|
on Labour Economics |
| By: | Yamauchi, Futoshi; Liu, Yanyan |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the long-term impacts of improved school quality at the elementary school stage on subsequent schooling investments and labor market outcomes using unique data from a recent survey that tracked students in the Philippines. Empirical results, based on a comparison of students who graduated from treatment and control schools before and after a school intervention, show significant differences in subsequent schooling investments, migration, and labor market earnings between females and males. That is, females study more (relative to males) and tend to migrate and earn more if they receive high-quality educational investments at an early stage. The above results are consistent with females' greater incentives to study, driven by their higher returns to schooling, especially after high school completion, observed in the labor market. |
| Keywords: | Gender, labor markets, School quality, tracking survey, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1144&r=lab |
| By: | Guido Menzio; Irina A. Telyukova; Ludo Visschers |
| Abstract: | We develop a life-cycle model of the labor market in which different worker-firm matches have different quality and the assignment of the right workers to the right firms is time consuming because of search and learning frictions. The rate at which workers move between unemployment, employment and across different firms is endogenous because search is directed and, hence, workers can choose whether to seek low-wage jobs that are easy to find or high-wage jobs that are hard to find. We calibrate our theory using data on labor market transitions aggregated across workers of different ages. We validate our theory by showing that it correctly predicts the pattern of labor market transitions for workers of different ages. Finally, we use our theory to decompose the age profiles of transition rates, wages and productivity into the effects of age variation in work-life expectancy, human capital and match quality. |
| JEL: | E24 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17746&r=lab |
| By: | Su, Biwei (Korea University); Heshmati, Almas (Korea University) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the gender wage gap and its composition in China's urban labor market using the 2009 survey data from the Chinese Family Panel Studies. Several estimation and decomposition methods have been used and compared. First, we examine the gender wage gap using ordinary least square regression method with a gender dummy variable. Then, we apply Oaxaca (1973) decomposition method with different weighting systems to analyze the logarithmic wage differential. To be more specific, we prove the existence of sample selection bias caused by the female's labor force participation. We eliminate it by using the Heckman's two-step procedure. Empirical results reveal that male workers generally receive a higher wage than female workers, and a great deal of this difference is unexplained. Meanwhile, this unexplained part, which is usually referred to as discrimination turns out to be higher when the adjustment is made for the selection bias. A further breakdown of the wage gap shows that among all the individual characteristics, occupations explain the largest share of the wage gap, followed by their working experience. On the other hand, education acts as a contributor for discrimination in the labor market. |
| Keywords: | discrimination, wage gap, decomposition, gender, Chinese labor market |
| JEL: | J70 J31 J16 J78 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6252&r=lab |
| By: | Machado, C. Sofia (Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e do Ave); Portela, Miguel (University of Minho) |
| Abstract: | Using a novel dataset from the 2006 Portuguese Labor Force Survey this paper examines the impact of a voluntary reduction in hours of work, before retirement, on the moment of exit from the labor force. If, as often suggested, flexibility in hours of work is a useful measure to postpone retirement, then a reduction in working hours should be associated with retirement at later ages. Results prove otherwise suggesting that reducing hours of work before retirement is associated with early exits from the labor force. A reduction in hours of work seems to signal the worker's wish to retire sooner rather than to announce the desire of remaining in the labor market. This result may enclose the need for some alternative policy strategies regarding working hours. |
| Keywords: | aging, retirement, working hours, older workers |
| JEL: | J14 J26 J22 J21 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6270&r=lab |
| By: | Docquier, Frédéric (Université catholique de Louvain); Ozden, Caglar (World Bank); Peri, Giovanni (University of California, Davis) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we simulate the labor market effects of net immigration and emigration during the 1990's in all OECD countries. To accomplish this, we are the first to employ a comprehensive database of migrant stocks, grouped by education level and country of origin/destination, for the years 1990 and 2000. Due to the much higher international mobility of college graduates, relative to all other individuals, we find that net migration flows are college-intensive, relative to the population of non-migrants. Using the consensus aggregate model of labor demand and supply we simulate the long-run employment and wage effects of immigration and emigration. We use a range of parameter values spanning most of the estimates in the literature. In all cases we find that immigration had a positive effect on the wage of less educated natives. It also increased or left the average native wages unchanged and had a positive or no effect on native employment. To the contrary, emigration had a negative effect on the wage of less educated native workers and it contributed to increase within country inequality in all OECD countries. These results still hold true when we correct for the estimates of undocumented immigrants, for the skill-downgrading of immigrants, when we focus on immigration from non-OECD countries, and when we consider preliminary measures of more recent immigration flows for the period 2000-2007. |
| Keywords: | immigration and emigration, complementarity, schooling externalities, average wage, wage inequality |
| JEL: | F22 J61 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6258&r=lab |
| By: | Mok, Wallace (Chinese University of Hong Kong); Siddique, Zahra (IZA) |
| Abstract: | We examine racial and ethnic inequality in offers of employer provided fringe benefits (health insurance, life insurance and pension). Restricting to full-time workers in the private sector, we find that African Americans are significantly less likely to get fringe benefit offers than non-Hispanic whites after we control for individual differences in age and youth characteristics that matter for labor market success using the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We do not find ethnic differences in the 1979 cohort or racial/ethnic differences in the 1997 cohort to be significantly large after controlling for individual differences in age and youth characteristics. Irrespective of race, ethnicity, gender or cohort, we always find that older workers are more likely to get fringe benefit offers as are workers with higher cognitive ability and years of education at age 22. We find that the cross-sections from the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth have more fringe benefit offers than cross-sections from the 1997 cohort. A large part of the difference across cohorts can be explained by the older age profile of cross-sections from the 1979 cohort. Some part of the difference across cohorts can also be explained by differences in family background characteristics, particularly changing family structures which are important for non-Hispanic whites and for African American men. Improvements in cognitive ability and years of education at age 22 for the 1997 cohort increase the unexplained difference in fringe benefit offers across the two cohorts for women (irrespective of race or ethnicity), but not for men. |
| Keywords: | economics of minorities and races, non-wage labor costs and benefits |
| JEL: | I11 J15 J32 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6255&r=lab |
| By: | Tansel, Aysit (Middle East Technical University); Kan, Elif Oznur (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:iza:izadps:dp6271&r=lab |
