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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Ikenaga, Toshie (Hitotsubashi University); Kawaguchi, Daiji (Hitotsubashi University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how expected attachment to the labor market and expected tenure at a specific firm affect training participation. The results, based on cross-sectional data from Japan, indicate that expected attachment to the labor market affects participation in both employer- and worker-initiated training, while expected tenure at a specific firm mainly explains participation in employer-initiated training. These two attachment indices explain almost half of the gender gap in training participation. Employers in a less competitive labor market are more likely to offer employer-initiated training to their workers. |
| Keywords: | training, labor market attachment, job tenure, gender, Japan |
| JEL: | J16 J24 J61 J63 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5081&r=lab |
| By: | Kahn, Lawrence M. (Cornell University) |
| Abstract: | I review theories and evidence on wage-setting institutions and labor market policies in an international comparative context. These include collective bargaining, minimum wages, employment protection laws, unemployment insurance (UI), mandated parental leave, and active labor market policies (ALMPs). Since it is unlikely that an unregulated private sector would provide the income insurance these institutions do, these policies may enhance economic efficiency. However, to the extent that unemployment or resource misallocation results from such measures, these efficiency gains may be offset. Overall, Scandinavia and Central Europe follow distinctively more interventionist policies than the English speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere. Possible explanations for such differences include vulnerability to external market forces and ethnic homogeneity. I then review evidence on the impacts of these policies and institutions. While the interventionist model appears to cause lower levels of wage inequality and high levels of job security to incumbent workers, it also in some cases leads to the relegation of new entrants (disproportionately women, youth and immigrants) as well as the less skilled to temporary jobs or unemployment. Making labor markets more flexible could bring these groups into the regular labor market to a greater extent, at the expense of higher levels of economic insecurity for incumbents and higher levels of wage inequality. The Danish model of loosening employment protections while providing relatively generous UI benefits with strict job search requirements holds out the possibility of reducing barriers for new entrants and the less skilled while maintaining some level of income insurance. |
| Keywords: | labor market flexibility |
| JEL: | J68 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5100&r=lab |
| By: | Koskela, Erkki (University of Helsinki) |
| Abstract: | It is analyzed the impacts of outsourcing cost and wage tax progression under labor market imperfections with Nash wage bargaining and flexible outsourcing. With sufficiently strong (weak) labor market imperfection, lower outsourcing cost has a wage-moderating (wage-increasing) effect so that there is a negative (positive) effect on equilibrium unemployment. Higher tax progression, to keep the relative tax burden per worker constant, has a wage moderating and a positive effect on employment and negative effect on outsourcing. |
| Keywords: | Nash wage bargaining, outsourcing, labor tax reform |
| JEL: | H22 J41 J51 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5097&r=lab |
| By: | Neil Rankin; Justin Sandefur; Francis Teal |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of learning - through formal schooling and time spent in the labor market - in explaining labor market outcomes of urban workers in Ghana and Tanzania. We investigate these issues using a new data set measuring incomes of both formal sector wage workers and the self-employed in the informal sector. In both countries we find significant, convex returns to education and large earnings differentials between sectors when we pool the data and do not control for selection. In Ghana there is a particularly steep age-earnings profile. We investigate how far a Harris-Todaro model of market segmentation or a Roy model of selection can explain the patterns observed in the data. We find highly significant differences across occupations and important effects from selection in both countries. The data is consistent with a pattern by which higher ability individuals queue for the high wage formal sector jobs such that the age earnings profile is convex for the self-employed in Ghana once we control for selection. The returns to education are far higher in the large firm sector than in others and in this sector they are linear not convex. In both countries there is clear evidence of convexity in the returns to education for the self-employed and here the average returns are low. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-02&r=lab |
| By: | Nopo, Hugo (Inter-American Development Bank); Atal, Juan Pablo (Inter-American Development Bank); Winder, Natalia (Inter-American Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper surveys gender and ethnic wage gaps in 18 Latin American countries, decomposing differences using matching comparisons as a non-parametric alternative to the Blinder-Oaxaca (BO) decomposition. It is found that men earn 9-27 percent more than women, with high cross-country heterogeneity. The unexplained pay gap is higher among older, informal and self-employed workers and those in small firms. Ethnic wage differences are greater than gender differences, and educational attainment differentials play an important role in explaining the gap. Higher ethnic wage gaps are found among males, single-income generators of households and full-time workers, and in rural areas. An important share of the ethnic wage gap is due to the scarcity of minorities in high-paid positions. |
| Keywords: | gender, ethnicity, wage gaps, Latin America, matching |
| JEL: | C14 D31 J16 O54 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5085&r=lab |
| By: | Mavromaras, Kostas G. (NILS, Flinders University); McGuinness, Seamus (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin); O'Leary, Nigel C. (Swansea University); Sloane, Peter J. (Swansea University); Wei, Zhang (NILS, Flinders University) |
| Abstract: | The interpretation of graduate mismatch manifested either as overeducation or as overskilling remains problematical. This paper uses annual panel information on both educational and skills mismatches uniquely found in the HILDA survey to analyse the relationship of both mismatches with pay, job satisfaction and job mobility. We find that overeducation and overskilling are distinct phenomena with different labour market outcomes and that their combination results in the most severe negative labour market outcomes. Using panel methodology reduces strongly the size of many relevant coefficients, questioning previous cross-section results and suggesting the presence of considerable unobserved heterogeneity which varies by gender. |
| Keywords: | overeducation, overskilling, wages, satisfaction, mobility |
| JEL: | J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5083&r=lab |
| By: | Nopo, Hugo (Inter-American Development Bank); Hoyos, Alejandro (Inter-American Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper complements the findings of Atal, Ñopo and Winder (2010) on gender and ethnic wage gaps for 18 Latin American countries circa 2005 by analyzing gender wage gaps for the same countries between circa 1992 and circa 2007. During this span the overall gender earnings gaps dropped about 7 percentage points, while the unexplained component dropped between 3 and 4 percentage points, depending on the control variables used. The gap declined most notably among workers at the bottom of the earnings distribution, with children at home, the self-employed, part-time workers and those in rural areas – the segments of the labor market that were previously reported as having the highest unexplained gender disparities. Most of the reduction in unexplained gaps occurred within segments rather than due to the composition of labor markets. The paper additionally finds a limited role for job tenure in explaining gender wage gaps. |
| Keywords: | gender, wage gaps, Latin America, matching |
| JEL: | C14 D31 J16 O54 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5086&r=lab |
| By: | Di Addario, Sabrina (Bank of Italy); Vuri, Daniela (University of Rome Tor Vergata) |
| Abstract: | We analyze empirically the effects of urban agglomeration on Italian college graduates’ work possibilities as entrepreneurs three years after graduation. We find that each 100,000 inhabitant-increase in the size of the individual’s province of work reduces the chances of being an entrepreneur by 0.2-0.3 percent. This result holds after controlling for regional fixed effects and is robust to instrumenting urbanization. Province’s competition, urban amenities and dis-amenities, cost of labor, earning differentials between employees and self-employed workers, unemployment rates and value added per capita account for 40 percent of the negative urbanization penalty. Our result cannot be explained by the presence of negative large-city differentials in returns to education either. In fact, as long as they succeed in entering the largest markets, young entrepreneurs are able to reap-off the benefits of urbanization externalities: every 100,000-inhabitant increase in the province's population raises entrepreneurs' net monthly income by 0.2-0.3 percent. |
| Keywords: | labor market transitions, urbanization |
| JEL: | R12 J24 J21 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5098&r=lab |
| By: | Antecol, Heather (Claremont McKenna College) |
| Abstract: | Using data from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 U.S. Census, I find little support for the opt-out revolution – highly educated women, relative to their less educated counterparts, are exiting the labor force to care for their families at higher rates today than in earlier time periods – if one focuses solely on the decision to work a positive number of hours irrespective of marital status or race. If one, however, focuses on both the decision to work a positive number of hours as well as the decision to adjust annual hours of work (conditional on working), I find some evidence of the opt-out revolution, particularly among white college educated married women in male dominated occupations. |
| Keywords: | opting out, female labor supply, extensive/intensive margin, race/ethnicity |
| JEL: | J13 J15 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5089&r=lab |
| By: | Hospido, Laura (Bank of Spain) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops an error components model that is used to examine the impact of job changes on the dynamics and variance of individual log earnings. I use data on work histories drawn from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) that makes it possible to distinguish between voluntary and involuntary job-to-job changes. The potential endogeneity of job mobility in relation to earnings is circumvented by means of an instrument variable estimation method that also allows to control for unobserved individual-job specific heterogeneity. Once controlled for individual and job-specific effects, the persistence within jobs is almost zero, whereas across jobs is significant but small. |
