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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Castagnetti, Carolina; Rosti, Luisa |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the gender pay gap among Italian university graduates on entry to the labour market and stresses the importance of gender stereotypes on subjective assessment of individual productivity. Our data show that in contexts where the stereotype is most likely to occur, the unexplained component of the gender pay gap is higher. Moreover, we find evidence that being excellent at school does not ensures that a woman will be rewarded as an equivalently performing man, but serves to counteract the gender bias in on-the-job evaluations |
| Keywords: | Labour market; Italy; Gender pay gap; Education; Stereotypes |
| JEL: | J30 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:26685&r=lab |
| By: | David Kiss |
| Abstract: | Using PIRLS 2001 and PISA 2003 data for Germany, this paper examines whether immigrants attending primary and secondary school are graded worse in math than comparable natives. Controlling for differences in math skills, class fixed effects regressions and results of a matching approach suggest that immigrants have grade disadvantages in primary education. In Germany, track choice after primary education is mainly determined by the average of grades obtained in math and German. Hence, grade disadvantages could lead to lower level track choice. Immigrants who attend the most common secondary school tracks are not graded differently from natives. |
| Keywords: | Grading; educational system; migration background; matching |
| JEL: | C40 I21 J15 |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0223&r=lab |
| By: | Paolo Naticchioni (University of Cassino); Silvia Loriga (ISTAT, Rome) |
| Abstract: | In the last decade the European Employment Strategy strongly recommended reforms of active labour market policies, reforms that have generated a spread of evaluation exercises for most of European countries. This paper fills the gap in the literature concerning the Italian case, assessing the efficacy of Public Employment Services (PESs) -after the reforms of 1997, 2000, 2003- in increasing the unemployment to employment transition probabilities, through matching techniques. Exploiting the longitudinal dimension of the Labour Force Survey data we design an evaluation structure that allows observing outcomes in both the short (at most 3 months) and the long run (at most 12 and 15 months). In this framework, PES users show a lower probability of finding a job in the short term, because of a lock-in effect, while in the long term this probability turns out to be positive. We also show that PES effects in the long term are much less pronounced when considering as outcome variable the probability of finding a permanent job, a proxy for the quality of the job, suggesting that PES impacts are to a large extent driven by the use of temporary contracts. Furthermore, to deal with issues related to selection on unobservables we carry out two different sensitivity analysis, which confirm our baseline findings. |
| Keywords: | Public Employment Services, Active Labour Market Policies, European Employment Strategy, Matching, Policy Evaluation |
| JEL: | J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:css:wpaper:2010-03&r=lab |
| By: | Zenou, Yves (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | We develop an urban-search model in which firms post wages. When all workers are identical, there is a unique wage in equilibrium even in the presence of search and spatial frictions. This wage is affected by spatial and labor costs. When workers differ according to the value imputed to leisure, we show that, under some conditions, two wages emerge in equilibrium. The commuting cost affects the land market but also the labor market through wages. Workers’ productivity also affects housing prices and this impact can be positive or negative depending on the location in the city. We then run some numerical simulations to reproduce some stylized facts about the labor-market outcomes of black and white workers. We find that a reduction in commuting costs for all workers reduces the unemployment rate of white workers and the profit of all firms but increases the wage of all workers (black and white) and raises the fraction of firms posting the high wage. |
| Keywords: | Diamond paradox; urban land-use; spatial compensation; search frictions; wage dispersion |
| JEL: | D83 J64 R14 |
| Date: | 2010–11–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2010_0022&r=lab |
| By: | Yamamura, Eiji |
| Abstract: | Empirical results using Japanese data suggest that social trust improves student language and mathematics achievement test scores in primary and junior high school. After controlling for endogeneity bias, social trust had a greater effect on scores for primary school students than on scores for junior high school students. |
| Keywords: | Social trust; human capital |
| JEL: | I21 Z13 |
| Date: | 2010–11–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:26699&r=lab |
| By: | Julia Bredtmann; Sebastian Otten |
| Abstract: | Since the early 1970s, wage differentials between men and women have attracted the research interest of labor economists. However, up to now empirical evidence on gender differentials of labor market entrants and the determinants of their starting wages is scarce. To fi ll this gap, we make use of a unique dataset on graduates in economics from a large representative German university, to investigate whether – even for such a homogeneous group of labor market entrants – a gender gap in earnings exists. Concentrating on a highly homogeneous sample limits the problem of unobserved heterogeneity, which results in an overestimation of the unexplained component of standard decompositions analyses. The results reveal that women’s entry wages are significant lower than those of their male counterparts. Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions suggest that the major part of this gap remains unexplained by gender differences in observable characteristics. |
| Keywords: | Entry wage; gender wage gap; decomposition; university graduates |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0218&r=lab |
| By: | Sonja C. Kassenböhmer; Mathias Sinning |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes changes in wage differentials between white men and white women over the period 1993–2006 across the entire wage distribution using Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data. We decompose distributional changes in the gender wage gap to assess the contribution of observed characteristics measuring individual productivity. We fi nd that the gender wage gap narrowed by more than 13 percent at the lowest decile and by less than 4 percent at the highest decile. The decomposition results indicate that changes in the gender wage gap are mainly attributable to changes in educational attainment at the top of the wage distribution, while a sizeable part of the changes is due to work history changes at the bottom. Our findings suggest that the educational success of women could reduce the gender wage gap at the bottom of the distribution both before and during the 1990s but did not trigger a strong decline at the top of the distribution until today. |
| Keywords: | Gender wage gap; decomposition analysis; unconditional quantile regression |
| JEL: | C21 J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0220&r=lab |