| By: | Blázquez, Maite (Departamento de Análisis Económico (Teoría e Historia Económica). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.); Herrarte, Ainhoa (Departamento de Análisis Económico (Teoría e Historia Económica). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid); Sáez, Felipe (Departamento de Análisis Económico: Teoría e Historia Económica. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | Using administrative records from Public Employment Offices, this paper studies the main factors determining occupational matching between labour supply and demand. This is measured by matching the demanded occupation by job seekers and the occupation they finally secure. The results show that occupational matching is greater among women, young workers and least-educated people. Higher rates of occupational matching are also found in medium-sized companies and among temporary workers. The results also show that certain occupations are strongly associated with a high degree of professional versatility, or instead that their corresponding tasks may be adequately performed by professionals from distinct backgrounds. |
| Keywords: | occupational matching; employment probability; labour transitions; occupational mobility. |
| JEL: | J20 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uam:wpaper:201202&r=lab |
| By: | Aysit Tansel (Middle East Technical University); 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 adress 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 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tek:wpaper:2012/1&r=lab |
| By: | Judith Scott-Clayton |
| Abstract: | Recent cohorts of college enrollees are more likely to work, and work substantially more, than those of the past. October CPS data reveal that average labor supply among 18 to 22-year-old full-time undergraduates nearly doubled between 1970 and 2000, rising from 6 hours to 11 hours per week. In 2000 over half of these “traditional” college students were working for pay in the reference week, and the average working student worked 22 hours per week. After 2000, labor supply leveled off and then fell abruptly in the wake of the Great Recession to an average of 8 hours per week in 2009. This paper considers several explanations for the long-term trend of rising employment—including compositional change and rising tuition costs—and considers whether the upward trend is likely to resume when economic conditions improve. |
| JEL: | I22 I23 J22 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17744&r=lab |
| By: | Drydakis, Nick (University of Patras) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the differences in three aspects of job satisfaction – total pay, promotion prospects, and respect received from one's supervisor – between male heterosexual and gay employees in Athens, Greece. Gay employees are found to be less satisfied according to all job satisfaction measures. Affect Theory proposes that the extent to which one values a given facet of work moderates how dissatisfied one becomes when one's expectations are not met. Furthermore, the data enable us to estimate that gay employees' job satisfaction is not associated more (as compared to heterosexuals' job satisfaction) with adverse mental health symptoms. This finding is crucial given the rising interest between job satisfaction and life satisfaction. Finally, wage gaps against gay employees are found after accounting for basic asymmetries. Interestingly, however, the wage gaps grow for very dissatisfied employees and shrink for very satisfied employees. As long as, the general patterns in Greece suggest that homosexual employees face labour market discrimination, gay employees will report being less satisfied at work. Actually, in this study, job satisfaction is associated with wage inequality. This research initiates efforts to compare job satisfaction based on sexual orientation. |
| Keywords: | job satisfaction, sexual orientation |
| JEL: | J28 C93 J7 J16 J31 J42 J64 J71 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6272&r=lab |
| By: | Riphahn, Regina T. (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg); Schnitzlein, Daniel D. (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | This article studies the long run patterns and explanations of wage mobility as a characteristic of regional labor markets. Using German administrative data we describe wage mobility since 1975 in West and since 1992 in East Germany. Wage mobility declined substantially in East Germany in the 1990s and moderately in East and West Germany since the late 1990s. Therefore, wage mobility does not balance recent increases in cross-sectional wage inequality. We apply RIF (recentered influence function) regression based decompositions to measure the role of potential explanatory factors behind these mobility changes. Increasing job stability is an important factor associated with the East German mobility decline. |
| Keywords: | wage mobility, earnings mobility, income mobility, Germany, East Germany, inequality, transition matrix, Shorrocks index, administrative data |
| JEL: | J30 J31 J60 D63 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6246&r=lab |
| By: | Michele Raitano (Sapienza University of Rome); Francesco Vona (Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Économiques) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the interaction between school tracking policies and peer effects in OECD countries. Using the PISA 2006 dataset, we show that the linear peer effects are stronger and more concave-shaped in the early-tracking educational system than in the comprehensive one. Second, and more interestingly, the effect of peer heterogeneity goes in opposite directions in the two systems. In both student- and school-level estimates, peer heterogeneity reduces students’ achievements in the comprehensive system while it has a positive impact in the early-tracking one. For late tracking countries, this result appears driven by pupils attending vocationally-oriented programs. Finally, peer effects are stronger for low ability students in both groups of countries. |
| Keywords: | peer heterogeneity, peer effects; schooling tracking, educational production functions |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fce:doctra:1122&r=lab |
| By: | Massimo Mancini |
| Abstract: | The aim of this study is to investigate the incentive role of different type of contract. The hypothesis to be tested is that the probability of exerting effort is higher for temporary workers than for permanent ones, using indicators known in literature (unpaid overtime hours and absenteeism for illness and family reasons). Data are taken from Italian Labour Force Survey. Preliminary results show that temporary workers provide more effort only with regard to absence, but not with regard to unpaid overtime work. |
| Date: | 2011–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pia:wpaper:95/2011&r=lab |
| By: | Aysit Tansel (Middle East Technical University); Yousef Daoud (Birzeit University) |
| Abstract: | This study exposes a comparative treatment of the private returns to education in Palestine and Turkey over the period 2004-2008. Comparable data, similar definitions and same methodology are used in the estimations. The estimates are provided first for average returns to education second for returns at different levels of schooling and finally for returns by different sectors of employment. The results suggest that returns to schooling are higher for Turkey at the various levels of education for Females and males and for both years 2004 and 2008. It is believed that the relative size of the Palestinian economy the uniqueness of subjugation to military occupation contribute greatly to this result. In 2008, returns are lower than 2004 levels for all levels of education; the pattern is less obvious for Turkey across the various levels. However, the 2008 crisis seems to have influenced the more educated more severely (MA and above) in both countries. Female returns to education are higher for women than men in both countries; the gender gap has worsened in 2008, but more so for Palestine. The median ratio of male to female return is 0.55 (university) in 2004 and decreased to 0.17 (high school) in 2008 in Palestine. The corresponding figures for Turkey are 0.79 and .082 (both for high school).Finally, it was found that the selectivity corrected return estimates are lower than the OLS estimates in Palestine while they are higher than the OLS estimates in Turkey. |
| Keywords: | Returns to Education, Mincer Equation, Gender, Palestine, Turkey |
| JEL: | J16 J24 J31 J45 O31 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tek:wpaper:2011/7&r=lab |
| By: | Stefan Schneck |