| Keywords: | panel data, dynamic models, individual-job specific fixed effects, job changes, individual wages |
| JEL: | C23 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5088&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas Leoni (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | Unemployed workers suffer from poor health conditions, a fact which is documented by a large number of studies covering objective health measures, satisfaction with health status and mortality. This paper contributes to the literature with an empirical analysis of sick leave micro-data from Austrian social insurance agencies. The data represent an interesting source of information because in Austria both employed and unemployed workers are entitled to sickness benefits and both groups are subject to almost identical sick pay regulations. Aggregate statistics show that the unemployed spend close to 9 percent of their time on sick leave, against an average of 3.4 percent for the employed. Further evidence indicates that they report much longer illness spells and a higher number of hospitalisations. Both selection and causation effects can help to understand this large gap in health outcomes. Workers who become unemployed had markedly higher absence rates in employment than fellow workers who stay in employment. This difference, which can be interpreted as an approximation for the selection effect, accounts for roughly half of the observed gap in sick leave rates between the employed and the unemployed. On the other hand there exists a positive albeit non-linear relationship between sick leave and unemployment duration, corroborating the view that unemployment impacts health negatively. In accordance with previous studies I find that the unemployed suffer very often from mental disorders. Although women have a higher incidence of mental disorders than men in both employment and unemployment, it is unemployed men who experience the sharpest increase in mental problems in the wake of unemployment. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, sick leave, sickness, health, social insurance data |
| Date: | 2010–06–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2010:i:372&r=lab |
| By: | KOISSY KPEIN Sandrine |
| Abstract: | This paper uses Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) from 23 sub-Saharan African countries to highlight the link between mothers’ empowerment and gender bias in schooling decisions in monogamous households. Based on the collective model of Chiappori (1988, 1992), the analysis starts with the argument that altruistic fathers and mothers have different effects on the education of their sons and daughters as a result of differences in their preferences and/or in the children’s human capital technologies. Our empirical analysis uses traditional indicators of women’s empowerment (education, labor market participation) and more fastidious indicators provided by DHS surveys (access to mass media, decisions about the use of earnings, etc.). The results suggest that empowering mothers could lead to improving girls’ school attendance. |
| JEL: | D19 O15 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2010-19&r=lab |
| By: | Danthine, Jean-Pierre (Swiss National Bank); Kurmann, André (Université du Québec à Montréal) |
| Abstract: | We develop a reciprocity-based model of wage determination and incorporate it into a modern dynamic general equilibrium framework. We estimate the model and find that, among potential determinants of wages, rent-sharing (between workers and firms) and wage entitlement (based on wages earned in the past) are important to fit the dynamic responses of output, wages and inflation to various exogenous shocks. Aggregate employment conditions (measuring workers’ outside option), on the other hand, are found to play only a negligible role for wage setting. These results are broadly consistent with micro-studies on reciprocity in labor relations but contrast with traditional efficiency wage models which emphasize aggregate labor market variables as the main determinant of wage setting. |
| Keywords: | Efficiency Wages; Reciprocity; Estimated DSGE Models |
| JEL: | E24 E31 E32 E52 J50 |
| Date: | 2010–06–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:snbwpa:2010_010&r=lab |
| By: | Henrik Braconier |
| Abstract: | Maintaining high participation and employment in the face of the recent recession and a rapidly ageing population are major challenges for policy makers in Finland. The recession of the early 1990s showed that high unemployment can leave long–lasting scars on labour markets, while rapid ageing requires longer working lives to ensure sustainable public finances. Minimising the effect of the recession on the labour market calls for nominal wage increases in line with economic conditions, greater flexibility in wage setting, ensuring earlier activation of unemployed and reforming unemployment and social benefits to better support work incentives. Finland has an unusual combination of elevated unemployment replacement rates and late referral to labour market activation, which contributes to high levels of inactivity and a large number of beneficiaries. This combination risks building up greater structural unemployment over time. More ambitious activation needs to be accompanied by lower replacement rates in the unemployment insurance and related schemes to support labour market participation, job search and employment. Institutional responsibilities in labour market policies should be simplified and made more transparent. With an already low effective retirement age, additional early permanent exit from the labour market needs to be discouraged. The recent success of restricting access to the unemployment pipeline should be followed up by a complete abolition of the system. Stricter criteria for entry into disability pensions should also be applied. The 2005 pension reform was a step in the right direction, but the old–age retirement system should be further adjusted to lower fiscal costs, raise the minimum retirement age and increase work incentives for older individuals. This Working Paper relates to the 2010 Economic Survey of Finland. (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/Finland)<P>Faire face à la crise de l’emploi et anticiper le vieillissement : le cas de la Finlande<BR>Maintenir un haut niveau d’activité et d’emploi face à la récente récession et au vieillissement rapide de la population est un défi majeur pour les responsables publics de la Finlande. La récession du début des années 90 a montré qu’un haut niveau de chômage peut laisser des cicatrices durables sur le marché du travail, tandis que le vieillissement rapide nécessite un allongement de la durée de la vie active pour assurer la viabilité des finances publiques. Minimiser les effets de la récession sur le marché du travail suppose des augmentations des salaires nominaux en lien avec la situation économique, plus de flexibilité dans la fixation des salaires, une activation plus précoce des chômeurs et une réforme des allocations chômage et prestations sociales pour renforcer davantage les incitations en faveur de l’activité. La Finlande présente une conjonction inhabituelle de taux de remplacement élevés et d’orientations tardives vers les dispositifs d’activation sur le marché du travail, ce qui contribue à des niveaux d’inactivité élevés et à des effectifs de bénéficiaires nombreux. Cette conjonction d’éléments risque d’entraîner un gonflement du chômage structurel au fil du temps. Une politique d’activation plus ambitieuse doit aller de pair avec des taux de remplacement plus faibles, assurés par les systèmes d’indemnisation du chômage et les dispositifs connexes de façon à encourager la participation à l’activité, la recherche d’emploi et l’emploi. Les responsabilités institutionnelles concernant les politiques du marché du travail devraient être rendues plus simples et plus transparentes. L’âge effectif de départ à la retraite étant déjà faible, les dispositifs annexes permettant des retraits permanents précoces du marché du travail sont à proscrire. Les efforts déployés récemment pour restreindre l’accès à la filière du chômage devraient déboucher maintenant sur l’abolition complète du système. De même, les critères d’accès à une pension d’invalidité devraient être durcis. La réforme des pensions de 2005 était un pas dans la bonne direction, mais d’autres ajustements devraient encore être introduits dans le système de pensions de vieillesse afin d’abaisser le coût budgétaire, élever l’âge minimum de la retraite et renforcer les incitations en faveur de l’activité en direction des personnes d’un certain âge. Ce document de travail porte sur l'Étude économique de la Finlande (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/finlande) |
| Keywords: | unemployment, Finland, pensions, retirement, disability, unemployment benefits, ALMP, wage formation, unemployment pipeline, chômage, retraites, pensions, Finlande, invalidité, allocations chômages, PAMT, formation des salaires, filière du chômage |
| JEL: | J21 J26 J31 J61 J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2010–05–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:777-en&r=lab |
| By: | Astrid Krenz |
| Abstract: | The German educational system finds itself being criticized by the OECD in its Programme for International Student Assessment. Family background would heavily influence children’s academic achievements. A child stemming from a high class family has a 3.1 times higher chance to go to secondary school than a child from a working class family, controlling for ability. The chance for taking up university studies is even 7.4 times higher for children from high class families. In search of an explanation for this misery Pierre Bourdieu’s and James Coleman’s theories about cultural and social capital prove to be valuable. Based on their work this study will investigate returns to education and its interdependence with family background in Germany. Bourdieu basically explains that family background leads to acquire specific levels of manners, attitudes, self assurance etc. which in turn might influence job status, income e.g. A huge body of literature measuring returns to education all over the world already exists, however, studies for Germany, and in particular studies that focuss on the relation between income, education and social background, are rare. This study appears to be the first one following an interdisciplinary approach, incorporating measures of cultural and social capital along with family background and further variables into a common Mincer wage equation. Taking data from the German SOEP for the years 2001 and 2005 indices measuring cultural and social capital are constructed applying principal component analysis. Education, ability, motivation, cultural and social capital are endogenized and adequate regression techniques are applied. It can be shown that social background determines an individual’s amount of education which in turn will influence income. An individual’s amount of education does significantly depend on parents’ education, the father being a low-skilled laborer, the amount of cultural and social capital, ability and motivation. Males do get more education than women. Educational policy in Germany should concentrate on enhancing access to education for children from low class families on the one hand, on the other hand the German society should be sensitized to special needs of individuals stemming from low class families as well as to problems that these humans do face. |
