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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Papps, Kerry L. (University of Bath) |
| Abstract: | Worker-level panel data are used to analyse the separate employment effects of increases in the social security taxes paid by employers and increases in the minimum wage in Turkey between 2002 and 2005. Variation over time and among low-wage workers in the ratio of total labour costs to the gross wage gives rise to a natural experiment. Regression estimates indicate that a given increase in social security taxes has a larger negative effect on the probability of a worker remaining employed in the next quarter than an equal-sized increase in the minimum wage. This result is incompatible with the textbook model of labour supply and demand and suggests that workers may increase effort in response to an increase in wages. Consistent with this explanation, it is found that groups with the least access to the informal sector experience the smallest disemployment effects of the minimum wage. |
| Keywords: | minimum wages, payroll taxes, employment, Turkey |
| JEL: | J32 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6214&r=lab |
| By: | Gasparini, Leonardo (CEDLAS-UNLP); Galiani, Sebastián (Washington University, St. Louis); Cruces, Guillermo (CEDLAS-UNLP); Acosta, Pablo A. (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | It has been argued that a factor behind the decline in income inequality in Latin America in the 2000s was the educational upgrading of its labor force. Between 1990 and 2010, the proportion of the labor force in the region with at least secondary education increased from 40 to 60 percent. Concurrently, returns to secondary education completion fell throughout the past two decades, while the 2000s saw a reversal in the increase in the returns to tertiary education experienced in the 1990s. This paper studies the evolution of wage differentials and the trends in the supply of workers by educational level for 16 Latin American countries between 1990 and 2000. The analysis estimates the relative contribution of supply and demand factors behind recent trends in skill premia for tertiary and secondary educated workers. Supply-side factors seem to have limited explanatory power relative to demand-side factors, and are only relevant to explain part of the fall in wage premia for high-school graduates. Although there is significant heterogeneity in individual country experiences, on average the trend reversal in labor demand in the 2000s can be partially attributed to the recent boom in commodity prices that could favor the unskilled (non-tertiary educated) workforce, although employment patterns by sector suggest that other within-sector forces are also at play, such as technological diffusion or skill mismatches that may reduce the labor productivity of highly-educated workers. |
| Keywords: | skill premia, supply and demand of labor, income inequality, Latin America |
| JEL: | J2 D3 I2 O5 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6244&r=lab |
| By: | Eriksson, Stefan (Uppsala University); Rooth, Dan-Olof (Linnaeus University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we use unique data from a field experiment in the Swedish labor market to investigate how past and contemporary unemployment affect a young worker's probability of being invited to a job interview. In contrast to studies using registry/survey data, we have complete control over the information available to the employers and there is no scope for unobserved heterogeneity. We find no evidence that recruiting employers use information about past unemployment to sort workers, but some evidence that they use contemporary unemployment to sort workers. The fact that employers do not seem to use past unemployment as a sorting criterion suggests that the scarring effects of unemployment may not be as severe as has been indicated by previous studies. |
| Keywords: | scarring, unemployment, field experiment |
| JEL: | J64 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6235&r=lab |
| By: | Caliendo, Marco (University of Potsdam); Künn, Steffen (IZA); Schmidl, Ricarda (IZA) |
| Abstract: | A substantial number of young unemployed participate in active labor market programs (ALMP) in Germany each year. While the aims of these programs are clear – a fast re-integration into employment or enrollment in further education – a comprehensive analysis of their effectiveness has yet to be conducted. We fill this gap using administrative data on youth unemployment entries in 2002 and analyze the short- and long-term impacts for a variety of different programs. With informative data at hand we apply inverse probability weighting, thereby accounting for a dynamic treatment assignment and cyclical availability of programs. Our results indicate positive long-term employment effects for nearly all measures aimed at labor market integration. Measures aimed at integrating youths in apprenticeships are effective in terms of education participation, but fail to show any impact on employment outcomes until the end of our observation period. Public sector job creation is found to be harmful for the medium-term employment prospects and ineffective in the long-run. Our analysis further indicates that the targeting of German ALMP systematically ignores low-educated youths as neediest of labor market groups. While no employment program shows a positive impact on further education participation for any subgroup, the employment impact of participation is often significantly lower for low-educated youths. |
| Keywords: | youth unemployment, active labor market policy, program evaluation, propensity score weighting |
| JEL: | J64 J68 J13 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6222&r=lab |
| By: | Brusentsev, Vera; Newhouse, David; Vroman, Wayne |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes new evidence from two large household surveys on the compliance of firms with severance pay regulations in Indonesia, and the extent to which changes in severance pay regulations could affect employment rigidity. Compliance appears to be low, as only one-third of workers entitled to severance pay report receiving it, and on average workers only collect 40 percent of the payment due to them. Eligible female and low-wage workers are least likely to report receiving payments. Widespread non-compliance is consistent with trends in employment rigidity, which remained essentially unchanged following the large increases in severance mandated by the 2003 law. These results suggest that workers may benefit from a compromise that relaxes severance pay regulations while improving enforcement of severance pay statutes, and possibly establishing a system of unemployment benefits. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Wages, Compensation&Benefits,Social Protections&Assistance,Labor Policies,Labor Management and Relations |
| Date: | 2012–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5933&r=lab |
| By: | Lehmann, Hartmut (University of Bologna); Razzolini, Tiziano (University of Siena); Zaiceva, Anzelika (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) |