| Abstract: | This paper uses unique German data to examine the effects of the relative standing on the individual propensity to become self-employed in the next two years. The results suggest that the relationship between relative wage positions and propensity to become self-employed is U-shaped. This is interpreted as evidence that low status translates into entrepreneurial motivation for workers in low relative wage positions. Employees with high relative standing, in turn, seem to be more concerned about the lack of future career prospects in paid employment and consider self-employment as a next step on the individual career ladder. |
| Keywords: | Relative wage position, status, self-employment |
| JEL: | L26 L29 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp426&r=lab |
| By: | Gonzalo Castex; Miguel Ricaurte |
| Abstract: | In a general equilibrium context, we analyze the impact of changes in institutional labor market conditions, such as access to financing and efficiency, on the composition of employment and unemployment, considering the nature of formal labor contracts and the entrepreneurial capacity of the labor force. We extend the Mortensen - Pissarides model to allow for two types of formal job contracts: temporary and permanent; and we also allow for self-employment. We show that labor market efficiency as well as access to selfemployment financing played a key role in the evolution of employment in Chile during the last 15 years. Additionally, and not surprisingly, tougher access to financing adversely affects self-employment |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chb:bcchwp:650&r=lab |
| By: | Geraint Johnes; A Aggarwal; R Freguglia; G Spricigo |
| Abstract: | The impact of education on labour market outcomes is analysed using data from various rounds of the National Sample Survey of India. Occupational destination is examined using both multinomial logit analyses and structural dynamic discrete choice modelling. The latter approach involves the use of a novel approach to constructing a pseudo-panel from repeated cross-section data, and 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 takeup 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:4265&r=lab |
| By: | Triventi, Moris |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the role of institutional stratification within higher education (course length, fields of study and institutional quality) in mediating the relationship between social origin and labour market outcomes (wage and occupational status) in a comparative perspective. In the first part, we develop our theoretical framework, relying on sociological and economic theories and knowledge on countries’ institutional profiles. In the second part, we use data from the 2005 REFLEX survey on European graduates (2000) from 4 countries (Germany, Norway, Italy, and Spain). Results from binomial logistic regression models and the Karlson-Holm-Breen decomposition method indicate that those with tertiary educated parents have higher probabilities of entering in a highly rewarded occupation and this ‘effect’ varies according to level higher education expansion and strength of the institutional mechanisms which connect tertiary education with labour market. Furthermore, higher education stratification contributes to the reproduction on inequality but with a different importance according to the institutional context. |
| Keywords: | higher education; occupational outcomes; social inequality; institutional stratification |
| JEL: | J31 A23 J01 A2 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:35996&r=lab |
| By: | Schmerer, Hans-Jörg |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a multi-industry trade model with integrated capital markets and Mortensen and Pissarides search frictions in the labor market. Institutional changes in the model trigger adjustments at the intensive and extensive margin of labor demand. At the extensive margin a shift of the specialization pattern amongst the integrated countries magnifies the effects at the intensive industry margin via trade and FDI. Moreover, the distinction between high- and low-skill workers facilitates the analysis of skill-specific institutional changes. A government can influence wages and unemployment of the low-skilled by manipulating labor market institutions concerning high-skill workers only. One-sided interventions affect all workers at home and abroad irrespective of their level of skill. -- |
| Keywords: | FDI,globalization,search unemployment,labor market institutions |
| JEL: | F16 E24 J6 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:20122&r=lab |
| By: | Mosca, Irene (Trinity College Dublin); Wright, Robert (University of Strathclyde) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines empirically the relationship between under-employment and migration amongst five cohorts of graduates of Scottish higher education institutions with micro-data collected by the Higher Education Statistical Agency. The data indicate that there is a strong positive relationship between migration and graduate employment – those graduates who move after graduation from Scotland to the rest of the UK or abroad have a much higher rate of graduate employment. Versions of probit regression are used to estimate migration and graduate employment equations in order to explore the nature of this relationship further. These equations confirm that there is a strong positive relationship between the probability of migrating and the probability of being in graduate employment even after other factors are controlled for. Instrumental variables estimation is used to examine the causal nature of the relationship by attempting to deal with the potential endogeneity of migration decisions. Overall the analysis is consistent with the hypotheses that a sizeable fraction of higher education graduates are leaving Scotland for employment reasons. In turn this finding suggests the over-education/under-employment nexus is a serious problem in Scotland. |
| Keywords: | Scotland, under-employment, over-education, higher education graduates |
| JEL: | I23 J24 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6253&r=lab |
| By: | Robert Wagner (Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich); Thomas Zwick (Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich and Centre for European Economic Research, Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | This paper jointly analyses the consequences of adverse selection and signalling on entry wages of skilled employees. It uses German linked employer employee panel data (LIAB) and introduces a measure for relative productivity of skilled job applicants based on apprenticeship wages. It shows that post-apprenticeship employer changers are a negative selection from the training firms’ point of view. Negative selection leads to lower average wages of employer changers in the first skilled job than stayers. Entry wages of employer changers are specifically reduced by high occupation and training firm retention rates. Additional training firm signals are high apprenticeship wages that a positive selection of apprenticeship applicants, works councils and firm size that increase training quality. Finally, positive individual signals such as schooling background affect the skilled entry wages of employer changers positively. |
| Keywords: | entry wages, employer change, adverse selection, signalling |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J62 J63 M52 M53 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0071&r=lab |
| By: | Lin, Carl (Beijing Normal University) |
| Abstract: | In the book Myth and Measurement, Card and Krueger (1995) examine the economic impact of the 1989 minimum wage hike on the welfare of 110 firms which employ a disproportionate number of minimum-wage workers. Their results show mixed evidence that excess returns associated with news about the 1989 minimum-wage legislation. This paper re-examines this question by decomposing excess returns. Our simple and intuitive approach attributes excess returns to either differences in market performances (economy-wide factors) or firm-specific traits (individualistic factors). We likewise show that, generally, minimum wage legislation had little or no effect on employer wealth. However, by decomposing total excess returns, we find that the apparent lack of an effect is a consequence of two off-setting forces: (1) a negative effect arising from firm-specific traits (adverse information on minimum-wage worker employers) and (2) a positive effect arising from market performance. In other words, we show that while the aggregate effect of the 1989 minimum wage hike was neutral, there was a significant negative impact on firms that was neutralized by positive market performance. |
| Keywords: | minimum wage, excess returns, decomposition |