| Keywords: | Returns to Education, Cultural Capital, Social Capital, Inequality, Index |
| JEL: | I21 J24 J31 Z13 |
| Date: | 2010–07–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:cegedp:108&r=lab |
| By: | Antecol, Heather (Claremont McKenna College); Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. (University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of non-cognitive skills in the occupational segregation of young workers entering the U.S. labor market. We find entry into male-dominated fields of study and male-dominated occupations are both related to the extent to which individuals believe they are intelligent and have "male" traits while entry into male-dominated occupations is also related to the willingness to work hard, impulsivity, and the tendency to avoid problems. The nature of these relationships differs for men and women, however. Non-cognitive skills (intelligence and impulsivity) also influence movement into higher-paid occupations, but in ways that are similar for men and women. On balance, non-cognitive skills provide an important, though incomplete, explanation for segregation in the fields that young men and women study as well as in the occupations in which they are employed. |
| Keywords: | non-cognitive skills, occupation, youth, gender |
| JEL: | J24 J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5093&r=lab |
| By: | Karanassou, Marika (University of London); Sala, Hector (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | This paper challenges the prevailing view of the neutrality of the labour income share to labour demand, and investigates its impact on the evolution of employment. Whilst maintaining the assumption of a unitary long-run elasticity of wages with respect to productivity, we demonstrate that productivity growth affects the labour share in the long run due to frictional growth (that is, the interplay of wage dynamics and productivity growth). In the light of this result, we consider a stylised labour demand equation and show that the labour share is a driving force of employment. We substantiate our analytical exposition by providing empirical models of wage setting and employment equations for France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the US over the 1960-2008 period. Our findings show that the time-varying labour share of these countries has significantly influenced their employment trajectories across decades. This indicates that the evolution of the labour income share (or, equivalently, the wage-productivity gap) deserves the attention of policy makers. |
| Keywords: | wages, productivity, labour income share, employment |
| JEL: | E24 E25 O47 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5092&r=lab |
| By: | Pauline Musset |
| Abstract: | To design policies that allow to educate and train teachers, capable of helping students to acquire the competencies needed to evolve in today‘s societies and labour markets is an amazing challenge. In today‘s context, with the undergoing economic and social changes, high-quality schooling is more important than ever. |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:48-en&r=lab |
| By: | Schmid, Günther (WZB - Social Science Research Center Berlin) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents – in a new way of examination and portrayal – the extent and changes of nonstandard employment relationships (part-time work, fixed-term contracts, and self-employment) in 24 EU member states at two points of time, in 1998 and 2008, on the basis of the European Labour Force Survey. Apart from a detailed statistical description by gender, skills and branches, theoretical considerations explaining the development are also examined and tested in a preliminary way. Finally, the most important results and their challenges to the future labour market policy are emphasised again and discussed. The central outcome is neither the complaint of the eroding 'standard employment relationship' nor of its potential 'precariousness'; it is rather the requirement of increasing variability in employment relations due to rising employment participation of women (work-life-balance), mature aged workers, and persons with restricted work capacities. However, parallel to this development social risks are also spreading over the life course, especially the risk of great income volatility through multiple or long periods of unemployment, changing working times, obsolete skills or restricted work capacities due to ill health. In order to reduce or to avoid new social inequalities, future labour market reforms have to acknowledge this development by establishing new forms of social security or by constituting a more flexible standard employment relationship through adaptations in labour and social law. The contribution ends by providing some suggestions to such reforms. |
| Keywords: | non-standard employment, labour force participation, flexibility, labour market policy |
| JEL: | J21 J38 J41 J48 J68 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5087&r=lab |
| By: | Jeremy Lawson |
| Abstract: | Rapid economic growth over the past two decades has substantially increased employment in Luxembourg, which has largely been met by in–flows of cross–border workers and, to a lesser extent, immigration. Unemployment has remained low compared to other European countries. These significant social changes have been absorbed without substantially widening income disparities, facilitated by the generous welfare system made affordable by the strong economy. However, this favourable overall picture masks weaknesses in the design of labour market institutions and social transfers that reduce incentives to work for resident workers. Despite the strong economy, this has resulted in lower employment rates for certain groups of residents, notably those who are second–earners, younger or older, or from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds. Furthermore, the incentives provided by existing labour market institutions could make adjustment to changed economic prospects more difficult. The functioning and adaptability of the labour market could be improved without undermining social cohesion through a range of related measures. This could include aligning minimum wage adjustments more closely with economic conditions, which could be achieved through a Minimum Wage Council, and softening employment protection legislation. To raise incentives of residents, social benefits should be decoupled from average wages, and social transfers could be reoriented towards in–work social benefits. This Working Paper relates to the 2010 Economic Survey of Luxembourg. (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/Luxembourg)<P>Améliorer le fonctionnement du marché du travail de Luxembourg<BR>La croissance rapide économique que le Luxembourg a connue au cours des deux décennies écoulées s’est traduite par une expansion considérable de l’emploi, attirant principalement des travailleurs frontaliers et, dans une moindre mesure, de la main-d’oeuvre immigrée. Le chômage est resté faible en comparaison des autres pays européens. Ces importantes évolutions sociales ont été absorbées sans accentuation notable des disparités de revenu, grâce à un système généreux de protection sociale que le Luxembourg a pu s’offrir du fait de la vigueur de son économie. Cette belle image d’ensemble masque toutefois des faiblesses dans la conception des institutions du marché du travail et des transferts sociaux qui émoussent les incitations à travailler pour les résidents. Malgré le dynamisme de l’économie, il en est résulté des taux d’emploi moins élevés pour certains groupes de résidents, notamment ceux qui font fonction de second apporteur de revenu, les jeunes ou les seniors, ou ceux qui sont issus de milieux socioéconomiques moins favorisés. Par ailleurs, les incitations offertes par les institutions du marché du travail existantes pourraient rendre plus difficile l’ajustement à l’évolution des perspectives économiques. Il serait possible d’améliorer le fonctionnement et l’adaptabilité du marché du travail sans saper la cohésion sociale par une série de mesures associées. Il s’agirait notamment de fixer les ajustements de salaire minimum plus étroitement en fonction de la situation économique, ce qui pourrait se faire par un Conseil sur le salaire minimum, et par un assouplissement de la législation relative à la protection de l’emploi. Afin d’accroître les incitations des résidents, les prestations sociales devraient être découplées des salaires moyens et les transferts sociaux pourraient être réorientés vers un système de prestations subordonnées à l’existence d’une activité. Ce document de travail porte sur l'Étude économique du Luxembourg (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/luxembourg). |
| Keywords: | labour supply, wage-setting, Luxembourg, labour market institutions, offre de travail, fixation des salaires, Luxembourg, institutions du marché du travail |
| JEL: | J0 J2 J3 J5 J6 |
| Date: | 2010–06–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:778-en&r=lab |
| By: | Nicholas Nsowah-Nuamah; Francis Teal; Moses Awoonor-Williams |
| Abstract: | Poverty has halved in Ghana over the period from 1991 to 2005. Our objective in this paper is to assess how far this fall was linked to the creation of better paying jobs and the increase in education. We find that earnings rose rapidly in the period from 1998 to 2005, by 64% for men and by 55% for women. While education, particularly at the post secondary level, is associated with far higher earnings there is no evidence that the increase in earnings that occurred over the period from1998 to 2005 is due to increased returns to education or increased levels of education. In contrast there is very strong evidence, for all levels of education, that the probability of having a public sector job approximately halved over the period from 1991 while the probability of having a job in a small firm increased very substantially. In 1991/92 a male worker with secondary education had a 7 per cent probability of being employed in a small firm, by 2005/06 this had increased to 20 per cent which was higher than the probability of being employed by the public sector. Employment in small firms, which is the low paying occupation within the urban sector, increased from 2.7 to 6.7 percent of the population, an increase from 225,000 to 886,000 employees. Jobs in total have been increasing in line with the population but the proportion of relatively low paying ones increased markedly from 1998/99 to 2005/06. The rises in income that occurred over this period were due almost entirely to increases in earnings rates, for given levels of education, across all job types particularly among the unskilled. Why unskilled earnings rates rose so rapidly is unclear. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-01&r=lab |
| By: | Terence Chai Cheng (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne); Anthony Scott (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne); Sung-Hee Jeon (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne); Guyonne Kalb (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne); John Humphreys (School of Rural Health, Monash University); Catherine Joyce Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University |
