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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Carlos Carrillo-Tudela (Department of Economics, University of Essex, United Kingdom); Leo Kaas (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany) |
| Abstract: | We consider a model of on-the-job search where firms offer long-term wage contracts to workers of different ability. Firms do not observe worker ability upon hiring but learn it gradually over time. With sufficiently strong information frictions, low-wage firms offer separating contracts and hire all types of workers in equilibrium, whereas high-wage firms offer pooling contracts designed to retain high-ability workers only. Low-ability workers have higher turnover rates, they are more often employed in low-wage firms and face an earnings distribution with a higher frictional component. Furthermore, positive sorting obtains in equilibrium. |
| Keywords: | Adverse Selection, On-the-job Search, Wage Dispersion, Sorting |
| JEL: | D82 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2011–08–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1129&r=lab |
| By: | Staubli, Stefan; Zweimüller, Josef |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how an increase in the minimum retirement age affects the labor market behavior of older workers. Between 2000 and 2006 the Austrian government gradually increased the early retirement age from 60 to 62.2 for men and from 55 to 57.2 for women. Using administrative data on the universe of Austrian private-sector employees, the results from the empirical analysis suggest that this policy change reduced retirement by 19 percentage points among affected men and by 25 percentage points among affected women. The decline in retirement was accompanied by a sizeable increase in employment of 7 percentage points among men and 10 percentage points among women, but had also a important spillover effects into the unemployment insurance program. Specifically, the unemployment rate increased by 10 percentage points among men and 11 percentage points among women. In contrast, the policy change had only a small impact on the share of individuals claiming disability or partial retirement benefits. |
| Keywords: | early retirement; labor supply; policy reform; retirement age |
| JEL: | J14 J26 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8510&r=lab |
| By: | Hart, Robert A. (University of Stirling); Roberts, J. Elizabeth (University of Stirling) |
| Abstract: | This paper makes use of the British New Earnings Survey Panel Dataset between 1976 and 2010. It consists of individual-level payroll data and comprises a random sample of 1% of the entire male and female labor force. About two-thirds of within- and between-company moves involve job re-grading (measured at 3-digit occupation level) while one-third of movers retain their job titles. We find that the real wages of both male and female workers who change job titles within companies are significantly more procyclical than job stayers. This lends support to the predicted procyclical real wage effects of the Reynolds-Reder-Hall job re-grading hypothesis. On the extensive margin, title changers and title retainers who move jobs between companies exhibit the same degrees of wage cyclicality and these are considerably greater than for job stayers. |
| Keywords: | real wage cyclicality, spot wages, job moves, job re-grading |
| JEL: | E32 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5912&r=lab |
| By: | Card, David (University of California, Berkeley); Cardoso, Ana Rute (IAE Barcelona (CSIC)) |
| Abstract: | Although the practice of military conscription was widespread during most of the past century, credible evidence on the effects of mandatory service is limited. Angrist (1990) showed that the Vietnam-era draft in the U.S. lowered the early-career wages of conscripts, a finding he attributed to the low value of military experience. More recent studies have found a mixed pattern of effects, with both negative (the Netherlands) and positive (in Sweden) earnings impacts. Even among Vietnam era draftees, Angrist and Chen (2011) find that the net effect on earnings by age 50 is close to zero. We provide new evidence on the long-term impacts of peacetime conscription in a "low education" labor market, using longitudinal data for Portuguese men born in 1967. These men were inducted at a relatively late age (21), allowing us to use pre- conscription wages as a control for potential ability differences between conscripts and non- conscripts. Our estimates of the average impact of military service for men who had entered the labor market by age 21 are slightly positive (1-2 percent) but not significantly different from zero throughout the period from 2 to 20 years after their service. These small average effects arise from a significantly positive later-life impact for men with only primary education, coupled with a zero-effect for men with higher education. The positive impacts for less-educated men suggest that mandatory service can be a valuable experience for poorly-educated men who might otherwise spend their careers in low-level jobs. |
| Keywords: | military conscription, longitudinal earnings, quasi-differences, sensitivity analysis |
| JEL: | J31 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5915&r=lab |
| By: | Jeff Biddle; Daniel S. Hamermesh |
| Abstract: | Using CPS data from 1979-2009 we examine how cyclical downturns and industry-specific demand shocks affect wage differentials between white non-Hispanic males and women, Hispanics and African-Americans. Women’s and Hispanics’ relative earnings are harmed by negative shocks, while the earnings disadvantage of African-Americans may drop with negative shocks. Negative shocks also appear to increase the earnings disadvantage of bad-looking workers. A theory of job search suggests two opposite-signed mechanisms that affect these wage differentials. It suggests greater absolute effects among job-movers, which is verified using the longitudinal component of the CPS. |
| JEL: | E29 J71 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17326&r=lab |
| By: | Niels-Jakob Harbo Hansen |
| Abstract: | After the onset of the crisis, unemployment in Sweden increased markedly, though much less than expected and than during the early 1990s, even as participation in the labour market held up well. The challenge going forward is to ensure that high unemployment does not become entrenched or leads to withdrawals from the labour force. The government has taken measures to mitigate this risk, particularly in the areas of job-search incentives and enrolment in education. Nevertheless, additional reforms are needed to ensure a sustained job-rich expansion. Such reforms should focus on increasing the flexibility of the labour market and strengthening job-search incentives further. This Working Paper relates to the 2011 OECD Economic Survey of Sweden (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/Sweden).<P>Limiter le Chômage de Longue Durée et la Non-Participation à l'Activité en Suède<BR>Après qu’a éclaté la crise, le chômage en Suède a augmenté fortement, bien que beaucoup moins que prévu et que pendant le début des années 90, même si la participation au marché du travail s’est bien maintenue. Le défi pour l’avenir consistera à éviter que le haut niveau de chômage ne perdure ou ne conduise à des retraits de la vie active. Le gouvernement a pris des mesures pour atténuer ce risque, en particulier avec des incitations à la recherche d’emploi et en encourageant le recours à la formation. Néanmoins, d’autres réformes seront nécessaires pour garantir une croissance soutenue riche en emplois. Il faudrait s’attacher à accroître la flexibilité du marché du travail et à renforcer davantage encore les incitations à la recherche d’emploi. Ce document se rapporte à l’Étude économique de la Suède de l’OCDE, 2011 (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/suede). |
| Keywords: | Sweden, employment protection legislation, labour costs, public employment services, minimum wage, labour market dualism, Suède, législation sur la protection de l'emploi, salaire minimum, coût du travail, service public de l'emploi, dualisme du marché du travail |
| JEL: | H20 J08 J30 J60 K31 |
| Date: | 2011–02–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:842-en&r=lab |
| By: | Macunovich, Diane (University of Redlands) |
| Abstract: | Relative cohort size – the ratio of young to prime-age adults – and relative income – the income of young adults relative to their material aspirations, as instrumented using the income of older families their parents' age – have experienced dramatic changes over the past 40 years. Relative cohort size has been shown to cause a decline in men's relative wages – the wages of young relative to prime-age workers – due to imperfect substitutability, and the results here show that this applies perhaps even more strongly to women's relative – and absolute – starting wage. Relative cohort size first declined by 30% and then increased by 47%. Results here show that those changes explain about 60% of the declines in women's starting wage – both relative and absolute – in the first period, and 100% of its increase in the second. Relative income is hypothesized to affect a number of demographic choices by young adults, including marriage, fertility and female labor force participation, as young people strive to achieve their desired standard of living. Older family income – the denominator in a relative income variable – increased by 58.6% between 1968 and 2000, and then declined by 9%. Its changes explain 66% of the increase in the labor force participation of women in their first five years out of school between 1968 and 2000, and 75% of its decline thereafter. The study makes use of individual-level measures of labor force participation, with instrumented wages, and employs the lagged income of older families in a woman’s year-state-race-education group to instrument parental income and hence material aspirations. |
| Keywords: | women's labor force participation, relative income, relative cohort size, sex ratio, women's hours worked |
| JEL: | J22 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5913&r=lab |