| JEL: | G14 J31 J38 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6269&r=lab |
| By: | Gagnon, Jason (OECD); Xenogiani, Theodora (OECD); Xing, Chunbing (Beijing Normal University) |
| Abstract: | The rapid and massive increase of rural-to-urban migration in China has drawn attention to the welfare of migrant workers, particularly to their working conditions and pay. This paper uses data from a random draw of the 2005 Chinese national census survey to investigate discrimination in urban labour markets against rural migrants, by comparing their earnings and the sector (formal vs. informal) they work in with those of urban residents and urban migrants. Exploiting differences in their status in the Chinese residential registration system (hukou) we find no earnings discrimination against rural migrants compared with urban residents, contrary to popular belief. In contrast, we find that urban migrants in fact gain a large wage premium by migrating. However, both rural and urban migrants are found to be discriminated out of the formal sector, working in informal jobs and lacking adequate social protection. |
| Keywords: | migration, China, discrimination, informal employment |
| JEL: | O15 R23 J24 J71 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6268&r=lab |
| By: | Lofstrom, Magnus (Public Policy Institute of California); Hayes, Joseph (Public Policy Institute of California) |
| Abstract: | Combining unique individual level H-1B data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and data from the 2009 American Community Survey, we analyze earnings differences between H-1B visa holders and US born workers in STEM occupations. The data indicate that H-1Bs are younger and more skilled, as measured by education, than US born workers in the same occupations. We fail to find support for the notion that H-1Bs are paid less that observationally similar US born workers; in fact, they appear to have higher earnings in some key STEM occupations, including information technology. |
| Keywords: | temporary workers, H-1B, immigration, high-skill, STEM |
| JEL: | J8 J15 J18 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6259&r=lab |
| By: | Stephani, Jens (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Using administrative linked employer-employee data from Germany, this paper analyses the real wage growth and career patterns of full-time employed low-wage workers between 2001 and 2006. Multivariate models accounting for sample selection demonstrate the relevance of individual characteristics and firm heterogeneity in this context. I observe substantial upward and downward wage mobility in the low-wage sector, with the worst-paid workers having considerably higher relative wage growth than better-paid workers. The majority of those lowwage workers who had escaped the low-wage sector by 2004 were still higher-paid two years later, indicating that their upward mobility is not just a transitory phenomenon." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Niedriglohn, Reallohn, Lohnentwicklung, Niedrigqualifizierte, Integrierte Erwerbsbiografien |
| JEL: | J30 J60 |
| Date: | 2012–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201201&r=lab |
| By: | Leonardo Becchetti (Department of Economics, Universitˆ Tor Vergata); Fabio Pisani (Department of Economics, Universitˆ Tor Vergata) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the effects of financial education on a large sample of secondary school students with a randomized experiment performed in the Center (Rome) and North (Milan and Genova) of Italy. Our main findings document that the course increases significantly financial literacy at both student and class level but the effect is different in different urban environments. More specifically, we document that the overall (questionnaire plus course) learning effect is significantly higher in the North than in Rome. We finally observe that high grades at final middle school exams, willingness to attend Economics at University and household borrowing status are three factors which significantly and positively affect financial education. |
| Keywords: | financial education, financial literacy, demand for money balances, randomized experiment |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ent:wpaper:wp34&r=lab |
| By: | Jan Babecky; Kamil Galuscak; Lubomir Lizal |
| Abstract: | Using a large panel of Czech manufacturing firms with 50 or more employees, we update the firm-level labour demand elasticity estimates for 2002-2009. The economic crisis of 2008-2009 provides a source of variation needed for getting estimates that cover not only times of growth, but also a period of economic contraction. We find that in normal times (until 2007), the short-term elasticity is -0.53 with respect to wages and 0.43 with respect to sales, while the long-term elasticities are close to or below unity, standing at -0.94 for wages and 0.76 for sales. Both the wage and sales elasticities increased during the crisis, suggesting that firms became demand constrained, but only the sales elasticity is significantly different. The long-term wage elasticity close to -1 in the period before and during the crisis suggests that firms’ employment decisions are made within fixed budgets. Finally, we find that the inclusion of workers hired through temporary work agencies does not significantly affect the results, indicating that firms take into account total labour when deciding on employment and that hired workers are used as an equal labour demand channel with lower adjustment costs. As a robustness check, our results are qualitatively comparable with the narrative evidence from an ad-hoc firm-level survey on wage and price formation conducted in 2007 and 2009 within the ESCB Wage Dynamics Network. |
| Keywords: | Czech Republic, elasticity, firm-level data, labour demand, sales elasticity, wage elasticity, the crisis of 2008-2009. |
| JEL: | C23 J23 J33 P23 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cnb:wpaper:2011/15&r=lab |
| By: | Michele Raitano (Sapienza University of Rome); Francesco Vona (Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Économiques) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the relationship between equality of opportunities and characteristics of the educational systems, jointly considering country- and school-level features. Because the peer group composition represents a fundamental channel in shaping educational opportunities, we consider all policies, surveyed in the PISA 2006 dataset, that affect the sorting of students to schools. Our empirical analysis shows that the inclusion of sorting policies enhances the capacity of explaining the determinants of the socio-economic gradient with respect to previous studies including only countrylevel features. In particular, it casts doubts on the prominent role attributed to school tracking. However sorting policies do not fully account for the influence of school composition on the socioeconomic gradient; the direct inclusion of peer variables allows to highlight the equalizing impact of mixing students from different backgrounds. Among the other policies, also pre-school enrolment, public expenditure in education and ability tracking display a significant equalizing effect. |
| Keywords: | School composition, equality of opportunity, sorting and tracking policies, family background |
| JEL: | I21 I24 H52 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fce:doctra:1117&r=lab |
| By: | Francesco Cinnirella (Ifo Institute and CESifo, Munich); Erik Hornung (Ifo Institute, Munich) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of landownership concentration on school enrollment for nineteenth-century Prussia. Prussia is an interesting laboratory given its decentralized educational system and the presence of heterogeneous agricultural institutions. We find that landownership concentration, a proxy for the institution of serf labor, has a negative effect on schooling. This effect diminishes substantially in the second half of the century. Causality of this relationship is confirmed by introducing soil-texture to identify exogenous farm size variation. Panel estimates further rule out unobserved heterogeneity. We argue that serfdom hampered peasants’ demand for education whereas the successive emancipation triggered a demand thereof. |
| Keywords: | Land concentration, Institutions, Serfdom, Education, Prussian economic history |
| JEL: | O43 Q15 I25 N33 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0010&r=lab |