| Abstract: | To date, there has been little data or empirical research on the determinants of doctors' earnings despite earnings having an important role in influencing the cost of health care, decisions on workforce participation and labour supply. This paper examines the determinants of annual earnings of general practitioners and specialists using the first wave of the Medicine in Australia: Balancing Employment and Life (MABEL), a new longitudinal survey of doctors in Australia. For both GPs and specialists, earnings are higher for men, for those who are self-employed, who do after hours or on-call work, and who work in areas with a high cost of living. GPs have higher earnings if they work in larger practices, in outer regional or rural areas, and in areas with lower GP density, whilst specialists earn more if they are a fellow of their college, have more working experience, spend more time in clinical work, have less complex patients, or work in inner regional areas. Overall, GPs earn about 32% less than specialists. The returns from on-call work, experience, and self-employment are higher for specialists compared to GPs. |
| Keywords: | earnings, general practitioners, hedonic regression, specialists |
| JEL: | I11 J30 I18 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2010n12&r=lab |
| By: | Galí, Jordi (CREI and Universitat Pompeu Fabra); van Rens, Thijs (CREI and Universitat Pompeu Fabra) |
| Abstract: | We document three changes in postwar US macroeconomic dynamics: (i) the procyclicality of labor productivity has vanished, (ii) the relative volatility of employment has risen, and (iii) the relative (and absolute) volatility of the real wage has risen. We propose an explanation for all three changes that is based on a common source: a decline in labor market frictions. We develop a simple model with labor market frictions, variable effort, and endogenous wage rigidities to illustrate the mechanisms underlying our explanation. We show that the reduction in frictions may also have contributed to the observed decline in output volatility. |
| Keywords: | wage rigidities, labor market frictions, labor hoarding, effort choice |
| JEL: | E24 E32 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5099&r=lab |
| By: | Bilal Barakat; Johannes Holler; Klaus Prettner; Julia Schuster |
| Abstract: | In summer 2007, the US subprime crisis emerged and economic growth in industrialised countries started to slow down. The situation deteriorated after the default of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 and despite massive government interventions, the United States and most European countries slid into recession. We investigate the influence of the recent economic and financial crisis on European labour market perspectives and educational attainment decisions. Furthermore we disentangle the differential impacts of the crisis on various demographic subgroups. We find that young male workers have been hit hardest, while older workers and women have been partially protected by non-redeemable contracts and the fact that they work in sectors which have been less severely hit by the crisis. Focusing on the education sector, it seems that the demand for education increases because individuals try to circumvent the tight labour market, while the supply of education suffers because of the increased pressures on federal budgets in most European countries. However, we conclude that it is too early to make a definite statement because the full impact of the crisis on the education sector is still to come. |
| Keywords: | Economic crisis, labour market, education |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vid:wpaper:1006&r=lab |
| By: | Monazza Aslam; Geeta Kingdon |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the relationship between parental schooling on the one hand, and child health outcomes (height and weight) and parental health-seeking behaviour (immunisation status of children), on the other. While establishing a correlational link between parental schooling and child health is relatively straightforward, confirming a causal relationship is more complex. Using unique data from Pakistan, we aim to understand the mechanisms through which parental schooling promotes better child health and health-seeking behaviour. The following ‘pathways’ are investigated: educated parents’ greater household income, exposure to media, literacy, labour market participation, health knowledge and the extent of maternal empowerment within the home. We find that while father's education is positively associated with the 'one-off' immunisation decision, mother's education is more critically associated with longer term health outcomes in OLS equations. Instrumental variable (IV) estimates suggest that father's health knowledge is most positively associated with immunisation decisions while mother's health knowledge and her empowerment within the home are the channels through which her education impacts her child's height and weight respectively. |
| Keywords: | parental schooling, mother's health knowledge, father's health knowledge, media exposure, maternal empowerment, child health, immunisation, Pakistan. |
| JEL: | I1 I2 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-16&r=lab |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | The deep recession has led to a marked deterioration in labour market conditions in the OECD area. This paper, which draws heavily on other ongoing analytical work at the OECD, takes stock of recent labour market developments, highlights some of the key uncertainties in the early stages of the upturn, and discusses the policy options available to damp any further, structural deterioration in labour markets and facilitate an eventual, sustained, job-rich recovery.<P>Les marchés du travail et la crise<BR>La profonde récession qui a frappé l’économie de la zone OCDE a entraîné une dégradation marquée de la situation des marchés du travail. Ce document examine l’évolution récente du marché du travail, quelquesunes des principales incertitudes pendant les phases initiales de la reprise et examine les options de politiques économiques disponibles pour amortir une nouvelle dégradation structurelle durable de leurs marchés du travail et faciliter à terme une reprise pérenne riche en emplois. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, employment, Policy, crisis, recovery, chômage, emploi, Politique, crise, reprise |
| JEL: | E24 J08 J20 |
| Date: | 2010–04–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:756-en&r=lab |
| By: | di Gropello, Emanuela; Sakellariou , Chris |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the estimation of skill/industry premiums and labor force composition at the national and sector levels in seven East Asian countries with the objective of providing a comprehensive analysis of trends in demand for skills in the region. The paper addresses the following questions: Are there converging or diverging trends in the region regarding the evolution of skill premiums and labor force composition? Are changes in skill premiums generalized or industry-related? How have industry premiums evolved? The analysis uses labor and household surveys going back at least 10 years. The main trends emerging from the analysis are: (a) increasing proportions of skilled/educated workers over the long run across the region; (b) generally increasing demand for skills in the region; (c) the service sector has become the most important driver of demand for skills for all countries (except Thailand); (d) countries can be broadly categorized into three groups in relation to trends and patterns of demand for skills (Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand; Vietnam and China; and Cambodia and Mongolia); and (e) industry premiums have increased in three countries of the region (Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia). These trends point to several policy implications, including that governments should focus on policies promoting access to education to address the increasing demand for skills and/or persistent skill shortages; support general rather than specific curricula given broad-based increases in skill premiums in most countries; better tailor curriculum design and content and pedagogical approaches to the needs of the service sector; andtarget some social protection programs to unskilled workers to protect them from the"unequalizing"impact of education. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Water and Industry,Tertiary Education,Education For All,Secondary Education |
| Date: | 2010–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5379&r=lab |
| By: | Cuesta, Jose; Olivera, Mauricio |
| Abstract: | This paper identifies and quantifies three distortions caused by the existing social security and social assistance systems in Colombia. These distortions refer to the discrepancy between the cost of formal social security for the employer and the worker's valuation of the received service (social distortion): the differences in social security benefits received by salaried and self-employed formal workers (occupational distortion); and the discrepancy caused by the cost in employing a formal instead of an informal worker (informal distortion). Based on recently collected information concerning Colombian workers'willingness to pay for several packages of social security benefits, the study calculates that social distortions range from 2 to 27 percent of the workers'labor earnings; the occupational distortion amounts to 50 percent of formal salaried workers'earnings; and the informal distortions represent between 45 and 56 percent of formal workers'labor income. Results indicate that valuations of the contributive and noncontributive protection systems play a key role in explaining these distortions. In addition, the Colombian social protection system thereby places a hefty tax on the formal worker (and employer) while transferring resources to the informal worker, but these distortions are not sufficient to revert differentials in earnings among formal and informal workers. |
| Keywords: | Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Labor Markets,Labor Policies,Labor Standards,Population Policies |
| Date: | 2010–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5390&r=lab |
| By: | Biorn, Erik (University of Oslo); Gaure, Simen (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Markussen, Simen (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Roed, Knut (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | We examine the remarkable rise in absenteeism among Norwegian employees since the early 1990's, with particular emphasis on disentangling the roles of cohort, age, and time. Based on a fixed effects model, we show that individual age-adjusted absence propensities have risen even more than aggregate absence rates from 1993 to 2005, debunking the popular hypothesis that the rise in absenteeism resulted from the inclusion of new cohorts – with weaker work-norms – into the workforce. We also reject the idea that the rise in absenteeism resulted from more successful integration of workers with poor health; on the contrary, a massive rise in disability rolls during the 1990’s suggest that poor-health workers have left the labor market in unprecedented numbers. |
| Keywords: | sickness absence, endogenous selection, multicollinearity, fixed effects logit |