| Abstract: | In the years 2003-2008 the Russian economy experienced a period of strong and sustained growth, which was accompanied by large worker turnover and rising informality. We investigate whether the burden of informality falls disproportionately on job separators (displaced workers and quitters) in the Russian labor market in the form of informal employment and undeclared wages in formal jobs. We also pursue the issues whether displaced workers experience more involuntary informal employment than workers who quit and whether informal employment persists. We find a strong positive link between separations and informal employment as well as shares of undeclared wages in formal jobs. Our results also show that displacement entraps some of the workers in involuntary informal employment. Those who quit, in turn, experience voluntary informality for the most part, but there seems a minority of quitting workers who end up in involuntary informal jobs. This scenario does not fall on all separators but predominantly on those with low human capital. Finally, informal employment is indeed persistent since separating from an informal job considerably raises the probability to be informal in the subsequent job. |
| Keywords: | job separations, informality, Russia |
| JEL: | J64 J65 P50 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6230&r=lab |
| By: | Robert Metcalfe; Simon Burgess; Steven Proud |
| Abstract: | We use a sharp, exogenous and repeated change in the value of leisure to identify the impact of student effort on educational achievement. The treatment arises from the partial overlap of the world’s major international football tournaments with the exam period in England. Our data enable a clean difference-in-difference design. Performance is measured using the high-stakes tests that all students take at the end of compulsory schooling. We find a strongly significant effect: the average impact of a fall in effort is 0.12 SDs of student performance, significantly larger for male and disadvantaged students, as high as many educational policies. |
| Keywords: | Student effort, Educational achievement, Schools |
| JEL: | I20 J24 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:586&r=lab |
| By: | Aysit Tansel (Middle East Technical University, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Germany and Economic Research Forum (ERF), Egypt); Elif Oznur Kan (Cankaya University) |
| Abstract: | Informality has long been a salient phenomenon in developing country labor markets, thus has been addressed in several theoretical and empirical research. Turkey, given its economic and demographic dynamics, provides rich evidence for a growing, heterogeneous and multifaceted informal labor market. However, the existing evidence on labor informality in Turkey is mixed and scant. Along these lines, we aim to extend the existing literature by providing a diagnosis of dynamic worker flows across distinct labor market states and identifying the effects of certain individual and job characteristics on variant mobility patterns. More specifically, we first develop and discuss a set of probability statistics based on annual worker transitions across distinct employment states utilizing Markov transition processes. As Bosch and Maloney (2007:3) argue: “labor status mobility can be assumed as a process in which changes in the states occur randomly through time, and probabilities of moves between particular states are governed by Markov transition matrices”. Towards this end, we will use the novel Income and Living Conditions Survey (SILC) panel data set to compute the transition probabilities of individuals moving across the labor market states of formal-salaried, informal-salaried, formal self-employed, informal self-employed, unemployed and inactive. The transitions analysis is conducted separately for two, three and four year panels pertaining to 2006 to 2007, 2006 to 2008 and 2006 to 2009 transitions; for total, male and female samples; and lastly for total and non-agricultural samples. In this way, we aim to contribute to the limited body of stylized facts available on mobility and informality in the Turkish labor market. Next, we conduct multinomial logit regressions individually for each set of panel to identify the impact of individual characteristics (i.e. gender, age, education level, work experience, sector of economic activity, firm size, number of other household members, having/not having children, rural/urban) underlying worker transitions. The results reveal several relationships between the covariates and likelihood of variant transitions, and are of remarkable importance for designing policy to address labor informality and reduce its negative externalities. |
| Keywords: | Labor market dynamics, informality, Markov processes, multinomial logit, Turkey |
| JEL: | J21 J24 J40 J63 O17 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koc:wpaper:1201&r=lab |
| By: | Tansel, Aysit; Kan, Elif Oznur |
| Abstract: | Informality has long been a salient phenomenon in developing country labor markets, thus has been addressed in several theoretical and empirical research. Turkey, given its economic and demographic dynamics, provides rich evidence for a growing, heterogeneous and multifaceted informal labor market. However, the existing evidence on labor informality in Turkey is mixed and scant. Along these lines, we aim to extend the existing literature by providing a diagnosis of dynamic worker flows across distinct labor market states and identifying the effects of certain individual and job characteristics on variant mobility patterns. More specifically, we first develop and discuss a set of probability statistics based on annual worker transitions across distinct employment states utilizing Markov transition processes. As Bosch and Maloney (2007:3) argue: “labor status mobility can be assumed as a process in which changes in the states occur randomly through time, and probabilities of moves between particular states are governed by Markov transition matrices”. Towards this end, we will use the novel Income and Living Conditions Survey (SILC) panel data set to compute the transition probabilities of individuals moving across the labor market states of formal-salaried, informal-salaried, formal self-employed, informal self-employed, unemployed and inactive. The transitions analysis is conducted separately for two, three and four year panels pertaining to 2006 to 2007, 2006 to 2008 and 2006 to 2009 transitions; for total, male and female samples; and lastly for total and non-agricultural samples. In this way, we aim to contribute to the limited body of stylized facts available on mobility and informality in the Turkish labor market. Next, we conduct multinomial logit regressions individually for each set of panel to identify the impact of individual characteristics (i.e. gender, age, education level, work experience, sector of economic activity, firm size, number of other household members, having/not having children, rural/urban) underlying worker transitions. The results reveal several relationships between the covariates and likelihood of variant transitions, and are of remarkable importance for designing policy to adress labor informality and reduce its negative externalities. |
| Keywords: | Labor market dynamics; informality; Markov processes; multinomial logit; Turkey |
| JEL: | J63 J40 O17 J21 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:35672&r=lab |
| By: | Fouarge Didier; Grip Andries de; Smits Wendy; Vries Robert de (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | As suggested by human capital theory, workers with flexible contracts participate lessoften in training than those with permanent contracts. We find that this is merely dueto the fact that flexworkers receive less employer–funded training, a gap they can onlypartly compensate for by their own training investments. Flexworkers particularlyparticipate less in firm–specific training that is meant to keep up with new skilldemands than workers with permanent contracts. However, for those who participatein employer–funded firm–specific training, a temporary contract appears to facilitatethe transition to a permanent contract with the same employer. However, this doesnot hold for participation in self–paid training. This training, which is usually generaltraining, does not help in finding a better job. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2011013&r=lab |
