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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Giuliano Guerra (Institute for Economic Research (IRE), Faculty of Economics, University of Lugano, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | As observed in many advanced economies experiencing an increase of self-employment rates since the late 1970s, a flourishing small- and medium-size enterprise sector is traditionally associated with positive economic development and growth. In the regional context, areas benefiting from an established entrepreneurial culture are in general more successful and innovative, as well as better equipped to sustain structural changes and to contrast unemployment. It is therefore important to investigate the reasons why individuals choose self-employment, and why they do it despite lower protection, higher risks, and possibly more effort than what is offered in a comparable wage employment position. Existing research identifies better prospects of entrepreneurial earnings as compared to wages as a major attraction towards self-employment. However, beside pecuniary motivations, other factors may be considered when it comes to occupational choice, as, among others, displacement, uncertainty, (the threat of) unemployment, and (dis-)satisfaction. Building on a job quits model, we propose a representation of transition behaviour from wage to self-employment which includes subjective evaluations of pecuniary and nonpecuniary satisfaction on the previous job. Individual microdata are drawn from the Swiss Household Panel (SHP), and cover the time period 1999–2008. Additionally, we focus on the dynamics of job satisfaction in order to highlight the role played by shocks in subjective evaluations, and introduce their interaction with levels to control for threshold effects. |
| Keywords: | self-employment, job satisfaction, job transition, Switzerland |
| JEL: | C25 J62 M13 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lug:wpaper:1201&r=lab |
| By: | Inge Noback; Lourens Broersma; Jouke van Dijk |
| Abstract: | Abstract Gender-specific dynamics in working hours ERSA Barcelona 2011 The Dutch are part-time working champions of the world, not just because the majority of women work part-time, also a growing number of men are working part-time. However, with the aging of the population there is an increasing threat to current welfare levels. The aim of this paper is to assess the possibilities of a rise in wealth through a change in (the trend of) working hours. For the analysis we have created a unique data base which includes workers that have occupied the same job in the period 2003-2005. This means we abstain from dynamics in jobs, (i.e. job finders, job switchers, job losers), which can partly be attributed to changes in participation. Instead we focus completely at working hours of a given job. The analysis is comprised of two parts, first we analyse factors determine the actual number of hours worked for both female and male occupied jobs. Second, we analyse the dynamics in working hours of a given job using a bivariate probit estimation with selection. This model takes into account what factors determine if a person does or does not change working hours and subsequently examines which factors determine whether this change is an increase or a decrease in working hours. Women more frequently change their working hours than men and both rather decrease than increase their working hours. Changes in work situation and household situation are important determinants of changes in working hours, for women also changes in residential context play a role. A decrease in hourly wage and a relative decrease in the burden of taking care of small children are important determinants of increasing working hours, for both men and women. Although men only decrease their working hours after the birth of the first child. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1308&r=lab |
| By: | Peter Huber |
| Abstract: | The migration literature shows that cross-border skill transfer is associated with a risk of increased job-education mismatch. This paper examines whether the problems of job-education mismatch often found among migrants also apply to cross-border commuters and compares cross-border commuters to within-country commuters as well as non-commuters and recent and established migrants in this respect. We find that cross-border commuters and recent migrants from EU15 countries have lower over- but higher under-education rates than non-commuters, but that for cross-border commuters and recent migrants from the NMS12 the opposite applies. Within-country commuters finally have lower over- but higher under-education rates than non-commuters in both regions. Please note: The alternative choice regarding Session theme is K. Spatial issues of the labour market |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p112&r=lab |
| By: | Martin Ljunge (University of Copenhagen and SITE) |
| Abstract: | I estimate a price elasticity of sickness absence. Sick leave is an intensive margin of labor supply where individuals are free to adjust. I exploit variation in tax rates over two decades, which provide thousands of differential incentives across time and space, to estimate the price responsiveness. High taxes provide an incentive to take more sick leave, as less after tax income is lost when taxes are high. The panel data, which is representative of the Swedish population, allow for extensive controls including unobserved individual characteristics. I find a substantial price elasticity of sick leave, -0.7, with respect to the net of tax rate. Though large relative to traditional labor supply elasticities, Swedes are half as price elastic as bike messengers, and just as elastic as stadium vendors on the margin which they can adjust freely. |
| Keywords: | sick leave, adjustable labor supply, work effort, taxes |
| JEL: | H31 I31 J22 |
| Date: | 2011–10–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kud:kuiedp:1127&r=lab |
| By: | Isabel Raposo; Tatiane Menezes |