| JEL: | C23 C25 I38 J22 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5091&r=lab |
| By: | Maria Carmen Huerta; Francesca Borgonovi |
| Abstract: | In this article we explore the relationship between education and alcohol consumption. We examine whether the probability of abusing alcohol differs across educational groups. We use data from the British Cohort Study, a longitudinal study of one week’s birth in Britain in 1970. Measures of alcohol abuse include alcohol consumption above NHS guidelines, daily alcohol consumption and problem drinking. Higher educational attainment is associated with increased odds of daily alcohol consumption and problem drinking. The relationship is stronger for females than males. Individuals who achieved high test scores in childhood are at a significantly higher risk of abusing alcohol across all dimensions. Our results also suggest that educational qualifications and academic performance are associated with the probability of belonging to different typologies of alcohol consumers among women while this association is not present in the case of educational qualifications and is very weak in the case of academic performance among males.<BR>Dans cet article, nous explorons le rapport entre l’éducation et la consommation d’alcool. Nous analysons si la probabilité de consommer de l’alcool de façon abusive diffère en fonction du niveau d’éducation. Nous utilisons des données de la British Cohort Study, une étude longitudinale menée pendant une semaine en Grande-Bretagne dans les années 70. L’évaluation de l’abus d’alcool inclut la consommation d’alcool située au dessus des normes NHS, la consommation quotidienne d’alcool et les problèmes d’alcoolisme. Le niveau d’éducation supérieur est associé à des risques accrus de consommation quotidienne d’alcool et à des problèmes avec l’alcool. La relation est plus forte chez les femmes que chez les hommes. Les individus qui obtiennent des notes élevées dans leur enfance ont significativement plus de risques d’avoir des problèmes avec l’alcool. Nos résultats suggèrent également que le niveau d’études ainsi que les performances scolaires augmentent les risques pour les femmes d’appartenir à ces différentes catégories de consommateurs d’alcool, alors que chez les hommes, le risque de consommation n’est pas lié au niveau d’éducation et est très faible en cas de performances scolaires élevées. |
| Date: | 2010–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:50-en&r=lab |
| By: | Paul Atherton; Geeta Kingdon |
| Abstract: | While use of contract teachers provides a low-cost way to increase teacher numbers, it raises the quality concern that these less trained teachers may be less effective. We estimate the causal contract-teacher effect on student achievement using school fixed effects and value-added models of the education production function, using Indian data. We allow for both homogenous and heterogeneous treatment effects, to highlight the mechanisms through which the contract teacher effect works. We also present school fixed effects teacher pay equations and predict achievement marks per Rupee spent on regular and contract teachers. We find that despite being paid just a third of the salary of regular teachers with similar observed characteristics, contract teachers produce higher student learning. |
| Keywords: | Student achievement, contract teachers, India |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-15&r=lab |
| By: | Philip Hemmings |
| Abstract: | Welfare-to-work measures are a central theme of Israel’s labour and social policies to tackle relative poverty, which is concentrated among the Arab-Israeli and Ultra-orthodox (Haredi) communities. Policies include pilot programmes involving private-sector job placement (the “Wisconsin” programme) and an earned-income tax credit. Also, there is increased policy attention to help parents to combine work and family through improvements to daycare and early education. Microeconomic simulations of taxes and benefits suggest room for augmenting these policies with adjustments to benefits and tax expenditures. In the labour market, hiring and firing regulations are light, while the minimum-wage is relatively high in comparison with OECD countries, but it is not strongly enforced. Poverty among pensioners is set to fall in the future with the recent introduction of mandatory second-pillar pension saving. But this reform has also raised questions about the structure of tax breaks on pensions. This Working Paper relates to the 2010 OECD Economic Survey of Israel (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/israel)<P>Les options politiques israéliennes afin de réduire la pauvreté, et augmenter les taux d’emploi<BR>Les mesures de remise au travail sont un thème central de la politique de l’emploi et des affaires sociales d’Israël pour lutter contre la pauvreté relative, qui est concentrée dans les communautés arabe israélienne et juive ultra-orthodoxe (Haredi). Les politiques incluent des programmes pilotes prévoyant des placements dans le secteur privé (le plan « Wisconsin ») et une réduction de l’impôt sur le revenu d’activités professionnelles. Les pouvoirs publics s’efforcent également d’aider davantage les parents à concilier travail et famille en améliorant les services de garderie et d’enseignement préscolaire. Des simulations microéconomiques des impôts et des avantages fiscaux donnent à penser qu’il est possible d’accroître ces politiques en modifiant les prestations et les dépenses fiscales. Sur le marché du travail, les réglementations en matière d’embauche et de licenciement sont peu contraignantes et le salaire minimum est relativement élevé si on le compare à celui des pays de l’OCDE, mais il n’est pas strictement appliqué. La pauvreté chez les retraités devrait baisser à l’avenir avec la récente introduction de l’épargne retraite obligatoire au titre du deuxième pilier. Mais cette réforme a également soulevé des questions sur la structure des allègements fiscaux dont bénéficient les retraites. Ce document de travail se rapporte à l’Étude économique de l’OCDE de l’Israel (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/israel). |
| Keywords: | pensions, employment, child care, benefits, poverty, Policy, tax, welfare, labour market, Israel, Haredi, Arab, Ultra-orthodox, Arab-Israeli, fiscalité, marché du travail, emploi, retraites, garde d'enfants, réformes, pauvreté, Politique, protection sociale, Israël, prestations, Haredi, Les Arabes, ultra-orthodoxes, arabe-israélien, allocations |
| JEL: | H H24 H53 H55 I30 I32 I38 J14 J28 J32 J38 J61 J65 J81 J82 |
| Date: | 2010–06–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:782-en&r=lab |
| By: | Ordóñez, Javier (Universitat Jaume I de Castelló); Sala, Hector (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Silva, José I. (University of Girona) |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of real oil price shocks on labor market flows in the U.S. We first use smooth transition regression (STR) models to investigate to what extent oil prices can be considered as a driving force of labor market fluctuations. Then we develop and calibrate a modified version of Pissarides' (2000) model with energy costs, which we simulate in response to shocks mimicking the behavior of the actual oil price shocks. We find that (i) these shocks are an important driving force of job market flows; (ii) the job finding probability is the main transmission mechanism of such shocks; and (iii) they bring a new amplification mechanism for the volatility and should thus be seen as complementary of labor productivity shocks. Overall we conclude that shocks in oil prices cannot be neglected in explaining cyclical labor adjustments in the U.S. |
| Keywords: | oil prices, unemployment, vacancies, business fluctuations |
| JEL: | E22 E32 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5096&r=lab |
| By: | O'Higgins, Niall (University of Salerno) |
| Abstract: | Transition to the market economy in ECA opened up a range of potential opportunities for young people. It has also raised a series of challenges. Youth unemployment and joblessness have emerged as serious problems with the potentially very high costs. Formal Education and Training systems have been slow to adapt to the changing requirements placed upon them by the rapidly changing industrial structure arising from transition. The damage arising from on the one hand rising expectations and on the other the failure of systems to accommodate these is likely to have long-term consequences. It is important then that countries in ECA support young people in fulfilling their potential. This paper looks at developments in and around the transition of young people from education to work in the ECA region in recent years. The purpose of the paper is to aid understanding of the current situation and to suggest areas where action is most needed and is likely to be most effective. The first section considers developments in the general economic context of relevance to young people. Section 2 goes onto consider the current situation of (and trends in) factors affecting young people’s entry into work. Section 3 assesses policies affecting youth employment and unemployment and section concludes identifying key issues and areas where action is needed and where it is likely to be effective. |
| Keywords: | youth labour markets, Europe and Central Asia, active labour market policies, vocational education and training, joblessness |
| JEL: | I28 J08 J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5094&r=lab |
| By: | Melisa Morales (Inter-American Development Bank); Corina Paz Terán (Universidad Nacional de Tucumán) |
| Abstract: | What do we know about inequality in educational attainment across Argentina's cities? To answer this question, we present the education Gini coefficient for the period 2002-2007. Using microdata from the national household survey, we document the following results. First, educational inequality has declined in almost all metropolitan areas whereas i t has increased in Posadas, Mar del Plata, Rosario and Formosa. Second, although there are no important differences in the average years of schooling across cities, great disparities exist with respect to the education Gini. Buenos Aires City is in a leading position, especially in relation to the northeast region of the country and, particularly, Posadas city. |
| Keywords: | Gini, Inequality, Bootstrap |
| JEL: | C43 D3 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:slt:wpaper:5&r=lab |
| By: | Geeta Kingdon |
| Abstract: | Using new and unique panel data, we investigate the role of long-term health and childhood malnutrition in schooling outcomes for children in rural India, many of whom lack basic numeracy and literacy skills. Using data on students’ performance on mathematics and Hindi tests, we examine the role of the endogeneity of health caused by omitted variables bias and measurement error and correct for these problems using a household fixed effects estimator on a sub-sample of siblings observed in the data. We also present several extensions and robustness checks using instrumental variables and alternative estimators. We find evidence of a positive causal effect of long-term health measured as height-for-age z-score (HAZ) on test scores, and the results are consistent across several different specifications. The results imply that improving childhood nutrition will have benefits that extend beyond health into education. |
