|
on Labour Economics |
| By: | Usamah Fayez Al-Farhan |
| Abstract: | In this article I analyze the changes in the gender wage gap in the western region, eastern region and in reunified Germany during the period 1999 – 2006. I use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and implement two alternative decomposition methodologies; the Juhn, Murphy and Pierce (1991) decomposition, and a methodology that totally differences the Oaxaca-Blinder (1973) decomposition, found in Smith and Welch (1989). I conclude that most of the increase in the gender wage gap occurred during a period of remarkably rising wage inequality and argue that both trends are caused simultaneously by the same set of factors. Furthermore, German women were, on average, treated favorably in the returns to their educational attainment, potential experience and tenure compared men, and that the increasing gender wage gap was mainly due to changes in the gender differentials in human capital endowments, particularly worker’s potential experience, changes in the gender distribution across industries, company sizes and occupational positions and to changes in discrimination in the returns to job-specific training. |
| Keywords: | Wages, gaps, discrimination, decomposition, characteristics effect, coefficient effect |
| JEL: | D30 J31 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp293&r=lab |
| By: | Prowse, Victoria L. (University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | This paper extends existing work on labor force participation dynamics by distinguishing between full-time and part-time employment and allowing unobserved heterogeneity in the effects of previous employment outcomes, children and education on employment dynamics. The results reveal significant autocorrelation in unobservables, and significant variation in the effects of children and education on labor supply preferences. Moreover, omission of random coeffcients or autocorrelation can bias significantly estimates of policy effects. On average, policies temporarily incentivizing part-time and full-time employment are equally effective tools for reducing non-employment. However, non-employment among women with young children is more responsive to policies encouraging part-time rather than full-time work. |
| Keywords: | discrete labor supply, unobserved heterogeneity, state dependence, repeated multinomial choice |
| JEL: | C15 C25 J6 J22 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4889&r=lab |
| By: | Carneiro, Anabela (University of Porto); Fortuna, Natércia (University of Porto); Varejão, José (University of Porto) |
| Abstract: | Using matched employer-employee data, we identify the determinants of immigrants’ earnings in the Portuguese labor market. Results previously reported for countries with a long tradition of hosting migrants are also valid in a new destination country. Two-thirds of the gap is attributable to match-specific and employer characteristics. Occupational downgrading and segregation into low-wage workplaces are two major causes behind the wage gap. |
| Keywords: | immigrants' earnings, workplace concentration of immigrants, matched employer-employee data |
| JEL: | J15 J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4892&r=lab |
| By: | Cervini Plá, María (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Ramos, Xavi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Silva, José I. (University of Girona) |
| Abstract: | We study short- and long-term wage effects of two important elements of non-wage labour costs: firing costs and payroll taxes. We exploit a reform that introduced substantial reduction in these two provisions for unemployed workers aged less than thirty and over forty five years. Theoretical insights are gained with a matching model with heterogeneous workers, which predicts an ambiguous effect on wages: firing costs are expected to increase wages, because they increase the bargaining power of workers, while the effect of payroll taxes is negative. Difference-in-differences estimates, which account for the endogeneity of the treatment status, suggest that decreased firing costs and payroll taxes have a positive overall short-term effect on wages – and also on unemployment. We find larger effects for older than for younger workers and for men than for women. Calibration and simulation of the model shows that about fifty percent of the predicted cumulative increase on wages takes place during the first year of the reform. Our simulations also show that the increase in wages is mostly due to the reduction in payroll taxes, while the overall effect of firing costs is nil because direct and indirect effects of firing costs offset each other. |
| Keywords: | dismissal costs, payroll tax, evaluation of labour market reforms, difference-in-difference, matching model, Spain |
| JEL: | C23 D31 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4882&r=lab |
| By: | Mirko Abbritti (Universidad de Navarra, Graduate Institute of International Studies.); Sebastian Weber (Graduate Institute of International Studies.) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the importance of labor market institutions for inflation and unemployment dynamics. Using the New Keynesian framework we argue that labor market institutions should be divided into those institutions that cause Unemployment Rigidities (UR) and those that cause Real Wage Rigidities (RWR). The two types of institutions have opposite effects and their interaction is crucial for the dynamics of inflation and unemployment. We estimate a panel VAR with deterministically varying coefficients and find that there is a profound difference in the responses of unemployment and inflation to shocks under different constellations of the labor market. JEL Classification: E32, E24, E52. |
| Keywords: | Labor Market Search, Real Wage Rigidity, Unemployment, Business Cycle, Monetary Policy. |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20101183&r=lab |
| By: | Peter Flaschel (Univeristy of Bielefeld, Germany); Alfred Greiner (Univeristy of Bielefeld, Germany); Camille Logeay (Macroeconomic Policy Institute (IMK) at the Hans Boeckler Foundation); Christian Proano (Macroeconomic Policy Institute (IMK) at the Hans Boeckler Foundation) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the macroeconomic consequences of the introduction of an unemployment benefit system and a minimum wage barrier for both skilled and unskilled workers against the background of Goodwin's (1967) model. In the analyzed framework, characterized by free "hiring" and "firing" in the first labor markets, we can show a) that large fluctuations in employment are made (at least partially) socially acceptable through the workfare nature of the unemployment benefit system and b) that minimum real wages provide additional stability to the system dynamics by decreasing the amplitude of the fluctuations in employment and income distribution (and the related degradation of the workforce skills and family structures they are otherwise subject to). |