| By: | Patricia Rice |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the introduction of the national minimum wage in the UK in April 1999 as a'natural experiment' to analyse the impact of minimum wages on enrolment in schooling. Atthe time of its introduction, only workers aged 18 years or more were covered by thelegislation. The paper uses panel data for a sample of young people in a given school-yearcohort, some of whom were aged 18 years in spring 1999 and therefore eligible to receive thenational minimum wage, and others who were aged only 17 years. We compare participationin post-compulsory schooling for the two groups, both before and after the enactment of thelegislation and find robust evidence that eligibility for the national minimum wagesignificantly reduces the probability of participation in post-compulsory schooling for youngpeople living in areas where the national minimum is high relative to local earnings. |
| Keywords: | minimum wages, enrolment in schooling, natural experiment approach |
| JEL: | J22 J24 J38 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0050&r=lab |
| By: | Eleonora Patacchini (Università di Roma "La Sapienza"); Yves Zenou (Stockholm University & Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the intergenerational transmission of education focusing on the interplay between family and neighborhood effects. We develop a theoretical model suggesting that both neighborhood quality and parental effort are of importance for the education attained by children. This model proposes a mechanism explaining why and how they are of importance, distinguishing between high- and low-educated parents. We then bring this model to the data using a longitudinal data set in Britain. The available information on social housing in big cities allows us to identify the role of neighbourhood in educational outcomes. We find that the better is the quality of the neighborhood, the higher is the parents’ involvement in their children’s education. A novel finding with respect to previous US studies is that family is of importance for children with highly-educated parents while it is the community that is crucial for the educational achievement of children from low-educated families. |
| Keywords: | Education, cultural transmission, cultural substitution, peer effects, social tenants. |
| JEL: | I21 J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2010/11/doc2010-47&r=lab |
| By: | Chandan Mukherjee |
| Abstract: | The most important section of the educated job seekers in the State of Kerala consists of those with educational attainment ranging from matriculation to the graduate level. As on 30th June,1973,this section constituted 92.6% of the total educated job seekers on the live registers of the employment exchanges in the State. As a considerable proportion of the job seekers in this section are found to be registrants of employment exchanges, data an these registrants can be expected to reflect fairly accurately the experiences of these job seekers. [Working Paper No. 032] |
| Keywords: | educated, job, matriculation, graduate, level |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:3147&r=lab |
| By: | Hohmeyer, Katrin (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Wolff, Joachim (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Bringing welfare recipients into jobs is a major goal of German labour market policy since a reform of the year 2005. Direct job creation providing participants with temporary subsidized jobs mainly in the non-profit sector plays an important role for achieving this goal. There are three schemes that differ only with respect to a few features: traditional job creation schemes, One-Euro-Jobs and work opportunities subsidising contributory jobs. We study and compare the effectiveness of these three job creation schemes for welfare recipients starting their participation in these programmes in mid 2005. Looking at three similar schemes enables us to study the implications of different programme features for the effectiveness. One major differ-ence between the schemes is that traditional job creation schemes and work opportunities as contributory jobs provide participants with regular earnings, whereas One-Euro-Job participants only receive their benefit and on top a small allowance to cover costs of working. Hence, participation in One-Euro-Jobs in contrast to the other two programmes should provide higher incentives to search for regular jobs during participation. We estimate participation effects on employment outcomes, earnings and welfare benefit levels with propensity score matching using rich administrative data. We find that the programmes are partly effective in moving welfare recipients to work and reducing their welfare benefit dependency. Moreover, our findings imply that the incentives to search for regular jobs are not much lower for participants in the two schemes offering regular wages than for the alternative One-Euro-Jobs. Next, we find the most beneficial impacts for participants in work opportunities as contributory jobs which is the only scheme that can subsidize commercial jobs." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Arbeitslosengeld II-Empfänger, arbeitsmarktpolitische Maßnahme, Arbeitsbeschaffungsmaßnahme, Arbeitsgelegenheit, berufliche Reintegration, Arbeitsmarktchancen, Einkommen, Wirkungsforschung, Transferleistung |
| JEL: | C13 I38 J68 |
| Date: | 2010–11–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201021&r=lab |
| By: | Ioannis Kaplanis |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the wage effects arising from changing local human capital in the labourmarket areas of Britain. Employing wage regressions, it is found that individuals' wages arepositively associated with changes in the employment shares of high-paid occupation workersin the British travel-to-work-areas for the late 1990s. I examine this positive association fordifferent occupational groups (defined by pay) in order to disentangle between productionfunction and consumer demand driven theoretical justifications. The former refer toproduction complementarities or wider productivity spillovers arising in areas with highshares of high-skill workers. According to the latter, the presence of a high income workforcein the economy boosts the demand for consumer services leading to an increase in low-pay,service related employment. As these services are non-traded, the increased demand for locallow-paid services should be reflected in a wage premium for the relevant low-paidoccupation employees in the areas with larger shares of high-paid workers. The wage impactis found to be stronger and significant for the bottom occupational quintile compared to themiddle-occupational quintiles and using also sectoral controls the paper argues to providesome preliminary evidence for the existence of consumer demand effects. The empiricalinvestigation addresses potential sources of biases controlling for time invariant unobservedarea-specific characteristics and unobserved individual characteristics. Nevertheless, thepaper points to a number of caveats of the analysis that warrant future research. |
| Keywords: | local labour markets, wages, consumer demand, human capital externalities |
| JEL: | J21 J24 J31 R23 |
| Date: | 2010–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0039&r=lab |
| By: | Andrey Launov; Klaus Wälde |