| By: | Kea Tijdens (AIAS / FEB, Universiteit van Amsterdam); Maarten Klaveren (AIAS, Universiteit van Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Are overeducation and undereducation more common for migrants compared to domestic workers? If so, is overeducation and undereducation similar across migrants from various home countries and across various host countries? This paper aims at unravelling the incidence of skill mismatch of domestic and migrant workers employed in 13 countries of the European Union, namely Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Here migrants are defined as workers not born in the country where they are currently living. They originate from more than 200 countries, thereby reflecting a heterogeneous group, ranging from migrants for economic reasons and refugees, to expats, intercultural married, and others. Concerning overeducation, most of the literature points to explanations related to job allocation frictions. The theoretical explanations for overeducation all refer to job allocation frictions. They apply to workers in general at first job entry, to particular groups of workers at fi rst job entry such as re-entering housewives or workers who have experienced unemployment spells and involuntary quits, to workers accepting a lower-level job if the probability of promotion is higher, to imperfect information from the employer’s side associated with a lack of transparency of diplomas or of transferability of credentials, to poor abilities of individual workers, and to labour market discrimination. Six hypothesis have been drafted for empirical testing. One hypothesis has been made for undereducation. This is assumed to be the case for workers with higher abilities, here defined as workers in supervisory positions. This paper builds on statistical analyses of the data of the large _WageIndicator_ web-survey about work and wages, posted at all national _WageIndicator_ websites and comparable across all countries. Using the pooled annual data of the years 2005-20010, we used 291,699 observations in the analysis. The large sample size allows a break-down of migrant groups according to country of birth in order to better capture the heterogeneity of migrants. Logit analyses have been used to estimate the likelihood of being overqualified compared to having a correct match or being underqualified. Similar estimations have been made for underqualification compared to having a correct match or being overqualified. <br /> One of five workers asseses to be overqualified (20%). When comparing the domestic and migrant workers, overqualification occurs less often among domestic workers than among migrant workers (19% versus 24%). The analyses show that overeducation occurs indeed more often among migrant workers. Yet, the analyses also reveals that the overeducation occurs substantially more often in the old EU member states compared to newly accessed EU member states, regardless being a domestic worker or a migrant. The model shows that the heterogeneity of the migrant groups should be taken into account. Of all migrant and domestic groups, the odds ratio of being overqualified is highest for migrants working in EU15 and born in EU12. The odds ratio decreases for the migrants from USA, Canada and Australia. The odds ratio of being overeducated increases with educational attainment. It decreases with hierarchical level within the occupation, with the the corporate hierarchical levels, and with the skill level of the job. The hypothesis regarding job allocation frictions are confirmed. The odds ratios of being overqualified increase for recent labour market entrants, for workers with an employment spell, for female workers, for migrants who arrived at an adult age thus challenging the transparency of credetials in the host country, and for for 1st and 2nd generation migrants and ethnic minorities thus challenging discrimination in the labour market. No support was found for the hypothesis that workers with presumably poor language abilities are more likely to be overeducated. Concerning undereducation, the analyses confirm that having a supervisory position increases the odds ratio of being underqualified. This suggest that underqualified workers with higher capabilities provide internal career ladders. This study in part confirms the existing literature, in particular the job allocation frictions for the entire labour market. It expands existing empirical findings concerning the reasons why migrants are more likely to be overeducted. |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aia:aiaswp:wp110&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas K. Bauer; Stefan Bender; Alfredo R. Paloyo; Christoph M. Schmidt |
| 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 eff ect 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: | Regression discontinuity; conscription; career interruption; skill atrophy;TS2SLS |
| JEL: | I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0260&r=lab |
| By: | Elisabetta Gentile; Scott A. Imberman |
| Abstract: | Uniform use in public schools is rising, but we know little about how they affect students. Using a unique dataset from a large urban school district in the southwest United States, we assess how uniforms affect behavior, achievement and other outcomes. Each school in the district determines adoption independently, providing variation over schools and time. By including student and school fixed-effects we find evidence that uniform adoption improves attendance in secondary grades, while in elementary schools they generate large increases in teacher retention. |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17337&r=lab |
| By: | Dayanand S. Manoli; Andrea Weber |
| Abstract: | This paper presents new empirical evidence on the effects of retirement benefits on labor force participation decisions. We use administrative data on the census of private sector employees in Austria and variation from mandated discontinuous changes in retirement benefits from the Austrian pension system. We present graphical evidence documenting labor supply responses to the policy discontinuities. Next, we develop nonparametric procedures to estimate labor supply elasticities based on the graphical evidence and mandated financial incentives. We estimate elasticities of 0.12 for men and 0.38 for women. These relatively low elasticities highlight that many retirement decisions are likely to be affected by factors beyond only financial incentives from retirement benefits. |
| JEL: | H55 J22 J26 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17320&r=lab |
| By: | Anita Wölfl; Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti |
| Abstract: | After steady employment growth since the 1990s, Spain has experienced the sharpest increase in unemployment among OECD countries during the crisis, amplified by structural problems of the labour market. Very high de facto severance payment of permanent contracts has resulted in a rigid dual market with adverse effects on unemployment and productivity. The collective wage bargaining system has hindered firms from adapting to macroeconomic shocks exacerbating their negative effects on the labour market. The recent labour market reform legislation is a positive step to reduce excessive protection of workers in permanent contracts, although some uncertainty remains on how courts will interpret it. It also makes it easier for firms to opt out from higher level collective agreements. The large drop-out rate from lower secondary education is an important factor explaining very high unemployment among young workers. Better access of young people to training is an effective tool to keep them out of a depressed labour market. Finally, the matching of people to jobs, notably through the public employment services, needs to be made more efficient, all the more so under currently tight fiscal constraints. Although the recent reform allows private for-profit firms to provide placement services, more needs to be done. Performance of regional public employment services should be benchmarked and incentives of unemployment benefit recipients to search for a job increased.<P>Réformer le marché du travail en Espagne<BR>Après avoir connu une croissance régulière de l’emploi durant les années 90, l’Espagne a accusé la plus forte hausse du chômage de tous les pays de l’OCDE pendant la crise, amplifiée par les problèmes structurels du marché du travail. Les indemnités de licenciement très élevées obtenues de facto par les titulaires de contrats permanents ont créé des rigidités et abouti à un dualisme du marché du travail qui a des effets négatifs sur l’emploi et la productivité. Le système de négociation collective des salaires a empêché les entreprises de s’adapter aux chocs macroéconomiques et donc d’en atténuer l’impact sur l’emploi. La législation de réforme du marché du travail devrait permettre de réduire la protection excessive dont bénéficie l’emploi permanent, mais certaines incertitudes subsistent quant à la façon dont ce texte sera interprété par les tribunaux. Ces dispositions permettent plus aisément aux entreprises de ne pas appliquer les conventions collectives de haut niveau. Le taux élevé d’abandon des études au premier cycle de l’enseignement secondaire explique pour beaucoup le très fort chômage qui sévit chez les jeunes. Élargir l’accès des jeunes à la formation serait un moyen efficace de les tenir à l’écart d’un marché du travail déprimé. Enfin, il y aurait lieu d’améliorer l’efficacité des activités de placement, notamment au travers des services publics de l’emploi, et ce d’autant plus compte tenue des contraintes budgétaires actuelles. La réforme récente autorise les entreprises à but lucratif à offrir des services de placement, mais il faut aller plus loin. Dans cette optique, il faudrait soumettre les services publics régionaux de l’emploi à des évaluations de performance et inciter davantage les chômeurs indemnisés à rechercher un emploi. |
| Keywords: | Spain, employment protection, unemployment benefits, collective bargaining system, continuous training, matching process, Espagne, protection de l'emploi, formation continue, système de négociation collective, appariement entre offre et demande de travail, prestations de chômage |
| JEL: | E24 E31 I2 J0 J2 J3 J5 J6 |
| Date: | 2011–02–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:845-en&r=lab |
| By: | Virginia Maestri (AIAS, Universiteit van Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | While the share of non-native students in a class is expected to have a non positive effect on school achievement, little is said about the heterogeneity of the ethnic minority make-up. Ethnic diversity can stimulate the creativity of students, can push them to be proficient in the instructional language, can reduce the scope of ethnic identification with all its possible drawbacks, but it may also worsen social interactions among pupils and make the job of teachers more difficult. We exploit the within school cohort variation in ethnic diversity of a rich data-set about primary education in the Netherlands to investigate whether ethnic diversity matters for school achievement, for whom it matters and which can be the other mechanisms it may generate. We find that ethnic diversity has a positive impact on the test scores of minority students, especially for language skills and older students. We also find a negative relationship between ethnic diversity and the school social environment. |
| Keywords: | ethnic diversity; education; peer effects JEL classification: I21; I28; J15 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aia:aiaswp:wp108&r=lab |
| By: | Alessandra Cataldi; Stephan K. S. Kampelmann; François Rycx |
