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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Henry S. Farber (Princeton University, NBER, IZA) |
| Abstract: | The Great Recession from December 2007 to June 2009 is associated with a dramatic weakening of the labor market from which the labor market is now only slowly recovering. The unemployment rate remains stubbornly high and durations of unemployment are unprecedentedly long. I use data from the Dis- placed Workers Survey (DWS) from 1984-2010 to investigate the incidence and consequences of job loss from 1981-2009. In particular, the January 2010 DWS, which captures job loss during the 2007-2009 period, provides a window through which to examine the experience of job losers in the Great Recession and to compare their experience to that of earlier job losers. These data show a record high rate of job loss, with almost one in six workers reporting having lost a job in the 2007-2009 period. The consequences of job loss are also very serious dur- ing this period with very low rates of reemployment, diculty nding full-time employment, and substantial earnings losses. |
| Keywords: | Labor market, unemployment rate, Displaced Workers Survey, reemployment, employment, substantial earnings losses |
| JEL: | E24 J00 J20 J21 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:indrel:1309&r=lab |
| By: | Javier Valbuena |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use unique retrospective family background data from Wave 13 of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) on different birth cohorts to analyze the relevance of family background, in particular parental education, and gender on differential educational achievement. We find parents’ education attainments to be strong predictors of the education of their offspring. In particular, maternal education is the main determinant on the decision of whether stay-on beyond compulsory education. Our results are robust to the inclusion of a large set of control variables, including household income. A second research question addressed in the paper investigates whether the large expansion of the UK educational system during the last decades has concurred with enhanced relative educational opportunities for children of parents with low educational background. The analysis reveals that the relevance of parental education over time becomes stronger in terms of achieving higher educational levels, in particular university degree. However, there are significant dissimilarities with respect to gender differences; in particular we observe a positive secular trend in female education attainment associated to maternal education. |
| Keywords: | Educational attainment; Schooling; Early school leaving; Education transmission |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J11 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:1114&r=lab |
| By: | Bauer, Thomas (RWI); Bender, Stefan (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg); Paloyo, Alfredo (Ruhr Graduate School in Economics); Schmidt, Christoph M. (RWI) |
| Abstract: | Compulsory military service typically drafts young men when they are at the height of their learning ability. Thus, it can be expected to depress the demand for higher education since skill atrophy and the delayed entry into the civilian labor market reduce the returns to human-capital investments. Attending university, however, might open the possibility to avoid the draft, leading to an increase in the demand for tertiary education. To estimate the causal effect of conscription on the probability to obtain a university degree, we use a regression-discontinuity design that employs special regulations associated with the introduction of conscription in Germany in 1956. We estimate conscription to increase the probability of having a university degree. |
| Keywords: | career interruption, conscription, regression discontinuity, skill atrophy, TS2SLS |
| JEL: | I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5744&r=lab |
| By: | Achyuta Adhvaryu (MEPH Health Policy and Administration, Yale University); Anant Nyshadham (Department of Economics, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effects of higher quality healthcare usage on health, labor supply and schooling outcomes for sick individuals in Tanzania. Using exogenous variation in the cost of formal sector healthcare to predict treatment choice, we show that using better quality care improves health outcomes and changes the allocation of time amongst productive activities. In particular, sick adults who receive better quality care reallocate time from non-farm to farm labor, leaving total labor hours unchanged. Among sick children, school attendance significantly increases as a result of receiving higher quality healthcare, but labor allocations are unaffected. We interpret these results as evidence that healthcare has heterogeneous effects on marginal productivity across productive activities and household members. |
| Keywords: | labor supply, health shocks, schooling, Tanzania |
| JEL: | I10 J22 J43 O12 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egc:wpaper:995&r=lab |
| By: | Hairault, Jean-Olivier; Langot, François; Ménard, Sébastien; Sopraseuth, Thepthida |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that optimal unemployment insurance contracts are age-dependent. Older workers have only a few years left on the labor market prior to retirement. This short horizon implies a more decreasing replacement ratio. However, there is a sufficiently short distance to retirement for which flat unemployment benefits can be the optimal contract. It is the result of the inability to reconcile both incentives and insurance for the soon-to-be-retired unemployed workers. We show that the unemployment benefit agency could take advantage of the retirement period to tax pensions in order to optimize the trade-off between insurance and incentives at the end of working life. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment insurance; Retirement; Recursive contracts; Moral Hazard |
| JEL: | C61 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:1107&r=lab |
| By: | Moritz Bonn |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of high skilled immigration on employment and net income in the receiving economy where the market for low skilled labour is distorted by union wage setting and a redistributive unemployment benefit scheme. Based on the empirical fact that high and low skilled workers are close albeit imperfect substitutes, we show that high skilled immigration can either be beneficial or harmful, both in terms of employment and net income. More precisely, we conclude that a Pareto improvement can be achieved if the unemployment benefit level remains unaffected by high skilled immigration whereas an overall loss in net income cannot be ruled out if we suggest unemployment benefits to be funded by an exogenous egalitarian tax rate. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Imperfect Labour Markets, Fiscal Redistribution |
| JEL: | F22 H53 J51 J61 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sie:siegen:147-11&r=lab |
| By: | Szilvia Hamori (Institute of Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences); Janos Kollo (Institute of Economics Hungarian Academy of Sciences) |
| Abstract: | We look at the effect of school starting age on standardized test scores using data covering all grade four and grade eight students in Hungary. Instrumental variables estimates of the local average treatment effect suggest that children generally gain from starting school one year later and the effects are much stronger in the case of students coming from low-educated families. We test the robustness of the results by allowing for heterogeneity in the age effect, distinguishing between fields of testing, using discontinuity samples and relying on alternative data. The hypothesis that delayed entry has a stronger impact on low-status children is supported by the robustness checks. The observed patterns are most probably explained by the better performance of kindergartens, as opposed to schools, in developing the skills of low-status children. |
| Keywords: | education, student test scores, enrolment age, identification |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:bworkp:1102&r=lab |
| By: | Vestad, Ola Lotherington (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to estimate wage effects of occupational pensions, exploiting the introduction of mandatory occupational pensions in Norway as a source of exogenous variation in pension coverage. Various difference-in-differences models are estimated on a large sample of Norwegian private sector firms. The results indicate that on average, less than half the costs of a minimum requirement occupational pension was shifted from firms to workers in terms of lower wages, and that there are important heterogeneities with respect to the influence of local unions and central negotiations on the wage setting in different industries. |
| Keywords: | pension reform; mandatory occupational pensions; labour unions and centralised negotiations; matched employer-employee register data |
| JEL: | H22 J32 J38 J50 |
| Date: | 2011–04–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2011_016&r=lab |