| Abstract: | The distribution of unemployment duration in our equilibrium matching model with spell-dependent unemployment benefits displays a time-varying exit rate. Building on Semi-Markov processes, we translate these exit rates into an expression for the aggregate unemployment rate. Structural estimation using a German micro-data set (SOEP) allows us to discuss the effects of a recent unemployment benefit reform (Hartz IV). The reform reduced unemployment by only 0:3%. Contrary to general beliefs, we find that both employed and unemployed workers gain (the latter from an intertemporal perspective). The reason is the rise in the net wage caused by more vacancies per unemployed worker. |
| Keywords: | Non-stationary unemployment benefits, endogenous effort, matching model, structural estimation, Semi-Markov process |
| JEL: | E24 J64 J68 C13 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp328&r=lab |
| By: | Camille Landais; Pascal Michaillat; Emmanuel Saez |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes optimal unemployment insurance over the business cycle in a search model in which unemployment stems from matching frictions (in booms) and job rationing (in recessions). Job rationing during recessions introduces two novel effects ignored in previous studies of optimal unemployment insurance. First, job-search efforts have little effect on aggregate unemployment because the number of jobs available is limited, independently of matching frictions. Second, while job-search efforts increase the individual probability of finding a job, they create a negative externality by reducing other jobseekers’ probability of finding one of the few available jobs. Both effects are captured by the positive and countercyclical wedge between micro-elasticity and macro-elasticity of unemployment with respect to net rewards from work. We derive a simple optimal unemployment insurance formula expressed in terms of those two elasticities and risk aversion. The formula coincides with the classical Baily-Chetty formula only when unemployment is low, and macro- and micro-elasticity are (almost) equal. The formula implies that the generosity of unemployment insurance should be countercyclical. We illustrate this result by simulating the optimal unemployment insurance over the business cycle in a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model calibrated with US data. |
| JEL: | E24 E32 H21 H23 |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16526&r=lab |
| By: | Hazans, Mihails (University of Latvia) |
| Abstract: | This paper employs a rich collection of survey and administrative datasets, including linked school-teacher payroll data, to document the reform of teacher compensation and school network implemented in Latvia amidst the economic crisis of 2008-2010, immediately after territorial reform. We explore diverse responses by local governments in terms of proportion of state subsidy transferred to schools, extent of redistribution of state funds between schools, degree of autonomy in compensation policies given to schools, and municipal contribution to school wage bills. Other things equal, municipalities tend to redistribute funds from schools with high student-teacher ratio (S/T) to ones with low S/T. Nevertheless, the reform has changed the effect of the local student-teacher ratio on teacher earnings per workload from negative to positive of the same size. Survived schools feature strong heterogeneity in terms of workload and staff reduction, change in class size, and compensation strategies. We provide evidence for a substantial incidence of using performance-related criteria for teacher base salary differentiation. We analyze school and individual level determinants of teacher pay using mixed models with municipality and school level random effects. |
| Keywords: | local governments, teacher compensation, linked employee-employer data |
| JEL: | H75 I22 I28 J31 J33 J45 M52 C23 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5291&r=lab |
| By: | Carlo Alcaraz; Daniel Chiquiar; Alejandrina Salcedo |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of remittances from the U.S. on child labor and school attendance in recipient Mexican households. We identify these effects using the impact of the 2008-2009 U.S. recession on remittance receipts. The methodology employed is a differences-in-differences strategy that compares households that were remittance recipients before the crisis with never-recipient households. To avoid possible selection problems, we instrument for membership in the remittance recipient group. We find that the negative shock on remittance receipts caused a significant increase in child labor and a significant reduction of school attendance. |
| Keywords: | Child labor, International migration, Remittances, Mexico. |
| JEL: | J43 J81 O15 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdm:wpaper:2010-14&r=lab |
| By: | Dandan Zhang; Xin Meng; Dewen Wang |
| Abstract: | Although a significant wage gap has been found in many previous studies between urban workers and rural migrants in Chinese cities, it is still not clear how such a wage gap may evolve over time. This paper uses both a dynamic wage decomposition method and economic assimilation model with pooled cross-sectional data from the China Household Income Project Survey (CHIPS) of 1999 and 2002 to investigate the change in the wage gap between urban workers and rural migrants over time and its determinants in Chinese cities. The estimation results show that (1) there is a widening on-average wage gap between urban workers and rural migrants across the two surveyed years in Chinese cities, mainly caused by the decline in the return to education for rural migrants; (2) rural migrants can catch up with the wage level of their urban counterparts as the time they reside in the host cities increases, but because of the decline in the speed of catching-up over time, rural migrants cannot obtain wages comparable totheir urban counterparts in their life time, and more importantly well-educated rural migrants do not seem to have a significant advantage in this wage assimilation process than the lowlypoorly-educated ones. Both findings suggest that there might be discrimination against well-educated rural migrants which prevents them from obtaining a fair wage in the Chinese urban labour market. |
| Keywords: | Wage differential, Migration |
| JEL: | J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:pmmacr:2010-03&r=lab |
| By: | Peter R. Mueser (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Christopher Jepsen; Kenneth Troske |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we evaluate the labor-market returns to General Educational Development (GED) certification using Missouri administrative data. We develop a fuzzy regression discontinuity (FRD) method to account for the fact that GED test takers can repeatedly retake the test until they pass it. Our technique can be applied to other situations where program participation is determined by a score on a “retake-able†test. Previous regression discontinuity estimates of the returns to GED certification have not accounted for retaking behavior, so these estimates may be biased. We find that the effect of GED certification on either employment or earnings is not statistically significant. GED certification increases postsecondary participation by up to four percentage points for men and up to eight percentage points for women. |
| Keywords: | Regression discontinuity, Program evaluation, GED |
| JEL: | H43 I21 |
| Date: | 2010–11–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:1014&r=lab |
| By: | T. Randolph Beard; George S. Ford; Richard P. Saba; Richard A. Seals Jr. |