| Abstract: | Using data from the Brazilian Labor Monthly Survey (PME/ IBGE) for the years of 2006 and 2007, the paper investigates if the wage differential by firm size in Brazil can be explained by the predictions of the Efficiency Wage Theory. It is adopted a Switching Regression Model to estimate if large size companies pay a higher wage premium for dispended labor effort, as compared to smaller enterprises. The results proved the EW predictions. Besides the positive relation between effort and wage differentials by firm size, the results also showed that such wage differences favors larger firms, as compared to smaller ones, because they tend to remunerate better more skilled employees with long term contracts. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1465&r=lab |
| By: | Holger Görg; Dennis Görlich |
| Abstract: | The German economy is characterized by a high degree of foreign exposure through exports and imports. This paper considers the link between trade and labour market outcomes in Germany. To that end we combine individual-level data from the German Socio Economic Panel for the period 1999 to 2007 with industry-level data on various aspects of trade – exports, imports and offshoring. We consider their effects on wages and the probability of moving into unemployment. Our econometric analysis suggests that there is little impact of trade-related variables on individual-level wages, whereas there appears to be some impact with respect to employment. We find some important differences between manufacturing and services sectors, in particular with regard to exporting and offshoring. |
| Keywords: | trade, employment, wages, inclusive growth |
| JEL: | F16 |
| Date: | 2011–10–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:traaab:125-en&r=lab |
| By: | Jean-Baptiste Michau (Department of Economics, Ecole Polytechnique - CNRS : UMR7176 - Polytechnique - X) |
| Abstract: | While the participation decision is discrete in a static context, i.e. to work or not to work, such is not the case in a life-cycle context where workers choose the fraction of their lifetime that they spend working. In this paper, I therefore characterize the optimal redistribution policy in a life-cycle framework with both an intensive and an extensive margin of labor supply. The government should optimally design a history-dependent social security system which induces higher productivity individuals to retire later. Some redistribution therefore needs to be done through the pension system; a standard non-linear income tax is not enough. |
| Keywords: | Extensive margin, Optimal redistribution, Retirement age, Social security |
| Date: | 2011–11–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00639121&r=lab |
| By: | Susan Stone; Ricardo Cavazos Cepeda |
| Abstract: | The relationship between trade and wages has been subject to intense scrutiny in the academic literature with no clear consensus emerging. This paper adds to this body of research by moving beyond the single country analysis level to a panel including developed and developing countries and data through the mid 2000.s. First we examine the relationship between wages and trade using the approach of Feenstra and Hanson to calculate mandated wage changes for our dataset. We find that imports have a significant and positive impact on wages while the sign on tariffs is negative and significant. We also look at the relationship of wage differentials at the occupation level between partner countries. We find that the difference in occupation wage is smaller for large trade partners. Finally, we discuss the potential role of NTMs in influencing the wage and trade relationship. |
| Keywords: | trade, wages, occupations, mandated wages |
| JEL: | F16 |
| Date: | 2011–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:traaab:122-en&r=lab |
| By: | Ismael Ahamdanech; Carmelo GarcÃa-Pérez; Hipolito Simon |
| Abstract: | The research examines wage inequality in the Spanish labour market from a regional perspective, drawing on stochastic dominance techniques. The field of study is of particular interest because wage determination in Spain incorporates an important territorial component, facilitated by certain specific institutional elements, given that Spain is one of the few developed countries in which collective bargaining is mainly developed through industry-wide agreements on an infra-national scale applied exclusively to provinces or regions. The main empirical findings are that wage inequality exhibits a significant regional heterogeneity and that both regional differences in workforce heterogeneity and the mix of jobs and workplaces and differences in their wage returns are influential factors in the explanation of regional heterogeneity in the levels of wage inequality. Consequently, the infrequent regional dimension of collective bargaining on an industry level implies the presence in Spain of wage determination mechanisms that are differentiated by region, which give rise to the existence of significant differences in regional wage structures. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1074&r=lab |
| By: | Serkan Degirmenci; Zeynep Yilmaz; Gulcin Elif Yucel |