| By: | Dronkers Jaap; Velden Rolf van der; Dunne Allison (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | The effects of educational systems, school-composition, track-level, parentalbackground and immigrants’ origins on the achievement of 15-years old native andimmigrant students. A reanalysis of PISA 2006.The main research question of this paper is the combined estimation of the effectsof educational systems, school-composition and track-level on the educationalachievement of 15-years-old students. We specifically focus on the effects of socioeconomicand ethnic background on achievement scores and to what extent theseeffects are affected by characteristics of the school, track or educational system thesestudents are in. In doing so, we examine the ‘sorting’ mechanisms of schools and tracksin highly stratified, moderately stratified and comprehensive education systems. Weuse data from the 2006 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) wave.Compared to previous research in this area the main contribution of this paper is thatwe explicitly include track-level and school-level as separate units of analyses, whichleads to less biased results of the effects of characteristics of the educational system.The results highlight the importance of including track-level and school-level factorsin the debate of educational inequality of opportunity for students in differenteducation contexts. The findings clearly indicate that the effects of educationalsystem characteristics are flawed if the analysis uses only a country and a studentlevel and ignores the track- and school-level characteristics. Moreover the inclusionof the track-level is necessary to avoid overestimation of the school-compositioneffect, especially in stratified educational systems. From a policy perspective, the mostimportant finding is that educational system are not uniformly ‘good’ or ‘bad’, butthey have different consequences for different groups. Some groups are better offin comprehensive systems, while other groups are better off in moderately or highlystratified systems. |
| Keywords: | labour market entry and occupational careers; |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2011006&r=lab |
| By: | Dominik Hanglberger; Joachim Merz |
| Abstract: | Empirical analyses using cross-sectional and panel data found significantly higher levels of job satisfaction for self-employed than for employees. We argue that those estimates in previous studies might be biased by neglecting anticipation and adaptation effects. For testing we specify several models accounting for anticipation and adaptation to self-employment and job changes. Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Survey (SOEP) we find that becoming self-employed is associated with large negative anticipation effects. In contrast to recent literature we find no specific long term effect of self-employment on job satisfaction. Accounting for anticipation and adaptation to job changes in general, which includes changes between employee jobs, reduces the effect of self-employment on job satisfaction by 70%. When controlling for anticipation and adaptation to job changes, we find no further anticipation effect of self-employment and a weak positive but not significant effect of self-employment on job satisfaction for three years. Thus adaptation wipes out higher satisfaction within the first three years being self-employed. According to our results previous studies at least overestimated possible positive effects of self-employment on job satisfaction. |
| Keywords: | job satisfaction, self-employment, hedonic treadmill model, adaptation, anticipation, fixed-effects panel estimations, German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) |
| JEL: | J23 J28 J8 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp376&r=lab |
| By: | Aristovnik, Aleksander; Obadić, Alka |
| Abstract: | The paper applies a non-parametric approach, i.e. data envelopment analysis (DEA), to assess the relative technical efficiency of higher education across countries, with a particular focus on Croatia and Slovenia. When estimating the efficiency frontier we focus on measures of quantities outputs/outcomes. The results show that the relatively high public expenditure per student in Croatia could have resulted in a relatively better performance regarding the outputs/outcomes, i.e. a higher rate of higher education school enrolment, a greater rate of labor force with a higher education and a lower rate of the unemployed who have a tertiary education. On the other hand, regardless of the input-output/outcome mix, the higher education system in Slovenia is shown to have a much higher level of efficiency compared to both Croatia and many other comparable EU and OECD countries. |
| Keywords: | higher education; funding; efficiency; DEA; Croatia; Slovenia; EU; OECD |
| JEL: | A23 J52 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–01–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:31466&r=lab |
| By: | Elena Meschi; Anna Vignoles |
| Abstract: | The Centre for the Economics of Education was asked to investigate the factors that influence a range of children's academic and non-academic outcomes, including their enjoyment of school, whether they take unauthorised absence from school and whether they feel they are bullied. The study also investigated whether schools can influence these non-academic outcomes. The study makes use of the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England, which is a survey of young people in secondary school that collects information on bullying, truancy and many other factors in each child's life. The data is linked to information on each child's academic achievement, enabling this study to investigate the inter-relationship between a pupil's academic performance and non academic outcomes. Pupils who enjoy school more at age 14 have, perhaps unsurprisingly, higher academic achievement by age 16. Equally, children who have higher achievement at age 11 go on to enjoy school more at age 16 though this is a not a strong relationship. In other words enjoyment of school and academic achievement are clearly linked. Pupils who were bullied or who took unauthorised absence at age 14 had significantly lower educational achievement at GCSE. Pupils who experienced bullying at age 14 were also much more likely to experience bullying at age 16. Therefore early negative outcomes, such as being bullied, suggest the child is at risk of having later negative experiences at age 16. Conversely, pupils who participate in positive extra-curricular activities, such as clubs, were also found to have better academic achievement later in their schooling. High achievers at school, i.e. pupils who do well academically at age 14, were also no more likely to be bullied at age 16 than other children. The report also investigated the impact of schools on some of these non-academic outcomes between 14-16 and found little evidence that schools currently have different impacts on pupil's enjoyment of school, nor whether they take unauthorised absence, nor their likelihood of being bullied. In other words, which school a pupil attends is likely to have small or no effect on their wider well-being. This does not mean that schools do not have the potential to impact on these factors but rather that currently there are not large differences across schools in these outcomes once socio-economic factors have been taken into account. The report concludes that non-academic factors, such as a pupil's enjoyment of school, are inextricably linked to pupils' academic achievement. We need to be aware of these relationships when considering policies to improve pupil achievement. The report also provides some useful risk indicators of future low pupil academic achievement. For example, some factors, such as being bullied or taking unauthorised absence, predict low future academic achievement. Again this can be used by schools and policy-makers to identify pupils at risk of low attainment. This research report was written before the new UK Government took office on 11 May 2010. As a result the content may not reflect current Government policy. This research will be of use to officials and ministers in helping to shape the future direction of policy and Departmental strategy. |
| Keywords: | education, bullying |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:ceedps:04&r=lab |
| By: | Hanel, Barbara (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research); Riphahn, Regina T. (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | We apply German Mikrozensus data for the period 1996 to 2004 to investigate the employment status of mothers. Specifically, we ask whether there are behavioral differences between mothers in East and West Germany, whether these differences disappear over time, and whether there are differences in the developments for high vs. low and medium skilled females. We find substantial differences in the employment behavior of East and West German mothers. German family policy sets incentives particularly for low income mothers not to return to the labor market after birth. East German mothers' employment outcomes matches that expected based on these policy incentives: over time East German mothers with low earnings potentials appear to adopt West German low employment patterns. |
| Keywords: | East Germany, parental leave, mothers, employment, child care |
| JEL: | J21 J13 J18 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5752&r=lab |
| By: | Joanne W. Golann (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | Although there has been extensive research on the effects of early maternal employment on children’s outcomes, there have been surprisingly few studies examining the relationship between early maternal school attendance and children’s well-being, despite the fact that a large percentage of mothers return to school following the birth of their children. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2,133), this study finds that mothers who attend four-year colleges or graduate schools in their children’s first year confer a significant advantage to their children’s cognitive development by age 5. Working while attending school does not appear to have any adverse effects on children. Contrary to expectations, no mediation effects are found for parenting or child care. Results imply that encouraging mothers to continue their education soon after their children’s births may be an effective strategy to improve the outcomes of both mothers and children. |