| Abstract: | We combine regression and propensity score methods to estimate the effect of Internet use on job search. We exploit the distinction between the unemployed and the discouraged, where both desire employment but the latter has ceased active job search due to negative beliefs about the labor market. Results indicate broadband use at home or at public locations reduces discouragement by over 50 percent. Our findings suggest Internet use keeps the jobless active in job search and may equate to more employment. Our results also demonstrate public connections (e.g., at libraries) in unserved and underserved areas may produce substantial societal benefits. |
| JEL: | J2 J6 |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:abn:wpaper:auwp2010-07&r=lab |
| By: | Daniel Baumgarten |
| Abstract: | Using a linked employer-employee data set of the German manufacturing sector, this paper analyses the role of exporting establishments in explaining rising wage dispersion. Over the period of analysis (1996–2007), the raw wage differential between exporters and domestic establishments increased substantially, which can only partly be attributed to corresponding changes in human capital endowments and the returns to them. These findings are consistent with recent heterogeneous-fi rm trade models that feature an exporter wage premium as well as variability of the premium with respect to increasing trade liberalization. A decomposition analysis shows that the increase in the conditional wage gap indeed contributed to rising wage inequality both within and between skill groups. In contrast, the growing employment share of exporters contributed to a reduction in wage dispersion. |
| Keywords: | Exports; wages; exporter wage premium; wage inequality; linked employer-employee data; decomposition |
| JEL: | F16 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0217&r=lab |
| By: | Dumas Christelle; Lefranc Arnaud (Universite de Cergy-Pontoise, THEMA, F-95000 Cergy-Pontoise.; Universite de Cergy-Pontoise, THEMA, F-95000 Cergy-Pontoise.) |
| Abstract: | Over the 1960s and 1970s, France undertook a large-scale expansion of preschool enrollment. As a result, during this period, the enrollment rate of 3 years old children rose from 35% to 90% and that of 4 years old rose from 60% to virtually 100%. This paper evaluates the eect of such an expansion on subsequent schooling outcomes (repetitions, test scores, high school graduation) and wages. We find some sizeable and persistent effect of preschool and this points to the fact that preschool can be a tool for reducing inequalities. Indeed, the analysis shows that children from worse-off or intermediate social groups benefit more from preschool than children from better-off socioeconomic backgrounds. |
| Keywords: | education; preschool; France |
| JEL: | I2 C3 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ema:worpap:2010-07&r=lab |
| By: | Maria De Poala; Vincenzo Scoppa (Dipartimento di Economia e Statistica, Università della Calabria) |
| Abstract: | We carry out a randomized experiment involving undergraduate students enrolled at an Italian University attending an introductory economics class to evaluate the impact on achievement of examination frequency and interim feedback provision. Students in the treated group were allowed to undertake an intermediate exam and were informed about the results obtained, while students in the control group could only take the final exam. It emerges that students undertaking the intermediate exam perform better both in terms of probability of passing the exams and of grades obtained. High ability students appear to benefit more from the treatment. The experiment design allows us to disentangle “workload division or commitment” effects from “feedback provision” effects. We find that the estimated treatment impact is due exclusively to the first effect, while the feedback provision has no positive effect on performance. Finally, the better performance of treated students in targeted examinations seems not to be obtained at the expenses of results earned in other examinations. |
| Keywords: | Education Production Function, Student Effort, Work Organization, Feedback Provision, Higher Education, Randomized Evaluation |
| JEL: | I21 J31 D82 |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clb:wpaper:201019&r=lab |
| By: | Sabrina Di Addario (Bank of Italy); Daniela Vuri (Faculty of Economics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata") |
| Abstract: | We analyse empirically the effects of urbanization on Italian college graduates’ work possibilities as entrepreneurs three years after graduation. We find that doubling the province of work’s population density reduces the chances of being an entrepreneur by 2-3 percentage points. This result holds after controlling for regional fixed effects and is robust to instrumenting urbanization. Provinces’ competition, urban amenities and dis-amenities, cost of labour, earning differentials between employees and self-employed workers, unemployment rates and value added per capita account for more than half of the negative urbanization penalty. Our result cannot be explained by the presence of negative differentials in returns to entrepreneurship between the most and the least densely populated areas either. In fact, as long as they succeed in entering the most densely populated markets, young entrepreneurs are able to reap-off the benefits of urbanization externalities: the elasticity of entrepreneurs’ net monthly earnings with respect to population density is 0.02-0.03. |
| Keywords: | Labour market transitions; Urbanization. |
| JEL: | R12 J24 J21 |
| Date: | 2010–11–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:171&r=lab |
| By: | Steve Gibbons; Henry G. Overman; Panu Pelkonen |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates wage disparities across sub-national labour markets in Britain using anewly available microdata set. The findings show that wage disparity across areas is verypersistent over time. While area effects play a role in this wage disparity, most of it is due toindividual characteristics (sorting). Area effects contribute a very small percentage to theoverall variation of wages and so are not very important for understanding overall levels ofwage disparity. Specifically, in our preferred specification area effects explain less than 1%of overall wage variation. This share has remained roughly constant over the period 1998-2008. |
| Keywords: | wage, disparities, labour |
| JEL: | R11 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0060&r=lab |
| By: | Philip Wales |
| Abstract: | The importance of human capital to the economic performance of a national, regional or local economy is now well established. Labour markets are thought to reward individuals in proportion to their marginal productivity and to encourage an efficient allocation of skilled workers. However, labour markets also provide signals to students about the return to a particular level or type of skill, which in turn affects the future supply of skilled workers. This paper explores how labour market conditions affect one aspect of this supply: through an impact on the subject an individual chooses to study for their undergraduate degree. Using a large micro-level dataset on graduates from British universities between 2004/5 and 2006/7, this paper implements a series of linear probability models in subject choice and makes several contributions to the existing literature. Firstly, it uses a more detailed classification of subjects than has hitherto been employed. Second, it examines the impact of local economic conditions on the student‟s subject choice. Thirdly, the time dimension of the dataset is used to implement fixed effects to control for several forms of endogeneity. The results suggest that personal and academic characteristics, such as gender, ethnicity and prior academic attainment, strongly affect degree choice and suggest that individuals endogenously select into particular areas and schools. It finds that local labour market signals do encourage individuals to take up particular degrees in preference to others, and raises several policy issues. |