| Abstract: | Standard trade theory relies on the assumption of long-run full-employment, thus implying that although trade can affect wage rates and change the sectoral distribution of employment, it has no effect on the overall level of employment. In the empirical literature, it is a controversial debate that trade openness is good for employment in the long-run. If so, the further question is about the poorer regions in the developing countries which are fully open to trade. Turkey is one of these countries experienced trade liberalization three decades ago. Although its regions’ connection to markets is effective due to limited lack of access to key inputs and low transport costs, their shares in total trade and labor market outcomes strikingly vary depending on the density of local economic activities. While trade volumes and employment creation capacities of some regions are quite high, relevant indicators for some others are disappointing. The aim of this paper is to explore the relation between regional trade volumes and major labor market indicators. To this end, empirical analyses are designed to test the hypothesis that more regional trade volume leads to more employment opportunities and stimulates the job creation capacities of local labor markets. The data sets used in the analyses are from Turkish Statistical Institute, one being trade statistics by province which consists of export and import volume data for 81 provinces. The other set contains individual-based micro data from Household Labor Force Survey and both of these sets are at NUTS level 2, analyzing Turkey with 26 statistical regions. Time-interval for the analyses is from the year 2004 to 2008. Since the nature of labor market data set is cross-sectional and the dependent variable created is a dummy, the methodology used in the study is based on the probit regression. The preliminary results of the paper shows that higher the trade volumes of regions generally improve the indicators of local labor markets in Turkey. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1371&r=lab |
| By: | Alex Almeida; Boris Bravo-Ureta |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to analyze the determinants of off-farm labor supply by heads of household and their spouses in Nicaragua. Using a three-year balanced panel dataset, we refine the approach introduced by Jacoby (1993) and Skoufias (1994) to estimate shadow wages and shadow income, and we also apply the semiparametric approach developed by Kyriazidou (1997) to panel data which mitigates biases not only from some key individual and farm time-invariant characteristics but also from sample selection. The main findings suggest that the shadow wages and shadow income of household heads and their spouses play a major role in the supply of labor to off-farm activities. When the marginal productivity of agricultural households goes up, there is a reduction in hours allocated to off-farm activities. We also find that education, age, remittances, household size, and whether sons and daughters work are related to off-farm labor supply, with significant differences between their effect on heads and their spouses. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p508&r=lab |
| By: | Victor Montuenga; Inmaculada Garcia |
| Abstract: | In this paper we test the hypothesis of a wage curve against a Phillips curve for Spain within a framework which allos for these both and more general alternatives. To this end, we use data from the European Community Household Panel, which provides micro-information for the period 1994-2001. The results indicate that a partial wage adjustment is at work, as in other European countries, and that the long-run elasticiy of wages to unemploument is close to the 'empirical law of economics' of -0.1 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p585&r=lab |
| By: | P. Lelio Iapadre |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the relationship between trade, employment and wages in Italy from the perspective of the specific features of its international specialisation pattern. It focuses on several key questions: To what extent has international economic integration, including trade and international outsourcing, changed the structure of the Italian economy? To what extent has exposure to foreign competition helped Italian firms to restructure and upgrade their production, so as to increase the skill intensity of their activities? What are the effects of these processes on employment and wages? The paper opens with a short review of the relevant literature and a description of recent developments in the trade specialisation pattern of the Italian economy, including its linkages with the structure of employment. This is followed by the main original contribution of the paper consisting of an econometric study structured around two parts. The first part presents an estimate of the employment effects of trade and off-shoring in the Italian manufacturing industry based on a panel of 15 sectors for the period from 1999 to 2008. The second part addresses the relationship between trade and wages using a rich micro-level panel of individual workers for the period from 1997 to 2003. In light of the results, the paper then considers the main policies adopted in Italy to facilitate the adjustment of employment and wages to external shocks, including short-term effects of trade liberalisation. The Italian case appears to confirm that international economic integration, while generating important static and dynamic benefits, requires a flexible and efficient social security system, able to assist workers displaced by external competition or other kinds of structural change. In view of shortcomings in the existing system, a comprehensive social security reform, inspired by principles of universal access, medium-term financial equilibrium, and a proper design of individual incentives, may be necessary to better help workers displaced by international integration. |
| Keywords: | trade, employment, wages, inclusive growth |
| JEL: | F16 |
| Date: | 2011–10–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:traaab:126-en&r=lab |
| By: | Isabel Raposo; Tatiane Menezes |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the educational efficiency as determined only by the variables directly controlled by the school, isolated from the influence of other environmental characteristics, such as student’s socioeconomic status, that might influence efficiency as well. An alternative application of Simar and Wilson (2007) two-stage DEA’s approach is adopted using data from public schools in the basic education level from the Northeast Region of Brazil. The results have showed that the rank of efficiency becomes much more homogeneous after isolating from the effect of environmental variables as compared to the rank produced from a simple one-stage DEA. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1594&r=lab |
| By: | Edward Bergman |