| Keywords: | education, early childhood, intergenerational transfers, parenting, schools, Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing |
| JEL: | D19 D63 I21 I31 J15 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:crcwel:1315&r=lab |
| By: | Cipollone, Piero; Rosolia, Alfonso |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between education and mortality in a young population of Italian males. In 1981 several cohorts of young men from specific southern towns were unexpectedly exempted from compulsory military service after a major quake hit the region. Comparisons of exempt cohorts from the least damaged towns on the border of the quake region with similar ones from neighbouring non-exempt towns just outside the region show that, by 1991, the cohorts exempted while still in high school display significantly higher graduation rates. The probability of dying over the decade 1991-2001 was also significantly lower. Several robustness checks confirm that the findings do not reflect omitted quake-related confounding factors, such as the ensuing compensatory interventions. Moreover, cohorts exempted soon after high school age do not display higher schooling or lower mortality rates, thus excluding that the main findings reflect direct effects of military service on subsequent mortality rather than a causal effect of schooling. The authors conclude that increasing the proportion of high school graduates by 1 percentage point leads to 0.1-0.2 percentage points lower mortality rates between the ages of 25 and 35. |
| Keywords: | Population Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Labor Policies,Demographics,Education For All |
| Date: | 2011–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5680&r=lab |
| By: | Tommaso Monacelli; Roberto Perotti; Antonella Trigari |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effect of exogenous changes in taxes on the US unemployment rate and on several other labor market variables. Our estimates are based on a revised version of the Romer and Romer (2010) narrative record of exogenous tax innovations, with the additional benefit of distinguishing between capital income and labor income taxes. We first show that accounting for the difference between automatic and discretionary tax changes in the revised specification is crucial in order to obtain an unbiased measure of the tax multipliers. We then obtain the following main results. An increase in tax receipts of one percent of GDP has a sizeable positive impact on the unemployment rate, and a negative impact on hours worked, labor market tightness and job finding probability. The effect on GDP is also sizeable, but somewhat in the mid range of other values found in the literature, due to the fact that we account for the difference between discretionary and automatic changes in tax revenues. The effect on the unemployment rate of variations in business taxes is larger than that of personal income taxes. We suggest that the latter result poses interesting challenges for future research. |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chb:bcchwp:623&r=lab |
| By: | Kolsrud, Jonas (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies) |
| Abstract: | A vast literature has investigated how unemployment insurance (UI) affects labor supply. However, the distorting effect of UI on labor supply is to a large extent determined by how well UI benefits smooth private consumption, which in turn depends on the resources available to the unemployed. To determine UI’s consumption-smoothing effect, I exploit a kink in the deterministic relationship between previous earnings and unemployment benefits. The randomized assignment of benefits created by the kink allows me to identify how UI affect the use of private wealth to finance consumption during unemployment spells. Using Swedish data for 2000 - 2002 I find that a large share of the unemployed actually can consume at the same level as they did prior to the layoff. I also find that loans are of great importance to consumption smoothing as more than half the sample lacks buffer savings. This is further emphasized for different subpopulations. Women, couples, and older individuals holds significantly larger liquid wealth than men and young singles. |
| Keywords: | Saving; wealth; unemployment benefit; unemployment; consumption smoothing |
| JEL: | D91 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2011–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2011_010&r=lab |
| By: | Camargos, Braz Ministério de; Firpo, Sergio Pinheiro; Ponczek, Vladimir Pinheiro |
| Abstract: | In this paper we test whether the disclosure of test scores has direct impacts on studentperformance, school composition and school inputs. We take advantage of the discontinuityon the disclosure rules of The National Secondary Education Examination (ENEM) run inBrazil by the Ministry of Education: In 2006 it was established that the 2005 mean scoreresults would be disclosed for schools with ten or more students who took the exam inthe previous year. We use a regression discontinuity design to estimate the e ects of testdisclosure. Our results indicate that private schools that had their average scores releasedin 2005 outperformed those that did not by 0.2-0.6 in 2007. We did not nd same resultsfor public schools. Moreover, we did not nd evidence that treated schools adjusted theirinputs or that there was major changes in the students composition of treated schools.These ndings allow us to interpret that the main mechanism driving the di erences inperformance was the increased levels of students', teachers' and principals' e ort exerted bythose in schools that had scores publicized. |
| Date: | 2011–06–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fgv:eesptd:09&r=lab |
| By: | Bernt Bratsberg (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Oddbjørn Raaum (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Marianne Røed (Institute for Social Research); Pål Schøne (Institute for Social Research) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the direct partial wage effect for native workers of an immigrant-induced increase in labor supply, using longitudinal records drawn from Norwegian registers and the national skill cell approach of Borjas (2003). Our results show overall negative wage impacts for both men and women. Focusing on differential wage impacts by immigrant origin, we find that immigrant inflows from the neighboring Nordic countries have more negative wage effects than inflows from developing countries. The pattern is consistent with factor demand theory if natives and other Nordic citizens are close substitutes. We also find that impact estimates, particularly for inflows from nearby countries, are sensitive to accounting for selective native attrition and within-skill group variation in demand and supply conditions. |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2010002&r=lab |
| By: | Ana María Iregui B.; Ligia Alba Malo B.; María Teresa Ramírez G. |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to explore firms’ wage adjustment practices in the Colombian formal labor market; specifically, the timing and frequency of wage increases, as well as the link between wage and price changes. To this end, we use an ad hoc survey of 1,305 small, medium and large firms belonging to all economic sectors, except the public sector. The results show most of the firms adjust base wages annually, mainly during the first quarter, which suggests wage changes in Colombia are time-dependent. Also, wage increases were concentrated around observed inflation and none of the firms cut wages. Moreover, factors associated with the performance of firms and workers alike are the main determinants of wage adjustments. Regarding the link between wages and price changes, econometric results indicate this relationship is stronger in sectors where labor costs represent a higher share of total costs and in firms operating in sectors with higher labor productivity. |
| Date: | 2011–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000094:008753&r=lab |
| By: | Baez, Javier E. (World Bank); Camacho, Adriana (Universidad de los Andes) |
| Abstract: | Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT) are programs under which poor families get a stipend provided they keep their children in school and take them for health checks. While there is significant evidence showing that they have positive impacts on school participation, little is known about their long-term impacts on human capital. In this paper we investigate whether cohorts of children from poor households that benefited up to nine years from Familias en Acción, a CCT in Colombia, attained more school and performed better in academic tests at the end of high school. Identification of program impacts is derived from two different strategies using matching techniques with household surveys, and regression discontinuity design using census of the poor and administrative records of the program. We show that, on average, participant children are 4 to 8 percentage points more likely than nonparticipant children to finish high school, particularly girls and beneficiaries in rural areas. Regarding long-term impact on tests scores, the analysis shows that program recipients who graduate from high school seem to perform at the same level as equally poor non-recipient graduates, even after correcting for possible selection bias when low-performing students enter school in the treatment group. Even though the positive impacts on high school graduation may improve the employment and earning prospects of participants, the lack of positive effects on the test scores raises the need to further explore policy actions to couple CCT's objective of increasing human capital with enhanced learning. |