| By: | Geraint Johnes; R Freguglia; G Spricigo; A Aggarwal |
| Abstract: | The effect of education on labour market outcomes is analysed using both survey and administrative data from The Brazilian PNAD and RAIS-MIGRA series, respectively. Occupational destination is examined using both multinomial logit analyses and structural dynamic discrete choice modelling. The latter approach is particularly useful as a means of evaluating policy impacts over time. We find that policy to expand educational provision leads initially to an increased take-up of education, and in the longer term leads to an increased propensity for workers to enter non-manual employment. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:4280&r=lab |
| By: | Haelermans Carla; Borghans Lex (METEOR) |
| Abstract: | A meta-analysis is used to study the average wage effects of on-the-job training. This study showsthat the average reported wage effect of on-the-job training, corrected for publication bias, is2.6 per cent per course. The analyses reveal a substantial heterogeneity between training courses,while wage effects reported in studies based on instrumental variables and panel estimators aresubstantially lower than estimates based on techniques that do not correct for selectivity issues.Appropriate methodology and the quality of the data turn out to be crucial to determine the wagereturns. |
| Keywords: | labour economics ; |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umamet:2011054&r=lab |
| By: | David J. Deming; Claudia Goldin; Lawrence F. Katz |
| Abstract: | Private for-profit institutions have been the fastest growing part of the U.S. higher education sector. For-profit enrollment increased from 0.2 percent to 9.1 percent of total enrollment in degree-granting schools from 1970 to 2009, and for-profit institutions account for the majority of enrollments in non-degree granting postsecondary schools. We describe the schools, students, and programs in the for-profit higher education sector, its phenomenal recent growth, and its relationship to the federal and state governments. Using the 2004 to 2009 Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) longitudinal survey we assess outcomes of a recent cohort of first-time undergraduates who attended for-profits relative to comparable students who attended community colleges or other public or private non-profit institutions. We find that relative to these other institutions, for-profits educate a larger fraction of minority, disadvantaged, and older students, and they have greater success at retaining students in their first year and getting them to complete short programs at the certificate and associate degree levels. But we also find that for-profit students end up with higher unemployment and “idleness” rates and lower earnings six years after entering programs than do comparable students from other schools, and that they have far greater student debt burdens and default rates on their student loans. |
| JEL: | I2 I23 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17710&r=lab |
| By: | Giorgio Di Pietro (University of Westminster & IZA); Toni Mora (Universitat Internacional de Catalunya & IEB) |
| Abstract: | Using Labour Force Survey individual-level data recently released by the Italian Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) where information is for the first time at available at provincial level, this paper looks at the short-term effects of the L’Aquila earthquake on labour market outcomes. Our estimates are based on a difference-in-differences (DiD) strategy that compares residents of L’Aquila with residents of a control area before and after the earthquake. The empirical results suggest that while the earthquake had no significant effect on the employment-population ratio, it led to a modest, but significant, reduction in labour force participation. There is also evidence of significant heterogeneous effects by gender and level of education. |
| Keywords: | Disaster, labour force participation, employment-population ratio, difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | J21 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2011/12/doc2011-41&r=lab |
| By: | Marie Olivier; Vall Castello Judit (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the employment effect of a law that provides for a 36 percent increasein the generosity of disability insurance (DI) for claimants who are, as a result oftheir lack of skills and of the labour market conditions they face, deemed unlikely tofind a job. The selection process for treatment is therefore conditional on having alow probability of employment, making evaluation of its effect intrinsically difficult.We exploit the fact that the benefit increase is only available to individuals aged 55or older, estimating its impact using a regression discontinuity approach. Our firstresults indicate a large drop in employment for disabled individuals who receive theincrease in the benefit. Testing for the linearity of covariates around the eligibility agethreshold reveals that the age at which individuals start claiming DI is not continuous:the benefit increase appears to accelerate the entry rate of individuals aged 55 or over.We obtain new estimates excluding this group of claimants, and find that the policydecreases the employment probability by 8 percent. We conclude that the observedDI generosity elasticity of 0.22 on labour market participation is mostly due to incomeeffects since benefit receipt is not work contingent in the system studied. |
| Keywords: | labour economics ; |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2011012&r=lab |
| By: | Oberhofer, Harald (University of Salzburg); Stöckl, Matthias (University of Salzburg); Winner, Hannes (University of Salzburg) |
| Abstract: | We provide evidence on the impact of globalization on labor market outcomes analyzing pay differences between foreign-acquired and domestically-owned firms. For this purpose, we use firm level data from 16 European countries over the time period 1999 to 2006. Applying propensity score matching techniques we estimate positive wage premia of cross-boarder merger and acquisitions (M&As), suggesting that foreign acquired firms exhibit higher short-run (post-acquisition) wages than their domestic counterparts. The observed wage disparities are most pronounced for low paying firms (with average wages below the median). Finally, we find systematic wage premia in Western European countries, but not so in Eastern Europe. |
| Keywords: | Globalization; mergers and acquisitions; wage effects; propensity score matching |
| JEL: | C21 F15 G34 J31 |
| Date: | 2012–01–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:sbgwpe:2012_001&r=lab |
| By: | Albert, Jose Ramon G.; Ramos, Andre Philippe; Quimba, Francis Mark A.; Almeda, Jocelyn P. |
| Abstract: | The Philippines committed to Millennium Development Goals and Education for All (EFA) targets that include universal primary education. However, various data sources, including the Department of Education`s Basic Education Information System and household surveys conducted by the National Statistics Office, suggest that in 2008, a considerable magnitude of children were not in school. A description of these children is provided here as well as that of children who are at risk of dropping out of primary and secondary levels of education. Reasons for children not being in school are discussed, together with the results of an econometric model that identifies correlates of nonattendance in school. |
| Keywords: | Philippines, school attendance, school participation, out-of-school children, net enrollment rate (NER) |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2012-01&r=lab |