| Keywords: | Education, Human Capital, Skills, Regional Labour Markets |
| JEL: | C25 I2 J24 R23 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0056&r=lab |
| By: | Santos, Miguel |
| Abstract: | The desired professional insertion (placement) after training is under the influence of personal and exogenous variables. In the present paper we identify the constraints and devices that, in an interactive way, can shape and affect the professional insertion. This paper is a result of a subchapter of the author’s PhD dissertation. The helpfulness of the meanings and definitions is clearly reliant on the study framework. We aim to provide to the reader a set of elements that help to distinguish, to compare and turn out accessible the eclectic dominant mainstream, in order to standardized, to clarify and to apply concepts in future research works and studies. We also suggest a study model with a different point of view. |
| Keywords: | employment attainment; vocational training; job search methods; constraints factors; devices; employment; unemployment. |
| JEL: | J69 J60 A20 J44 J01 J64 J24 A21 J23 |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:26617&r=lab |
| By: | Fabio D'Orlando (University of Cassino); Francesco Ferrante (University of Cassino); Gabriele Ruiu (University of Cassino) |
| Abstract: | This paper has two main goals. The first is to provide empirical evidence that differences in labour market institutions across countries and, specifically, in how they provide protection to workers, can be attributed to underlying differences in culturally-based prior beliefs: in particular, people’s fatalism and trust in others. The second goal is to single out the socio-economic factors associated with these beliefs and the role of education in this regard. |
| Keywords: | Culture, Fatalism, Trust in Others, Labour Market Institutions, Employment Protection Legislation |
| JEL: | D7 E24 E6 J3 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:css:wpaper:2010-02&r=lab |
| By: | Linda Datcher Loury |
| Abstract: | Previous work on social interactions analyzed the effects of nuclear family, peer, school, and neighborhood characteristics. This is the first paper showing that, independent of unobserved parent's characteristics, higher years of grandparents' schooling increase college attendance rates for grandchildren. The paper implies that background effects are more pervasive and longer-lasting than previously believed. It also suggests that some policies aimed at reducing inequality may be less effective than initially hypothesized. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tuf:tuftec:0757&r=lab |
| By: | Battu, Harminder (University of Aberdeen); Seaman, Paul (University of Dundee); Zenou, Yves Zenou (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | Using data from the UK Quarterly Labour Force Survey, this paper examines the job finding methods of different ethnic groups in the UK. Our empirical findings suggest that, though personal networks are a popular method of finding a job for the ethnic minorities, the foreign born and those who identify themselves as non-British, they are not necessarily the most effective either in terms of gaining employment or in terms of the level of job achieved. However, there are some important differences across ethnic groups with some groups losing out disproportionately from using personal networks. |
| Keywords: | Job search; networks; social capital; ethnic disadvantage |
| JEL: | J15 J64 |
| Date: | 2010–11–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2010_0021&r=lab |
| By: | Egbert Jongen |
| Abstract: | Public spending on child care has taken a high flight in the Netherlands. One of the key policy goals of child care subsidies is to stimulate labour participation. We study the impact of child care subsidies on labour participation using a general equilibrium model. Next to the labour supply choice, we also model the choice over formal and informal care. The choice between formal and informal care plays an important role in the overall impact of child care subsidies on labour participation. The model is calibrated to Dutch data. Our analysis shows that existing child care subsidies have promoted labour participation. However, at the current average subsidy rate of almost 80%, a further increase in the subsidy rate is a rather ineffective way to promote formal participation, the main effect being substitution of informal for formal care. |
| Keywords: | child care subsidies; labour participation; general equilibrium |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpb:docmnt:200&r=lab |
| By: | Kevin X.D. Huang (Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University); Qinglai Meng (Department of Economics, Oregon State University, Department of Economics, Chinese University of Hong Kong) |
| Abstract: | A challenge facing the literature of equilibrium indeterminacy and sunspot-driven business cycle fluctuations based on increasing returns to scale in production is that the required degree of increasing returns for generating indeterminacy can be implausibly large and rise quickly with the relative risk aversion in labor. We show that unsynchronized wage adjustment via a relative wage effect can both lower the required degree of increasing returns for indeterminacy to an empirically plausible level and make it invariant to the relative risk aversion in labor. As a result, indeterminacy and sunspot-driven business cycle fluctuations may emerge for empirically plausible increasing returns regardless of the value of the relative risk aversion in labor. The impulse responses of our model to demand shocks under indeterminacy are reasonable in terms of matching the business cycle, and sunspot shocks become more important due to the presence of labor market frictions. |
| Keywords: | Increasing returns, Unsynchronized wage adjustment, Relative wages, Relative risk aversion in labor, Indeterminacy, Sunspot |
| JEL: | E12 E31 E52 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:van:wpaper:1007&r=lab |
| By: | Jensen, Svend E. Hougaard; Jorgensen, Ole Hagen |
| Abstract: | Using a stochastic general equilibrium model with overlapping generations, this paper studies (i) the effects on both extensive and intensive labor supply responses to changes in fertility rates, and (ii) the potential of a retirement reform to mitigate the effects of fertility changes on labor supply. In order to neutralize the effects on effective labor supply of a fertility decline, a retirement reform, designed to increase labor supply at the extensive margin, is found to simultaneously reduce labor supply at the intensive margin. This backlash to retirement reform requires the statutory retirement age to increase more than proportionally to fertility changes in order to compensate for endogenous responses of the intensity of labor supply. The robustness of this result is checked against alternative model specifications and calibrations relevant to an economic region such as Europe. |
| Keywords: | Labor Policies,Labor Markets,Pensions&Retirement Systems,Economic Theory&Research,Population Policies |
| Date: | 2010–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5470&r=lab |