| Keywords: | Distributive cycles, minimum wages, stability, combined wages, base income, workfare |
| JEL: | E32 E64 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imk:wpaper:4-2010&r=lab |
| By: | James Costain (Banco de España); Juan F. Jimeno (Banco de España); Carlos Thomas (Banco de España) |
| Abstract: | In light of the huge cross-country differences in job losses during the recent crisis, we study how labor market duality - meaning the coexistence of "temporary" contracts with low firing costs and "permanent" contracts with high firing costs - affects labor market volatility. In a model of job creation and destruction based on Mortensen and Pissarides (1994), we show that a labor market with these two contract types is more volatile than an otherwise-identical economy with a single contract type. Calibrating our model to Spain, we find that unemployment fluctuates 21% more under duality than it would in a unified economy with the same average firing cost, and 33% more than it would in a unified economy with the same average unemployment rate. In our setup, employment grows gradually in booms, due to matching frictions, whereas the onset of a recession causes a burst of firing of "fragile" low-productivity jobs. Unlike permanent jobs, some newly-created temporary jobs are already near the firing margin, which makes temporary jobs more likely to be fragile and means they play a disproportionate role in employment fluctuations. Unifying the labor market makes all jobs behave more like the permanent component of the dual economy, and therefore decreases volatility. Unfortunately, it also raises unemployment; to avoid this, unification must be accompanied by a decrease in the average level of firing costs. Finally, we confirm that factors like unemployment benefits and wage rigidity also have a large, interacting effect on labor market volatility; in particular, higher unemployment benefits increase the impact of duality on volatility. |
| Keywords: | firing costs, temporary jobs, unemployment volatility, matching model, endogenous separation |
| JEL: | E32 J42 J63 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:1013&r=lab |
| By: | Antonczyk, Dirk; Fitzenberger, Bernd; Sommerfeld, Katrin |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the increase in wage inequality, the decline in collective bargaining, and the development of the gender wage gap in West Germany between 2001 and 2006. Based on detailed linked employer-employee data, we show that wage inequality is rising strongly – driven not only by real wage increases at the top of the wage distribution, but also by real wage losses below the median. Coverage by collective wage bargaining plummets by 16.5 (19.1) percentage points for male (female) employees. Despite these changes, the gender wage gap remains almost constant, with some small gains for women at the bottom and at the top of the wage distribution. A sequential decomposition analysis using quantile regression shows that all workplace related effects (firm effects and bargaining effects) and coefficients for personal characteristics contribute strongly to the rise in wage inequality. Among these, the firm coefficients effect dominates, which is almost exclusively driven by wage differences within and between different industries. Labor demand or firm wage policy related effects contribute to an increase in the gender wage gap. Personal characteristics tend to reduce wage inequality for both, males and females, as well as the gender wage gap. -- |
| Keywords: | Distribution,Gender Wage Gap,Collective Bargaining,Quantile Regression,Sequential Decomposition |
| JEL: | J31 J51 J52 C21 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:10014&r=lab |
| By: | Silvia Loriga; Paolo Naticchioni (Univ. of Cassino, Univ. of Rome “La Sapienza”, CeLEG (LUISS-Rome) and ISFOL.) |
| Abstract: | In the last decade the European Employment Strategy strongly recommended reforms of active labour market policies, reforms that have generated a spread of evaluation exercises for most of European countries. This paper fills the gap in the literature concerning the Italian case, assessing the efficacy of Public Employment Services (PESs) -after the reforms of 1997, 2000, 2003- in increasing the unemployment to employment transition probabilities, through matching techniques. Exploiting the longitudinal dimension of the Labour Force Survey data we design an evaluation structure that allows observing outcomes in both the short (at most 3 months) and the long run (at most 12 and 15 months). In this framework, PES users show a lower probability of finding a job in the short term, because of a lock-in effect, while in the long term this probability turns out to be positive. We also show that PES effects in the long term are much less pronounced when considering as outcome variable the probability of finding a permanent job, a proxy for the quality of the job, suggesting that PES impacts are to a large extent driven by the use of temporary contracts. Furthermore, to deal with issues related to selection on unobservables we carry out two different sensitivity analysis, which confirm our baseline findings. |
| Keywords: | Public Employment Services, Active Labour Market Policies, European Employment Strategy, Matching, Policy Evaluation |
| JEL: | J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:des:wisfol:10&r=lab |