| Abstract: | Using longitudinal matched employer-employee data for the period 1999-2006, we investigate the relationship between age, wage and productivity in the Belgian private sector. More precisely, we examine how changes in the proportions of young (16-29 years), middle-aged (30-49 years) and older (more than 49 years) workers affect the productivity of firms and test for the presence of productivity-wage gaps. Results (robust to various potential econometric issues, including unobserved firm heterogeneity, endogeneity and state dependence) suggest that workers older than 49 are significantly less productive than prime age and young workers. In contrast, the productivity of middle-age workers is not found to be significantly different compared to young workers. Findings further indicate that average hourly wages within firms increase significantly and monotonically with age. Overall, this leads to the conclusion that young workers are paid below their marginal productivity while older workers appear to be “overpaid” and lends empirical support to theories of deferred compensation over the life-cycle (Lazear, 1979). |
| Keywords: | Wages; Productivity; Aging; Matched panel data |
| JEL: | J14 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/95807&r=lab |
| By: | Joshua D. Angrist; Parag A. Pathak; Christopher R. Walters |
| Abstract: | Estimates using admissions lotteries suggest that urban charter schools boost student achievement, while charter schools in other settings do not. We explore student-level and school-level explanations for these differences using a large sample of Massachusetts charter schools. Our results show that urban charter schools boost achievement well beyond ambient non-charter levels (that is, the average achievement level for urban non-charter students), and beyond non-urban achievement in math. Student demographics explain some of these gains since urban charters are most effective for non-whites and low-baseline achievers. At the same time, non-urban charter schools are uniformly ineffective. Our estimates also reveal important school-level heterogeneity in the urban charter sample. A non-lottery analysis suggests that urban schools with binding, well-documented admissions lotteries generate larger score gains than under-subscribed urban charter schools with poor lottery records. We link the magnitude of charter impacts to distinctive pedagogical features of urban charters such as the length of the school day and school philosophy. The relative effectiveness of urban lottery-sample charters is accounted for by over-subscribed urban schools' embrace of the No Excuses approach to education. |
| JEL: | H75 I21 I22 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17332&r=lab |
| By: | Maarten Klaveren (AIAS, Universiteit van Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This Working Paper is basically a “source bookâ€, accounting the results of over five years of research into the retail industry and the sources used for that research. It originates from the Future of Work in Europe research project of the New York-based Russell Sage Foundation (RSF), in which the AIAS and STZ advies & onderzoek (consultancy & research) carried out the Dutch part, resulting in the monograph Low-Wage Work in the Netherlands (RSF, 2008). It also incorporates sources for the retail part of the project that subsequently compared low-wage developments in Europe and the US, resulting in the volume Low-Wage Work in the Wealthy World (RSF, 2010). The Working Paper shows the development of Dutch retailing as an industry in which in the 2000s nearly half of all workers earn less than the low-wage threshold, that is, less than two-thirds of the national median gross hourly wage. In the 1980s and early 1990s retailing already moved towards low pay in the Netherlands. From the mid-1990s on, major factors worked toward the persistence of low pay, in particular in the supermarkets, where three in five workers earned less than the threshold: the slowdown or even decline of disposable income growth and the low consumer-spending share; price wars and the spread of discounting; economies of scale and deregulation of zoning regulations and opening hours, and the development of supply-chain management systems. The longer opening hours allowed by the 1996 Opening Hours (Shops) Act initiated changes in the logistical chain. The food chains replaced adult shift workers with young shelf-stackers; the long “tail†of low youth rates, also applied for prospective checkout operators, proved to constitute an exit option for employers maintaining a low-wage orientation. The supermarket price war of 2003-2006 strengthened employers’ orientation on deploying youngsters, in particular secondary and tertiary education students, (initially, in 2003-04) at the expense of adult women and, structurally, at the expense of those youngsters who want to earn a living wage after leaving school. The official facility to combine work and study distorts parts of the youth retail labour market, effectively crowding out the latter category. In spite of the domination of “low roads†in product market and human resources strategies of food chains, functional flexibility proved to be widespread at shop-floor level -- almost inevitable as tight financial and personnel benchmarks do not allow idle hours. Working time and scheduling issues stood out prominently in workplace relations in the supermarkets. Recurrent issues of complaint concerned employer decisions concerning working times and days-off, as well as low staffing levels and employers not paying according to hours worked. Discontent on these matters rose during the price war. In consumer electronics retail, the other retail sub-sector studied, nearly one in five workers earned less than the low-wage threshold. Yet, workers had to rely to a considerably part on bonuses and compensations paid for working overtime or unusual hours to reach an acceptable pay level. In consumer electronics the working time issue was much less prominent, partly because of the lower share of part-timers, partly because of higher wages, partly because of the compensation system. Without suggesting a too rosy picture, based on an assessment of shop-floor relations we may conclude that consumer electronics retailing contrasted indeed to a large extent with the supermarket branch, not least because this business is sales-based and knowledgeable salespersons have to be regarded as valuable assets. |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aia:aiaswp:wp100&r=lab |
| By: | Tindara Addabbo; Anna Maccagnan |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of the crisis on the Italian labour market. The Italian labour market is characterized by deep gender differences and regional variability. The data show that the crisis lead to an increase in the gap of female employment rates and womens inactivity rates with respect to Europe. The North of Italy experienced a higher increase in unemployment than the South, where many people withdrew from the labour market because of poor employment prospects. Moreover, in Italy, the increase in unemployment has been mitigated by the increase in the number of workers having access to the wage supplementation fund who are not computed within the unemployed. However, the heterogeneity in the system of unemployment benefits increased inequalities amongst the unemployed. Using a micro simulation techniques, we estimate the effect of the crisis on income distribution and poverty and find that at the national level, the population showed a reduction in equivalised household income by about 1 percent. The limited impact on household's equivalent income can be connected to the relatively high share of unemployed who are young with relatively low income and sustained by other members of the household. |
| Keywords: | labour market, poverty, economic crisis |
| JEL: | J6 I32 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:cappmo:0086&r=lab |
| By: | Arndt Reichert; Harald Tauchmann |
| Abstract: | We analyze the eff ect of job insecurity on psychological health. We extend the group of people being aff ected to employees who have insecure jobs to account for a broader measure of the mental health consequences of potential unemployment. Using panel data with staff reductions in the company as an exogenous source of job insecurity, we fi nd that an increase in fear of unemployment substantially decreases the mental health status of employees. Quantile regression results yield particularly strong eff ects for individuals of already poor mental health. |
| Keywords: | Fear of unemployment; mental health; job insecurity; labor market dynamics |
| JEL: | I10 I18 J28 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0266&r=lab |
| By: | Sandro Favre |
| Abstract: | Recent immigrants in Switzerland are overrepresented at the top of the wage distribution in high and at the bottom in low skill occupations. Basic economic theory thus suggests that immigration has led to a compression of the wage distribution in the former group and to an expansion in the latter. The data confirm this proposition for high skill occupations, but reveal effects close to zero for low skill occupations. While the estimated wage effects are of considerable magnitude at the tails of the wage distribution in high skill occupations, the effects on overall inequality are shown to be negligible. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, wage distribution, occupation groups, inequality |
| JEL: | F22 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:022&r=lab |
| By: | Bonaventura, Luigi (University of Catania, Department of Economics and Quantitative Methods) |
| Abstract: | In a matching model of the academic labour market, with high-skilled (brain) and low-skilled (local) workers, this paper shows that brain workers are harmed by the local. This depends on two types of search frictions: information and cooptation frictions. Search frictions reduce the probability to get an academic job for brain workers compared to the local. A high level of cooptation discards the brain workers but, under certain conditions, the absence of cooptation does not decreases the possibility to get an academic job for the local workers. Whithin this framework, some explanations about the low probability to catch the brains and the obstacles for a e ective equal opportunity between local and outside candidates are discussed. |
| Keywords: | academic labour market; search frictions; cooptation; recruitment system. |
| JEL: | I23 J45 J71 |
| Date: | 2011–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:demqwp:2011_002&r=lab |
| By: | Bouton, Lawrence; Paul, Saumik; Tiongson, Erwin R. |
| Abstract: | Thousands of Moldovans emigrated for work abroad over the last few years following nearly a decade of economic stagnation in their home country. At about 30 percent of the labor force, Moldova's emigrant population is in relative terms among the largest in the world. This study uses a unique household survey to examine the impact of emigration on wages in Moldova. The authors find a positive and significant impact of emigration on wages and the result is robust to the use of alternative samples and specifications. The size of the emigration coefficient varies depending on the sample and model specification, but the baseline result suggests that, on average, a 10 percent increase in the emigration rate is associated with 3.2 percent increase in wages. At the same time, there is evidence of significant differences across economic sectors in the estimated effect of emigration on wages. The authors speculate and provide some evidence that offsetting changes in labor demand, as revealed by information on employment growth by sector, may help explain some of the heterogeneity. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Labor Policies,Population Policies,Voluntary and Involuntary Resettlement,Human Migrations&Resettlements |