| Keywords: | Health, Nutrition, Schooling, India |
| JEL: | I12 I21 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-14&r=lab |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Increasing the share of vocational secondary schooling has been a mainstay of development policy for decades, especially in formerly socialist countries. However, the transition to market economies led to significant restructuring of school systems and a decline in the number of vocational students. Exposing more students to a general curriculum could improve academic abilities. To test the hypothesis that delayed vocational streaming improves academic outcomes, this paper analyses Poland’s significant improvement in international achievement tests and the restructuring of the education system, which expanded general schooling. Using propensity-score matching and difference-in-differences estimates, the authors show that delaying vocational education had a positive and significant impact on student performance on the order of one standard deviation.<BR>L’expansion de l’enseignement secondaire professionnel a été un pilier de la politique de développement pendant plusieurs décennies, peut-être davantage dans les anciens pays socialistes que partout ailleurs. La transition a cependant conduit à une importante restructuration des systèmes scolaires, et notamment à une diminution de la proportion d’élèves en enseignement professionnel. L’augmentation de la proportion d’élèves inscrits en filières générales pourrait améliorer les aptitudes aux études supérieures. Cet article analyse la forte amélioration des scores obtenus par la Pologne aux tests internationaux et la restructuration du système éducatif qui a développé l’enseignement général afin de tester l’hypothèse de l’amélioration des résultats induite par une orientation plus tardive en classes de niveau. À partir d’estimations obtenues par appariement sur scores de propension et par différence de différences, les auteurs montrent que l’orientation plus tardive en filières professionnelles a eu un impact positif important, de l’ordre d’un écart-type, sur les résultats des élèves. |
| Date: | 2010–07–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:49-en&r=lab |
| By: | Philippe Belley (Kansas State University); Marc Frenette (Social Research and Demonstration Corporation); Lance Lochner (University of Western Ontario) |
| Abstract: | This paper makes three contributions to the literature on educational attainment gaps by family income. First, we conduct a parallel empirical analysis of the effects of parental income on post- secondary (PS) attendance for recent high school cohorts in both the U.S. and Canada using data from the 1997 Cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and Youth in Transition Survey. We estimate substantially smaller PS attendance gaps by parental income in Canada relative to the U.S., even after controlling for family background and adolescent cognitive achievement. Second, we develop an intergenerational schooling choice model that sheds light on the role of four potentially important determinants of the family income -- PS attendance gap: (i) borrowing constraints, (ii) a 'consumption value' of attending PS school, (iii) the earnings structure, and (iv) tuition policies and the structure of financial aid. Third, we document Canada -- U.S. differences in financial returns to PS schooling, tuition policy, and financial aid, discussing the extent to which these differences contribute to the stronger family income -- attendance relationship in the U.S. Most notably, we document the dependence of both non-repayable financial aid and government student loan access on parental income in both countries. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwo:hcuwoc:20103&r=lab |
| By: | Ivo Bicanic (Department of Economics,University of Zagreb); Saul D. Hoffman (Department of Economics,University of Delaware); Oriana Vukoja (Department of Economics,University of Zagreb) |
| Abstract: | We use newly-available data on income by educational and vocational attainment and grouped income-interval data to examine wage inequality and wage differentials in Croatia between 1970 and 2008. This is a time period during which Croatia experienced enormous institutional and structural change, including the fall of socialism, hyperinflation, the Homeland war and the creation of sovereign Croatia. We construct both Gini and Theil measures of inequality, using grouped data. We find a general compression of earnings differences by educational and vocational attainment, but with a slight increase in the capitalist period post-1990. The income interval data shows a clearer pattern of a secular increase in inequality that is sharper in the capitalist period. We also examine within-industry inequality to see whether industries that experienced stronger structural changes also experienced a greater increase in inequality. Our evidence on this is mixed. |
| Keywords: | Croatia, Transition Economy Labor Markets, Inequality, Gini coefficient, Theil Index |
| JEL: | J3 P2 P23 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dlw:wpaper:10-03.&r=lab |
| By: | Yingling Fan; Andrew Guthrie; David Levinson (Nexus (Networks, Economics, and Urban Systems) Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota) |
| Abstract: | This study examines transit's role in promoting social equity by assessing impacts of recent transit changes in the Twin Cities, including opening of the Hiawatha light rail line, on job accessibility among workers of different wage categories. Geo-spatial and descriptive analyses are employed to examine the magnitude of the accessibility changes and where changes occur. This study also uses regression analysis to estimate block-level before- and after-LRT accessibility as a function of the block's locational characteristics and demographic composition. The analysis finds that proximity to light rail stations and bus stops offering direct rail connections are associated with large, statistically significant gains in accessibility to low-wage jobs. These gains stand out from changes in accessibility for the transit system as a whole. The paper concludes by discussing implications of the study results for informing more equitable transit polices in the future. |
| Keywords: | Transportation equity, transit, light rail, bus, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, St. Paul |
| JEL: | R41 R48 R53 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:transit-labor-accessibility&r=lab |
| By: | Benjamin J. Stephens (UWA Business School, The University of Western Australia) |
| Abstract: | It is well established that Indigenous Australians are heavily over-represented among Australia’s most disadvantaged citizens. An important component of this disadvantage is the limited and often unsuccessful engagement of Indigenous people with the labour market. To better understand this reality, the present paper explores the forces which influence the labour market status of Indigenous people. For this purpose, multinomial logit regression analysis is used to model labour force status as a function of factors relating to geography, demographic characteristics, education, health, culture, crime and housing issues. The analysis is conducted utilising the 2002 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS). Particular attention is given to geographic issues, revealing significant variations between the determinants of labour force status in non-remote and remote areas. The results also demonstrate the relevance of a wide range of factors in determining labour force status among Indigenous people, highlighting the complex array of issues which should be considered in attempts to increase employment. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:10-11&r=lab |
| By: | M. BARATON (Drees); M. BEFFY (Insee); D. FOUGÈRE (Crest) |
| Abstract: | While a new retirement pension reform is currently discussed in France, it is crucial to evaluate previous reforms. Up to now, no evaluation of the 2003 reform is available, particularly for civil servants. This article deals with the impact of this reform on the retirement behaviour of public secondary-school teachers. On the one hand, the reform has had an impact on the retirement behaviour of secondary-school teachers who still work at 60. The probability to retire between 60 and 61 years old for those who have paid their social contributions for 37.5 years at 60 years old drops by 9 points. On the other hand, the reform seems to have changed teachers willingness to get the so-called full-pension rate. When the number of missing quarters of social contributions required to benefit from the full pension rate at 60 years old is low, the reform is not found to induce teachers born after 1944 to postpone their retirement after 61 years old. But a large number of missing quarters has still the same effect before and after the reform. |
| Keywords: | retirement pension reform, public secondary-school teachers, propensity score matching, regression-discontinuity |
| JEL: | C21 H55 J26 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpdeee:g2010-12&r=lab |
| By: | Sofia Andreou; Panos Pashardes |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how the newly introduced Contextual Value Added (CVA) indicator of school quality affects house prices in the catchment area of primary and secondary schools in England. The empirical analysis, based on the data drawn from three independent and previously unexplored UK data sources, shows that the score component of CVA has a strong positive effect on house prices at both primary and secondary levels of education; while the non-score component of this school quality indicator has a significant (negative) effect only in the analysis of secondary school data. Nevertheless, the effect of CVA and its score and non-score components on house prices also varies with the level of spatial aggregation at which empirical investigation is pursued, assuming a more positive role between rather than within Local Authorities (Las). This reflects the emphasis placed by CVA on public good aspects of school quality and suggests that LA policies aimed at raising the average non-score quality characteristics of school conform to household preferences. |
| Keywords: | School quality, hedonic regression, house prices |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucy:cypeua:5-2010&r=lab |
| By: | Alain Alcouffe (Department of Economics, University of Toulouse); Jeffrey B. Miller (Department of Economics, University of Delaware) |
| Abstract: | Countries have many different ways of organizing higher education. Because of the high costs of higher education, reform efforts, of which the Bologna Process in Europe is an example, are underway in many places. Even where explicit governmental reform processes are less important, economic pressures are bringing about changes. This paper compares the higher education systems in the USA and France. They have been chosen for our study because the problems of high achievement, reasonable economic costs and accessibility are shared values, but their systems are organized very differently. |
| Keywords: | Organization of Higher Education Systems, Economics of Higher Education, Goals of National Systems of Higher Education, Autonomy of Universities, Enrollment in Higher Education, Higher Education in France, Higher Education in the US |
| JEL: | I21 I22 I23 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dlw:wpaper:10-01.&r=lab |