| By: | Natalia Kyui (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | This paper makes a thorough analysis of the returns to tertiary education and education-occupation matches within a transition economy and compares these returns to similar returns in a developed economy. This study shows through the example of the Russian Federation that the increase in the returns to education which happened in previous years does not indicate that the labor market is becoming closer to that of developed countries. The standard estimation of the returns to education is deconstructed in three parts characterizing the labor market : education-occupation match, payment for occupations and payment for productivity within occupations. First, I compare the non-parametric estimation of wage distributions by educational and occupational groups within the Russian labor market and a developed country's labor market (I take France as an example). Second, I estimate a joint reduced-form model of the educational choice, labor market participation, placement of employees among occupational categories and wage formation. This joint model allows us to take into account correlations between unobservable factors that simultaneously influence the educational choice, occupational choice and final wage. A wide range of explanatory variables is used, characterizing not only individuals, but also their households, job, industries of work and regions. This allows us to analyze the influence of the family's network on the placements among occupational categories and wage formation. I take into account the observed heterogeneity of returns to education among the analyzed population. The results show the advantages of the proposed approach for the analysis of transition labor markets when compared with the standard approaches to transition economies. |
| Keywords: | Returns to education, occupational choice, transition economy. |
| JEL: | J24 J30 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:10031&r=lab |
| By: | Natalia Kyui (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | This paper makes a thorough analysis of the returns to tertiary education and education-occupation matches within a transition economy and compares these returns to similar returns in a developed economy. This study shows through the example of the Russian Federation that the increase in the returns to education which happened in previous years does not indicate that the labor market is becoming closer to that of developed countries. The standard estimation of the returns to education is deconstructed in three parts characterizing the labor market : education-occupation match, payment for occupations and payment for productivity within occupations. First, I compare the non-parametric estimation of wage distributions by educational and occupational groups within the Russian labor market and a developed country's labor market (I take France as an example). Second, I estimate a joint reduced-form model of the educational choice, labor market participation, placement of employees among occupational categories and wage formation. This joint model allows us to take into account correlations between unobservable factors that simultaneously influence the educational choice, occupational choice and final wage. A wide range of explanatory variables is used, characterizing not only individuals, but also their households, job, industries of work and regions. This allows us to analyze the influence of the family's network on the placements among occupational categories and wage formation. I take into account the observed heterogeneity of returns to education among the analyzed population. The results show the advantages of the proposed approach for the analysis of transition labor markets when compared with the standard approaches to transition economies. |
| Keywords: | Returns to education, occupational choice, transition economy. |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00476379_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Bernt Bratsberg (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Oddbjørn Raaum (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | To identify relative wage impacts of immigration, we make use of licensing requirements in the Norwegian construction sector that give rise to exogenous variation in immigrant employment shares across trades. Individual panel data reveal substantially lower wage growth for workers in trades with rising immigrant employment than for other workers. Selective attrition from the sector masks the causal wage impact unless accounted for by individual fixed effects. For low and semi-skilled workers, effects of new immigration are comparable for natives and older immigrant cohorts, consistent with perfect substitutability between native and immigrant labor within trade. Finally, we present evidence that immigration reduces price inflation, as price increases over the sample period were significantly lower in activities with growth in the immigrant share than in activities with no or small change in immigrant employment. |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:201006&r=lab |
| By: | Pieters, Janneke (Groningen University) |
| Abstract: | Previous studies show that rising returns to education have lead to higher wage inequality in developing countries. However, given the importance of non-wage employment and indirect effects of education through labour supply and fertility choices, a similar relationship does not necessarily hold for inequality between households. Based on a decomposition analysis for India, we find counteracting impacts of education on household expenditure inequality. Declining returns to education of household heads reduced inequality, driven by the self-employed. In contrast, rising returns to spouses? education increased inequality in urban areas. We also find that changes in education levels increased rural and urban inequality, due to persistently high illiteracy. Finally, the indirect effect on fertility had a small equalizing impact in urban areas, but slightly increased inequality in rural areas. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:rugggd:gd-114&r=lab |
| By: | Philip Du Caju (National Bank of Belgium, boulevard de Berlaimont 14, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.); Gábor Kátay (Magyar Nemzeti Bank, Szabadság tér 8-9, Budapest, 1850 Hungary.); Ana Lamo (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.); Daphne Nicolitsas (Bank of Greece, 21 E. Venizelos Avenue, 102 50 ATHENS, Greece.); Steven Poelhekke (De Nederlandsche Bank, Postbus 98, 1000 AB Amsterdam, The Netherlands.) |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the existence and main patterns of inter-industry wage differentials across a large number of industries for 8 EU countries (Belgium, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, and Spain) at two points in time (in general 1995 and 2002) and explores possible explanations for these patterns. The analysis uses the European Structure of Earnings Survey (SES), an internationally harmonised matched employer-employee dataset, to estimate inter-industry wage differentials conditional on a rich set of employee, employer and job characteristics. After investigating the possibility that unobservable employee characteristics lie behind the conditional wage differentials, a hypothesis which cannot be accepted, the paper investigates the role of institutional, industry structure and industry performance characteristics in explaining inter-industry wage differentials. The results suggest that inter-industry wage differentials are consistent with rent sharing mechanisms and that rent sharing is more likely in industries with firm-level collective agreements and with higher collective agreement coverage. JEL Classification: J31, J41, J51. |