| By: | Rossin-Slater, Maya (Columbia University); Ruhm, Christopher J. (University of Virginia); Waldfogel, Jane (Columbia University) |
| Abstract: | This analysis uses March Current Population Survey data from 1999-2010 and a differences-in-differences approach to examine how California's first in the nation paid family leave (PFL) program affected leave-taking by mothers following childbirth, as well as subsequent labor market outcomes. We obtain robust evidence that the California program more than doubled the overall use of maternity leave, increasing it from around three to six or seven weeks for the typical new mother – with particularly large growth for less advantaged groups. We also provide suggestive evidence that PFL increased the usual weekly work hours of employed mothers of one-to-three year-old children by 6 to 9% and that their wage incomes may have risen by a similar amount. |
| Keywords: | parental leave, maternity leave, leave-taking, paid leave, maternal employment |
| JEL: | J2 J13 J18 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6240&r=lab |
| By: | Kahanec, Martin (Central European University, Budapest); Králiková, Renáta (Central European University, Budapest) |
| Abstract: | Economic theory suggests that high-skilled immigration generally has positive effects on the receiving economy. International student mobility is an important channel through which high-skilled immigrants arrive. The purpose of this paper is to identify some of the key determinants of international student mobility among higher education policies. For this purpose we review the existing evidence and compile a longitudinal dataset covering inflows of international students into a number of advanced economies. We then study the effects of various higher education policies on the inflow of international students using parametric as well as non-parametric statistical methods. We conclude that among higher education policies especially the quality of higher education institutions and the availability of programs taught in the English language can act as an important tool to attract international students, and thus high-skilled migrants. |
| Keywords: | higher education, education policy, migration, migration policy, student mobility |
| JEL: | I23 I28 J21 J24 J61 J68 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6233&r=lab |
| By: | S Bradley; Colin Green; J Mangan |
| Abstract: | A standard finding in the literature on gender wage gaps is that the public sector exhibits much lower gaps than in the private sector. This finding is generally attributed to the existence of less gender discrimination in the public sector. In this paper we show that this conclusion is flawed because the standard finding for the public sector is biased by the dominating influence of large feminised occupational groups, such as those in nursing and teaching, both of which have relatively flat job hierarchies and hence low overall wage variance. However, when we examine other occupations within the public sector, there is evidence of sizeable wage gaps, much of which cannot be explained by observable or unobservable workplace or worker characteristics. This finding implies that gender discrimination is substantial in some occupations in the public sector. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:2835&r=lab |
| By: | Wilkins, Roger (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research); Wooden, Mark (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research) |
| Abstract: | Empirical studies have consistently reported that rates of involuntary job separation, or dismissal, are significantly lower among female employees than among males. Only rarely, however, have the reasons for this differential been the subject of detailed investigation. In this paper, household panel survey data from Australia are used that also find higher dismissal rates among men than among women. This differential, however, largely disappears once controls for industry and occupation are included. These findings suggest that the observed gender differential primarily reflects systematic differences in the types of jobs into which men and women select. |
| Keywords: | dismissals, gender differentials, involuntary job separations, HILDA Survey, Australia |
| JEL: | J16 J63 J71 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6225&r=lab |
| By: | Denisa Maria Sologon (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG, Maastricht University, CEPS/INSTEAD Luxemburg, and IZA Germany); O'Donoghue, Cathal (Teagasc, NUI, Ireland) |
| Abstract: | The concerns regarding the economic insecurity stemming from earnings instability have been gaining momentum in the contemporary political discourse. If earnings instability is as a proxy for risk, for risk-averse individuals, increasing earnings instability bears substantial welfare costs. Using the variance of transitory earnings estimated using the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) and the OECD labour market indicators, we explore by means of non-linear least squares the relationship between earnings instability and labour market policies/institutions across Europe in the 1990s. We find of a complex system of interactions within the institutional framework affecting earnings instability. For an average country with a low corporatism, we find a U-shape relationship between earnings instability and the strictness of labour market regulation. Corporatist systems have a lower earnings instability than decentralized economies, they are effective in reducing the adverse effects of macroeconomic shocks on earnings instability, and can counteract the increase in earnings instability associated with the development of ALMPs, with unionization, with product market regulation and with the tax wedge. The earnings instability associated with developed ALMPs is reduced by regulated labour markets, a high corporatism, low non-wage labour costs and high unemployment benet replacement rates (UBRR). The decrease in earnings instability associated with an increase in the UBRR is the largest for developed ALMPs. |
| Keywords: | economic insecurity, earnings instability, labour market institutions, labour market policies |
| JEL: | C23 D31 J31 J60 J50 J08 O15 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2011077&r=lab |
| By: | Pedro M. Esperança (Nova School of Business of Economics, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the dynamics of the Portuguese labor market using micro data: implications of adjustment costs to input factor adjustment throughout the business cycle are discussed; the current situation of the Portuguese labor market is reviewed; and measures of speed of adjustment for different types of labor (namely, the number of workers and the number of hours employed by firms) are obtained using a System GMM estimator and compared to those obtained for other countries. Additionally, we provide the median adjustment lag and short- and long-run labor demand elasticities with respect to firms' wages and sales. We conclude that the Portuguese labor market is slow in adjustment relative to other countries, while there is no evidence to support the claim that adjustment through the number of hours employed is faster than the adjustment through the number of workers employed. |
| Keywords: | Labor demand, Adjustment dynamics, Adjustment costs, System GMM, Median adjustment lag |
| JEL: | C33 D12 J23 J32 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mde:wpaper:0043&r=lab |