| Date: | 2011–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5764&r=lab |
| By: | Justino, Patricia; Leone, Marinella; Salardi, Paola |
| Abstract: | The Timor Leste secession conflict lasted for 25 years. Its last wave of violence in 1999, following the withdrawal of Indonesian troops, generated massive displacement and destruction with widespread consequences for the economic and social development of the country. This paper analyzes the impact of the conflict on the level and access to education of boys and girls in Timor Leste. The authors examine the short-term impact of the 1999 violence on school attendance and grade deficit rates in 2001, and the longer-term impact of the conflict on primary school completion of cohorts of children observed in 2007. They compare the educational impact of the 1999 wave of violence with the impact of other periods of high-intensity violence during the 25 years of Indonesian occupation. The short-term effects of the conflict are mixed. In the longer term, the analysis finds a strong negative impact of the conflict on primary school completion among boys of school age exposed to peaks of violence during the 25-year long conflict. The effect is stronger for boys attending the last three grades of primary school. This result shows a substantial loss of human capital among young males in Timor Leste since the early 1970s, resulting from household investment trade-offs between education and economic survival. |
| Keywords: | Adolescent Health,Youth and Governance,Education For All,Primary Education,Post Conflict Reconstruction |
| Date: | 2011–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5774&r=lab |
| By: | Luis Fernando Gamboa (Universidad del Rosario, Colombia); Fábio D. Waltenberg (Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil) |
| Abstract: | We assess inequality of opportunity in educational achievement in six Latin American countries, employing two waves of PISA data (2006 and 2009). By means of a non-parametric approach using a decomposable inequality index, GE(0), we rank countries according to their degree of inequality of opportunity. We work with alternative characterizations of types: school type (public or private), gender, parental education, and combinations of those variables. We calculate ?incremental contributions? of each set of circumstances to inequality. We provide rankings of countries based on unconditional inequalities (using conventional indices) and on conditional inequalities (EOp indices), and the two sets of rankings do not always coincide. Inequality of opportunities ranges from less than 1% to up to 27%, with substantial heterogeneity according to the year, the country, the subject and the specification of circumstances. Robustness checks based on bootstrap and the use of an alternative index confirm most of the initial results. |
| Keywords: | Inequality of Opportunity, economics of education, Latin America. |
| JEL: | D63 O15 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2011-206&r=lab |
| By: | Javier E. Báez; Adriana Camacho |
| 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 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. |
| Date: | 2011–05–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:008900&r=lab |
| By: | Mukhopadhyay, Ujjaini; Chaudhuri, Sarbajit |
| Abstract: | The paper develops a 3-sector general equilibrium model appropriate for economies with female labour oriented export sector to examine the effects of economic liberalization policies on gender based wage inequality. It is assumed that there exist disparities in efficiencies between male and female labour due to skewed access to education and health, and differences in their spending patterns leading to differential effects of respective wages on their nutrition. The results indicate that tariff cut may reduce gender wage inequality, but may have detrimental effects on welfare; while foreign capital inflow may accentuate the inequality, despite improving the welfare of the economy. However, government policies to increase the provision of education and health have favourable effects on gender wage inequality but may be welfare deteriorating. Thus, the paper provides a theoretical explanation to empirical evidences of diverse effects of liberalization on gender wage inequality and explains the possibility of a trade-off between gender inequality and social welfare. |
| Keywords: | gender; wage inequality; foreign capital inflow; tariff cut |
| JEL: | D50 F21 J16 |
| Date: | 2011–08–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32954&r=lab |
| By: | Emma Näslund-Hadley; Georgina Binstock |
| Abstract: | Our interest in understanding the determinants of adolescent childbearing and how adolescent childbearing influences educational trajectories derive from a concern about the inverse relationship between educational outcomes and adolescent fertility. Through in-depth interviews with 118 women, we contrast the educational trajectories of adolescent and adult childbearers in urban neighborhoods in Paraguay and Peru. The findings suggest that adolescents who face obstacles that discourage academic achievement and high aspirations in life are also more likely to bear children. |
| Keywords: | Education |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:8693&r=lab |
| By: | John P. Haisken-DeNew; Maren M. Michaelsen |
| Abstract: | This study estimates separate selectivity bias corrected wage equations for formal and informal workers in rural and urban Mexico using data from the Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS). We control for diff erent potential selection patterns using Probit and Multinominal logit models in the fi rst step in which health, personality traits and family characteristics serve as exclusion restrictions for working per se and working in the formal sector. Oaxaca-Blinder Decompositions show that rural-urban wage inequality in the formal and informal sector is determined by diff erences in observable human capital. In the informal sector, the wage diff erential is mainly explained by diff erences in returns to experience. Furthermore, we analyse rural-to-urban migrants‘ labour market performance. The fi ndings suggest that rural-to-urban migration will continue and the informal sector will further increase. |
| Keywords: | Returns to experience; rural-urban wage diff erentials; informality; internal migration; Mexico |
| JEL: | J24 J31 R23 Q15 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0263&r=lab |
| By: | Sarkar, Prabirjit |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses a new leximetric dataset on Indian labour law over a long period 1970-2006. There are five broad aspects of labour law such as Alternative employment contracts, Regulation of working time, Regulation of dismissal, Employee representation and Industrial action. Indian labour regulation is more concerned with the regulation of dismissal. It is more pro-labour than any of the four major OECD countries such as France, Germany, UK and USA. There is no evidence that more labour friendly regulation leads to more unemployment and industrial stagnation. Rather the direction of causality is from unemployment and output to labour regulation. |
| Keywords: | labour law; employment; India |
| JEL: | J80 J60 J83 K31 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32929&r=lab |
| By: | Daniel S. Hamermesh; Jason Abrevaya |
| Abstract: | We measure the impact of individuals’ looks on life satisfaction/happiness. Using five data sets, from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Germany, we construct beauty measures in different ways that allow placing lower bounds on the effects of beauty. Beauty raises happiness: A one standard-deviation change in beauty generates about 0.10 standard deviations of additional satisfaction/happiness among men, 0.12 among women. Accounting for a wide variety of covariates, particularly effects in the labor and marriage markets, including those that might be affected by differences in beauty, the impact among men is more than halved, among women slightly less than halved. |
| JEL: | C20 I30 J10 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17327&r=lab |
| By: | Longhi, Simonetta |
| Abstract: | This paper combines individual data from the British Household Panel Survey and yearly population estimates for England to analyse the impact of cultural diversity on individual wages and on different aspects of job satisfaction. Do people living in more diverse areas have higher wages and job satisfaction after controlling for other observable characteristics? The results show that cultural diversity is positively associated with wages, but only when cross-section data are used. Panel data estimations show that there is no impact of diversity. Using instrumental variables to account for endogeneity also show that diversity has no impact. |
| Date: | 2011–08–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2011-19&r=lab |
| By: | Carola Frydman; Raven Molloy |
| Abstract: | Executive pay fell during the 1940s, marking the last notable decrease in the past 70 years. We study this decline using a new panel dataset on the remuneration of top executives in 246 firms. We find that government regulation—including explicit salary restrictions and taxation—had, at best, a modest effect on executive pay. By contrast, a decline in the returns to firm size and an increase in the power of labor unions contributed greatly to the reduction in executive compensation relative to other workers’ earnings from 1940 to 1946. The continued decrease in relative executive pay remains largely unexplained. |
| JEL: | G3 J31 M50 N32 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17303&r=lab |
| By: | Nora Lustig (Tulane University and Center for Global Development); Luis Felipe Lopez-Calva (World Bank); Eduardo Ortiz-Juarez (RBLAC-UNDP) |
| Abstract: | Between 2000 and 2009, the Gini coefficient declined in 13 of 17 Latin American countries for which comparable data exist. The decline was statistically significant and robust to changes in the time interval, inequality measures and data sources. In depth country studies for Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Peru suggest that there are two phenomena which underlie this trend: (i) a fall in the premium to skilled labor (as measured by returns to education); and (ii) higher and more progressive government transfers. The fall in the premium to skills results from a combination of supply and demand factors and, in Argentina—and to a lesser extent in Brazil--, from more active labor market policies as well. |
| Keywords: | Income inequality, wage gap, government transfers, Latin America. |
| JEL: | D31 D33 H53 J48 O15 O54 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2011-211&r=lab |