| Keywords: | inter-industry wage differentials, rent sharing, unobserved ability. |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20101182&r=lab |
| By: | Alexandre, Fernando (University of Minho); Bação, Pedro (University of Coimbra); Cerejeira, João (University of Minho); Portela, Miguel (University of Minho) |
| Abstract: | There is increasing evidence that the interaction between shocks and labour market institutions is crucial to understanding the dynamics of employment. In this paper, we show that the inclusion of labour adjustment costs in a trade model affects the impact of exchange rate movements on employment. We also explore how labour market rigidities interact with the degree of exposure to international competition and with the technology level. Our model-based predictions are consistent with estimates obtained using panel data for 23 OECD countries. Namely, our estimates suggest that employment in low-technology sectors that have a very high degree of openness to trade and are located in countries with more flexible labour markets are more sensitive to exchange rate changes. Our model and estimates therefore provide additional evidence on the importance of interacting external shocks and labour market institutions. |
| Keywords: | exchange rates, international trade, job flows, employment protection |
| JEL: | J23 F16 F41 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4891&r=lab |
| By: | Manish Pandey; James Townsend (Department of Economics, The University of Winnipeg) |
| Abstract: | Provincial Nominee Programs have increased the role of the provinces in selecting economic class immigrants to Canada. Despite the growing importance of the Nominee programs, relatively little is known about the outcomes of immigrants landing through these programs. In this paper, we use administrative data to compare the earnings and retention rates of Nominees with federal economic class immigrants in the first two years after landing. We find that Nominees had substantially higher earnings. However, Manitoba was the only province where Nominees were more likely to stay in the nominating province than observationally equivalent federal economic class immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Labor Mobility, Immigrant Workers, Wage Level and Structure, Wage Differentials |
| JEL: | J61 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:win:winwop:2010-01&r=lab |
| By: | Bratsberg, Bernt (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Fevang, Elisabeth (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Roed, Knut (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Economies with low unemployment often have high disability rates. In Norway, the permanent disability insurance rolls outnumber registered unemployment by four to one. Based on administrative register data matched with firms' financial statements and closure data collected from bankruptcy proceedings, we show that a large fraction of Norwegian disability insurance claims can be directly attributed to job displacement and other adverse shocks to employment opportunities. For men, we estimate that job loss more than doubles the risk of entry to permanent disability and that displacements account for fully 28 percent of all new disability insurance claims. We conclude that unemployment and disability insurance are close substitutes. |
| Keywords: | disability, displacement, social insurance, employment opportunities |
| JEL: | H55 I12 I38 J63 J65 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4897&r=lab |
| By: | Masaru Sasaki (Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | Are recessions really good for workplace safety? This paper develops a model with search to consider the determinants of workplace safety and then investigates the relationship between unemployment and the incidence of work-related injury. There is a view following Arai and Thoursie (2005), Ruhm (2000) and Boone and van Ours (2006) that the rate of work-related injury is procyclical. However, data from several countries do not necessarily support this view. This paper considers an alternative approach to support the countercyclical variation in the rate of work- related injury in which the firm bargains about the optimal input for workplace safety. |
| Keywords: | Job Search, Workplace Safety, Work-Related Injury and Illness, Unemployment |
| JEL: | J64 J65 J81 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:1014&r=lab |
| By: | Suren Basov; Ian King; Lawrence Uren |
| Abstract: | We examine the implications of worker heterogeneity on the equilibrium matching process, using a directed search model. Worker abilities are selected from a general distribution, subject to some weak regularity requirements, and the firms direct their job offers to workers. We identify conditions under which some fraction of the workforce will be "unemployable": no firm will approach them even though they offer positive surplus. For large markets we derive a simple closed form expression for the equilibrum matching function. This function has constant returns to scale and two new terms, which are functions of the underlying distribution of worker productivities: the percentage of unemployable workers, and a measure of heterogeneity (?).The equilibrium unemployment rate is increasing in ? and, under certain circumstances, is increasing in the productivity of highly skilled workers, despite endogenous entry. A key empirical prediction of the theory is that ? ? 1. We examine this prediction, using data from several countries. |
| Keywords: | Directed search; worker heterogeneity; unemployment |
| JEL: | C78 J41 J64 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mlb:wpaper:1094&r=lab |
| By: | Charlotte Cabane (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | It is known that non-cognitive skills are an important determinant of success in life. However, their returns are not simple to measure and, as a result, only relatively few studies have dealt with this empirical question on the labour market. We consider sports practice as a way to improve or signal non-cognitive skills endowment. Therefore, the analysis of its impact on the labour market integration allows us to evaluate the returns of some specific non-cognitive skills. We test the hypothesis that sporty people -ceteris paribus- have access to higher quality of job thanks to the non-cognitive skills they have or they are supposed to have. Using objective measures of job quality, we demonstrate that being sporty does matter and that its effect cannot be award to any other extracurricular activities. |