| Keywords: | Conditional Cash Transfers, school completion, academic achievement, learning outcomes |
| JEL: | I28 I38 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5751&r=lab |
| By: | Govert E. Bijwaard (Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI)); Christian Schluter (DEFI, Aix-Marseille II and University of Southampton); Jackline Wahba (University of Southampton) |
| Abstract: | Using administrative panel data on the entire population of new labour immigrants to The Netherlands, we estimate the causal effects of labour dynamics on their return decisions. Specifically, the roles of unemployment and re-employment spells on immigration durations are examined. The endogeneity of labour market outcomes and the return migration decision, if ignored, confounds the causal effect. This empirical challenge is addressed using the “timing-of-events†method. We estimate the model separately for distinct immigrant groups, and find that, overall, unemployment spells shorten immigration durations, while re-employment spells delay returns for all but one group. The magnitude of the causal effect differ across groups. |
| Keywords: | temporary migration, durations, timing of event method, labour market dynamics. |
| JEL: | J61 J64 C41 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2011007&r=lab |
| By: | Kolsrud, Jonas (Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | A vast literature has investigated how unemployment insurance (UI) affects labor supply. However, the distorting effect of UI on labor supply is to a large extent determined by how well UI benefits smooth private consumption, which in turn depends on the resources available to the unemployed. To determine UI’s consumption-smoothing effect, I exploit a kink in the deterministic relationship between previous earnings and unemployment benefits. The ran domized assignment of benefits created by the kink allows me to identify how UI affect the use of private wealth to finance consumption during unemployment spells. Using Swedish data for 2000-2002 I find that a large share of the unemployed actually can consume at the same level as they did prior to the layout. I also find that loans are of great importance to consumption smoothing as more than half the sample lacks buffer savings. This is further emphasized for different subpopulations. Women, couples, and older indi viduals holds significantly larger liquid wealth than men and young singles. |
| Keywords: | Saving; wealth; unemployment benefit; unemployment; consumption smoothing |
| JEL: | D91 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2011–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2011_011&r=lab |
| By: | Gonzalo Castex |
| Abstract: | This paper takes the risk of college participation into context when evaluating the return to college education. College dropout and a higher permanent income shock for those who graduate from college accounts for 51% of the excess return to college education. Using a simple risk premium approach, I reconcile the observed high average returns to schooling with relatively low attendance rates. A high dropout risk has two important effects on the estimated average returns to college education: via selection bias and via risk premium. |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chb:bcchwp:629&r=lab |
| By: | Rita Asplund; Erling Barth; Per Lundborg; Kjersti Misje Nilsen |
| Abstract: | Labour-market polarization is characterized by increased employment in occupations at the top but also at the bottom of the skills and wage distributions, followed by a relative decline in ‘middling’ occupations. This paper documents a polarization trend also in the Nordic labour markets and contrasts it to comparative findings for the USA. Employment growth in the top-paying occupations is found to have been dominated by a large increase in the category of ‘Engineering professionals and other professionals’, whereas the growth at the bottom end stems mainly from increased employment in ‘Personal and protective services’. The drop in the middle has been driven by a marked relative decline in the category ‘Office clerks’. Analysis of the extent to which differences in wage development across skill groups have enhanced or attenuated this process of polarization in employment patterns suggests that the U-shaped pattern of employment change prevails also after controlling for concomitant changes in relative occupational wages. Hence, it seems that also the Nordic countries have experienced a shift from skill-biased technological change to non-routine-biased technological change – or, more likely, a combination of the two – and that this process has not been particularly dampened by compressed wage structures or relatively more rigid wages. |
| Keywords: | labour market, polarization, occupation, relative wages |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–06–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:1251&r=lab |
| By: | Tinh Doan (Ministry of Economic Development); John Gibson (University of Waikato); Mark Holmes (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a novelty dataset of poor households in peri-urban areas in Vietnam to estimate impacts of small loans on child schooling. The Probit and Negative Binomial model estimates roughly indicate no strong evidence of the effect, especially of informal credit. Formal credit is likely to have positive impacts on child schooling, but its effect is not strong enough to be conclusive. The paper suggests that to obtain the target of sustainable poverty reduction, easing access to formal credit sources as well as exempting tuition and other school fees are necessary to keep poor children at schools longer. |
| Keywords: | school enrolment; education gap; probit; negative binomial model;the poor; child schooling; peri-urban; Vietnam |
| JEL: | C14 C21 H81 |
| Date: | 2011–06–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:11/10&r=lab |
| By: | Christopher Flinn |
| Abstract: | We generalize the standard search, matching, and bargaining framework to allow individuals to acquire productivity-enhancing schooling prior to labor market entry. As is well-known, search frictions and weakness in bargaining position contribute to under-investment from an efficiency perspective. In order to evaluate the sensitivity of schooling investments to "hold up," the model is estimated using Current Population Survey data. We focus on the impact of bargaining power on schooling investment, and find that the effects are large. A brief exploration of the two-sided investment model suggests that something akin to a "Hosios condition" result regarding the socially optimal surplus division rule may be attainable. |
| Keywords: | Labor market search; schooling choice; hold-up; Nash bargaining |
| JEL: | J24 J3 J64 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wpaper:212&r=lab |
| By: | Lisi, Gaetano; Pugno, Maurizio |
| Abstract: | A matching model will explain both unemployment and economic growth by considering the underground sector. Three problems can thus be simultaneously accounted for: (i) the persistence of underground economy, (ii) the ambiguous relationships between underground employment and unemployment, and (iii) between growth and unemployment. Key assumptions are that entrepreneurial ability is heterogeneous, skill accumulation determines productivity growth, job-seekers choose whether to invest in education. The conclusions are that the least able entrepreneurs set up underground firms, employ unskilled labour, and do not contribute to growth. Underground employment alleviates unemployment only if the monitoring rate is sufficiently low. |
| Keywords: | underground economy; entrepreneurship; growth; unemployment; matching models |
| JEL: | J6 J24 E26 L26 |
| Date: | 2011–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:31312&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas K. Bauer; Regina Flake; Mathias G. Sinning |
| Abstract: | This paper combines individual-level data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) with economic and demographic postcode-level data from administrative records to analyze the effects of immigration on wages and unemployment probabilities of high- and low-skilled natives. Employing an instrumental variable strategy and utilizing the variation in the population share of foreigners across regions and time, we find no support for the hypothesis of adverse labor market effects of immigration. |
| Keywords: | International migration; effects of immigration |
| JEL: | F22 J31 J64 R23 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0257&r=lab |
| By: | Aerni Isa; Rajeswari A/P Devadass (University Tenaga Nasional); Mohan Dass (Swinburne University, Australia) |
| Abstract: | The main purpose of this paper is to examine the performance and reward system at Victoria Government Schools. Furthermore, the paper highlights on the area of performance management, performance development, performance assessment and the outcome in their job satisfaction and the effectiveness in performance among the school teacher at Victoria Government School. Based on in open- ended interview, direct observation, and the voice respondent on the qualitative approach it helps the participant and the researcher to make sense of interpret their shared of understanding on the implementation of performance and reward system approach at Victoria Government School. Finally, the results demonstrate that the implementation of the performance system approach at Victoria Government school are motivating the teachers to have a great expectation in implementing a variety of promoting choices, quality and strong values in Australia’s education |