| By: | Nils Braakmann (Newcastle University, Business School – Economics, Newcastle upon Tyne) |
| Abstract: | I exploit exogenous variation in the likelihood to obtain any sort of academic degree between January- and February-born individuals for 13 academic cohorts in England. For these cohorts compulsory schooling laws interacted with the timing of the CGE and O-level exams to change the probability of obtaining an academic degree by around 2 to 3 percentage points. I then use data on individuals born in these two months from the British Labour Force Survey and the Health Survey for England to investigate the effects of education on health using being February-born as an instrument for education. The results indicate neither an effect of education on various health related measures nor an effect on health related behaviour, e.g., smoking, drinking or eating various types of food. |
| Keywords: | education, health, socio-economic gradient, education gradient |
| JEL: | I12 I20 |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:190&r=lab |
| By: | Anna Christina D'Addio; Herwig Immervoll |
| Abstract: | The OECD’s “Average-Wage” (AW) concept is commonly used as a benchmark for tax-benefit and pension modeling. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether it is possible to use richer sets of earnings data in order to customize these modeling exercises to the situation of different groups of workers, such as high or low-earning men or women. We first take stock of available sources of earnings distribution data and provide a careful assessment of measurement and definitional differences relative to the AW. In a second step, information on the shape of earnings distributions in OECD countries is used to derive synthetic distributions around the AW, distinguishing between the earnings of men and women. We argue that this pragmatic approach yields data that allow extending the scope of tax-benefit and pensions modelling. Moreover, it does so in a way that is consistent with past modeling exercises that relied on the AW. We highlight data quality issues and discuss the potential limitations of the imputed AW-consistent earnings distributions.<BR>Le concept de salaire moyen de l’OCDE (SM) est couramment utilisé comme référence pour la modélisation des impôs/prestations et des retraites. Le but de ce document est d'examiner s’il est possible d’utiliser de plus grands ensembles de données sur les salaires afin d’adapter ces exercices de modélisation à la situation de différents groupes d’actifs, tels que les hommes et les femmes ayant des revenus élevés ou bas. Dans un premier temps, on utilise les sources disponibles sur la répartition des revenus et on fournit une évaluation précise des différences de mesure et de définition concernant le salaire moyen, en faisant une distinction entre le revenu des hommes et celui des femmes. Selon nous, cette approche pragmatique permet d’obtenir des données qui dépassent le but fixé par la modélisation des impôts/prestation et des retraites. De plus, elle le fait en compatibilité avec les exercices de modélisation précédents qui se fondaient sur le SM. Nous mettons en évidence la question de la qualité des données et discutons des possibles limites de la répartition des revenus imputées sur les salaire moyens. |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2010–08–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:108-en&r=lab |
| By: | Carneiro, Pedro (University College London); Lee, Sokbae (Seoul National University) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents new evidence that increases in college enrollment lead to a decline in the average quality of college graduates between 1960 and 2000, resulting in a decrease of 6 percentage points in the college premium. We show that although a standard demand and supply framework can qualitatively account for the trend in the college and age premia over this period, substantial quantitative adjustments still need to be made to account for changes in quality. |
| Keywords: | inequality, college premium, composition effects |
| JEL: | J0 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5295&r=lab |
| By: | Laudeline Auriol |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the results of the first large-scale data collection conducted in the framework of the OECD/UNESCO Institute for Statistics/Eurostat project on Careers of Doctorate Holders (CDH). Doctorate holders represent a crucial human resource for research and innovation. While they benefit from an employment premium, doctoral graduates encounter a number of difficulties on the labour market, notably in terms of working conditions. These difficulties are to some extent linked to the changes affecting the research systems, where employment conditions have become less attractive. Women, whose presence among doctoral graduates has grown over the years, are more affected by these challenges. The labour market of doctoral graduates is more internationalised than that of other tertiary-level graduates and the doctoral population is a highly internationally mobile one. In the European countries for which data are available, 15% to 30% of doctorate holders who are citizens of the reporting country have experienced mobility abroad during the past ten years. Migration and mobility patterns of doctoral graduates are similar to those of other tertiary level and other categories of the population with important flows towards the United States, principally from the Asian countries, and large intra-European flows, notably towards France, Germany and the United Kingdom. While a number of foreign graduates receive their doctorate in the host country, a large share (and the majority in the Western European countries for which data are available) have acquired their doctoral degree out of the host country and experienced mobility afterwards. Mobility of doctorate holders is driven by a variety of reasons that can be academic, job related as well as family and personal.<P>Les carrières des titulaires de doctorat : données d’emploi et de mobilité<BR>Ce document présente les résultats de la première collecte de données de grande échelle menée dans le cadre du projet conjoint OCDE/Institut Statistique de l’UNESCO/Eurostat sur les Carrières des Titulaires de Doctorat (CTD). Les titulaires de doctorat constituent une ressource capitale pour la recherche et l’innovation. Bien que bénéficiant d’un avantage en termes de taux d’emploi, les diplômés de doctorat sont confrontés à un certain nombre d’obstacles sur le marché du travail, notamment en ce qui concerne leurs conditions d’engagement. Ces difficultés sont en partie liées aux transformations affectant les systèmes de recherche, où les conditions d’emploi sont devenues moins attractives. Les femmes, dont la présence parmi les diplômés de doctorat s’est accrue au cours des années, sont davantage affectées par ces écueils. L’internationalisation du marché du travail est plus marquée pour les diplômés de doctorat que pour les autres diplômés de l’université et la population doctorale est fortement mobile au plan international. Dans les pays européens pour lesquels les données sont disponibles, 15% à 30% des ressortissants du pays titulaires d’un doctorat ont effectué une mobilité à l’étranger au cours des dernières années. Les destinations des diplômés de doctorat migrants ou mobiles sont semblables à celles des autres diplômés de l’enseignement supérieur et des autres catégories de population, avec des flux importants vers les États- Unis, principalement en provenance des pays d’Asie, et des flux intra-européens conséquents, notamment vers l’Allemagne, la France et le Royaume-Uni. Bien qu’un certain nombre de diplômés étrangers reçoivent leur doctorat dans le pays hôte, une proportion importante (et la majorité dans les pays d’Europe de l’ouest pour lesquels les données sont disponibles) obtiennent leur diplôme de doctorat en dehors du pays. La mobilité des titulaires de doctorat est motivée par des raisons diverses qui peuvent être académiques, professionnelles aussi bien que familiales et personnelles. |