| By: | Salimata Sissoko |
| Abstract: | This study aims to analyse the effects of the decentralization level of collective wage bargaining on the wage level and the wage dispersion in Belgium. For this purpose, we have constructed a composite indicator of collective bargaining decentralization, based on variables that determine collective bargaining. Our results indicate the presence of a significant wage bonus and wider wage disparity in industries where collective bargaining is decentralized. Furthermore, we compare these results with those that use as an indicator of bargaining decentralization, the presence of collective agreements at company level, a commonly used indicator in the literature. We notice that this latter indicator seems to underestimate the degree of bargaining decentralization and thus also its effects on the wage structure. One can explains this result by the fact that in Belgium, besides firm collective agreements, the bargaining system also provides mechanisms that enable firms to distance themselves from collective agreements set at industry level. |
| Keywords: | Decentralisation, Wage bargaining, Wage dispersion, Wage differentials |
| JEL: | J31 J51 J52 |
| Date: | 2011–02–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpb:wpaper:1103&r=lab |
| By: | Sam Hill; Thomas Chalaux |
| Abstract: | Education has been given high priority by India’s central and state governments and continues to grow fast. School access has been expanded by investment in school infrastructure and recruitment of teachers. In higher education too, the number of providers continues to rise rapidly. A new law enshrining the rights of all children to free and compulsory education will further lift enrolment, bringing closer the government’s goal of universal elementary education, which comprises eight years of schooling. Nevertheless, high drop-out rates and low attendance continues to be a challenge at lower levels and enrolment at higher levels remains modest by international standards. Private sector involvement is on the rise. While it helps expand education infrastructure, particularly in higher education, access has not always been assured and the availability of student loans for higher education needs to improve. Poor learning outcomes amongst school students and mediocre higher education provision call for more effective government regulation and funding arrangements. Expanding resources will help but they need to be deployed more effectively, while incentives and professional development systems for teachers need to be strengthened. In higher education the government has proposed reforms which have the potential to bring about much-needed improvements in regulatory effectiveness. Efforts should focus on reducing micro-regulation and improving institutional autonomy, in order to stimulate innovation and diversity. Increasing the number of institutions subjected to quality assessments will be important for lifting standards across the higher education system, while reform of recruitment and promotion mechanisms could help attract and retain talent in academia.<P>Améliorer l'accès et la qualité du système éducatif indien<BR>L'éducation est l'une des grandes priorités des autorités indiennes, à l'échelon central et dans les États, et elle continue de se développer rapidement. L'accès à l'école a été élargi grâce à des investissements dans les infrastructures et au recrutement d'enseignants. Dans l'enseignement supérieur également, le nombre de prestataires continue d'augmenter à un rythme soutenu. Une nouvelle loi établissant le droit de tous les enfants à l'instruction gratuite et obligatoire va encore accroître les effectifs scolarisés dans le primaire et le premier cycle du secondaire, si bien que l'objectif de scolarisation élémentaire universelle que se sont fixé les autorités pourrait bientôt être atteint. Néanmoins, la fréquence des abandons en cours d'études et les faibles taux de fréquentation scolaire continuent de poser un problème aux niveaux inférieurs, tandis que les taux d'inscription aux niveaux supérieurs restent modestes par rapport aux normes internationales. Le secteur privé joue un rôle croissant. S'il est utile de développer les infrastructures, en particulier dans l'enseignement supérieur, l'accès aux études n'est pas toujours garanti et l'offre de prêts étudiants doit être étoffée. Les résultats insuffisants des écoliers et la qualité médiocre de l'enseignement supérieur appellent une amélioration de l'action publique et des mécanismes de financement. Augmenter les ressources est une bonne chose, mais il faudra les déployer de manière plus efficace et renforcer les systèmes d'incitations et de perfectionnement professionnel destinés aux enseignants. Dans l'enseignement supérieur, le gouvernement a proposé des réformes à même d'apporter des améliorations indispensables pour l'efficacité de la réglementation. Les efforts devraient viser avant tout à limiter la micro réglementation et à accroître l'autonomie des établissements afin de stimuler l'innovation et la diversité. Augmenter le nombre d'institutions soumises à des contrôles de qualité permettra de relever les normes dans l'ensemble du système d'enseignement supérieur, tandis qu'une réforme des modalités de recrutement et de promotion des enseignants devrait concourir à attirer et à retenir les talents dans les universités. |
| Keywords: | human capital, tertiary education, education policy, India, secondary education, vocational education, primary education, universities, education spending, literacy, schools, capital humain, formation professionnelle, université, politique d'éducation, Inde, dépenses d’éducation, alphabétisation, études primaires, écoles, études secondaires, études tertiaires |
| JEL: | H52 H75 I2 I20 I21 I22 I23 I28 J24 O10 O15 O53 |
| Date: | 2011–07–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:885-en&r=lab |
| By: | Claudia Burgard; Katja Görlitz |
| Abstract: | Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), this paper analyzes the relationship between training and job satisfaction focusing in particular on gender diff erences. Controlling for a variety of socio-demographic, job and fi rm characteristics, we fi nd a diff erence between males and females in the correlation of training with job satisfaction which is positive for males but insignifi cant for females. This diff erence becomes even more pronounced when applying individual fi xed eff ects. To gain insights into the reasons for this diff erence, we further investigate training characteristics by gender. We fi nd that fi nancial support and career-orientation of courses only seems to matter for the job satisfaction of men but not of women. |
| Keywords: | Training; job satisfaction; gender differences; fixed effects |
| JEL: | I29 J24 J28 M53 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0265&r=lab |
| By: | Jan Luiten van Zanden |
| Abstract: | Why did the European Marriage Pattern that emerged in the North-Sea region in the late Medieval Period not result in a continuous shift from ‘quantity’ to ‘quality’? This paper addresses this question focusing on the changing labour market position of women in England between 1500 and 1800. It is demonstrated that the gender wage gap increased strongly in this period; wages of women working in agriculture fell from about 80% to 40% of the wages of an unskilled labourer. This was probably the result of a decline in the demand for female labour in this period due to changes in the structure of agriculture, and was possibly also related from the movement from a labour scarcity economy in the 15th century to a labour surplus economy in 18th and early 19th century. This decline in female labour participation and in particular in the relative wages earned by women had important consequences for demographic behaviour and investment in human capital of children. It helps to explain the ‘baby boom’ of the second half of the 18th century, and the stagnation in human capital formation that occurred at the same time – in short, it contributes to the understanding of the ‘Malthusian intermezzo’ of this period. |
| Keywords: | Demographic change, European Marriage Pattern, Female wage gap, Female labour participation |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucg:wpaper:0014&r=lab |
| By: | C. Bram Cadsby (Department of Economics and Finance, University of Guelph); Maros Servatka (Department of Economics and Finance, University of Canterbury); Fei Song (Ted Rogers School of Business Management, Ryerson University) |
| Abstract: | We develop and test experimentally the argument that gender/family and/or professional identities, activated through psychological priming, may influence preference for competition. We focus on female professionals for whom these identities may conflict and male professionals for whom they may be reinforcing. We primed MBA-student participants by administering questionnaires that concerned either gender/family or professional issues. Subsequently, participants undertook a real-effort task and chose between piece-rate and competitive-tournament compensation. Identity priming, moderated by gender, significantly affected preference for competitive pay. This relationship was partially mediated by beliefs about oneÕs performance ranking. The implications of our results are profound. The decision to avoid competition made by many female professionals may be driven not by lack of ability, but rather by the increased salience of gender/family identity, influenced by marriage and motherhood over time. Indeed, activation of internalized identities might not only drive the experimental results, but also have strong implications for career choices and job performance of women, thus contributing to the observed gender and motherhood wage gaps. |
| Keywords: | Experiment; Gender; Competitiveness; Identity; Priming; Family; Tournament |
| JEL: | C91 J16 J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gue:guelph:2011-08.&r=lab |
| By: | Kyle F. Herkenhoff; Lee E. Ohanian |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the abnormally slow recovery in the labor market during the Great Recession, and analyzes how mortgage modification policies contributed to delayed recovery. By making modifications means-tested by reducing mortgage payments based on a borrower's current income, these programs change the incentive for households to relocate from a relatively poor labor market to a better labor market. We find that modifications raise the unemployment rate by about 0.5 percentage points, and reduce output by about 1 percent, reflecting both lower employment and lower productivity, which is the result of individuals losing skills as unemployment duration is longer. |
| JEL: | E0 J0 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17313&r=lab |
| By: | Olsson, Martin (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Skogman Thoursie, Peter (Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We use a Swedish sickness insurance reform to show that among married couples a partner’s benefit level affects spousal labour supply. The spousal elasticity of sick days with respect to the partner’s benefit is estimated to be 0.4, which is about one-fourth of the own labor supply elasticity. It is argued the main part of this effect is an insurance income effect. |