| By: | Douglas L. Kruse; Joseph R. Blasi; Richard B. Freeman |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the linkages among group incentive methods of compensation, labor practices, worker assessments of workplace culture, turnover, and firm performance in a non-representative sample of companies: firms that applied to the “100 Best Companies to Work For in America” competition from 2005 to 2007. Although employers with good labor practices self- select into the 100 Best Companies firms sample, which should bias the analysis against finding strong associations among modes of compensation, labor policies, and outcomes, we find that in the firms that make more extensive use of group incentive pay employees participate more in decisions, have greater information sharing, trust supervisors more, and report a more positive workplace culture than in other companies. The combination of group incentive pay with policies that empower employees and create a positive workplace culture reduces voluntary turnover and increases employee intent to stay and raises return on equity. Finding these effects in the non-representative “100 Best Companies” sample strengthens the likelihood that the policies have a causal impact on employee well-being and firm performance. |
| JEL: | J33 J53 J54 J63 M50 M52 M54 P12 P13 P17 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17745&r=lab |
| By: | Gilles Le Garrec (Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Économiques); Stéphane Lhuissier (Banque de France) |
| Abstract: | In most industrial countries, while the calculation of pension bene?ts is progressive, public pension systems redistribute weakly from high to low- income earners. They are close to actuarial fairness. This statement results from the following speci?city: less paid jobs are also heavier and health- damaging jobs involving losses in life expectancy. As avoiding low earnings and hard-working conditions require acquisition of skills, we study conjointly in this article the impact of social security and the work-related life ex- pectancy loss on the schooling decision. We then study macroeconomic and distributional consequences of global gain in life expectancy associated with di¤erent social security reforms, focusing particularly on spillover e¤ects pos- sibly generated by education. |
| Keywords: | social security, human capital, inequality |
| JEL: | H55 J31 D63 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fce:doctra:1118&r=lab |
| By: | Christian Belzil (Department of Economics, Ecole Polytechnique - CNRS : UMR7176 - Polytechnique - X, ENSAE - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique - ENSAE ParisTech, IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor); J. Hansen (IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor, CIREQ - Centre Interuniversitaire de Recherche en Economie Quantitative, CIRANO - Montréal, Department of Economics, Concordia University - Concordia University); Xingfei Liu (Department of Economics, Concordia University - Concordia University) |
| Abstract: | We show that a calibrated dynamic skill accumulation model allowing for comparative advantages, can explain the weak (or negative) effects of schooling on productivity that have been recently reported (i) in the micro literature on compulsory schooling, ii) in the micro literature on estimating the distribution of ex-post returns to schooling, and (iii) in the macro literature on education and growth. The fraction of the population more efficient at producing skills in the market than in school is a pivotal quantity that determines the sign (and magnitude) of different parameters of interest. Our model reveals an interesting paradox; as low-skill jobs become more skill-enhancing (ceteris paribus), IV estimates of compulsory schooling become increasingly negative, and ex-post returns to schooling (inferred from a Roy model specification of the earnings equation) become negative for an increasing fraction of the population. This arises even if each possible input to skill production has a strictly positive effect. Finally, our model provides a foundation for the weak (or negative) effect education on growth measured in the empirical literature. |
| Keywords: | Compulsory Schooling Reforms, Dynamic Skill Accumula- tion, Comparative Advantages, Returns to schooling, Education and Growth, Dynamic Discrete Choice, Dynamic Programming. |
| Date: | 2012–01–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00657931&r=lab |
| By: | Dustmann, Christian (University College London); Frattini, Tommaso (University of Milan) |
| Abstract: | This paper first presents a brief historical overview of immigration in Europe. We then provide (and distinguishing between EU and non-EU immigrants) a comprehensive analysis of the skill structures of immigrants and their labor market integration in the different European countries, their position in the wage distribution, and the situation of their children, and discuss the disadvantage of immigrants and their children relative to natives. We show that immigrants – in particular those from non-EU countries – are severely disadvantaged in most countries, even if we compare them to natives with the same measurable skills. We conclude with a discussion of the role of regulations and institutions as one possible mechanism for these findings, and suggest directions for future research. |
| Keywords: | immigration, Europe, integration, institutions |
| JEL: | J15 J61 J62 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6261&r=lab |
| By: | Syed Imran Ali Meerza (Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Economics, South Dakota State University); Biswajit Bacher |
| Abstract: | This study has mainly focused on the current socio-economic condition of those people who were child labor in their childhood. In this study, economic indicators are income and employment status. On the other hand, level of education, health status and role in case of decision making in the society are studied as social indicators. According to this study, socio-economic condition of child workers in their adulthood is not very satisfactory. In this research work, we have used Linear Probability Model (LPM) and Weighted Least Square (WLS) regression analysis to make comparison of current socio-economic status between people who were child labor in their childhood and those who were not child worker in past. We have found that person who was not child worker in early stage of his/her life have higher probability to enjoy better socio-economic condition than that of person who worked as child worker in past. In fact, we have identified that a children who is working as a child worker has 0.61 or 61% probability to have low standard of living in his/her future life. |
| Keywords: | Child labor, Socio-economic condition, Linear probability model |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sda:workpa:22011&r=lab |
| By: | Panagiotis Tsakloglou (Athens University of Economics and Business); Christos Koutsampelas (Economics Research Centre, University of Cyprus) |
| Abstract: | The paper examines the short-run distributional impact of public education in Greece using the micro-data of the 2004/5 Household Budget Survey. The aggregate distributional impact of public education is found to be progressive although the incidence varies according to the level of education under examination. In-kind transfers of public education services in the fields of primary and secondary education lead to a considerable decline in relative inequality, whereas transfers in the field of tertiary education appear to have a small distributional impact whose size and sign depend on the treatment of tertiary education students living away from the parental home. When absolute inequality indices are used instead of the relative ones, primary education transfers retain their progressivity, while secondary education transfers appear almost neutral and tertiary education transfers become very regressive. Finally, we use the EUROMOD tax-benefit microsimulation model in order to estimate the first-round distributional effects of a graduate tax imposed on the current stock of graduates. The main policy implications of the findings are outlined in the concluding section. |
| Keywords: | Public education, inequality Greece |
| JEL: | I24 D31 |
| Date: | 2012–01–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aue:wpaper:1201&r=lab |
| By: | Jean-Marc Fournier; Isabell Koske |