| By: | Ohinata, Asako (Tilburg University); van Ours, Jan C. (Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze how the share of immigrant children in the classroom affects the educational attainment of native Dutch children. Our analysis uses data from various sources, which allow us to characterize educational attainment in terms of reading literacy, mathematical skills and science skills. We do not find strong evidence of negative spill-over effects from immigrant children to native Dutch children. Immigrant children themselves experience negative language spill-over effects from a high share of immigrant children in the classroom but no spill-over effects on maths and science skills. |
| Keywords: | immigrant children, peer effects, educational attainment |
| JEL: | I21 J15 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6212&r=lab |
| By: | Nielsen, Helena Skyt (University of Aarhus); Schindler Rangvid, Beatrice (Danish Institute of Governmental Research) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we employ register data for eight cohorts of second-generation immigrant pupils to identify the impact of each parent's years since migration on their children's school achievements. We exploit local variation in years since migration and within-family variation. We find evidence of a positive impact of parents' years since migration on children's academic achievement. Mothers' years of residence tend to be more important for Danish, while fathers' years of residence tend to be more important for math. The effects vary by gender, and family-specific effects influence girls' and boys' educational attainment differently. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, years since migration, scholastic achievement, immigrant children, second generation, fixed effects |
| JEL: | I21 J12 J62 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6242&r=lab |
| By: | Carlsson, Magnus (Linnaeus University); Rooth, Dan-Olof (Linnaeus University) |
| Abstract: | Ethnic minorities have lower wages compared to the ethnic majority in most EU-countries. However, to what extent these wage gaps are the result of prejudice toward ethnic minority workers is virtually unknown. This study sets out to examine what role prejudice play in the creation of the ethnic wage gap in one of Europe's most egalitarian countries, Sweden. The analysis takes into account the important distinction between average employer attitudes and the attitude of the marginal employer. Our results confirm that the attitudes of the marginal employer – but not those of the average employer – are important for the ethnic wage gap. This relationship becomes even stronger when potential measurement error and other forms of endogeneity are accounted for by controlling for a rich set of variables and implementing instrumental variable techniques. |
| Keywords: | attitudes, prejudice, marginal employer, ethnic wage gap |
| JEL: | J64 J71 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6227&r=lab |
| By: | Douglas Almond; Bhashkar Mazumder; Reyn van Ewijk |
| Abstract: | We consider the effects of daytime fasting by pregnant women during the lunar month of Ramadan on their children's test scores at age seven. Using English register data, we find that scores are .05 to .08 standard deviations lower for Pakistani and Bangladeshi students exposed to Ramadan in early pregnancy. These estimates are downward biased to the extent that Ramadan is not universally observed. We conclude that the effects of prenatal investments on test scores are comparable to many conventional educational interventions but are likely to be more cost effective and less subject to "fade out". |
| JEL: | I12 I14 I24 J15 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17713&r=lab |
| By: | Steven Nyce; Sylvester Schieber; John B. Shoven; Sita Slavov; David A. Wise |
| Abstract: | The strong link between health insurance and employment in the United States may cause workers to delay retirement until they become eligible for Medicare at age 65. However, some employers extend health insurance benefits to their retirees, and individuals who are eligible for such retiree health benefits need not wait until age 65 to retire with group health coverage. We investigate the impact of retiree health insurance on early retirement using employee-level data from 64 diverse firms that are clients of Towers Watson, a leading benefits consulting firm. We find that retiree health coverage has its strongest effects at ages 62 and 63, resulting in a 3.7 percentage point (21.2 percent) increase in the probability of turnover at age 62 and a 5.1 percentage point (32.2 percent) increase in the probability of turnover at age 63; it has a more modest effects for individuals under the age of 62. A more generous employer contribution of 50 percent or more raises turnover by 1-3 percentage points at ages 56-61, by 5.9 percentage points (33.7 percent) at age 62, and by 6.9 percentage points (43.7 percent) at age 63. Overall, an employer contribution of 50 percent or more reduces the total number of person-years worked between ages 56 and 64 by 9.6 percent relative to no coverage. |
| JEL: | I11 J26 J32 J63 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17703&r=lab |
| By: | Maya Rossin-Slater; Christopher J. Ruhm; Jane Waldfogel |
| Abstract: | This analysis uses March Current Population Survey data from 1999-2010 and a differences-in-differences approach to examine how California’s first in the nation paid family leave (PFL) program affected leave-taking by mothers following childbirth, as well as subsequent labor market outcomes. We obtain robust evidence that the California program more than doubled the overall use of maternity leave, increasing it from around three to six or seven weeks for the typical new mother – with particularly large growth for less advantaged groups. We also provide suggestive evidence that PFL increased the usual weekly work hours of employed mothers of one-to-three year-old children by 6 to 9% and that their wage incomes may have risen by a similar amount. |
| JEL: | H75 J13 J18 J2 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17715&r=lab |
| By: | Jim Taylor |
| Abstract: | This paper challenges the view held by the UK Government that the introduction of the English Baccalaureate will lead to an improvement in educational outcomes in secondary education. Evidence is presented to show that this new qualification is biased against disadvantaged pupils from low-income families, pupils with special needs, and pupils who have little inclination to study a foreign language. Furthermore, the English Baccalaureate is deeply flawed when used as a school performance indicator and should not be included in the School Performance Tables. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:927&r=lab |
| By: | Priscila Ferreira (NIMA, Universidade do Minho); Mark Taylor (ISER, University of Essex) |
| Abstract: | Using a panel of linked employer-employee data from Portugal, we follow the performance of firms and workers during the first decade of 2000s in terms of the risk of firm shutdown and of chances of workers’ entering unemployment. This allows us to identify the characteristics of unsuccessful firms and workers over this period and, of most interest, whether these characteristics changed as a consequence of the global crisis. In addition, and different from previous works, we (i) assess whether there is a differential effect to crisis depending on firm size, and (ii) relate the workers’ risk of unemployment to the hazard of firm shutdown. In the analyses of hazard of shutdown and risk of unemployment most of the effects of observed covariates remained unchanged through the business cycle. There is a differential response to crisis depending on firm size. A small firm’s risk of shutdown is 9 times the risk of a large firm. However, the chances of becoming unemployed are less than twice larger for a worker in a small firm. This suggests that large firms may be less likely to shutdown, but they are not a shield from unemployment. |