| Keywords: | Spousal labor supply; Spill-over; Social insurance programs |
| JEL: | D10 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2011–06–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0875&r=lab |
| By: | Asadullah, Niaz (University of Reading) |
| Abstract: | Unique residential history data with retrospective information on parental assets are used to study household wealth mobility in 141 villages in rural Bangladesh. Regression estimates of father-son correlations and analyses of intergenerational transition matrices show substantial persistence in wealth even when we correct for measurement errors in parental wealth. We do not find wealth mobility to be higher between periods of a person's life than between generations. We find that the process of household division plays an important role: sons who splinter off from the father's household experience greater (albeit downward) mobility in wealth. Despite significant occupational mobility across generations, its contribution to wealth mobility, net of human capital attainment of individuals, appears insignificant. Low wealth mobility in our data is primarily explained by intergenerational persistence in educational attainment. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational inequality, household wealth, occupational mobility, schooling mobility, transition matrix, Bangladesh |
| JEL: | D63 O53 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5914&r=lab |
| By: | Løken, Katrine Vellesen (University of Bergen); Lommerud, Kjell Erik (University of Bergen); Lundberg, Shelly (University of Washington) |
| Abstract: | Norwegian registry data is used to investigate the location decisions of a full population cohort of young adults as they complete their education, establish separate households and form their own families. We find that the labor market opportunities and family ties of both partners affect these location choices. Surprisingly, married men live significantly closer to their own parents than do married women, even if they have children, and this difference cannot be explained by differences in observed characteristics. The principal source of excess female distance from parents in this population is the relatively low mobility of men without a college degree, particularly in rural areas. Despite evidence that intergenerational resource flows, such as childcare and eldercare, are particularly important between women and their parents, the family connections of husbands appear to dominate the location decisions of less-educated married couples. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational; proximity; marriage; location; decisions intergenerational proximity; marriage; location decisions |
| JEL: | J12 J16 J61 |
| Date: | 2011–03–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bergec:2011_003&r=lab |
| By: | Kate H. Choi; Marta Tienda; Deborah Cobb-Clark; Mathias Sinning |
| 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 stratifi cation 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 diff erent 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 fi nd 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:rwi:repape:0261&r=lab |
| By: | Sarkar, Prabirjit |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the state of labour protection in four countries (UK, USA, France and Germany) during 1970-2006. It supports the contention of the legal-origin theory that UK and USA (common law countries) intervene less in the labour market and grant less protection to labourers. It also supports the proposition that the problem of unemployment is more acute in the civil law countries (France and Germany). But it finds no direct relationship between various aspects of labour regulation and unemployment rate. Hence, we conclude that the explanation of more acute unemployment problem in France and Germany should be sought elsewhere. |
| Keywords: | law and economics; labour law; legal origin theory; unemployment rate; long-term unemployment; youth unemployment |
| JEL: | J80 J60 K31 J50 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32928&r=lab |
| By: | Kea Tijdens (AIAS / FEB, Universiteit van Amsterdam); Esther Ruijter (Arbeid Opleidingen Consult); Judith Ruijter (Arbeid Opleidingen Consult) |
| Abstract: | Occupation is the key unit in matching vacancies and job seekers, and it is used for occupational choice and for career consultancy. Occupation is also a key variable in social research, particularly that which relates to the labour market, transitions from school to work, social stratification, gender wage gaps, occupational structures and skill requirements. Despite the fact that occupation is such an important concept, little is known about the similarity of occupations across EU member states. For this reason, the EU-funded FP6 project EurOccupations (2006-2009) aimed to build a freely available web-based database containing 1,500 to 2,000 of the most common occupations; and to test the similarity of job content, required skill level, and competency profiles for a selection of 150 occupations across the eight member states in the project (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and United Kingdom). This codebook explains the data collection methods used in the project and outlines the dataset collected for the detailed analysis of 150 occupations. Section 2 explains the selection of these 150 occupational titles from a provisional source list of 1,433 occupations. Four criteria were used for the selection, namely variation in skill level and ISCO major groups, variation in gender composition, the prevalence of the occupation amongst job-holders, and the extent to which an occupation might be considered ‘blurred’, with wide demarcation lines. Section 3 details the process used for testing the similarity of the selected occupations. Unique task descriptions (10-12 tasks) for all 150 occupations were drafted by means of desk research. A web-survey was designed with questions about the frequency of particular tasks and the required skill level for each occupation. Experts from all the study countries were recruited for survey completion. For a number of occupations, the goal of two completed expert questionnaires for each occupation in each country was not reached and the questionnaire was slightly adapted for completion by job holders. The job holders were recruited through teaser advertisements on the WageIndicator websites in the countries in question. Section 4 explains the structure of the dataset. The dataset can by freely accessed by sending an email with name and affiliate information to the first author, "k.g.tijdens@uva.nl":mailto:k.g.tijdens@uva.nl. The Appendix includes all questionnaires used for the survey, as well as the labels used for the education and occupation variables. This codebook and all project deliverables can be downloaded from the project website "www.euroccupations.org":http://www.euro ccupations.org |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aia:aiaswp:wp107&r=lab |
| By: | Sebastian Braun; Toman Omar Mahmoud |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the employment effects of the influx of millions of German expellees to West Germany after World War II. The expellees were forced to relocate to post-war Germany. They represented a complete cross-section of society, were close substitutes to the native West German population, and were very unevenly distributed across labor market segments in West Germany. We find a substantial negative effect of expellee inflows on native employment. The effect was, however, limited to labor market segments with very high inflow rates. IV regressions that exploit variation in geographical proximity and in pre-war occupations confirm the OLS results |
| Keywords: | Forced migration, employment, post-war Germany |
| JEL: | J61 J21 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1725&r=lab |
| By: | Rema Hanna; Paulina Oliva |
| Abstract: | Moderate effects of pollution on health may exert an important influence on labor market decisions. We exploit exogenous variation in pollution due to the closure of a large refinery in Mexico City to understand how pollution impacts labor supply. The closure led to an 8 percent decline in pollution in the surrounding neighborhoods. We find that a one percent increase in sulfur dioxide results in a 0.61 percent decrease in the hours worked. The effects do not appear to be driven by labor demand shocks nor differential migration as a result of the closure in the areas located near the refinery. |
| JEL: | O0 Q0 Q5 Q53 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17302&r=lab |
| By: | Maarten Klaveren (AIAS, Universiteit van Amsterdam); Kea Tijdens (AIAS / FEB, Universiteit van Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This Working Paper aims to present and discuss recent evidence on the effect of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on wages, working conditions and industrial relations. It presents a. an overview of the available literature on the effects of FDI on wages, particularly in developed countries; b. the outcomes of own research comparing wages, working conditions and workplace industrial relations in Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) versus non-MNEs or domestic fi rms. These outcomes include seven EU member states: Belgium, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom, and fi ve industries: metal and electronics manufacturing; retail; fi nance and call centres; information and communication technology (ICT), and transport and telecom. The data stem from the continuous WageIndicator web-survey, combined with company data from the AIAS MNE Database. The analysis took place in the framework of the socalled WIBAR-2 project, funded by the European Commission under the Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue Program (VS/2007/0534, December 2007-November 2008). The project was led by the AIAS, with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC); the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF); Ruskin College (Oxford); WSI im Hans-Böckler-Stiftung (Düsseldorf), and the WageIndicator Foundation as partners. Both from others’ and our own evidence, the picture emerged that the wage advantages emanating from working in an MNE in Northwestern Europe recently have become rather small, with our evidence for Germany, where we found considerable MNE wage premia, as the exception. In the majority of Polish and Spanish subsidiaries of MNEs these premia were still considerable. By contrast, in the retail trade and in transport and telecom MNEs seemed to exert outright wage pressure in some countries. Besides pay, workers mostly perceived advantages in working in an MNE where these were to be expected, in training and internal promotion, but also –rather unexpectedly-- in workplace industrial relations. Here, on all three yardsticks used (union density, collective bargaining coverage and the incidence of workplace employee representation) MNEs scored higher than domestic fi rms. MNEs scored less favourably on overtime compensation, working hours, and experienced and expected reorganisations. Where MNE wage premia show up, they have much in common with ‘effi ciency wages’, meant to buy higher productivity and extra commitment from (skilled) workers. |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aia:aiaswp:wp85&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. |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:cappmo:0087&r=lab |