| Keywords: | Job quality, sport, non-cognitive skills. |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00476028_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Mary Keeney (Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland, PO Box 559, Dame Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.); Martina Lawless (Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland, PO Box 559, Dame Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the wage-setting behaviour of Irish firms. We place particular emphasis on the use of flexible pay components and examine how these allow firms to deal with shocks requiring a reduction in costs without having to cut base wages. The results presented in this paper are based on a survey of Irish firms undertaken as part of the Wage Dynamics Network (WDN), which is a Euro-system research network. Our main findings are that almost two-thirds of firms applied at least some elements of the national wage agreement in place at the time of the survey (Towards 2016). Wage cuts or freezes were reported by a very small percentage of firms but changes in bonuses and other flexible pay components were relatively common if the firm needed to reduce labour costs. When asked about the relevance of different explanations for avoiding cuts in base wages, worker morale and loss of experienced workers were the main concerns. Regulatory or collective bargaining obstacles to wage cuts were the lowest ranked. JEL Classification: J3, E24, J4. |
| Keywords: | Wage Negotiations, Survey, Ireland. |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20101181&r=lab |
| By: | Frijters, Paul (University of Queensland); Johnston, David W. (Queensland University of Technology); Shields, Michael A. (University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | A large body of empirical research links mental health and labour market outcomes; however, there are few studies that effectively control for the two-way causality between work and health and the existence of unobserved individual characteristics that might jointly determine health and labour market outcomes. In this study, we estimate the effect of mental health on labour market participation using various models, including instrumental variable models that exploit individual variation observed in panel data. We find robust evidence that a reduction in mental health has a substantial negative impact on the probability of actively participating in the labour market. We calculate that a one standard deviation decrease in mental health decreases the probability of participation by around 17 percentage points. This effect is larger for females and for older individuals. We therefore provide robust evidence that there are substantial costs due to the lost productivity resulting from poor mental health. |
| Keywords: | measurement error, mental health, labour market participation, causality |
| JEL: | I10 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4883&r=lab |
| By: | Antonio Di Paolo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona & IEB); Josep Lluís Raymond (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona & IEB); Jorge Calero (Universitat de Barcelona & IEB) |
| Abstract: | This paper is concerned with the investigation of the intergenerational mobility of education in several European countries and its changes across birth cohorts (1940-1980), using a new mobility index that considers the total degree of mobility as the weighted sum of mobility with respect to both parents. Moreover, this mobility index enables the analysis of the role of family characteristics as mediating factors in the statistical association between individual and parental education. We find that Nordic countries display lower levels of educational persistence but that the degree of mobility increases over time only in those countries with low initial levels. Moreover, the results suggest that the degree of mobility with respect to fathers and mothers converges to the same level and that family characteristics accounts for an important part of the statistical association between parental education and children’s schooling; a particular finding is that the most important elements of family characteristics are the family’s socio-economic status and educational assortative mating of the parents. |
| Keywords: | educational economics, intergenerational mobility, Europe, birth cohorts, family |
| JEL: | J62 I21 I29 D13 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2010/4/doc2010-10&r=lab |
| By: | Antonczyk, Dirk; DeLeire, Thomas; Fitzenberger, Bernd |
| Abstract: | This paper compares trends in wage inequality in the U.S. and Germany using an approach developed by MaCurdy and Mroz (1995) to separate age, time, and cohort effects. Between 1979 and 2004, wage inequality increased strongly in both the U.S. and Germany but there were various country specific aspects of this increase. For the U.S., we find faster wage growth since the 1990s at the top (80% quantile) and the bottom (20% quantile) compared to the median of the wage distribution, which is evidence for polarization in the U.S. labor market. In contrast, we find little evidence for wage polarization in Germany. Moreover, we see a large role played by cohort effects in Germany, while we find only small cohort effects in the U.S.. Employment trends in both countries are consistent with polarization since the 1990s. We conclude that although there is evidence in both the U.S. and Germany which is consistent with a technology-driven polarization of the labor market, the patterns of trends in wage inequality differ strongly enough that technology effects alone cannot explain the empirical findings. -- |
| Keywords: | Wage Inequality,Polarization,International Comparison,Cohort Study,Quantile Regression |
| JEL: | J30 J31 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:10015&r=lab |
| By: | Zeqiri , Izet; Aziri , Brikend |
| Abstract: | Recently there has been an increase on interest in the analysis of job satisfaction variables. Job satisfaction is correlated with certain types of employee behavior such as productivity, quits and absenteeism. In this paper four different measures of job satisfaction are related to two personal characteristics. The data used are from a survey conducted with 3.000 employees from different types of companies from the Republic of Macedonia. Four measures of job satisfaction that have been used are considered: satisfaction with amount of pay, satisfaction with possibilities for advancement, satisfaction with relations with supervisors and satisfaction with relations with coworkers. Also the connection of gender and level of education with job satisfaction are considered. |