| By: | Klinger, Sabine (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Rothe, Thomas (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "As a reaction on high and persistent unemployment in Germany, the largest labour market reforms in post-war history were implemented between 2003 and 2005. We analyse the impact of the reform and its coincidence with an economic expansion on the efficiency of matching out of unemployment. Especially focussing on searcher heterogeneity, we estimate a system of simultaneous stock-flow matching functions for short-term and long-term unemployment (3SLS) on the basis of administrative data. In sum, matching efficiency accelerated for the short-term and particularly the long-term unemployed although we cannot rule out a slight negative effect of the reformation of the unemployment benefit system for the short-term unemployed. A tighten relationship between the business cycle and the matching efficiency during the latest economic expansion could not be proven." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Hartz-Reform - Auswirkungen, Arbeitslose, berufliche Reintegration, Langzeitarbeitslose, matching - Effizienz, Arbeitsmarktchancen |
| JEL: | J64 E32 J68 C33 |
| Date: | 2010–07–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201013&r=lab |
| By: | Rebecca Allen; Simon Burgess |
| Abstract: | One of the key components of any school choice system is the information given to parents as the basis for choice. We develop and implement a framework for determining the optimal performance metrics to help parents choose a school. This approach combines the three major critiques of the usefulness of performance tables into a natural, implementable metric. The best content for school performance tables is the statistic that best answers the question: “In which feasible choice school will a particular child achieve the highest exam score?” We implement this approach for 500,000 students in England for a range of performance measures. Using performance tables is strongly better than choosing at random: a child who attends the highest ex ante performing school within their choice set will ex post do better than the average outcome in their choice set twice as often as they will do worse. |
| Keywords: | school choice, performance tables |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:cmpowp:10/241&r=lab |
| By: | Glenn Boyle (University of Canterbury); Helen Roberts |
| Abstract: | New Zealand firms exhibit significant variation in the extent to which they formally involve CEOs in the executive pay-setting process: a considerable number sit on the compensation committee, while others are excluded from the board altogether. Using 1997-2005 data, we find that CEOs who sit on the compensation committee obtain generous annual pay rewards that have low sensitivity to poor performance shocks. By contrast, CEOs who are not board members receive pay increments that have low mean and high sensitivity to firm performance. Moreover, the greater the pay increment attributable to CEO involvement in the pay-setting process, the weaker is subsequent firm performance over one, three- and five-year periods. |
| Keywords: | pay-performance sensitivity; compensation committee; CEO influence |
| JEL: | G34 J33 |
| Date: | 2010–07–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbt:econwp:10/45&r=lab |
| By: | Nicola Brandt |
| Abstract: | Chile has made impressive progress in educational attainment. Yet, despite recent improvements, outcomes, as measured by PISA results, still need to catch up with OECD standards and equity problems should be addressed. One decisive ingredient will be better teachers. Chile should aim to attract qualified individuals to the profession and bolster initiatives to improve initial teacher education and training. A second ingredient will be stronger quality assurance mechanisms. For a long time, Chile has relied to a considerable extent on competition to ensure school quality. But there has been limited success, in part due to very unequal conditions for public and private schools to compete in terms of their ability to select children, their flexibility to employ teachers and in terms of financing. Chile has started to address this by prohibiting the selection of students until 6th grade. The ongoing introduction of a nation-wide quality assurance system based on independent evaluation of results is a welcome complement. Finally, Chile will have to improve outcomes for students with poor results even more than for the rest which would lift the average and improve equity at the same time. The government has recently made important changes to invest more in students from weak socio-economic backgrounds. These extra resources can help to make considerable progress. This Working Paper relates to the 2010 Economic Survey of Chile (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/Chile).<P>Chili : Un défi de taille : des écoles plus performantes pour tous les jeunes Chiliens<BR>La progression des niveaux d.instruction au Chili est impressionnante. Pourtant, malgre des ameliorations recentes, les resultats . mesures dans le cadre du PISA . doivent encore rattraper ceux des pays de l.OCDE, et il faut aussi s.employer a resoudre les problemes d.equite. Les enseignants auront dans ces domaines un role capital. Le Chili doit s.efforcer d.attirer des personnes qualifiees vers le metier d.enseignant et de soutenir les initiatives visant a ameliorer leur formation initiale et en cours d.emploi. Il faut egalement renforcer les mecanismes d.assurance qualite. Depuis longtemps, le Chili recourt largement a la concurrence pour assurer la qualite des etablissements scolaires, mais cette methode n.a eu que des resultats limites, en partie a cause de regles du jeu tres inegales entre ecoles publiques et privees concernant la selection des eleves, le recrutement des enseignants et le mode de financement. Le Chili a commence a s.attaquer a ces problemes en interdisant la selection des eleves jusqu.a la 6eme annee de scolarite. Le nouveau dispositif national d.assurance qualite, fonde sur une evaluation independante des resultats, est en cours de mise en oeuvre et viendra utilement completer l.ensemble. Enfin, il faudra aider les eleves en difficulte encore plus que les autres si le Chili veut ameliorer les resultats scolaires moyens et renforcer l.equite dans le meme temps. Les pouvoirs publics ont entrepris recemment des reformes d.envergure pour investir davantage en faveur des enfants de familles modestes. Ces ressources supplementaires peuvent contribuer a obtenir des progres considerables. Ce document de travail se rapporte a l.Etude economique de l.OCDE du Chili 2010 (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/Chili) |
| Keywords: | education policy, Chile, PISA, School competition, Chili, PISA, politique d'éducation, concurrence entre les établissements scolaires |
| JEL: | I20 I28 |
| Date: | 2010–06–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:784-en&r=lab |
| By: | Sean Langcake (School of Economics, University of Adelaide) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether adding labour market frictions improves the basic New Keynesian model's ability to generate greater inflation persistence and plausible labour market dynamics. This paper builds and compares two sticky price models, one of which is augmented by an efficiency wage model of the labour market. The efficiency wage model is motivated by fair wage considerations, which add a real rigidity to the model that complements nominal price rigidities common to both models. The two models are then extended to capture a series of backward looking behaviours typically used to generate inflation persistence. The key contribution of this paper is that the proposed models are estimated using Bayesian maximum likelihood techniques and Australian data. The results presented show that by adding real wage rigidity, the models' internal propogation and labour market dynamics are significantly improved. The results also demonstrate that the conclusions made elsewhere in the literature using simulated models can be extended to models estimated using Bayesian methods. |
| Keywords: | efficiency Wage, effort, inflation persistence |
| JEL: | E24 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adl:wpaper:2010-15&r=lab |
| By: | Österbacka, Eva (Abo Akademi University); Merz, Joachim (Leuphana University Lüneburg); Zick, Cathleen D. (University of Utah) |
| Abstract: | Parents invest in their children's human capital in several ways. We investigate the extent to which the levels and composition of parent-child time varies across countries with different welfare regimes: Finland, Germany and the United States. We test the hypothesis of parent-child time as a form of human capital investment in children using a propensity score treatment effects approach that accounts for the possible endogenous nature of time use and human capital investment. Result: There is considerable evidence of welfare regime effects on parent-child shared time. Our results provide mixed support for the hypothesis that non-care related parent-child time is human capital enriching. The strongest support is found in the case of leisure time and eating time. |
| Keywords: | parent-child time, comparative research, welfare regimes, Finland, Germany, USA, treatment effects, propensity score matching |
| JEL: | D1 J24 J22 H43 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5084&r=lab |
| By: | Stéphanie Guichard; Elena Rusticelli |
| Abstract: | The global recession is likely to results in higher structural unemployment for some time in many OECD countries. This paper assesses how the shock to aggregate unemployment as a result of the economic crisis may be transmitted to structural unemployment through hysteresis effects that occur through the rise in long-term unemployment. The estimated increase in structural unemployment due to the crisis is estimated at ¾ percentage point in the OECD as a whole, but the paper highlights wide cross-country differences with the largest increases expected in those European countries where unemployment is increasing most and where institutional settings remain less favorable than elsewhere, notably Spain and Ireland.<P>Évaluation de l'impact de la crise financière sur le chômage structurel dans les pays de l'OCDE<BR>La recession mondiale est susceptible d.entrainer un chomage structurel plus eleve pendant un certain temps dans de nombreux pays de l'OCDE. Ce document examine comment le choc sur le chomage global resultant de la crise economique peut etre transmis au chomage structurel par des effets d.hysteresis qui se produisent via la montee du chomage de longue duree. L'augmentation estimee de chomage structurel resultant de la crise est estimee a 3/4 de point de pourcentage pour l'OCDE dans son ensemble, mais cette etude souligne les differences importantes entre pays, avec notamment les plus grandes augmentations attendues dans les pays europeens ou l'environnement institutionnel demeure moins favorable qu'ailleurs, notamment l'Espagne et l'Irlande. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, NAIRU, Phillips curve, institutions, long-term unemployment, hysteresis, chômage, institutions, courbe de Phillips, NAIRU, chômage de longue durée, hystérésis |
| JEL: | C13 C22 E24 E31 J38 J58 J68 |
| Date: | 2010–05–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:767-en&r=lab |