| Keywords: | Job satisfaction, performance, fairness, justice, voice |
| JEL: | M0 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cms:2icb11:2011-107&r=lab |
| By: | Stewart, Mark B. (University of warwick) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates possible spillover effects of the UK minimum wage. The halt in the growth in inequality in the lower half of the wage distribution (as measured by the 50:10 percentile ratio) since the mid 1990s, in contrast to the continued inequality growth in the upper half of the distribution, suggests the possibility of a minimum wage effect and spillover effects on wages above the minimum. This paper analyses individual wage changes, using both a difference-in-differences estimator and a specification involving cross-uprating comparisons, and concludes that there have not been minimum wage spillovers. Since the UK minimum wage has always been below the 10th percentile, this lack of spillovers implies that minimum wage changes have not had an effect on the 50:10 percentile ratio measure of inequality in the lower half of the wage distribution. JEL classification: J31 ; J38 ; J08. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:965&r=lab |
| By: | Abraham, Vinoj |
| Abstract: | : Incidence of crime in India has been mounting at a fast pace , especially during the last decade. Moreover, crime on body seems to be increasing in comparison to crime on property. Economics and Sociology literature on crime attributes labour market as a transmitting institution for crime. This paper is an attempt to understand the issue of crime in India as a socio-economic problem with particular reference to the Indian labour market. I argue that the poor labour market conditions in the Indian economy that has been developing in the recent past may be a prime factor in explaining the spate of rise in crime rates recently. Panel data analysis of Indian states during the period 2001-2008 show that unemployment and wage inequality are key variables that explains the crime rate in India, especially crime on body. Education similarly seems to reduce property crime rate. Crime also seem to be deterred by an efficient judicial delivery system, however the role of police as a deterrent is ambiguous. |
| Keywords: | Crime; wages; unemployment; India |
| JEL: | J31 J21 E26 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:31387&r=lab |
| By: | Marius Brülhart; Céline Carrère; Federico Trionfetti |
| Abstract: | We study the response of regional employment and nominal wages to trade liberalization, exploiting the natural experiment provided by the opening of Central and Eastern European markets after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1990. Using data for Austrian municipalities, we examine differential pre- and post-1990 wage and employment growth rates between regions bordering the formerly communist economies and interior regions. If the "border regions" are defined narrowly, within a band of less than 50 kilometers, we can identify statistically significant liberalization effects on both employment and wages. While wages responded earlier than employment, the employment effect over the entire adjustment period is estimated to be around three times as large as the wage effect. The implied slope of the regional labor supply curve can be replicated in an economic geography model that features obstacles to labor migration due to immobile housing and to heterogeneous locational preferences. |
| Keywords: | trade liberalization; spatial adjustment; regional labor supply; natural experiment |
| JEL: | F15 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lau:crdeep:11.04&r=lab |
| By: | Jason Gagnon |
| Abstract: | While the econometric literature on the impact of immigration on labour markets is well developed, there is a striking gap with regards to the impact of emigration on sending countries. Building on the established literature measuring the impact of immigration, this paper attempts to narrow that gap by investigating whether the short but intense emigration period from Honduras from 2001 to 2007 to the U.S. increased wages in Honduras. It notably exploits the variation of labour supply by skill group in the labour market in the years following Hurricane Mitch. Relying on individual cross-sectional data and an instrumental variable approach, the estimates show that a 10% increase in emigration from Honduras increased wages in Honduras by around 10%, an increase which is higher than previous findings in other countries – but diminishing over time. It also provides evidence on implications in terms of redistribution by gender, rural/urban households and private sector workers.<BR>Alors que la littérature économique portant sur l’impact de l’immigration sur les marchés du travail est largement développée, il existe un déficit notable concernant l’impact de l’émigration sur le pays d’origine. A partir de la littérature mesurant l’impact de l’immigration, cet article vise à combler ce déficit en étudiant si la période d’émigration, à la fois courte mais intense, entre le Honduras et les États-Unis de 2001 à 2007 a entraîné une augmentation des salaires au Honduras. Il exploite notamment la variation d’offre de travail par groupe de compétences sur le marché du travail pour les années suivant l’ouragan Mitch. Fondées sur des données transversales individuelles et une approche reposant sur des variables instrumentales, les estimations montrent qu’une augmentation de 10% de l’émigration provenant du Honduras accroit les salaires honduriens de près de 10%, une augmentation supérieure à des résultats antérieurs pour d’autres pays – mais qui diminue au cours du temps. Les implications en termes de redistributions au niveau du genre, des ménages ruraux/urbains et des travailleurs privés sont aussi développées. |
| Keywords: | development, wages, international emigration, labour force, Honduras, Central America, développement, salaires, émigration internationale, force de travail, Honduras, Amérique Centrale |
| JEL: | E24 F22 J21 |
| Date: | 2011–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:devaaa:300-en&r=lab |
| By: | Fadilah Bt Puteh; Nor Intan Rafidah Binti Abd Radzuan; Noor Shahidah Shazlina Bt Abd Ghafar (Faculty of Administrative Science and Policy Studies, University Teknologi MARA) |
| Abstract: | When CUEPACS called for Malaysian Government to increase the retirement age from 56 to 60, many believes that the bold moves provides more rooms for the civil servants to have prudent financial security for the retirement preparation. On 1st July 2008, government has approved the raising of retirement age from 56 to 58 years old and it was gazetted in PKPA 6/2008 (Reference No: JPA/PEN/228/25/1/Jld 4). However, many research shows that there are mixture feeling between those who prefer to retire early and those who do not. This paper aims to look at the association between the effects of new retirement age policy with the variables. This study involves 200 public sector employees from Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) Headquarter in Kuala Lumpur as our respondents using questionnaire. Our objectives are (1) we want to determine whether there are relationship between new retirement age with job performance, career advancement, financial security and also job satisfaction, (2) what is the level of perception among the public sector employees on the factors affected by the new retirement age policy. The findings show that there are positive relationship between the new retirement age with job performance, career advancement, financial security and job satisfaction. Job performance and job satisfaction shows a moderate relationship with the value of 0.424 and 0.576 while career advancement and financial security shows a low relationship with the value of 0.256 and 0.388. High total mean score of career advancement (4.0286) and job performance (3.9075) shows that these two factors are highly affected by the new retirement age policy while financial security and also job satisfaction have moderate mean scores. We also found out that the percentage of civil servants that agree to the new retirement age (44%) is not much different from those who disagree (42%) |
| Keywords: | retirement, public sector employees, job performance, financial security, career advancement, job satisfaction |
| JEL: | M0 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cms:2icb11:2011-081&r=lab |
| By: | Paola Bertolini; Valentina Toscano; Linda Tosarelli |
| Abstract: | Given the deep economic and social differences of the Italian territories, the aim of the paper is to examine if there is a relationship between the territorial features of the Italian provinces and the school participation of young immigrants. The analysis focuses on the education experiences of young immigrants, especially on school participation in different levels, noting also the experiences of failure and higher education choices. The descriptive analysis of school participation and the economic-social characteristics has as objective to verify if there is a relationship between the latter and school participation. The analysis shows that the presence of foreign children in kindergarten is high and, in some regions, it is even higher than Italian children ones. Regarding the presence of immigrants in mandatory school, the turnout is above 90% in all regions. The participation rate of students in high school is commonly very low and compared with immigrants peers, the Italian school participation is widely higher. The presence of immigrant students has been analyzed considering the participation in different types of high school. In general, they prefer the vocational school. Moreover, the geographical distribution of participation in vocational schools is higher in northern region, where there is a significant industrial development and high employment rate. A statistical analysis of the determinants influencing the migrants’ choices has been made using some socio-economic indicators able to describe the economy of the different areas, especially in terms of sector-based specialization, presence of industrial districts, dynamics of labour market and households’ income. The results underline that the economic context is able to influence the individual choices; in particular the presence of manufacturing, the wealth of agriculture and the presence of schools exercise a positive influence. At the opposite, GDP per capita and agricultural orientation of the economy play a negative influence of immigrants school attendance. |
