributes, including proxies for the use of specialized machinery and for the importance of knowledge spillovers, we find that jobs characterized by a unique knowledge base exhibit higher levels of geographic concentration than do occupations with generic knowledge requirements. Further, by analyzing co-agglomeration patterns, we find that occupations with similar knowledge requirements tend to co-agglomerate. Both results provide new evidence on the importance of labor market pooling as a determinant of occupational agglomeration. |
Keywords: | Labor market ; Labor mobility |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednsr:392&r=lab |
By: | Hugo Benítez-Silva; Richard Disney; Sergi Jiménez Martín |
Abstract: | An important policy issue in recent years concerns the number of people claiming disability benefits for reasons of incapacity for work. We distinguish between ‘work disability’, which may have its roots in economic and social circumstances, and ‘health disability’ which arises from clear diagnosed medical conditions. Although there is a link between work and health disability, economic conditions, and in particular the ‘business cycle’ and variations in the risk of unemployment over time and across localities, may play an important part in explaining both the stock of disability benefit claimants and inflows to and outflow from that stock. We employ a variety of cross-country and country-specific household panel data sets, as well as administrative data, to test whether disability benefit claims rise when unemployment is higher, and also to investigate the impact of unemployment rates on flows on and off the benefit rolls. We find strong evidence that local variations in unemployment have an important explanatory role for disability benefit receipt, with higher total enrolments, lower outflows from rolls and, often, higher inflows into disability rolls in regions and periods of above-average unemployment. Although general subjective measures of self reported disability and longstanding illness are also positively associated with unemployment rates, inclusion of self-reported health measures does not eliminate the statistical relationship between unemployment rates and disability benefit receipt; indeed including general measures of health often strengthens that underlying relationship. Intriguingly, we also find some evidence from the United Kingdom and the United States that the prevalence of self-reported ‘objective’ specific indicators of disability are often pro-cyclical – that is, the incidence of specific forms of disability are pro-cyclical whereas claims for disability benefits given specific health conditions are counter-cyclical. Overall, the analysis suggests that, for a range of countries and data sets, levels of claims for disability benefits are not simply related to changes in the incidence of health disability in the population and are strongly influenced by prevailing economic conditions. We discuss the policy implications of these various findings. |
Date: | 2009–09 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2009-28&r=lab |
By: | Yamauchi, Futoshi; Yohannes, Yisehac; Quisumbing, Agnes R. |
Abstract: | "This paper uses panel data from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Malawi to examine the impacts of disasters on dynamic human capital production. Our empirical results show that accumulation of biological human capital prior to a disaster helps children maintain investments during the post-disaster period. Biological human capital formed in early childhood (for example, good long-term nutritional status) helps insure resilience to disasters by protecting schooling investments and outcomes, even though disasters have negative impacts on the actual investments (for example, by destroying schools). In Bangladesh, children with more biological human capital are less adversely affected by flood, and the rate of investment increases with the initial human capital stock during the post-disaster recovery process. In Ethiopia and Malawi, where droughts are relatively frequent, repeated drought exposure reduces schooling investments in some cases, with larger negative impacts seen among children who embody less biological human capital. Asset holdings prior to disaster (especially intellectual human capital stock in the household) also help maintain schooling investments to at least the same degree as the stock of human capital accumulated in the children prior to the disaster. Our results suggest that as the frequency of natural disasters increases due to global warming, the insurance value of investments in child nutrition will increase. Public investments in child nutrition therefore have the potential to effectively protect long-term human capital formation among children who are vulnerable to natural disasters." from authors' abstract |
Keywords: | Disasters, Human capital, Nutrition, Schooling, Self-insurance, Poverty reduction, Social protection, Shocks, Asset dynamics, Education, |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:881&r=lab |
By: | Katharine Bradbury; Jane Katz |