| By: | Jorgensen, Ole Hagen; Jensen, Svend E. Hougaard |
| Abstract: | Using a stochastic general equilibrium model with overlapping generations, this paper studies a policy rule for the retirement age aiming at offsetting the effects on the supply of labor following fertility changes. The authors find that the retirement age should increase more than proportionally to the direct fall in labor supply caused by a fall in fertility. The robustness of this result is checked against alternative model specifications and parameter values. The efficacy of the policy rule depends crucially on the link between the preference for leisure and the response of the intensive margin of labor supply to changes in the statutory retirement age. The model has subsequently been calibrated for Brazil by Jorgensen (2010), in the context of the Brazil Aging Study. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Labor Policies,Pensions&Retirement Systems,Economic Theory&Research,Population Policies |
| Date: | 2010–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5382&r=lab |
| By: | Frank Levy |
| Abstract: | This paper places the competencies to be measured by the OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) in the context of the technological developments which are reshaping the nature of the workplace and work in the 21st century. The largest technological force currently shaping work is the computer. Computers are faster and less expensive than people in performing some workplace tasks and much weaker than people in performing other tasks. On the basis of an understanding of the kinds of work computers do well, it is possible to describe the work that will remain for people in the future, the skills that work requires and the way that computers can assist people in performing that work. The paper argues that a technology-rich workplace requires foundational skills including numeracy and literacy (both to be tested in PIAAC), advanced problem-solving skills or Expert Thinking (similar to the construct of Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments to be tested in PIAAC) and advanced communication skills or Complex Communication (not being tested in PIAAC).<BR>Ce document situe les compétences qui seront mesurées dans le cadre du programme de l’OCDE pour l’évaluation internationale des compétences des adultes (PIAAC) dans le contexte des avancées technologiques qui redessinent la nature du travail et le lieu où il est effectué au 21ème siècle. La plus grande force technologique qui actuellement façonne le travail est l’ordinateur. Les ordinateurs sont plus rapides et moins onéreux que les individus dans certaines tâches sur le lieu de travail, mais bien moins performants que les personnes dans l’accomplissement d’autres tâches. Si l’on considère que l’on peut identifier les types de travaux que les ordinateurs remplissent correctement, il est alors possible de décrire ceux qui seront de la responsabilité des individus dans le futur ainsi que les compétentes que ces travaux nécessitent, et la façon dont les ordinateurs peuvent assister les individus à les accomplir. L’argument contenu dans le document est qu’un lieu de travail hautement technologique nécessite des aptitudes fondamentales telles que le calcul et la compréhension de textes (qui seront tous deux testés dans le PIAAC), des compétences avancées à résoudre des problèmes ou Expert Thinking (similaires à l’aptitude à résoudre des problèmes dans un environnement hautement technologique qui sera testée dans le PIAAC) et des compétences avancées en communication ou Complex Communication (non testées dans le PIAAC). |
| Date: | 2010–03–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:45-en&r=lab |
| By: | Paul Clarke; Claire Crawford; Fiona Steele; Anna Vignoles |
| Abstract: | We discuss the use of fixed and random effects models in the context of educational research and set out the assumptions behind the two modelling approaches. To illustrate the issues that should be considered when choosing between these approaches, we analyse the determinants of pupil achievement in primary school, using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. We conclude that a fixed effects approach will be preferable in scenarios where the primary interest is in policy-relevant inference about the effects of individual characteristics, but the process through which pupils are selected into schools is poorly understood or the data are too limited to adjust for the effects of selection. In this context, the robustness of the fixed effects approach to the random effects assumption is attractive, and educational researchers should consider using it, even if only to assess the robustness of estimates obtained from random effects models. On the other hand, when the selection mechanism is fairly well understood and the researcher has access to rich data, the random effects model should naturally be preferred because it can produce policy-relevant estimates while allowing a wider range of research questions to be addressed. Moreover, random effects estimators of regression coefficients and shrinkage estimators of school effects are more statistically efficient than those for fixed effects. |
| Keywords: | fixed effects, random effects, multilevel modelling, education, pupil achievement |
| JEL: | C52 I21 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:cmpowp:10/240&r=lab |
| By: | Rebecca Allen; Simon Burgess; Tomas Key |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the pupil census in England to explore how family house moves contribute to school and residential segregation. We track the moves of a single cohort as it approaches the secondary school admission age. We also combine a number of cohorts and estimate a dynamic nonlinear model for house moving with unobserved effects. These approaches yield the same result: moving is significantly negatively correlated with school quality, and segregation does increase as a cohort reaches age 11. However, this relationship is weak: the increase in segregation is slight and quantitative significance of the estimated relationship is low. |
| Keywords: | school quality, moving, segregation, neighbourhoods |
| JEL: | I20 R23 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:cmpowp:10/238&r=lab |
| By: | Lorenzo Corsini; Pier Mario Pacini; Luca Spataro |
| Abstract: | In this paper we aim at providing a theoretical framework to model workers’ choice problem of switching between different pension schemes. This choice problem is common in several countries that have reformed their social security system in the last decades. Although with some specific features, such process is currently affecting private sector employees in Italy, since the reform of the TFR mechanism in 2007. This reform basically allows workers to choose between a scheme directly managed by the firms and an external defined contribution scheme. In their decision workers not only have to weight out the different pros and cons that different schemes offer but they also have to consider the effect that their choice exerts on the financial structure of the firm they work in. Once we have formalized this decision problem, we carry out some simulations in order to replicate the Italian data and to shed some light on the outcomes of the Italian reform. |
| Keywords: | pension funds, saving decisions, search models |
| JEL: | J64 J32 G23 |
| Date: | 2010–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pie:dsedps:2010/96&r=lab |
| By: | Horstschräer, Julia; Muehler, Grit |
| Abstract: | According to school entry regulations in most countries, the composition of school entrance cohorts is determined by a fixed cutoff date. This procedure creates inter-cohort differences in age and development which can severely influence educational trajectories. Developmental examinations at school entry might be an instrument to mitigate these differences by delaying school entry for children with developmental impairments. Using data on the compulsory school entrance screening in the German federal state of Brandenburg, this paper shows that age and developmental status are the major influencing factors for a child's probability to receive a school recommendation. Younger children and children with impairments in cognitive, socio-emotional and motor development as well as health are less likely to be recommended. Delaying school entry allows them to improve, although their developmental status remains below average. School entrance examinations thus allow for some harmonization of school cohorts with respect to age and developmental differences. -- |
| Keywords: | child development,school entrance,school recommendation,relative age |
| JEL: | J13 I21 I38 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:10047&r=lab |
| By: | Ostrovsky, Yuri; Schellenberg, Grant |
| Abstract: | Using data from the Longitudinal Administrative Database (LAD), this paper compares the earnings replacement rates achieved in retirement by a sample of married and common-law couples in which the husband was aged 55 to 57 in 1991. Emphasis is placed on the outcomes experienced by couples in which one spouse or both spouses had registered pension plan (RPP) coverage and by couples without RPP coverage. The earnings replacement rates achieved by couples without RPP coverage are more widely dispersed than those of couples with RPP coverage. When compared at the mid-points of the pre-retirement earnings distributions, the median earnings replacement rates of couples without RPP coverage are about three to six percentage points lower than those of couples with RPP coverage. In contrast, the average earnings replacement rates of couples without RPP coverage are generally six to twelve percentage points higher than those of couples with RPP coverage. |
| Keywords: | Income, pensions, spending and wealth, Seniors, Work and retirement |
| Date: | 2010–07–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2010327e&r=lab |
| By: | Brown, W. Mark; Hou, Feng; Lafrance, Amélie |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the implicit income generated by the home equity of working-age and retirement-age households. In so doing, it expands our understanding of Canadians' preparation for retirement by taking into account the services that homeowners realize as a result of having invested in their homes. On the basis of both the 2006 Survey of Household Spending and the 2006 Census of Population, we find that housing services make an important contribution to household income. When estimates of the services provided by the equity invested in housing are added to traditional estimates of income, the income of retirement-age households is increased by 9% to 12% for those in the 60-to-69 age class and by 12% to 15% for those in the 70-plus age class. In turn, this additional income reduces the difference in income between working-age and retirement-age households that own their own homes. According to the Survey of Household Spending, net incomes decline by about 45% between the peak household earning years and the 70-plus retirement-age class. This figure is reduced to 42% when the contribution of housing services is taken into account. The Census provides a similar picture: the gap in incomes is 38% when net income alone is considered and 35% when one accounts for housing services. |
| Keywords: | Income, pensions, spending and wealth, Seniors, Work and retirement |
| Date: | 2010–07–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp5e:2010064e&r=lab |