| Keywords: | Job satisfaction; motivation; education; gender |
| JEL: | J01 J24 J16 J2 J08 J28 J21 J00 J0 J23 |
| Date: | 2010–04–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22209&r=lab |
| By: | Stephen Machin; Kjell Salvanes |
| Abstract: | Among policymakers, educators and economists there remains a strong, sometimes heated, debate on the extent to which good schools matter. This is seen, for instance, in the strong trend towards establishing accountability systems in education in many countries across the world. In this paper, in line with some recent studies, we value school quality using house prices. We, however, adopt a rather different approach to other work, using a policy experiment regarding pupils' choice to attend high schools to identify the relationship between house prices and school performance. We exploit a change in school choice policy that took place in Oslo county in 1997, where the school authorities opened up the possibility for every pupil to apply to any of the high schools in the county without having to live in the school's catchment area (the rule that applied before 1997). Our estimates show evidence that parents substantially value better performing schools since the sensitivity of housing valuations to school performance falls significantly by over 50% following the school choice reform. |
| Keywords: | School choice, school performance, house prices, |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:ceedps:0113&r=lab |
| By: | Horstschräer, Julia; Sprietsma, Maresa |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the short-term effects of the introduction of the Bachelor degree in the framework of the Bologna Process on college enrollment and drop-out rates. We use variation in the timing of the Bachelor implementation at the department level to identify the effect of the reform based on longitudinal administrative student data from Germany. We find no significant effects on college enrollment or drop-out rates for most subjects. -- |
| Keywords: | higher education,college enrollment drop-out,Bologna Process |
| JEL: | I28 I21 C23 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:10018&r=lab |
| By: | Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); Mouez Fodha (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the environmental tax policy issues when labor is heterogeneous. The objective is to assess whether an environmental tax policy could be Pareto improving, when the revenue of the pollution tax is recycled by a change in the labor tax properties. We show that, depending on the heterogeneity characteristics of labor and on the initial structure of the tax system, a policy mix could be designed in order to leave each class of worker unharmed. It consists of an increase in progressivity together with a decrease in the flat rate component of the wage tax. |
| Keywords: | Environmental tax, Heterogeneous agents, Welfare analysis, Tax progressivity. |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00348891_v2&r=lab |
| By: | Jose Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal; Almudena Sevilla-Sanz |
| Abstract: | Previous research has shown little difference in the average leisure time of men and women. This finding is a challenge to the second shift argument, which suggests that increases in female labor market hours have not been compensated by equal decreases in household labor. This paper presents time-use and leisure satisfaction data for a variety of western European countries, and shows that accounting for individual heterogeneity is vital for understanding gender differences. In particular, working mothers have leisure levels that are much lower than those of working fathers and singles. Working mothers are also most likely to report the least satisfaction with free time. Finding that time stress and leisure time are positively correlated within socio-demographic groups suggests that the second shift argument is still valid, and that feelings of time stress are indeed associated with the lack of leisure time. |
| Keywords: | Second shift, Work-life balance, Time use, Leisure satisfaction |
| JEL: | C33 D13 D14 D31 J12 J16 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:483&r=lab |
| By: | Gindling, T. H. (University of Maryland, Baltimore County); Poggio, Sara Z. (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) |
| Abstract: | For many immigrants, especially those from Central America and Mexico, it is common for a mother or father (or both) to migrate to the United States and leave their children behind. Then, after the parent(s) have achieved some degree of stability in the United States, the children follow. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, we examined the hypothesis that separation during migration results in problems at school after re-unification. We find that children separated from parents during migration are more likely to be behind others their age in school and are more likely to drop out of high school. |
| Keywords: | immigrant children, education, family separation |
| JEL: | I2 J13 J61 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4887&r=lab |
| By: | De Vos, A.; Dikkers, J.; De Hauw, S. (Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School) |
| Abstract: | This study examined the association of two work-related factors, namely working hours and fulfilment of expectations related to work-home balance, with work-home interference for two groups of recently graduated Belgian employees based on their change in work centrality between graduation (T1 = 2004) and current employment (T2 = 2007), i.e. employees with increasing work centrality (n = 43) and employees with decreasing work centrality (n = 75). In addition, the moderating effect of self-management as a coping skill is investigated for both associations. By means of hierarchical regression analyses, three main conclusions have been withdrawn. First, working longer hours leads to more work-home interference, independent of respondents’ change in work centrality. Second, respondents whose expectations regarding work-home balance have been fulfilled experience less work-home interference than those whose expectations have not been fulfilled. This association is, however, only found for respondents with decreasing work centrality. Finally, self-management as a coping mechanism only moderates the effect of expectation fulfilment on work-home interference for respondents with decreasing levels of work centrality, but does not influence the relationship between working hours and work-home interference. |