| By: | Laurence Laloy |
| Keywords: | Belgium, Employment, General government, Education, Public domain |
| JEL: | H1 H5 J45 |
| Date: | 2010–10–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpb:wpaper:1019&r=lab |
| By: | Maren M. Michaelsen |
| Abstract: | This study provides strong evidence for an increase in wage inequality induced by skillbiased technological change in the UK manufacturing industry between 1991 and 2006. Using individual level data from the BHPS and industry level data from the OECD, wage regressions are estimated which identify the eff ect of innovative activity on wages – the personal innovation wage premium – for university and less educated workers. Innovative activity is defi ned by R&D expenditure and patent applications to measure innovation input and innovation output, respectively. Using diff erent estimation methods for panel data, such as Fixed eff ects, Random eff ects, Mundlak and Hausman- Taylor models, additionally to pooled OLS allows controlling for both industry-specifi c and individual ability. Using R&D expenditure as a measure for innovative activity additionally provides evidence for ability-biased technological change while patent applications do not support this hypothesis. |
| Keywords: | Wage inequality; skill-biased technological change; ability-biased technological change; United Kingdom |
| JEL: | I21 J24 J31 O33 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0262&r=lab |
| By: | Sagiri Kitao |
| Abstract: | This paper presents four policy options to make Social Security sustainable under the coming demographic shift: 1) increase payroll taxes by 6 percentage points, 2) reduce the replacement rates of the benefit formula by one-third, 3) raise the normal retirement age from sixty-six to seventy-three, or 4) means-test the benefits and reduce them one-to-one with income. While all four policies achieve the same goal, their economic outcomes differ significantly. Options 2 and 3 encourage own savings, and capital stock is more than 10 percent higher than in the other two options. The payroll tax increase in option 1 discourages work effort, but means-testing the benefits as outlined in option 4 yields the worst labor disincentives, especially among the elderly. |
| Keywords: | Social security ; Demography ; Retirement ; Payroll tax ; Labor market ; Employee fringe benefits |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednsr:505&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas K. Bauer; Sebastian Braun; Michael Kvasnicka |
| Abstract: | The fl ight and expulsion of Germans from Eastern Europe during and after World War II constitutes one of the largest forced population movements in history. We analyze the economic integration of these forced migrants and their off spring in West Germany. The empirical results suggest that even a quarter of a century after displacement, fi rst generation migrants and native West Germans that were comparable before the war perform strikingly diff erent. Migrants have substantially lower incomes and are less likely to own a house or to be self-employed. Displaced agricultural workers, however, have signifi cantly higher incomes. This income gain can be explained by faster transitions out of low-paid agricultural work. Diff erences in the labor market performance of second generation migrants resemble those of the fi rst generation. We also fi nd that displacement considerably weakens the intergenerational transmission of human capital between fathers and children, especially at the lower tail of the skill distribution. |
| Keywords: | Forced migration; economic integration; World War II; West Germany |
| JEL: | J61 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0267&r=lab |
| By: | Tindara Addabbo; Marco Fuscaldo; Anna Maccagnan |
| Abstract: | Quality of work has been found to significantly affect health outcomes. In this paper we analyse the extent to which the quality of the work done in the past affects the health of the elderly in Italy. For this purpose, we use data drawn from the Italian sample of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and focus on individuals aged over 60. Using different types of factor analysis, we identify three dimensions of quality of work and five factors of health status. In particular, as regards the former, we distinguish among the physical dimension, the control dimension and the socioeconomic dimension of work quality. As regards health, using a nested factor model we obtain a factor of global health problems and four residual factors of cognitive problems, mobility problems, affective problems and motivational problems. These factors are then analysed by gender using a multivariate analysis. Our findings suggest that good quality of work in terms of the socioeconomic and control dimensions significantly decreases the probability of being globally unhealthy during the elder phase of one’s life cycle as well as of displaying motivational problems, the effect being similar in both genders. We also find that a higher level of control in men’s work increases their affective problems when they are older and have left the labour force, suggesting a loss in men’s social sphere after retirement from a rewarding job and a likely underdevelopment of their relational dimension outside their work activity. |
| Keywords: | Quality of work, health status, elderly. |
| JEL: | J14 J28 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:cappmo:0096&r=lab |
| By: | Ali K. Ozdagli; Nicholas Trachter |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a dynamic model of the decision to pursue a college education in which students face uncertainty about their future income stream after graduation due to unobserved heterogeneity in their innate scholastic ability. After students matriculate and start taking exams, they reevaluate their expectations about succeeding in college and may find it optimal to drop out and join the workforce without completing an undergraduate degree. The model shows that, in accordance with the data, poorer students are less likely to graduate and are more apt to drop out earlier than are wealthier students. Our model generates these results without introducing credit constraints. Conditioning on measures of innate ability, in the data we find that poor students are at least 27 percent more likely to drop out of college and they do so sooner than wealthier students. |
| Keywords: | College graduates ; Education - Economic aspects |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbwp:11-8&r=lab |
| By: | Toivanen, Otto; Väänänen, Lotta |
| Abstract: | Modern growth theory puts invention on the center stage. Inventions are created by individuals, raising the question: can we increase number of inventors? To answer this question, we study the causal effect of M.Sc. engineering education on invention, using data on U.S. patents’ Finnish inventors and the distance to the nearest technical university as an instrument. We find a positive effect of engineering education on the propensity to patent, and a negative OLS bias. Our counterfactual calculation suggests that establishing 3 new technical universities resulted in a 20% increase in the number of USPTO patents by Finnish inventors. |
| Keywords: | ability bias; citations; education; engineers; growth; innovation; invention; inventors; patents |
| JEL: | I21 J24 O31 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8537&r=lab |
| By: | Marco Cozzi (Queen’s University) |
| Abstract: | This paper implements a simple Bayesian approach to quantitatively study the Hansen and Imrohoroglu (1992) economy, a calibrated GE model with uninsurable employment risk, designed to assess the optimal replacement rate for a public Unemployment Insurance scheme. The results of this sensitivity analysis are consistent with the original findings, but with several caveats. One novel result in particular is that the distribution of the optimal UI is bimodal. Depending on the calibrated parameters, the optimal UI is in one of two regimes: a very generous scheme with high replacement ratios, where insurance is mainly provided by the UI scheme, or one with low replacement ratios, where insurance is mainly achieved through self-insurance. Even in the absence of moral hazard, it is never optimal to provide full insurance. Moreover, for many plausible parameters’ configurations, the welfare maximizing replacement rate does not decrease with the level of MH. The qualitative patterns and quantitative findings are not altered substantially when considering an enlarged labor force, which includes the marginally attached workers. Finally, the parameters representing the hours worked, the leisure share in the households’ consumption bundle, and the intertemporal elasticity of substitution have a first order impact on the average welfare. The determination of the optimal UI scheme depends heavily on them. This finding suggests that extra caution should be paid when calibrating these parameters in similar environments. |
| Keywords: | Calibration methods, Unemployment Risk, Optimal Unemployment Insurance, Heterogeneous Agents, Incomplete Markets, Computable General Equilibrium, Monte Carlo |
| JEL: | E21 D52 D58 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:wpaper:1272&r=lab |
| By: | Romain Duval; Mehmet Eris; Davide Furceri |
| Abstract: | This paper uses an impulse-response function approach to assess the magnitude and persistence of the effects of downturns on labour force participation for a sample of 30 countries over the period 1960-2008. Past severe recessions appear to have had a significant and persistent impact on participation, while moderate downturns did not. The aggregate participation rate effect of severe downturns peaked on average at about 1½ to 2½ percentage points five to eight years after the cyclical peak, and was still significant after almost a decade. Youths and older workers account for the bulk of this effect. Institutional and policy settings are found to be an important factor having shaped the response of participation to economic downturns. In particular, early retirement incentives embedded in old-age pension schemes and other social transfer programmes are found to amplify the responsiveness of older workers’ participation to economic conditions. However, the findings in this paper do not seem to apply to the most recent crisis, partly because the labour market situation did not deteriorate as much as the magnitude of the recession would have suggested in a number of OECD countries.<P>Les effets des retournements de conjoncture sur la participation au marché du travail : Evidence et causes<BR>Cet article utilise une approche impulsion-réponse pour évaluer l’ampleur et la persistance des effets des retournements de conjoncture sur la participation au marché du travail pour un échantillon de 30 pays de l’OCDE sur la période 1960-2008. Il apparaît que les récessions sévères ont eu un impact significatif et persistant sur la participation dans le passé, au contraire des retournements de cycle plus modérés. L’effet agrégé des récessions sévères sur la participation a atteint un pic de 1½ à 2½ points de pourcentage cinq à huit ans après le point haut du cycle, et était toujours significatif après presque une décennie. Les jeunes et les seniors ont contribué à l’essentiel de cet effet. Les facteurs politiques et institutionnels jouent un rôle important dans la réponse de la participation aux retournements conjoncturels. En particulier, il apparaît que les incitations au départ anticipé à la retraite contenues dans les régimes de retraite et les autres systèmes de transferts sociaux accroissent la sensibilité de la participation des seniors aux conditions économiques. Pour autant, les résultats de cet article ne semblent pas s’appliquer à la crise récente, en partie parce que la situation du marché du travail ne s’est pas détériorée autant que l’ampleur de la récession aurait pu le suggérer dans un certain nombre de pays de l’OCDE. |