| Keywords: | immigrant students, education, territorial pattern, schooling determinants |
| JEL: | I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:depeco:0647&r=lab |
| By: | John P. Papay; John B. Willett; Richard J. Murnane |
| Abstract: | We ask whether failing one or more of the state-mandated high-school exit examinations affects whether students graduate from high school. Using a new multi-dimensional regression-discontinuity approach, we examine simultaneously scores on mathematics and English language arts tests. Barely passing both examinations, as opposed to failing them, increases the probability that students graduate by 7.6 percentage points. The effects are greater for students scoring near each cutoff than for students further away from them. We explain how the multi-dimensional regression-discontinuity approach provides insights over conventional methods for making causal inferences when multiple variables assign individuals to a range of treatments. |
| JEL: | C10 C14 I20 I21 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17112&r=lab |
| By: | Grady, Patrick |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the poor performance of recent immigrants to Canada in the labour market as revealed in the Statistics Canada Census 2006 Public Use Microdata File (PUMF). It presents the data which shows that immigrants from less developed countries are doing much worse than immigrants from industrialized countries. And unlike previous studies, it focuses on why immigrants from particular countries and regions do worse than others, rather on a comparison with non-immigrants. Using regression analysis it shows that key explanatory variable for the poor performance of recent immigrants are their education, their visible minority status, their language skills, their occupations, and their countries of origin. A profiling of immigrants who have done better than non-immigrant Canadians suggests that the performance of immigrants could be improved by utilizing information from the Census on the characteristics of immigrants who succeed in labour markets to improve the selection criteria and distribution of points used in the current scoring system to choose immigrants, but this would leave untouched the problem of the underperformance of immigrants who are not selected under the point system. This paper reaffirms and updates to 2005 our knowledge that the earnings in immigrants varies significantly by country of origin and that language and the portability of education credentials is a contributing factor. It concludes with some observations on the implications of its analysis for immigration policy. |
| Keywords: | wages; recent immigrants to Canada; immigration policy; immigrant labour; human capital |
| JEL: | J61 J24 J23 |
| Date: | 2011–06–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:31289&r=lab |
| By: | Abraham, Vinoj; Rajan, Irudaya S |
| Abstract: | Studies record that a large number of South Asian migrant workers in the Middle–East had to return to their home countries owing to the global financial crisis and loss of jobs. However, their distress of loss of job in the gulf is compounded by the fact that in their own home countries the rehabilitation and reintegration of these workers is tedious and often the returnees are thrust with forced choices. This paper, based on a primary survey conducted in five south Asian countries, namely; Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, concludes that on return, the employment status of REMs were in general worse off than in their host country with high share of casualisation, self employment and unemployment in the crisis year and a decline in their average monthly earnings. The analysis suggests that those who found employment on return was in fact driven by economic compulsions to reduce their job search period and cost. |
| Keywords: | Global Financial Crisis; Return Migrants; South Asia; Employment; Wages |
| JEL: | F22 N15 J2 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:31386&r=lab |
| By: | Irene Brambilla (Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Universidad de San Andrés y NBER); Rafael Dix Carneiro (Princeton University); Daniel Lederman (The World Bank); Guido Porto (Universidad Nacional de La Plata) |
| Abstract: | The returns to schooling and the skill premium are key parameters in various elds and policy debates, including the literatures on globalization and inequality, international migration, and technological change. This paper explores the skill premium and its correlation with exports in Latin America, thus linking the skill premium to the emerg- ing literature on the structure of trade and development. Using data on employment and wages for over seven million workers from sixteen Latin American economies, the authors estimate national and industry-specic returns to schooling and skill premi- ums and study some of their determinants. The evidence suggests that both country and industry characteristics are important in explaining returns to schooling and skill premiums. The analyses also suggest that the incidence of exports within industries, the average income per capita within countries, and the relative abundance of skilled workers are related to the underlying industry and country characteristics that explain these parameters. In particular, sectoral exports are positively correlated with the skill premium at the industry level, a result that supports recent trade models linking exports with wages and the demand for skills. |
| Keywords: | industry skill premium, industry exports, Latin America |
| JEL: | F13 F14 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0119&r=lab |
| By: | Tabea Bucher-Koenen; Annamaria Lusardi |
| Abstract: | We examine financial literacy in Germany using data from the SAVE survey. We find that knowledge of basic financial concepts is lacking among women, the less educated, and those living in East Germany. In particular, those with low education and low income in East Germany have little financial literacy compared to their West German counterparts. Interestingly, there is no gender disparity in financial knowledge in the East. In order to investigate the nexus of causality between financial literacy and retirement planning, we develop an IV strategy by making use of regional variation in the financial knowledge of peers. We find a positive impact of financial knowledge on retirement planning. |
| JEL: | D14 D91 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17110&r=lab |
| By: | Bilal Nasim |
| Abstract: | The Centre for the Economics of Education was asked to bring together a wide range of academic evidence (primarily England-based) to investigate the extent to which academic and non-academic childhood outcomes are complementary to each other, or are in some way traded-off against each other. The report also investigates the drivers of both academic and non-academic outcomes and the extent to which child outcomes persist throughout a child's life and across generations. There is also a brief discussion of the implications of this evidence to education policy. The report finds that the relationships between academic and non-academic outcomes are complex in nature. For example, pupils who are bullied or who take unauthorised absence at age 14 have significantly lower educational achievement at GCSE. Pupils who experienced bullying at age 14 were also much more likely to experience bullying at age 16. Conversely pupils who participate in positive extra-curricular activities, such as clubs, were also found to have better academic achievement later in their schooling. These childhood outcomes are themselves determined by a wide variety of influences (such as the quality of parenting they receive) and environmental factors (for example whether they are exposed to passive smoke). It has been well established that children from disadvantaged backgrounds have relatively poor academic outcomes and tend to have weaker social skills than children from more advantaged households. However the evidence also suggests that these children also go on to experience more negative outcomes in adulthood, such as lower probability of employment and lower wages. Furthermore key social and academic outcomes of parents - cognitive skills, attitudes to education, smoking and drinking - are related to similar behaviours in their children. The report concludes that the complex nature of the drivers of child development, the interdependence of child outcomes, and the way that outcomes persist through an individual's life and across generations needs to be recognised in order to develop truly effective policy.While very little of the evidence highlighted in this report identifies true causal relationships (i.e. that a factor X actually directly causes a change in outcome Y), the report draws on some of the highest quality research and analysis currently available, using detailed longitudinal datasets, including the Department's own Longitudinal Study of Young People in England. This enables us to identify at the very least 'robust associations' as well as the data allows. However it does suggest that further research is required to better understand the associations outlined in this report to move to a position where we can identify credible causal relationships. This is important to foster more justified and increasingly effective policymaking. This research report was written before the new UK Government took office on 11 May 2010. As a result the content may not reflect current Government policy. This research will be of use to officials and ministers in helping to shape the future direction of education policy and Departmental strategy. |