| Date: | 2010–03–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaaa:2010/4-en&r=lab |
| By: | Franco Sassi; Marion Devaux; Jody Church; Michele Cecchini; Francesca Borgonovi |
| Abstract: | An epidemic of obesity has been developing in virtually all OECD countries over the last 30 years. Existing evidence provides strong suggestions that such epidemic has affected certain social groups more than others. In particular, education appears to be associated with a lower likelihood of obesity, especially among women. A range of analyses of health survey data from Australia, Canada, England and Korea were undertaken with the aim of exploring the relationship between education and obesity. The findings of these analyses show a broadly linear relationship between the number of years spent in full-time education and the probability of obesity, with most educated individuals displaying lower rates of the condition (the only exception being men in Korea). This suggests that marginal returns to education, in terms of reduction in obesity rates, are approximately constant throughout the education spectrum. The findings obtained confirm that the education gradient in obesity is stronger in women than in men. Differences between genders are minor in Australia and Canada, more pronounced in England and major in Korea. The causal nature of the link between education and obesity has not yet been proven with certainty; however, using data from France we were able to ascertain that the direction of causality appears to run mostly from education to obesity, as the strength of the association is only minimally affected when accounting for reduced educational opportunities for those who are obese in young age. Most of the effect of education on obesity is direct. Small components of the overall effect of education on obesity are mediated by an improved socio-economic status linked to higher levels of education, and by a higher level of education of other family members, associated with an individual’s own level of education. The positive effect of education on obesity is likely to be determined by at least three factors: (a) greater access to health-related information and improved ability to handle such information; (b) clearer perception of the risks associated with lifestyle choices; and, (c) improved self-control and consistency of preferences over time. However, it is not just the absolute level of education achieved by an individual that matters, but also how such level of education compares with that of the individual’s peers. The higher the individual’s education relative to his or her peers’, the lower is the probability of the individual being obese. |
| Keywords: | education, obesity |
| JEL: | I12 I21 |
| Date: | 2009–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:39-en&r=lab |
| By: | Dario Sciulli; Marcello Signorelli |
| Abstract: | The paper investigated on job transitions of graduates at the University of Perugia into the territory of the province of Perugia. In short, the paper has the following structure: after a review of the literature on university-to-work transition, original empirical results - adopting different statistical and econometric instruments - are presented and, finally, some policy implications are highlighted. University administrative information and data from the job centres of the province of Perugia are matched to reconstruct the timing of the university to job transitions of graduates at the University of Perugia since January 2004 to July 2009. Non-parametric Kaplan-Meier (KM) method and Cox proportional hazard model with competing risk are used, respectively, to estimate the survival functions and to determine the role of individual and studying characteristics in affecting the employment probabilities of graduates from a supply side point of view. Notwithstanding the paper is in a preliminary version, some key results are useful for deriving crucial considerations and policy implications. |
| Keywords: | University-to-Work Transition, Perugia University and Province, Cox proportional hazard model. |
| JEL: | I20 J24 C41 |
| Date: | 2010–09–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pia:wpaper:77/2010&r=lab |
| By: | Bradley J. Ruffle (Department of Economics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel); Ze’ev Shtudiner (Department of Economics, Ariel University Center, Israel) |
| Abstract: | Job applicants in Europe and in Israel increasingly imbed a headshot of them- selves in the top corner of their CVs. We sent 5312 CVs in pairs to 2656 advertised job open- ings. In each pair, one CV was without a picture while the second, otherwise almost identical CV contained a picture of either an attractive male/female or a plain-looking male/female. Employer callbacks to attractive men are significantly higher than to men with no picture and to plain-looking men, nearly doubling the latter group. Strikingly, attractive women do not enjoy the same beauty premium. In fact, women with no picture have a significantly higher rate of callbacks than attractive or plain-looking women. We explore a number of explanations and provide evidence that female jealousy of attractive women in the workplace is a primary reason for the punishment of attractive women. |
| Keywords: | beauty, discrimination, experimental economics. |
| JEL: | C93 J71 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bgu:wpaper:1006&r=lab |
| By: | Ioannis Kaplanis |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how high human capital in a locality is associated with the employmentoutcomes of individuals. A probit model is used to examine how the employment probabilityof otherwise similar working age males is associated with changes in the share of degreeholders in the local area. Different econometric specifications are employed in order to shedlight on the positive effect found and its possible causes. The paper discusses three mainaccounts, referring to the consumption demand, productivity spillovers and productioncomplementarities. For Britain, it is found that the share of high skill residents in a localityhas a strong positive impact on the local employment chances of men with no qualifications.The effect on the local employment chances of the other educational groups is eitherinsignificant or significant negative. These results are consistent with the consumer demandhypothesis that the presence of high educated, high income individuals in a locality boosts thedemand for local low skill services. On the other hand, when the share of skilled workers isused, the results hint on possible simultaneous effect of production complementarities andproductivity spillovers. However, the analysis points to the existing limitations ofsuccessfully isolating the consumption demand and the production function mechanisms andcalls for further research. |
| Keywords: | local labour markets, employment, consumer demand, human capital externalities |
| JEL: | J21 J24 R23 |
| Date: | 2010–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0040&r=lab |
| By: | Sietske Waslander; Cissy Pater; Maartje van der Weide |