| Keywords: | firm survival, employment, crisis, LEED |
| JEL: | C33 J21 L25 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nim:nimawp:44/2011&r=lab |
| By: | S Bradley; Jim Taylor; G Migali |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the effect on test scores of a UK education reform which has increased <br/>funding of schools and encouraged their specialisation in particular subject areas, enhancing pupil choice and competition between schools. Using several data sets, we apply cross-sectional and difference-in-differences matching models, to confront issues of the choice of an appropriate control group and different forms of selection bias. We demonstrate a statistically significant causal effect of the specialist schools policy on test score outcomes. The duration of specialisation matters, and we consistently find that the longer a school has been specialist the larger is the impact on test scores. We finally disentangle the funding effect from a specialisation effect, and the latter occurs yielding relatively large improvements in test scores in particular subjects. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:928&r=lab |
| By: | S Bradley; Jim Taylor |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the extent to which exam performance at the end of compulsory education has been affected by three major education reforms: the introduction of a quasi-market following the Education Reform Act (1988); the specialist schools initiative introduced in 1994; and the Excellence in Cities programme introduced in 1999. We use data for all state-funded secondary schools in England over the period 1992-2006. The empirical analysis, which is based on the application of panel data methods, indicates that the government and its agencies have substantially overestimated the benefits flowing from these three major reforms. Only about one-third of the improvement in GCSE exam scores during 1992-2006 is directly attributable to the combined effect of the education reforms. The distributional consequences of the policy, however, are estimated to have been favourable, with the greatest gains being achieved by schools with the highest proportion of pupils from poor families. But there is evidence that resources have not been allocated efficiently. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:936&r=lab |
| By: | Elek, Peter (Eötvös Lorand University); Kollo, Janos (Hungarian Academy of Sciences); Reizer, Balázs (Central European University, Budapest); Szabó, Péter A. (Reformed Presbyterian Church of Central and Eastern Europe) |
| Abstract: | We estimate a double hurdle (DH) model of the Hungarian wage distribution assuming censoring at the minimum wage and wage under-reporting (i.e. compensation consisting of the minimum wage, subject to taxation, and an unreported cash supplement). We estimate the probability of under-reporting for minimum wage earners, simulate their genuine earnings and classify them and their employers as 'cheaters' and 'non-cheaters'. In the possession of the classification we check how cheaters and non-cheaters reacted to the introduction of a minimum social security contribution base, equal to 200 per cent of the minimum wage, in 2007. The findings suggest that cheaters were more likely to raise the wages of their minimum wage earners to 200 per cent of the minimum wage thereby reducing the risk of tax audit. Cheating firms also experienced faster average wage growth and slower output growth. The results suggest that the DH model is able to identify the loci of wage under-reporting with some precision. |
| Keywords: | tax evasion, double hurdle model, Hungary |
| JEL: | C34 H26 J38 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6224&r=lab |
| By: | Kazufumi Yugami (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University); Atsushi Morimoto (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University) |
| JEL: | J31 J41 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koe:wpaper:1122&r=lab |
| By: | Centeno, Mario (Banco de Portugal); Novo, Alvaro A. (Banco de Portugal) |
| Abstract: | Portuguese firms engage in intense reallocation, most employers simultaneously hire and separate from workers, resulting in high excess worker turnover flows. These flows are constrained by the employment protection gap between open-ended and fixed-term contracts. We explore a reform that increased the employment protection of open-ended contracts and generated a quasi-experiment. The causal evidence points to an increase in the share and in the excess turnover of fixed-term contracts in treated firms. The excess turnover of open-ended contracts remained unchanged. This result is consistent with a high degree of substitution between open-ended and fixed-term contracts. At the firm level, we also show that excess turnover is quite heterogeneous and quantify its association with firm, match, and worker characteristics. |
| Keywords: | excess worker turnover, two-tier systems, quasi-experiment, fixed-term contracts |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J63 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6239&r=lab |
| By: | Hasan, Dr. Syed Akif; Subhani, Dr. Muhammad Imtiaz |
| Abstract: | Can co-workers motivational efforts pave the way for morale and job commitment for the employees is a million dollar question which always matters for the organizations to perform. The purpose of this research is to develop an understanding on the relationship between the employees and their colleague in the organizations, The findings reveal that co-workers various motivational efforts may have a positive impact on employee morale but it still doesn’t guarantee the job commitment, precisely the motivation by co-workers may only boost the morale of employees for a short while, and thereafter a person may lose the interest towards his/her job again. |
| Keywords: | Co-workers motivational efforts; Motivation; Morale; Job commitment |
| JEL: | O15 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:35684&r=lab |
| By: | Kato, Takao (Colgate University); Shu, Pian (MIT) |
| Abstract: | Using data on team assignment and weekly output for all weavers in an urban Chinese textile firm between April 2003 and March 2004, this paper studies a) how randomly assigned teammates affect an individual worker's behavior under a tournament-style incentive scheme, and b) how such effects interact with exogenously formed social networks in the manufacturing workplace. First, we find that a worker's performance improves when the average ability of her teammates increases. Second, we exploit the exogenous variations in workers' origins in the presence of the well-documented social divide between urban resident workers and rural migrant workers in large urban Chinese firms, and show that the coworker effects are only present if the teammates are of a different origin. In other words, workers do not act on pecuniary incentives to outperform teammates who are from the same social network. Our results point to the important role of group identities in overcoming self-interests and facilitating altruistic behavior. |
| Keywords: | coworker effects in the workplace, social networks, intergroup competition |
| JEL: | M5 J24 L2 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6219&r=lab |
| By: | Hasan, Dr. Syed Akif; Subhani, Dr. Muhammad Imtiaz; Osman, Ms. Amber |