| Keywords: | retirement, labour force participation, downturn, crisis, recession, hysteresis, retraites, participation au marché du travail, crise, récession, hystérésis, retournements de conjoncture |
| JEL: | C23 E32 H55 J21 J26 |
| Date: | 2011–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:875-en&r=lab |
| By: | Harmon, Colm P. (University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | The estimation of the economic return to education has perhaps been one of the predominant areas of analysis in applied economics for over 50 years. In this short note we consider some of the recent directions taken by the literature, and also some of the blockages faced by both science and policymakers in pushing forward some key issues. This serves by way of introduction to a set of papers for a special issue of the Economics of Education Review. |
| Keywords: | returns to education, education policy |
| JEL: | J08 J30 J38 C21 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izapps:pp29&r=lab |
| By: | Gilbert Valverde; Emma Näslund-Hadley |
| Abstract: | Through this review we have sought to further understanding of the state of preprimary, primary, and secondary numeracy education in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Research on the opportunities available to students in the region presents a troubling picture. Young people are not being properly prepared for the numeracy requirements of an increasingly interconnected world economy. Culprits include weak curricula, inadequate learning materials, and teachers¿ lack of proficiency in mathematics and the natural sciences. |
| Keywords: | Education |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:8700&r=lab |
| By: | Radha Iyengar; Jonathan Monten; Matthew Hanson |
| Abstract: | Employment growth could reduce violence during civil conflicts. To determine if increased employment affects violence we analyzed varying employment in development programs run by different US military divisions in Iraqi districts. Employment levels vary with funding periods and the military division in charge. Controlling for variability between districts, we find that a 10% increase in labor-related spending generates a 15-20% decline in labor-intensive insurgent violence. Overall the 10% spending increase is associated with a nearly 10% violence reduction, due to reduction in attacks which kill civilians, but increased attacks against the military. These findings indicate that labor-intensive development programs can reduce violence during insurgencies. |
| JEL: | J2 J4 O17 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17297&r=lab |
| By: | Günther Schmid (Labor Market Policy and Employment/Arbeitsmarktpolitik und Beschäftigung, Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB)) |
| Abstract: | Starting points are two contrasting perspectives: temp-agency work or civil service work as possible ideal types of future ‘flexicurity’ employment relations. This thought experiment clearly demonstrates, however, that neither the state nor temp agencies as employers can serve as a role model for future employment relations. The paper, therefore, contributes to the empirical and theoretical backdrop to an alternative. It begins by comparing the extent and dynamics of part-time, temporary and own account work in Europe. These forms of non-standard employment relations are spreading, however to varying degrees and depending on the national employment systems. Although empirical evidence confirms to some extent the thesis of erosion, the same evidence can also be taken as an indication of a still stable foundation of the standard employment contract, especially as the increasing variety of employment relations is concentrated on new jobs and among new labour market participants (women, the young, and other vulnerable people). As both empirical evidence and theory provide plausible arguments for the raison d’être of the open-ended employment contract as well as the need for its adjustment, the logical next step is to ask what new elements should be included in the legal or institutional design of employment relations in order to ensure the right balance between flexibility and security, which is the ultimate aim of all ‘flexicurity’ rhetoric. The paper responds to this problem by suggesting a set of new institutional arrangements based on the theory of transitional labour markets, in particular the institutionalization of ‘active securities’ understood as legally guaranteed social rights to participate in decision making about work and employment and to share equally their fruits as well as their risks. The final section exemplifies the potential role of these new securities on the basis of two regulatory ideas: rights and obligations related to capacity building, and coordinated flexibility as functional equivalents to external numerical flexibility, in particular the model of short-time work. A brief summary concludes and reminds us that ‘flexicurity’, despite its resilience, requires more conceptual rigour. |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aia:aiaswp:wp106&r=lab |
| By: | Van de Ven, Justin |
| Abstract: | Estimates for a structural model of savings and labour supply calculated on UK field data support the hypothesis of quasi-hyperbolic discounting. The estimated model indicates that a DC pension encourages increased saving and labour supply prior to pension age, and substantially reduced labour supply thereafter. These results are exaggerated when preferences are myopic. Welfare responses at the beginning of life to the DC pension improve with the extent of myopia, and with the return to the pension asset. Myopia represents an important factor in determining whether the DC pension results in a positive welfare response at plausible parameter values. |
| Keywords: | myopia,pension,saving,retirement/labour supply/data |
| JEL: | D12 D81 H31 J26 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp399&r=lab |
| By: | Abbott, Michael G.; Beach, Charles M. |
| Abstract: | This study uses longitudinal IMDB micro data to document the annual earnings outcomes of Canadian immigrants in four major admission categories (skill-assessed independent economic principal applicants, accompanying economic immigrants, family class immigrants, and refugees) and three annual landing cohorts (those for the years 1982, 1988, and 1994) over the first ten years following their landing in Canada as permanent residents. The findings provide a ten-year earnings signature for the four broad immigrant admission categories in Canada. The study’s first major finding is that skill-assessed economic immigrants had consistently and substantially the highest annual earnings levels among the four admission categories for both male and female immigrants in all three landing cohorts. Family class immigrants or refugees generally had the lowest earnings levels. An important related finding is that refugees exhibited substantially the highest earnings growth rates for both male and female immigrants in all three landing cohorts, while independent economic or family class immigrants generally had the lowest earnings growth rates over their first post-landing decade in Canada. The study’s second major finding is that economic recessions appear to have had clearly discernible negative effects on immigrants’ earnings levels and growth rates; moreover, these adverse effects were much more pronounced for male immigrants than for female immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Immigrant earnings, admission categories, Canadian immigrants |
| JEL: | J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2011–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2011-20&r=lab |
| By: | Ronald Bachmann; Daniel Baumgarten; Joel Stiebale |
| Abstract: | We analyse how foreign direct investment (FDI) aff ects employment security using administrative micro data for German employees. FDI intensity is measured at the industry level, which enables us to take into account the sum of direct eff ects at the investing fi rms as well as indirect eff ects of FDI that stem from competitive eff ects, input-output linkages, technology spillovers, and changes in factor prices. We account for both inward and outward FDI, and diff erentiate these two types of FDI by source and destination region, respectively. We also investigate whether specifi c worker groups are aff ected diff erently by FDI. We fi nd that both inward and outward FDI at the industry level signifi cantly reduce employment security. This is particularly the case for inward FDI coming from the western part of the European Union, as well as for outward FDI going to Central and Eastern Europe. The eff ects are quantitatively small overall, but sizeable for some worker groups such as old and low-skilled workers. |
| Keywords: | Foreign direct investment; labour market transitions; duration analysis |
| JEL: | F21 F23 J23 J63 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0268&r=lab |
| By: | Mathias Sinning; Matthias Vorell |
| Abstract: | This paper compares the eff ects of immigration fl ows on economic outcomes and crime levels to the public opinion about these eff ects using individual and regional data for Australia. We employ an instrumental variables strategy to account for non-random location choices of immigrants and fi nd that immigration has no adverse eff ects on regional unemployment rates, median incomes, or crime levels. This result is in line with the economic eff ects that people typically expect but does not confi rm the public opinion about the contribution of immigration to higher crime levels, suggesting that Australians overestimate the eff ect of immigration on crime. |
| Keywords: | International migration; eff ects of immigration; attitudes towards immigrants |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0271&r=lab |