Abstract: | Much of America’s promise is predicated on the existence of economic mobility—the idea that people are not limited or defined by where they start, but can move up the economic ladder based on their efforts and accomplishments. Family income mobility—changes in individual families’ real incomes over time—is one indicator of the degree to which the eventual economic wellbeing of any family is tethered to its starting point. In the United States, family income inequality has risen from year to year since the mid-1970s, raising questions about whether long-term income is also increasingly unequally distributed; changes over time in mobility, which can offset or amplify the cross-sectional increase in inequality, determine the degree to which the inequality of longer-term income has risen in parallel. ; Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and a number of mobility concepts and measures drawn from the literature, we examine mobility levels and trends for U.S. working-age families, overall and by race, during the time span 1967–2004. By most measures, we find that mobility is lower in more recent periods (the 1990s into the early 2000s) than in earlier periods (the 1970s). Most notably, mobility of families starting near the bottom has worsened over time. However, in recent years, the down-trend in mobility is more or less pronounced (or even non-existent) depending on the measure, although a decrease in the frequency with which panel data on family incomes are gathered makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions. Measured relative to the overall distribution or in absolute terms, black families exhibit substantially less mobility than whites in all periods; their mobility decreased between the 1970s and the 1990s, but no more than that of white families, although they lost ground in terms of relative income. ; Taken together, this evidence suggests that over the 1967-to-2004 time span, a low-income family’s probability of moving up decreased, families’ later year incomes increasingly depended on their starting place, and the distribution of families’ lifetime incomes became less equal. |
Keywords: | Income distribution |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbwp:09-7&r=lab |
By: | Bertranou, Fabio; Calvo, Esteban; Bertranou, Evelina |
Abstract: | This brief reviews two rounds of pension reforms in ten Latin American countries to determine whether they are moving away from individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Although the idea is provocative, we conclude that the notion of “moving away from IRAs” is insufficient to characterize the new politics of pension reform. As opposed to the politics of enactment of IRAs of the late twentieth century, pension reform in Latin America in recent years has combined significant comeback of public components in old-age income support with improvement of IRAs. Clearly, the policy prescriptions that were most influential during the first round of reforms in Latin America have been re-evaluated. The World Bank and other organizations that promoted IRAs have recognized that pension reform should pay more attention to poverty reduction, coverage and equity, and to protect participants from market risks. The experience and challenges faced by countries that introduced IRAs, the changes in policies by international financing institutions, and the recent financial volatility and heavy losses experienced in financial markets may have tempered the enthusiasm of other countries from applying the same type of reforms. Scholars and policymakers around the globe could benefit from looking closely at these changes in pension policy. |
Keywords: | pension reform; pension policy; social security; retirement; Latin America |
JEL: | J3 G23 O54 H5 |
Date: | 2009 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17422&r=lab |
By: | Oliver, Azuara |
Abstract: | What is the long term effect of cash transfers (CT) on rural migration? CT programs have demonstrated to increase human capital investments of poor families by increasing nutrition, health and schooling levels. How- ever, there is little evidence on the long term effects of CT programs particularly on migration decisions. Progresa-Oportunidades, the pioneer Mexican CT program that started in 1997, would give some evidence for this open question. I examine the sudden drop in the population size and gender composition of Mexican rural villages where this program was implemented between 1998 and 2005. I use a regression discontinuity design to identify the effects of the program on villages located on the margin of the poverty distribution and close to the cutoff point of the eligibility criteria. The average population in a fully covered village decreased by 70 people in 2005 compared to 1995 (almost 10 percent of the average population of 1995). Sixty five percent of this reduction corresponds to adults who left their villages and forty percent of this reduction can be attributed to Progresa-Oportunidades. The reduction of adult population of males is 6 times higher than for females, a clear sign of a significant increase in the migration patterns of this population. |
Keywords: | Progresa; Oportunidades; Mexico; CCT; Migration |
JEL: | O15 R23 |
Date: | 2009–09–27 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17599&r=lab |