| Keywords: | education, government policy |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:ceedps:03&r=lab |
| By: | Arnold Polanski (School of Economics, University of East Anglia); Emiliya A. Lazarova (University of Birmingham) |
| Abstract: | We study dynamic multilateral markets, in which players’ payoffs result from coalitional bargaining. In this setting, we establish payoff uniqueness of the stationary equilibria when players exhibit some degree of impatience. We focus on market games with different player types, and derive under mild conditions an explicit formula for each type’s equilibrium payoff as market frictions vanish. The limit payoff of a type depends in an intuitive way on the supply and the demand for this type in the market, adjusted by the type-specific bargaining power. Our framework may be viewed as an alternative to the Walrasian price-setting mechanism. When we apply this methodology to the analysis of labor markets, we can determine endogenously the equilibrium firm size and remuneration scheme. We find that each worker type in a stationary market equilibrium is rewarded her marginal product, i.e. we obtain a strategic underpinning of the neoclassical wage. Interestingly, we can also replicate some standardized facts from the search-theoretical literature such as positive equilibrium unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Multilateral Bargaining, Dynamic Markets, Labor Markets |
| JEL: | C71 C72 C78 J30 L20 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2011.44&r=lab |
| By: | Teoh See Wie; Liew Lai Lai (Wawasan Open University); Ruzita Mustaffa (Ministry of Health, Malaysia) |
| Abstract: | The present study sought to evaluate the current level of job satisfaction, job commitment and the relationship between job commitments with the predictors of job satisfaction among health care workers in selected community clinics in Lower Perak District, Perak, Malaysia. 141 staffs from 7 community clinics voluntarily participated in this study. Data were gathered by survey questionnaire that consisted of a series of psychometrically sound scales to examine the various variables in the study. In general, the analyses suggested that health care workers were moderately satisfied and committed to their current jobs. In particular, working condition, pay and benefit were three factors that significantly motivated them. In contrast, none of the predicting factors of job satisfaction was significantly associated with job commitment. Our findings indicated that the motivational needs of health care employee was still situated at the low level of Maslow’s motivational needs pyramid, i.e. the belongingness level. This study also indicated that the community health care workers have similar organisation behaviour, which was consistent to custodial model. Pay and benefit were the most important attractions to motivate them continuously |
| Keywords: | Job Commitment, Job Satisfaction, Health Care |
| JEL: | M0 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cms:2icb11:2011-091&r=lab |
| By: | Francesca Francavilla, (Policy Studies Institute at University of Westminster); Gianna Claudia Giannelli (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche) |
| Abstract: | This paper gives some insight into the existence of a positive effect of family planning programmes on women’s employment in developing countries. We study married women aged 15 to 49 living throughout India using a sample drawn from the National Health Family Survey (NFHS-2) for 1998-1999. We focus on a programme of doorstep services delivered by health or family planning (FP) workers who are sent to visit women in their assigned areas. Results derived from the estimation of fixed effect linear probability and conditional logit models show a positive and significant correlation of the share of women living in a local area (village, town or city) that has been visited by FP workers with the probability of women’s employment. A multinomial analysis also shows that the largest positive effect of FP in rural India is to be found on paid work, as opposed to unpaid work, suggesting a potential empowering feedback of demographic measures through labour earnings. |
| Keywords: | India, women’s employment, family planning, urban and rural development. |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J18 J22 O18 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2011_10.rdf&r=lab |
| By: | Zolt n Hermann (Institute of Economics - Hungarian Academy of Sciences); Daniel Horn (Institute of Economics - Hungarian Academy of Sciences) |
| Abstract: | Previous research provided ambiguous results on the association between average student performance and inequality of opportunity, as measured by the effect of family background on student achievement. In this paper we explore this association distinguishing between inequality of opportunity at the bottom and the top of the score distribution using a two step method. In the first step, we use quantile regression models to estimate the family background effect at different points of the distribution within each country in PISA 2000-2009. In the second step, we analyse the association between these estimates and the mean achievement of countries. Both cross-section and country fixed-effect estimates indicate that while there is no clear pattern for the bottom of the distribution, lower inequality of opportunity at the top of the distribution goes strongly together with higher mean achievement. In other words, countries where family background has a weaker impact on achievement among the most able students tend to perform better. In short, there is indeed a positive association between equality of opportunity and mean student performance, at least for some groups of students. |
| Keywords: | equality of opportunity, educational performance, quantile regression, PISA |
| JEL: | I21 J21 D63 C21 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:discpr:1124&r=lab |
| By: | Choi, Kate H. (Princeton University); Tienda, Marta (Princeton University); Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. (University of Melbourne); Sinning, Mathias (Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | The claim that marriage is a venue for status exchange of achieved traits, like education, and ascribed attributes, notably race and ethnic membership, has regained traction in the social stratification literature. Most studies that consider status exchanges ignore birthplace as a social boundary for status exchanges via couple formation. This paper evaluates the status exchange hypothesis for Australia and the United States, two Anglophone nations with long immigration traditions whose admission regimes place different emphases on skills. A log-linear analysis reveals evidence of status exchange in the United States among immigrants with lower levels of education and mixed nativity couples with foreign-born husbands. Partly because Australian educational boundaries are less sharply demarcated at the postsecondary level, we find is weaker evidence for the status exchange hypothesis. Australian status exchanges across nativity boundaries usually involve marriages between immigrant spouses with a postsecondary credential below a college degree and native-born high school graduates. |
| Keywords: | status exchange, immigration, educational assortative mating |
| JEL: | F22 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5750&r=lab |
| By: | [no author] |
| Abstract: | This work comprises four essays in two related areas: labor and development economics. On the labor side, two essays study (i) the effects of sizeable policy reforms over labor informality and (ii) the relation between productivity and wages in a context of substantial informality and high turnover rates. On the development side, two essays provide a comparison between developed and developing countries in the following aspects: (iii) the degree of complementarity of production factors and their capacity to translate R&D investments into economic growth and (iv) the effects of fiscal redistribution over income inequality. Within the context of Latin America - the most income-unequal and labor-informal region in the world - this work intends to augment the understanding of the behavior, dynamics, interactions and contributions of productive factors (labor and innovative capital) and the effects that policies aimed at formalizing labor, innovating capital or redistributing factors retributions may have. The study applies recent measurement techniques and exploits rich novel datasets which combined with reformulated models help us to propose alternative appealing explanations. Lessons learnt from these four essays suggest that (i) job dynamics play a fundamental role in the success (or failure) of policies aimed at promoting labor formality. Against the conventional wisdom, we contend that reductions in hiring rather than increases in separation rates are the main determinants of informality increases following protectionist policies. (ii) Job dynamics also play a differentiating role in the determination of wage-productivity elasticities and income risk (with new hires reacting more than incumbents). (iii) Yet, returns of labor and physical capital are constant across countries and periods regardless the stage of development whereas they exhibit an inverted U shape for technological capital (this is, highest returns observed for mid developed cases). (iv) Comparable private returns of productive factors are mirrored in comparable market income inequality measures observed across some developed and developing regions. However, while in Europe fiscal redistribution helps to achieve better distributed disposable income, in Latin America fiscal redistribution has meager or even countervailing effects. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:euiflo:urn:hdl:1814/17734&r=lab |