| Abstract: | Unconditional and conditional quantile regressions are used to explore the determinants of labour earnings at different parts of the distribution and, hence, the determinants of overall labour earnings inequality. The analysis combines several household surveys to provide comparable estimates for 32 countries. The empirical work suggests that, in general, a rise in the share of workers with an upper-secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary degree, a rise in trade union membership, a rise in the share of public employment and a rise in the share of workers on permanent contracts are associated with a narrowing of the earnings distribution. By contrast, a shift in the sector composition of the economy is not found to have a large impact on overall earnings inequality. As for tertiary education, the impact remains ambiguous as there are several offsetting forces.<P>Moins d'inégalités de revenu et plus de croissance – Ces deux objectifs sont-ils compatibles? : Partie 7. Les facteurs des inégalités de revenu – analyse fondée sur des régressions quantiles conditionnelles et inconditionnelles<BR>On utilise les regressions quantiles conditionnelles et inconditionnelles pour etudier les determinants des revenus du travail le long de la distribution et, par voie de consequence, les determinants des inegalites de revenus du travail. Cette analyse regroupe plusieurs enquetes menees aupres des menages afin de produire des estimations comparables pour 32 pays. Les travaux econometriques suggerent qu.en general, l.augmentation de la part des travailleurs titulaires d.un diplome du deuxieme cycle de l.enseignement secondaire ou post-secondaire, non universitaire, la montee de l.adhesion syndicale, le gonflement de la part de l.emploi public et la hausse de la part des travailleurs sous contrat a duree indeterminee ont pour corollaire un resserrement de la repartition des revenus. En revanche, selon les conclusions de l.etude, l.evolution de la composition sectorielle de l.economie n.a pas d.impact important sur les inegalites globales de revenu. Pour ce qui est de l.enseignement superieur, l.impact n.est pas net car plusieurs effets jouent dans des directions opposees. |
| Keywords: | education, income inequality, quantile regression, labour income, union membership, public employment, temporary work contract, éducation, inégalité des revenus, régression quantile, contrats à durée déterminée, revenus du travail, adhésion syndicale, emploi public |
| JEL: | C21 D31 I24 J41 J45 J51 |
| Date: | 2012–01–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:930-en&r=lab |
| By: | Vincent Law (Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the impact of English proficiency on the labour supply of recent immigrants in Australia. While previous research finds that English proficiency is crucial for participation and employment of immigrants, almost no research, and none in Australia, has been done with respect to hours worked by immigrants. The number of hours worked by immigrants is a strong indicator of economic wellbeing. This study uses the second cohort of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia data to estimate a Chamberlain style Tobit random effects estimator. The results suggest a positive relationship between English proficiency and hours worked by immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Labour Supply, English Proficiency, Australian Immigration, Australian Immigrants |
| JEL: | C23 C34 O15 J22 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:crwfrp:1112&r=lab |
| By: | Serge Coulombe (Department of Economics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON); Gilles Grenier (Department of Economics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON); Serge Nadeau (Department of Economics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON) |
| Abstract: | There is increasing evidence in the economic development literature that the quality of schooling considerably varies across countries that are at different stages in their economic development. However, an issue that has been overlooked is the role of the quality of work experience in explaining differences in economic development. This paper uses Canadian census data on immigrant earnings to show that per capita GDP in the country of origin can be used as a quality indicator for both education and work experience. Coefficients estimated from immigrant earnings regressions are then used to estimate the effects of difference in human capital quality on development gaps between rich and poor countries. The analysis shows that while differences in the quality of schooling account for substantial differences in living standards across countries, differences in the quality of work experience can account for even more. Policywise, our results suggest that the immediate effects of improving the quality and the quantity of schooling in less-developed countries might be rather limited if labour-market institutions and ways of doing things are not changed at the same time to improve the quality of work experience. |
| Keywords: | Quality of human capital, work experience, immigrant earnings, quality of schooling, economic development. |
| JEL: | O15 J61 J24 O47 O57 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ott:wpaper:1109e&r=lab |
| By: | Zhigang Li; Minqin Wu |
| Abstract: | An ongoing reform in China mandates employers to contribute significant amounts to employee pension funds. The current study estimates the impact of this reform on the wage, employment and performance of firms using data from over 140,000 medium and large manufacturers in China during 2004 and 2006. We find that the nominal wages of employees were rigid but their real wages may have declined due to the pension reform. In addition, we find an interesting dichotomy in the incidences of pension reform. In localities with high agglomeration levels, firms' profits declined because the pension burden could not be fully transferred to employees. In less agglomerated jurisdictions, firms responded positively to pension reform, possibly because local governments over-subsidized the pension costs as a way to attract investment. |
| Keywords: | Incidence, Pension, China |
| JEL: | H32 H55 J2 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbv:wpaper:1138&r=lab |
| By: | Zeynel Abidin Ozdemir (Gazi University); Mehmet Balcilar (Eastern Mediterranean University); Aysit Tansel (Middle East Technical University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the possibility of unit roots in the presence of endogenously determined multiple structural breaks in the total, female and male labour force participation rates (LFPR) for Australia, Canada and the USA. We extend the procedure of Gil-Alana (2008) for single structural break to the case of multiple structural breaks at endogenously determined dates using the principles suggested by Bai and Perron (1998). We use the Robinson (1994) LM test to determine the fractional order of integration. We find that endogenously determined structural breaks render the total, female and male LFPR series stationary or at best mean-reverting. |
| Keywords: | Labour Force Participation Rates, Gender, Fractional Integration, Structural Breaks |
| JEL: | C22 E24 J16 J21 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tek:wpaper:2011/8&r=lab |
| By: | Schwarzmüller, Tim; Stähler, Nikolai |
| Abstract: | This paper uses an extended version of 'FiMod - A DSGE Model for Fiscal Policy Simulations' (Stähler and Thomas, 2011) with endogenous job destruction decisions by private firms to analyze the effects of several currently discussed labor market reforms on the Spanish economy. The main focus is on the firms' hiring and firing decisions, on the implications for fiscal balances and on Spain's international competitiveness. We find that measures aiming at reducing (policy-induced) outside option of workers, such as a decrease in unemployment benefits, public wages or, to a lesser extent, public-sector employment, seem most beneficial to foster output, employment, international competitiveness and fiscal balances. Decreasing the unions' bargaining power also accomplishes this task, however, at a lower level and at the cost of higher job turnover. Our simulation suggests that reforming employment protection legislation does not seem to be a suitable tool from the perspective of improving international competitiveness. All measures imply (income) redistribution between optimizing and liquidity-constrained consumers. Our analysis also suggests that those reforms that are beneficial for Spain generate positive spillovers to the rest of EMU, too. -- |
| Keywords: | general equilibrium,fiscal policy simulations,labor market search |
| JEL: | E24 E32 E62 H20 H50 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdp1:201128&r=lab |