| Keywords: | work-home interference; work centrality; working hours; expectation fulfilment; self-management |
| Date: | 2009–11–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vlg:vlgwps:2009-29&r=lab |
| By: | Toichiro Asada (Faculty of Economics, Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan); Peter Flaschel (Univeristy of Bielefeld, Germany); Alfred Greiner (Univeristy of Bielefeld, Germany); Christian Proano (Macroeconomic Policy Institute (IMK) at the Hans Boeckler Foundation) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we present a model of flexicurity capitalism that exhibits a second labor market with the government as an employer of first resort, where all workers not employed by firms in the private sector find meaningful employment. We show that the model exhibits a unique interior steady state which is asymptotically stable under real wage adjustment dynamics of the type considered in Blanchard and Katz (1999), and under a type of Okun's Law that links the level of utilization of firms to their hiring and firing decision. The introduction of a company pension fund can be shown to contribute to the viability of the analyzed economic system. However, when credit is incorporated in the model, in place of savings-driven supply side fluctuations in economic activity, investment-driven demand side business cycle fluctuations (of a probably much more volatile type) can take place. |
| Keywords: | Flexicurity, employer of ¯rst resort, Solovian growth, company pension funds, sustainability |
| JEL: | E3 E6 H1 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imk:wpaper:5-2010&r=lab |
| By: | Francesca Mazzolari (Department of Economics of the University of California, Irvine); David Numark (Department of Economics of the University of California, Irvine) |
| Abstract: | We study potential economic benefits of immigration stemming from two factors: first, that immigrants bring not only their labor supply with them, but also their consumption demands; and second, that immigrants may have a comparative advantage in the production of ethnic goods. Using data on the universe of business establishments located in California between 1992 and 2002 matched with Census of Population data, we find some evidence that immigrant inflows boost employment in the retail sector, which is non-traded and a non-intensive user of immigrant labor. We find that immigration is associated with fewer stand-alone retail stores, and a greater number of large and in particular big-box retailers – evidence that likely contradicts a diversityenhancing effect of immigration. On the other hand, focusing more sharply on the restaurant sector, for which we can better identify the types of products consumed by customers, the evidence indicates that immigration is associated with increased ethnic diversity of restaurants. |
| Keywords: | Effects of immigration, ethnic goods, consumption diversitY |
| JEL: | O1 O15 E2 J0 F22 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hdr:papers:hdrp-2009-33&r=lab |
| By: | Mark F. Owens |
| Abstract: | A peer worker is introduced in a controlled labor market experiment characterized by unobservable effort and incomplete contracts. Workers make decisions independently and without knowledge of each others’ actions in a modified gift exchange experiment. Introducing a peer worker into an ongoing market has a negative and significant effect on effort provided in contrast to prior experimental studies of peer effects which find positive effects with observable effort. This decrease in effort is not driven by other-regarding equity concerns for the manager’s payoffs. |
| Keywords: | Peer Effects; Incomplete Contracts; Other-Regarding Behavior; Gift Exchange; Experiment |
| JEL: | C91 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mts:wpaper:201008&r=lab |
| By: | Pedro Martins |
| Keywords: | Teacher incentives, pupil attainment |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:ceedps:0112&r=lab |
| By: | George Gray Molina (Human Development Report Office, United Nations Development Programme); Ernesto Yañez (Central Bank of Bolivia) |
| Abstract: | Over half of Bolivian heads of household are lifetime migrants. This paper looks at the long term impact of internal migration over human development in Bolivia. Three issues frame these effects. First, twenty five years of rural to urban migration have transformed the demographic profile of Bolivian society. The new middle third is younger, more bilingual and better educated, with more access to social services than in the past. The poorest of the poor, however, did not migrate to the extent of the non-poor. Second, urban workers make approximately four times as much wages as identical workers in rural areas, controlling for age, ethnicity, and years of schooling. Two caveats dampen this place premium effect: schooling quality and informal insurance mechanisms that make migration more costly. Third, increases in human development can be associated to an “urbanization dividend” that made social services more accessible to first and second generation migrants over a twenty-five year period. Future increases in human development, however, are likely to depend on providing quality services and expanding socials services to the rural poor, rather on gains from urbanization. The key policy challenges of the future include both an expansion of services to the poorest of the poor in rural areas and breaking down discrimination barriers against women and indigenous people in urban labor markets. |
| Keywords: | Migration, human development, poverty, employment, schooling |
| JEL: | J11 O15 I32 F22 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hdr:papers:hdrp-2009-46&r=lab |
| By: | Eisfeldt, Andrea; Kuhnen, Camelia M. |
| Abstract: | There is considerable and widespread concern about whether CEOs are appropriately punished for poor performance. The empirical literature on CEO turnover documents that CEOs are indeed more likely to be forced out if their performance is poor relative to the industry average. However, CEOs are also more likely to be replaced if the industry is doing badly. We show that these empirical patterns are natural and efficient outcomes of a competitive assignment model in which CEOs and firms form matches based on multiple characteristics, and where industry conditions affect the outside options of both managers and firms. Our model also has several new predictions about the type of replacement manager, and their pay and performance. We construct a dataset which describes all turnover events during the period 1992-2006 and show that these predictions are also born out empirically. |