| Abstract: | European universities have lost--and partially regained--key research academics to North American and other attractive university systems. EU efforts to reverse the cycle revolve around the establishment of an attractive European Research Area, within which future academic mobility--and commercial knowledge transmission--might be confined. This paper draws upon a survey of 1800 academics in 200 of Europe's most research-intensive universities to understand the principal reasons that underlie contemporary academic mobility. Mobility is conceptualised in Hirschmann terms as 'exit' from an inadequately performing university, rather than remaining 'loyal' to its existing regime or staying to exercise 'voice' in bringing about necessary improvements. The results from logit modeling of choices and options indicate clearly that academics who evidence either 'loyalty' or 'voice' are significantly less likely to be mobile. Moreover, those who are mobile refuse to restrict possible destinations to the ERA if they value better material conditions or better quality of colleagues, students or university reputation. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1134&r=lab |
| By: | Alina - Irina Popescu |
| Abstract: | The impact of higher education institutions on the regional economy is now more important the ever, due not only to their role as providers of education and research, but also to their linkages to the economic, social and cultural surroundings. The paper explores the relationship between the higher education and the regional development, bringing evidence from the eight development regions of Romania: Bucharest and Ilfov, Center, West, North-West, North-East, South-East, South, and South-West, on the most widely used development indicators, according to the methodology proposed by OECD for the assessment of the local engagement of higher education institutions. The analysis reveals the needs to improve the relevance of university education, to widen and strengthen the collaboration between higher education institutions and the business environment, to improve the flexibility of the workforce by re-skilling and up-skilling through lifelong learning. In collaboration with regional and local authorities, universities are in the need to develop and expand learning and skills development programmes, research activities and outreach efforts to support the cultural and creative industry development of the regions they are embedded in, taking also into consideration the international dimension by building stronger connections with students, researchers and professionals from Europe and abroad. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1327&r=lab |
| By: | Silvia Altmark; Karina Larruina |
| Abstract: | “QUANTIFICATION AND GENERAL CHARACTERIZATION OF TOURISM EMPLOYMENT IN URUGUAY†Altmark, Silvia, salt@iesta.edu.uy Larruina, Karina, karinalarruina@gmail.com Statistical Institute, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, UdelaR (University of the Republic) Tourism, a labour intensive activity, plays an important role in the Uruguayan economy, with an estimated weight in the GDP of 6% in 2009. One of the main externalities of tourism is the employment generation, hence the great importance trying to measure it. Despite the importance of this activity in Uruguay, there is no background of indicators that allows quantification of the contribution of tourism in the employment generation in the national economy. The aim of this work is to measure the contribution of tourism activity in the generation of employment in Uruguay between 2006 and 2009. Specifically, to determine the number of working places generated in this activity, to elaborate an indicator of the participation of tourism employment in the economy and to characterize the tourist workforce, applying the conceptual frame provided by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Organization for the Cooperation and the Economic Development (OECD). In addition, we analyzed the experiences in measuring tourism employment of different countries, as Spain and Argentina. To determine the typical industries of tourism activity we used the classification of tourist activities adapted for Uruguay in the frame of the project MINTUR-IESTA. The information was obtained of the Continuous Household Survey of the National Institute of Statistics (INE) held since 1968 and from which there are extracted the principal employment statistics of the country. The main result achieved in this paper, as regards the participation of tourism employment, indicates that it remained around 8% between 2006 and 2009. As for the characterization of employment in tourism, in the analyzed period shows a high share of male heads of household, up to 37 years old, who are private employees and make contributions to the national welfare agency, “Banco de Previsión Social†(BPS). |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1230&r=lab |
| By: | Dan Rickman; Belal Fallah; Mark Partridge |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the spatial pattern of U.S. county employment growth in high-tech industries. The spatial growth dimensions examined include industry cluster effects, urbanization effects, proximity to a college, and proximity in the urban hierarchy. Growth is examined for overall high-tech employment and for employment in various high-tech sectors. Econometric analyses are conducted for a sample of all counties and for metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties separately. Among our primary findings, we do not find evidence of positive localization or cluster growth effects, generally finding negative growth effects. We instead find some evidence of positive urbanization effects and growth penalties for greater distances from larger urban areas. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p518&r=lab |
| By: | Elena Arnal |