| Abstract: | The social interaction taking place in our society is politics. Essential to any governing bodies, institutions etc. this paper’s forte is to specifically assess the politics phenomenon in the academic institutions of higher education. The involvement of politics in the academic society i.e. staff, faculty and employer has been of interest to this study. Politics can be liberal and conservative depending on the individuals running and other perceiving it, which gives birth to the argumentative dialogues, in order to gain power and authority to run the given regime. The survey questionnaire was developed and distributed to the leading higher education universities of Pakistan. There were 3000 respondents (faculty, staff, middle management and top-management). The testing endeavoured to quantify aspects of politics judgment in terms of contribution, appreciation, goals and values, interests, performance, quit, salary, comparison, emotional grudges/cushion for other work colleagues, communication, compensation, gossip, spying, back-biting, professional jealousy, self-esteem, job targets and ethics at academic-oriented work space. One samples T-test and KW test analyzed that staff level employees 50% disagree with the top-management control due to the strong inside and outside political influence over all categories of management. Politics has suppressed the environment and welfare of sound universities, which lay their foundation on transparency, honesty and ethical grounds. It is an alarming situation for universities, which have bad control of politics ruining the administration and overall productivity at work. Policy makers must assess the mal-use of politics in the higher educational sector universities to avoid major fallout of large establishments over a decade, which is creating speculation and dearth of consistent and right administrative and governing systems. |
| Keywords: | Politics; Higher education universities; Politicking; Professional Jealously; Ethics |
| JEL: | A2 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:35680&r=lab |
| By: | Alexander M. Gelber; Adam Isen |
| Abstract: | Parents may have important effects on their children, but little work in economics explores whether children's schooling opportunities crowd out or encourage parents' investment in children. We analyze data from the Head Start Impact Study, which granted randomly-chosen preschool-aged children the opportunity to attend Head Start. We find that Head Start causes a substantial increase in parents' involvement with their children—such as time spent reading to children, math activities, or days spent with children by fathers who do not live with their children—both during and after the period when their children are potentially enrolled in Head Start. We discuss a variety of mechanisms that are consistent with our findings, including a simple model we present in which Head Start impacts parent involvement in part because parents perceive their involvement to be complementary with child schooling in the production of child qualities. |
| JEL: | H31 H52 I21 I28 J13 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17704&r=lab |
| By: | Cuenca, Janet S. |
| Abstract: | In view of the long-standing issues and concerns that beset the Philippine system of higher education, the study attempts to evaluate the performance of state universities and colleges (SUCs) in the period 2006-2009 using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). In particular, it estimates the efficiency of 78 SUCs based on available input data (i.e., expenditure data) and output data (i.e., number of enrolled students, number of graduates, and total revenue). Also, it examines productivity change in these institutions by applying the Malmquist approach on a four-year panel data set of 78 SUCs. The DEA results indicate that majority of the SUCs have efficiency score less than 1 and thus, they are considered inefficient. In addition, the target input and output levels derived from the DEA suggest potential cost savings for each of the SUCs. Further, productivity of about 62 percent of the SUCs has slightly improved in the period under review. The findings of the study point to a potential research in the future that would take a closer look on each of the SUCs identified as inefficient in this exercise with the end in view of identifying, understanding, and hopefully, addressing the factors that affect their operation and performance. |
| Keywords: | productivity, efficiency, higher education, Philippines, higher education institutions (HEIs), Revitalized General Education Program (RGEP), gambling, state universities and colleges (SUCs), data envelopment analysis |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2011-14&r=lab |
| By: | Nicholas Bloom; Christos Genakos; Raffaella Sadun; John Van Reenen |
| Abstract: | For the last decade we have been using double-blind survey techniques and randomized sampling to construct management data on over 10,000 organizations across twenty countries. On average, we find that in manufacturing American, Japanese, and German firms are the best managed. Firms in developing countries, such as Brazil, China and India tend to be poorly managed. American retail firms and hospitals are also well managed by international standards, although American schools are worse managed than those in several other developed countries. We also find substantial variation in management practices across organizations in every country and every sector, mirroring the heterogeneity in the spread of performance in these sectors. One factor linked to this variation is ownership. Government, family, and founder owned firms are usually poorly managed, while multinational, dispersed shareholder and private-equity owned firms are typically well managed. Stronger product market competition and higher worker skills are associated with better management practices. Less regulated labor markets are associated with improvements in incentive management practices such as performance based promotion. |
| Keywords: | management, organization, and productivity |
| JEL: | L2 M2 O14 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1109&r=lab |
| By: | Pascal Gantenbein; Christophe Volonté (University of Basel) |
| Keywords: | Corporate governance: Board of directors; Director characteristics, Education and business experience |
| JEL: | G30 G34 G38 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bsl:wpaper:2011/11&r=lab |
| By: | Fomba Kamga, Benjamin (University of Yaounde II) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this study is to evaluate employees' productivity in relation to their contract status. This study uses (a) survey data collected among manufacturing sector firms, having more than 15 employees, in Cameroon between April and May 2006 and (b) information issued by the National Institute of Statistics. Information collected concerned 45 firms spanning the period 2003 to 2005. This study uses the stochastic production frontier, distinguishing employees holding fixed-term contract (FTC) from employees that do not have fixed-term contracts (indefinite-term contract (ITC)). Results are estimated in 2 stages. First, we evaluate the determinants of the utilisation of FTC workers and second, we estimate the level of efficiency and productivity of two types of workers. Empirical results indicate that employees holding FTC are twice more productive than those holding ITC. Likewise, parameters indicating returns to scale are 1.3. This parameter, though not significant, is greater than one indicating constant returns to scale in the firm production function. |
| Keywords: | labour contract, fixed-term contract, indefinite-term contract, production frontier |
| JEL: | J41 J82 L25 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6211&r=lab |
| By: | Pedersen, Peder J. (University of Aarhus) |