| Keywords: | Executive Turnover; Matching Models; Competitive Assignment; CEO Labor Market |
| JEL: | J41 J63 J31 J44 M51 G30 |
| Date: | 2010–04–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22367&r=lab |
| By: | Kristina A. Schapiro (Monitor Group, London) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of migration on educational outcomes of children. It looks at the outcomes of internationally as well as internally migrating children and identifies the specific barriers they face in access to quality schooling. It discusses the various channels through which migration affects the education and wellbeing of non-migrant children in migrant households. It subsequently examines the variations in educational attainment of second-generation migrant children. To conclude, the paper recognizes the policy challenges surrounding the migration-education linkage and considers some of the strategies that have been implemented to improve the schooling outcomes of children affected by migration. |
| Keywords: | Migration, children, education, human capital, human development, policy |
| JEL: | O1 O15 F22 F2 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hdr:papers:hdrp-2009-57&r=lab |
| By: | Gustafsson, Björn (Göteborg University); Österberg, Torun (University of Gothenburg) |
| Abstract: | This paper takes a fresh look at child poverty at the neighbourhood level in the three metropolitan regions of Sweden using unique data for 1990, 1996 and 2002. We find that the number of neighbourhoods with high child poverty rates is much larger in 2002 than in 1990, but also that most poor children in the three regions live outside poor neighbourhoods. A disproportionally large fraction of children with backgrounds from low- and middle-income countries live in poor neighbourhoods. Regression analysis shows that high neighbourhood poverty rates are mainly due to parents’ low employment and to low parental education. |
| Keywords: | child poverty, neighbourhood, Sweden |
| JEL: | I32 J13 R23 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4881&r=lab |
| By: | Kevin Lang |
| Abstract: | From the perspective of someone who is both an economist and a former school board member, this paper assesses the use of test-score data by policy-makers and academic researchers. The absence of interval scales often makes the interpretation of test-scores and the indicators derived from them highly problematic. Economists have both been deficient in alerting policy-makers to the inherent difficulties in using such data and cavalier in their own treatment of them. Test score data often merely confirm what administrators already know. Nevertheless they can be useful if used as a trigger for further investigation, and, in particular, as a lever for encouraging principals and other administrators to act on information about teacher (or school) quality. |
| Keywords: | NCLB; No Child Left Behind; value-added-measurement in education; accountability; high-stakes testing |
| JEL: | I21 I28 H75 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wpaper:143&r=lab |
| By: | Bartelsman, Eric (VU University Amsterdam); Gautier, Pieter (VU University Amsterdam); De Wind, Joris (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Using a country-industry panel dataset (EUKLEMS) we uncover a robust empirical regularity, namely that high-risk innovative sectors are relatively smaller in countries with strict employment protection legislation (EPL). To understand the mechanism, we develop a two-sector matching model where firms endogenously choose between a safe technology with known productivity and a risky technology with productivity subject to sizeable shocks. Strict EPL makes the risky technology relatively less attractive because it is more costly to shed workers upon receiving a low productivity draw. We calibrate the model using a variety of aggregate, industry and micro-level data sources. We then simulate the model to reflect both the observed differences across countries in EPL and the observed increase since the mid-1990s in the variance of firm performance associated with the adoption of information and communication technology. The simulations produce a differential response to the arrival of risky technology between low- and high-EPL countries that coincides with the findings in the data. The described mechanism can explain a considerable portion of the slowdown in productivity in the EU relative to the US since 1995. |
| Keywords: | employment protection legislation, exit costs, information and communications technology, heterogeneous productivity, sectoral allocation |
| JEL: | J65 O38 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4895&r=lab |
| By: | Ozkan Eren (Department of Economics, University of Nevada, Las Vegas); I. Serkan Ozbeklik (Robert Day School of Economics and Finance, Claremont McKenna College) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of holding a leadership position in high school on adult earnings and assesses the sensitivity of the previously found positive association to nonrandom selection bias. Using a recently developed procedure, we show that a substantial part of this relation is causal. Moreover, our results indicate evidence in favor of the hypothesis that leadership skills are acquired during high school. |
| Keywords: | Implied Ratio, Noncognitive Skills and Selection on Unobservables. |
| JEL: | J24 J30 I20 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nlv:wpaper:1002&r=lab |
| By: | OGURO Kazumasa; OSHIO Takashi; TAKAHATA Junichiro |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we present an OLG simulation model with transmission of individual ability and endogenous fertility in order to capture the effects that strengthening income redistribution, expansion of child benefit, and expansion of educational support have on economic disparity and economic growth. Our simulation results show that expansion of educational support will achieve a reduction in inequality and maintenance or an increase in economic growth. In addition, the effects of expanded educational support are greater with a stronger correlation between parent and child ability. On the other hand, our findings show that policies increasing child benefit or expanded minimum income cannot be expected to lead to reduction in inequality or improvement in economic growth. |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:10019&r=lab |