| Abstract: | In the last three decennia, many governments have introduced market mechanisms in education. They have done so by enhancing parental choice and encouraging school competition, through policies like abolishing catchment areas, creating voucher programmes and setting up charter schools. These market mechanisms have given rise to fierce debates in both political and scientific circles. However, most prior reviews of research literature in this area have concluded that the effects of market mechanisms in education are small, if they are found at all. This review tries to answer the question why that is the case, by analysing the causal pathways that link market mechanisms to educational outcomes and by reviewing the empirical evidence for each step along those causal pathways. The findings of this review point to the need for a nuanced and qualified discussion about market mechanisms in education. What market mechanisms mean in actual practice strongly depends on (local) contexts, while the impact of market mechanisms is related to other policies impacting on parental choice behaviour as well as actions taken by schools.<BR>Au cours des trois dernières décennies, de nombreux gouvernements dans le monde entier ont introduit des mécanismes de marché au sein de leur système éducatif. Ils ont procédé ainsi en valorisant le choix des parents d’élèves et en encourageant la compétition scolaire à travers des politiques telles que l’abolition des zones scolaires, la création de programmes accessibles à l’aide de chèques scolaires, et mise en place des écoles à charte. Ces mécanismes de marché ont donné naissance à des débats passionnés dans les milieux politiques et scientifiques. Cependant, les toutes premières recherches dans ce secteur ont conclu que les effets des mécanismes de marché dans le secteur éducatif sont mineurs, lorsqu’ils sont déterminés. Cette étude essaie de comprendre pourquoi il en est ainsi en analysant la chaîne causale qui lie les mécanismes de marché aux résultats dans le secteur éducatif, en passant en revue les données empiriques à chaque étape du processus. Les résultats de cette étude soulignent le besoin d’un débat nuancé et modéré sur les mécanismes de marché dans l’éducation. Ce que mécanismes de marché signifie en pratique dépend fortement du contexte, alors que l’impact des mécanismes de marché est lié à d’autres politiques qui influencent le choix des parents d’élèves ainsi que les actions mises en place dans les écoles. |
| Date: | 2010–10–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:52-en&r=lab |
| By: | Sarada, FNO |
| Abstract: | This paper seeks to understand the returns to self-employment. The analysis is motivated by the empirical puzzle that most entrepreneurs enter and persist in self-employment, despite lower initial earnings and earnings growth (Hamilton, 2000). I propose a new hypothesis to make sense of this observation. In particular, reported income is unlikely to be a good measure of the return to self-employment given the underreporting incentive, and opportunities available to business owners. Moreover, business owners also have access to multiple avenues for compensating themselves and their employees. As such, any survey of business owners will face great difficulties in capturing the many ways in which business income can be received. As evidence for the potential importance of such understating, Slemrod (2007) reports that the evasion rate amongst non-farm proprietorships varies between 18 and 57 percent depending on industry. In this paper, I make use of the PSID to test my hypothesis. The estimation strategy relies on the presumption that reported consumption by the self-employed will not be systematically misreported, even though income can easily be. The results indicate that individuals report earning 27 percent less but appear to consume 5 percent more in self-employment. This implies a 32 percent differential between reported wage and consumption for the selfemployed, indicating that the former measure is not a good barometer of the financial returns to self-employment. Furthermore, this increased consumption does not seem to be offset by higher uncertainty as evidenced by my finding, that the variance in consumption while selfemployed is not significantly different than that in wage employment. Other results include that the self-employed work longer hours and that consumption is the same as that prior to self-employment for those who return to wage employment. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, wage and consumption |
| Date: | 2010–11–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:ucsdec:1636111&r=lab |
| By: | Hans Fehr; Daniela Ujhelyiova |
| Abstract: | The present paper develops a general equilibrium model with overlapping generations and endogenous fertility in order to analyze the interaction between public policy and household labor supply and fertility decisions. The model's benchmark equilibrium reflects the current family policy as well as the differential fertility pattern of educational groups in Germany. Then we simulate alternative reforms of child benefits and family taxation that increase the long-run fertility and growth rate of the economy. Our simulations indicate two central results: First, although households are typically hurt by the first-order effects of family policy, it is possible to generate long-run welfare gains due to positive second-order effects from induced changes in the population structure. Second, specific family policies could be designed that yield a joint increase of the fertility rate and female employment rate as observed in cross-country studies. |
| Keywords: | stochastic fertility, general equilibrium life cycle model |
| JEL: | J12 J22 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp331&r=lab |
| By: | Jonah E. Rockoff; Mariesa A. Herrmann |
| Abstract: | Ichino and Moretti (2009) find that menstruation may contribute to gender gaps in absenteeism and earnings, based on evidence that absences of young female Italian bank employees follow a 28-day cycle. We analyze absenteeism of teachers and find no evidence of increased female absenteeism on a 28-day cycle. We also show that the evidence of 28-day cycles in the Italian data is not robust to the correction of coding errors or small changes in specification. We show that five day workweeks can cause misleading group differences in absence hazards at multiples of 7, including 28 days. |
| JEL: | I19 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16523&r=lab |
| By: | Mariesa A. Herrmann; Jonah E. Rockoff |
| Abstract: | A significant amount of work time is lost each year due to worker absence, but evidence on the productivity losses from absenteeism remains scant due to difficulties with identification. In this paper, we use uniquely detailed data on the timing, duration, and cause of absences among teachers to address many of the potential biases from the endogeneity of worker absence. Our analysis indicates that worker absences have large negative impacts: the expected loss in daily productivity from employing a temporary substitute is on par with replacing a regular worker of average productivity with one at the 10th–20th percentile of productivity. We also find daily productivity losses decline with the length of an absence spell, consistent with managers engaging in costly search for more productive substitutes and temporary workers learning on the job. While illness is a major cause of absenteeism among teachers, we find no evidence that poor health also causes lower on-the-job productivity. |
| JEL: | J22 J24 J45 |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16524&r=lab |