| Abstract: | The purpose in this paper is to summarize existing evidence on welfare dependence among immigrants in Denmark and to supply new evidence with focus on the most recent years. Focus is on immigrants from non-western countries. The paper contains an overview of the background regarding immigration in recent decades followed by a survey of relevant benefit programmes in the Danish welfare state. Existing studies focus on both macro analyses of the overall impact from immigration on the public sector budget and on micro oriented studies with focus on specific welfare programs. Existing studies focus on the importance for welfare dependence of demographic variables, on the big variation between countries of origin and on the importance of cyclical factors at time of entry and during the first years in the new country. Evidence from the most recent years reinforce the importance of aggregate low unemployment in contrast to fairly small effects found from policy changes intending to influence the economic incentives between welfare and a job for immigrants. |
| Keywords: | immigration, general welfare programs, effects of welfare programs |
| JEL: | H53 I38 J61 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6220&r=lab |
| By: | Yue, Chia Siow |
| Abstract: | <p>Singapore has one of the most open economies in Asia in terms of trade, foreign direct investment inflows, and foreign labor inflows. By 2010, citizens formed only 63.6% of the population and foreigners (not including permanent residents) form 34.7% of the labor force. This high foreign labor ratio reflects buoyant labor demand, limited domestic labor supply with declining total fertility rate, and the lack of xenophobia and labor protectionism. Foreign labor is needed to grow the population, mitigate population aging, grow the GDP and per capita GDP, cover shortages in labor supply and skills, act as a cyclical buffer, and contain wage costs to ensure international competitiveness. However, the heavy dependence on foreign labor has also delayed economic restructuring, adversely affected productivity performance, and engendered a FDW-dependency syndrome among households.</p><p>The foreign labor policy is dual track, with unrestricted inflow of foreign talents and managed inflow of low-skilled labor through the use of work permits, worker levies, dependency ceilings, and educational and skills criteria. Going forward, Singapore has to limit its dependence on foreign labor to accelerate productivity growth and as it is constrained by physical space and citizen concerns over crowding out of jobs, public and recreational spaces, and public services. Greater bilateral and ASEAN cooperation is needed to mitigate the cross-border conflicts and tensions arising from the cross-border movement of labor.</p> |
| Keywords: | brain gain, foreign labor, foreign labor policy, domestic maids |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2011-24&r=lab |
| By: | Srichander Ramaswamy |
| Abstract: | Poor financial market returns and low long-term real interest rates in recent years have created challenges for the sponsors of defined benefit pension schemes. At the same time, lower payroll tax revenues in a period of high unemployment, and rising fiscal deficits in many advanced economies as economic activity has fallen, are also testing the sustainability of pay-as-you-go public pension schemes. Amendments to pension accounting rules that require corporations to regularly report the valuation differences between their defined benefit pension assets and plan liabilities on their balance sheet have made investors more aware of the pension risk exposure for the sponsors of such schemes. This paper sheds light on what effects these developments are having on the design of occupational pension schemes, and also provides some estimates for the post-employment benefits that could be delivered by these schemes under different sets of assumptions. The paper concludes by providing some policy perspectives. |
| Keywords: | funds, service cost, contribution rates, mortality rates, long-term real interest rates, real wages, sovereign liabilities, pay-as-you-go schemes |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:368&r=lab |
| By: | Abdulloev, Ilhom (Rutgers University); Gang, Ira N. (Rutgers University); Landon-Lane, John (Rutgers University) |
| Abstract: | How is migration related to informal activities? They may be complementary since new migrants may have difficulty finding employment in formal work, so many of them end up informally employed. Alternatively, migration and informality may be substitutes since migrants' incomes in their new locations and income earned in the home informal economy (without migration) are an imperfect trade-off. Tajikistan possesses both a very large informal sector and extensive international emigration. Using the gap between household expenditure and income as an indicator of informal activity, we find negative significant correlations between informal activities and migration: the gap between expenditure and income falls in the presence of migration. Furthermore, Tajikistan's professional workers ability to engage in informal activities enables them to forgo migration, while low-skilled non-professionals without post-secondary education choose to migrate instead of working in the informal sector. Our empirical evidence suggests migration and informality substitute for one another. |
| Keywords: | informal, migration, remittances, Tajikistan |
| JEL: | O17 J61 P23 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6236&r=lab |
| By: | Paitoonpong, Srawooth |
| Abstract: | <p>The study on "Managing International Labor Migration in ASEAN: Thailand" aimed to study policies and institution arrangement for managing international migration as part of regional cooperation initiatives and bilateral agreements. The study emphasized on finding out why the current management of sending workers and protecting workers has not been effective. The data used for the analysis came from two main majority sources; 1) the quantitative data, including primary data on possible solutions, strategies, the secondary sources from Socio-Economic Survey (SES) and information where necessary to explain the socioeconomic impact of migrant worker families; and 2) the qualitative study collected from interview of key informants, focus group discussion with families of migrant workers, governments, brokers, and etc. As data allow, cost benefit analysis for out-migration as well as in-migration from government intervention programs was applied.</p><p>The theory of push and pull factors were used for describing reasons that forced migrant workers to work overseas. As of the study, there was the evidence that pointed out that poverty and indebtedness were push factor for both emigration and immigration while higher income in the destination countries was the pull factor. The study further found that both of emigration and immigration were beneficial in various aspects including increase in the gross domestic product (GDP) in both country of origin and the destination country. Remittance was an important source of the country development budget, increase in the level of national saving, and improve income distribution.</p><p>However, it was due to the fact that most migrant workers were from low educational background, thus most of them become victims of exploitation and human trafficking from the agencies and employers in particular undocumented workers. Even though, Thai government has many laws and regulations regarding prevention and protection of migrant workers such as Labour Law and Labour Protection Act; and the Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) in regional and bilateral level, these have not been effective due to the weakness in law enforcement of the authorities.</p> |
| Keywords: | immigration, international migration, emigration, undocumented workers, migrant worker |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2011-28&r=lab |