| Abstract: | Spain and Denmark are two European countries differing considerably in their development and productive structures as well as in their internationalisation process. This affects many dimensions of each economy, most notably their trade volumes, market sizes and product specialization. Spain and Denmark also differ significantly in labour market outcomes as well as in the design of labour market policies and institutions and the role they played in facilitating labour reallocation. For these reasons, it is instructive to compare them, in particular as they have demonstrated substantial labour market adjustments due to changing international economic conditions. While the results of direct comparisons cannot always be translated into policy action due to country-specific institutional settings and varying economic circumstances, comparative analysis has the potential to yield useful insights into best practices and transferrable policy lessons. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to consider the evolution of trade and labour market outcomes in Denmark and Spain since the early 1990s, in order to provide policy-relevant insights on the relationship between production, trade and labour markets in these countries. Special focus is given to the increased weight of some emerging economies in world trade patterns and how they have affected the trade patterns of these two European countries and their employment behaviours. |
| Keywords: | trade, employment, wages, inclusive growth |
| JEL: | F16 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:traaab:123-en&r=lab |
| By: | Jose Polo; Néstor Duch; Martà Parellada |
| Abstract: | In this paper we empirically analyze the effects of collaboration in innovation with universities on the firm’s innovative performance. Using data from the Technological Innovation Panel dataset (PITEC for its acronym in Spanish) we have constructed a database of 4643 innovative firms in Spain, where we estimate the impact of different types of collaborative partnerships on the increments on firm’s range and quality of products, and on the improvements of the firm’s production capacity and flexibility. The estimation from an ordered logit model shows that firms collaborating actively with universities, as well as, firms that use universities as their principal source of information are more prone to have product and process additionalities, while subcontracting specific R&D activities to universities do not seem to affect the firm’s innovative performance. A sensitive analysis shows that firms belonging to manufacturing sectors benefit more from the collaboration with universities than firms from services sectors. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p671&r=lab |
| By: | Helena Santos-Rodrigues; Pedro Figueroa; Carlos Maria Jardon |
| Abstract: | The intellectual capital is increasingly considered a major issue on the management and organization research and a source of competitive advantage. Although there are different models and approaches that try to identify the effect of intellectual capital on firm performance, there’s, also a lack of evidence and consensus. Based on that evidence, this paper focuses on the influence of the structural capital on the product- process and management innovativeness of the firm. A global model including the variables used in the previous literature is used and we establishes hypotheses for testing this model and use statistic technique to estimate the parameters of the model in a sample. To do so, we use a survey from 68 firms working on the auto components sector, established in the Northern Spain and Northern Portugal. We found firstly, that innovativeness has two main dimensions, perfectly differentiated, the product-process innovation and the management innovation; secondly that the structural capital dimensions influences differently each type of innovation capacity (innovativeness). We also concluded that the structural capital of the automotive firms based on the euro region Galicia (Spain) Northern Portugal influences positive and directly the management innovativeness. These results highlight the importance of the structural capital as well as highlight the main dimensions that influence the innovativeness, and more broadly, the value of intellectual capital as a competitive advantage in contemporary time. Moreover, point out the different character of product-process and management innovativeness. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1386&r=lab |
| By: | Stefan Groot |
| Abstract: | This paper considers diversity of the knowledge of expats as a complementary dimension of human capital that may generate spillovers. Such, often intangible, knowledge about foreign markets, management skills, and other complementary information may enhance the productivity of these expats, or the people who interact with them. However, due to a lack of knowledge about local culture and language, productivity may also decline. We explore an extensive set of microdata from Statistics Netherlands, and use an augmented Mincer approach to simultaneously identify the private and social returns to the presence of foreign knowledge workers. Private returns are found to be negative and statistically significant, while no evidence for – either negative or positive – social returns is found. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1338&r=lab |
| By: | Fabio Manca; Giuseppe Piroli |
| Abstract: | The aim of the paper is to test the Benhabib and Spiegel (2005) productivity (TFP) catch-up framework on European regions. Differences in the stock of human capital across regions are hypothesized to be the cause of differences in the speed by which follower regions converge and catch-up with the technology frontier. We find robust empirical evidence for this hypothesis. Also, we find evidence of complementarities between R&D expenditures and human capital accumulation for which R&D impacts TFP growth as long as a critical mass for the stock of human capital is reached. The results are robust to sectoral disaggregations and to the choice of a country or sectoral specific leader in the TFP gap computation and to control for spatial dependence across European regions. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p816&r=lab |