| By: | Achyuta Adhvaryu (MEPH Health Policy and Administration, Yale University); Anant Nyshadham (Department of Economics, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | Models of the agricultural household have traditionally relied on assumptions regarding the complementarity or substitutability of family labor inputs. We show how data on time allocations, health shocks and corresponding treatment choices can be used to test these assumptions. Data from Tanzania provide evidence that complementarities exist and can explain the pattern of labor supply adjustments across household members and productive activities following acute sickness. In particular, we find that sick and healthy household members both shift labor away from self-employment and into farming when the sick recover more quickly. Infra-marginal adjustments within farming activity types provide further evidence of farm-specific complementarities. |
| Keywords: | intra-household allocation, health shocks, complementarity |
| JEL: | I10 J22 J43 O12 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egc:wpaper:996&r=lab |
| By: | Anger, Silke (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | This study examines cognitive and non-cognitive skills and their transmission from parents to children as one potential candidate to explain the intergenerational link of socio-economic status. Using representative data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, we contrast the impact of parental cognitive abilities (fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence) and personality traits (Big Five, locus of control) on their adolescent and young adult children's traits with the effects of parental background and childhood environment. While for both age groups intelligence and personal traits were found to be transmitted from parents to their children, there are large discrepancies with respect to the age group and the type of skill. The intergenerational transmission effect was found to be relatively small for adolescent children, with correlations between 0.12 and 0.24, whereas the parent-child correlation in the sample of adult children was between 0.19 and 0.27 for non-cognitive skills, and up to 0.56 for cognitive skills. Thus, the skill gradient increases with the age of the child. Furthermore, the skill transmission effects are virtually unchanged by controlling for childhood environment or parental education, suggesting that the socio-economic status of the family does not play a mediating role in the intergenerational transmission of intelligence and personality traits. The finding that non-cognitive skills are not as strongly transmitted as cognitive skills, suggests that there is more room for external (non-parental) influences in the formation of personal traits. Hence, it is more promising for policy makers to focus on shaping children's non-cognitive skills to promote intergenerational mobility. Intergenerational correlations of cognitive skills in Germany are roughly the same or slightly stronger than those found by previous studies for other countries with different institutional settings. Intergenerational correlations of non-cognitive skills revealed for Germany seem to be considerably higher than the ones found for the U.S. Hence, skill transmission does not seem to be able to explain cross-country differences in socio-economic mobility. |
| Keywords: | cognitive abilities, personality, intergenerational transmission, skill formation |
| JEL: | J10 J24 I20 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5749&r=lab |
| By: | Holden, Steinar (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo); Sparrman, Victoria (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | We investigate empirically the effect of government purchases on unemployment in 20 OECD countries, for the period 1960-2007. Compared to earlier studies we use a data set with more variation in unemployment, and which allows for controlling for a host of factors that influence the effect of government purchases. We find that increased government purchases lead to lower unemployment; an increase equal to one percent of GDP reduces unemployment by 0.2 percentage point in the same year. The effect is greater in downturns than in booms, and also greater under a fixed exchange rate regime than under a floating regime. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal policy; unemployment |
| JEL: | E62 H30 |
| Date: | 2011–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2011_017&r=lab |
| By: | Christopher Reicher |
| Abstract: | This paper outlines a simple regression-based method to decompose the variance of an aggregate time series into the variance of its components, which is then applied to measure the relative contributions of productivity, hours per worker, and employment to cyclical output growth across a panel of countries. Measured productivity contributes more to the cycle in Europe and Japan than in the United States. Employment contributes the largest proportion of the cycle in Europe and the United States (but not Japan), which is inconsistent with the idea that higher levels of employment protection in Europe dampen cyclical employment fluctuations |
| Keywords: | Intensive margin, extensive margin, productivity, business cycles, variance decomposition |
| JEL: | C32 E24 E32 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1703&r=lab |
| By: | Aldieri, Luigi; Vinci, Concetto Paolo |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyse the correlation between the level of education and the number of children in Italy. We select 10,720 Italian families from the 2004-2007 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) dataset. Our dependent variable is represented by the number of children ever born to each respondent. Since the number of children ever born is a count variable, Poisson regression is the suitable statistical procedure used to conduct the empirical analysis. First, we estimate the correlation between the female’s education and her number of children, and then we use also partner’s education to take into account the family dimension. Furthermore, in the context of fertility, zero observations might be due either to the choice not to have children or to impossibility to become a mother. For this reason, we adopt also a more appropriate tool, that is a Zero-Inflated Poisson regression. From the empirical results, we may observe a significant negative correlation between the level of education and the number of children. |
| Keywords: | Fertility; Human Capital; Education |
| JEL: | J13 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–06–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:31392&r=lab |
| By: | Gil S. Epstein (Department of Economics, Bar Ilan University); Alessandra Venturini (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | Temporary and circular migration programs have been devised by many destination countries and supported by the European Commission as a policy to reduce welfare and social costs of immigration in destination countries. In this paper we present an additional reason for proposing temporary migration policies based on the characteristics of the foreign labor-effort supply. The level of effort exerted by migrants, which decreases over their duration in the host country, positively affects production, real wages and capital owners' profits. We show that the acceptance of job offers by migrants result in the displacement in employment of national workers. However it increases the workers‟ exertion, decreases prices and thus can counter anti-immigrant voter sentiment. Therefore, the favorable sentiment of the capital owners and the local population towards migrants may rise when temporary migration policies are adopted. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Exertion of effort, Contracted Temporary Migration |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:biu:wpaper:2011-19&r=lab |
| By: | Richard Blundell (UCL & IFS); Andrew Shephard (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | The optimal design of low income support is examined using a structural labour supply model. The approach incorporates unobserved heterogeneity, fixed costs of work, childcare costs and the detailed non-convexities of the tax and transfer system. The analysis considers purely Pareto improving reforms and also optimal design under social welfare functions with different degrees of inequality aversion. We explore the gains from tagging and also examine the case for the use of hours-contingent payments. Using the tax schedule for lone parents in the UK as our policy environment, the results point to a reformed non-linear tax schedule with tax credits only optimal for low earners. The results also suggest a welfare improving role for tagging according to child age and for hours-contingent payments, although the case for the latter is mitigated when hours cannot be monitored or recorded accurately by the tax authorities. |
| Keywords: | childcare costs, low income support, taxation |
| JEL: | J08 J30 I38 H31 D60 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:cepsud:1307&r=lab |