| By: | Lindahl, Mikael (Dept. of Economics, Uppsala University, CESifo, IFAU, IZA and UCLS); Palme, Mårten (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University); Sandgren Massih, Sofia (Dept. of Economics, Uppsala University); Sjögren, Anna (IFAU and SOFI Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | Most previous studies on intergenerational transmission of human capital are restricted to two generations - between the parent and the child generation. In this paper we investigate if there is an independent effect of the grandparent and the great grandparent generations in this process. We use a dataset where we are able to link individual measures of life time earnings for three generation and data on educational attainments of four generations. We first do conventional regressions and transition matrices for life time earnings measures and educational attainments adding variables for the grandparent and great grandparent generations, respectively. We find that grandparents and even great grandparents significantly influence earnings and education. We then estimate the so called Becker-Tomes model using the educational attainment of the great grandparent generation as an instrumental variable. We fail to find support for the model’s predictions. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational income mobility; earnings distribution; income inequality |
| JEL: | D31 J62 |
| Date: | 2011–12–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2012_0001&r=lab |
| By: | Vincent Law (Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | Research found that the terrorist attack of 9/11 was associated with a temporary decline in US Arab and Muslim men’s weekly earnings and real wages of around 9 to 11 per cent. This has been interpreted as an increase in discrimination against those groups following the attack. However, other evidence shows that in Sweden the terrorist attack did not change Middle East immigrants’ job-searching behavior because of increased discrimination from employers. A possible explanation is that, since 9/11 occurred in the US, the reaction against Arab and Muslim men was more severe there than elsewhere, even though nationals from 90 other countries were also killed. Against this background, the purpose of this paper is to examine the labor market experiences of UK-based Arab and Muslim immigrants. They could have been affected by either 9/11 (that killed 67 UK nationals) or the London bombings of 7th July 2005 (that killed 52 UK nationals), or both. Using Quarterly UK Labor Force Survey data, we explore the labor market outcomes of UK-based Arab and Muslim immigrants following both 9/11 and the London bombings. We estimate two difference-in-differences models — one for 9/11, and the other for the London Bombings and carry out the analysis separately for men and women. |
| Keywords: | labor discrimination, migration, labor supply, terrorist attacks |
| JEL: | O15 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:crwfrp:1110&r=lab |
| By: | Francesco Bogliacino (JRC-IPTS); Matteo Lucchese (University of Urbino); Mario Pianta (University of Urbino) |
| Abstract: | The patterns and mechanisms of job creation in business services are investigated in this article by considering the role of innovation, demand, wages and the composition of employment by professional groups. A model is developed and an empirical test is carried out with parallel analyses on a group of selected business services, on other services and on manufacturing sectors, considering six major European countries over the period 1996-2007. Within technological activities, a distinction is made between those supporting either technological competitiveness, or cost competitiveness. Demand variables allow identifying the special role of intermediate demand. Job creation in business services appears to be driven by efforts to expand technological competitiveness and by the fast growing intermediate demand coming from other industries; conversely, process innovation leads to job losses and wage growth has a negative effect that is lower than in other industries. Business services show an increasingly polarised employment structure. |
| Keywords: | Business Services, Innovation, Employment. |
| JEL: | J20 J23 O30 O33 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:201104&r=lab |
| By: | Roland G. Fryer, Jr |
| Abstract: | This paper describes an experiment designed to investigate the impact of aligning student, parent, and teacher incentives on student achievement. On outcomes for which incentives were provided, there were large treatment effects. Students in treatment schools mastered more than one standard deviation more math objectives than control students, and their parents attended almost twice as many parent-teacher conferences. In contrast, on related outcomes that were not incentivized (e.g. standardized test scores, parental engagement), we observe both positive and negative effects. We argue that these facts are consistent with a moral hazard model with multiple tasks, though other explanations are possible. |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17752&r=lab |
| By: | Lionel Perini; Joachim Marti (Institute of economic research IRENE, Faculty of Economics, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland; Yale School of Public Health, Division of Health Policy and Administration, New Haven, USA) |
| Abstract: | The consumption of addictive products, such as tobacco, alcohol or cannabis, is most often experimented during adolescence. Besides the widely documented impact of these behaviors on later consumption patterns and health, it has been shown that they may impair academic performance and therefore the accumulation of human capital. Using data from a Swiss longitudinal survey on a thousand high school students, we investigate the influence of these three substances on intermediate educational outcomes and on school drop-out. Using fixed- and random-effects specifications and focusing on the impact of lagged consumption to avoid two potential sources of bias, we find that regular cannabis consumption has a strong impact on truancy and on the probability of getting poor grades. Occasional alcohol con- sumption has a small but significant impact on school difficulties and on getting poor grades. While we find no evidence that substance use impacts drop-out directly, we show that there is an indirect impact trough intermediate outcomes. |
| Keywords: | substance use, school dropout, fixed effects, discrete time models. |
| JEL: | I12 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irn:wpaper:11-04&r=lab |
| By: | Cathrine Holst |
| Abstract: | Equal pay for work of equal value is a fundamental principle in EU law and so in the EEA Agreement. The paper takes as its point of departure the debate in Norway on the interpretation of EEA equal pay legislation, and relates this debate to the broader equal pay controversy in Norway. Among arguments on both sides in these debates have been arguments about what is right and just: Whereas proponents for strong equal pay commitments typically stress that social justice requires work of equal value to be paid as equally as possible, if necessary by means of state intervention and law enforcement (the law enforcement position), proponents for weaker equal pay commitments stress typically either (1) the relative justice of markets; pay ought primarily to be distributed through markets and according to market value and not according to some market-external equality standard (the free market position), or (2) that wages should be set as far as possible by strong democratic unions that negotiate with employers and employers’ organizations (the collective bargaining position). The paper focuses on the law enforcement /collective bargaining confrontations and interprets these confrontations as reflecting dilemmas of justice (Nancy Fraser); in part a redistribution/recognition dilemma; in part a justice-from-above/justice-from-below dilemma. Finally, the paper investigates to what extent these dilemmas are genuine. Are there ways to narrow down the gap between the law enforcement camp and the collective bargaining camp? |
| Keywords: | democracy; gender policy |
| Date: | 2011–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erp:reconx:p0114&r=lab |
| By: | Javier Silvestre (Faculty of Economics and Business, Universidad de Zaragoza); Ma Isabel Ayuda (Faculty of Economics and Business, Universidad de Zaragoza); Vicente Pinilla (Faculty of Economics and Business, Universidad de Zaragoza) |
| Abstract: | Very few empirical studies have analyzed the labor market performance of internal migrants in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Using a new dataset, this article examines the occupational attainment of migrants, mostly internal migrants, in the city of Barcelona. We find that, in comparison with natives, the occupational outcome of migrants is partly explained by differences in labor market experience and skills. Nevertheless, other factors also appear to play an important role. Estimates, moreover, do not suggest the existence of improved economic assimilation over time. The results indicate that at least some groups of migrants faced barriers to occupational mobility. |
| Keywords: | labor market integration, migrants, occupations, historical labor market |
| JEL: | J24 J61 N34 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0003&r=lab |
| By: | Wagner, Joachim (Leuphana University Lüneburg) |
| Abstract: | Empirical investigations with enterprise level data from official statistics often use the average wage as a proxy variable for the qualification of the workforce, mostly due to the lack of detailed information on the qualification of the employees. This paper uses unique newly available data for German enterprises from the KombiFiD project that for the first time combine information from the statistics of employees covered by social security and information from surveys performed by the Statistical Offices to look at the quality of this proxy variable by investigating the link between the average wage in a firm and the qualification of the workforce. Furthermore, it demonstrates that detailed information on the qualification of the workforce sheds new light on the role of highly qualified employees for success on export markets that is not revealed by the average wage as a proxy variable. Based on the results of this paper it is argued that combined firm level data that stem from different data producers should be widely accessible for research. |
| Keywords: | qualification of workforce, average wage, export, firm level data |
| JEL: | C81 F14 J31 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6274&r=lab |
| By: | Arnt Ove Hopland (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the link between school facilities and student achievements in eight countries using data from the TIMSS 2003 database. OLS and propensity score matching is used to control for observable characteristics. Both methods indicate that poor school facilities may be negatively associated with student achievements, but the estimated coefficients are mainly insignificant. Significantly negative estimates are found in only three out of eight countries when using OLS. When using matching on propensity scores I only find significant coefficients in one of the countries. |
| Date: | 2011–09–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nst:samfok:11611&r=lab |
| By: | Klaus Prettner (Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies); David E. Bloom (Harvard School of Public Health); Holger Strulik |
| Abstract: | It is widely argued that declining fertility slows the pace of economic growth through its negative effect on labor supply. There are, however, theoretical arguments suggesting that the effect of falling fertility on effective labor supply can be offset by the associated behavioral changes. We formalize these arguments by setting forth a dynamic consumer optimization model that incorporates endogenous fertility as well as endogenous educational and health investments. The model shows that a fertility decline induces higher education and health investments that are able to compensate for declining fertility under certain circumstances. We assess the theoretical implications by investigating panel data for 118 countries over the period 1980 to 2005 and show that behavioral changes partly mitigate the negative impact of declining fertility on effective labor supply. |
| Keywords: | demographic change, effective labor supply, human capital,population health, economic growth |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gdm:wpaper:8412&r=lab |
| By: | Vincent Law (Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of social security payments on the labour supply of recent immigrants to Australia after the policy change. This research uses the first wave of two sets of Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia (LSIA) data as treatment group and Survey of Income and Housing (SIH) as control group to analyse the short-term immigrant labour market outcomes before and after the policy change. Employing difference-in-differences estimators and propensity score matching procedures, this study suggests that welfare reform caused a substantial increase in the employment of immigrants. This might imply that restricted access to welfare produced a higher proportion of new immigrants who more actively looked for jobs. |
| Keywords: | social security payments, labour supply, Australian immigrants, employment of immigrants |
| JEL: | O15 J22 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:crwfrp:1109&r=lab |
| By: | Fang Cai; Meiyan Wang |
| Abstract: | Jobs are important in maintaining social cohesion. Employment provides income, but also a sense of self-worth and a meeting place for social interactions that weave the social fabric. With over 200 million unemployed globally, the number of jobs created has taken centre stage, especially in countries hit hard by the economic crisis. And yet, labour relations have become tense in many parts of the world, including those still experiencing economic growth. In 2010, China witnessed a marked increase in strikes, labour disputes and even suicides in the workplace. Understanding the economic and institutional determinants of good labour relations matters for designing and implementing better labour market policies.<p>The increase in labour disputes in China coincided with the end of the era of surplus labour. While labour was abundant in rural hinterlands, manufacturing firms could rely on cheap labour as migrant workers would still be better off than if they stayed at home. As it became increasingly difficult for manufacturing firms in urban centres and the coastal provinces to recruit labour, wages were bid up throughout the economy. This process however, was all but smooth, as the increase in labour disputes shows. What is needed is a set of labour market institutions that help the transition in labour markets to be not only efficient, but also peaceful and equitable.<p>This paper by Cai Fan and Wang Meiyan, from the Institute of Population and Labour Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, documents the increase in labour disputes in China and seeks to understand their determinants. The main finding is that the increase in disputes is linked to a change in regime in the labour market with the end of surplus labour. The paper therefore calls for further advances in establishing labour market institutions to adapt to the new labour market situation. The paper finds that disputes result from a better awareness of rights on the part of workers and that they are more common in thriving and export-oriented areas. The authors go on to discuss the Chinese government’s responses to the growing problem, from pro-active labour market policy to increasing the importance of collective contracts. In doing so, this paper provides an important building block in the understanding of the role of labour market institutions for social cohesion. |
| Date: | 2012–01–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:devaaa:307-en&r=lab |
| By: | Beker, Victor A. |
| Abstract: | The link between trade and wages is embodied in the Stolper-Samuelson theorem and its generalizations. The Stolper-Samuelson logic is that trade affects relative factor rewards by changing relative prices. Since in Argentina non-skilled labor was neither as abundant a factor as land nor as scarce as capital it could not be expected to be the big winner in the opening-up process of the Argentine economy nor could it be expected to be a big loser. So, the huge amount of unemployment experienced by the Argentine economy in the 1990s as well as the widening wage gap between skilled and unskilled labor came as a complete surprise. This paper gives some reasons for this unexpected result. In Argentina, trade liberalization meant mainly import liberalization by lowering tariffs that protected labor-intensive industries like textiles. So, the short-run effect was massive destruction of jobs in non-skilled labor-intensive activities. The opening up of the economy significantly lowered the price of capital goods. This encouraged a drastic process of capital for labor substitution as well as promoting an increase in the demand for skilled labor. In those industries in which the import penetration increased the most, the wage inequality widened relatively more between unskilled and skilled workers. The reasons for the persistence of unemployment are discussed, the impact of the increasing unemployment and growing inequality in wage distribution on income distribution is analyzed, the alternatives of shock therapy vs. gradualism are discussed and finally some general conclusions are drawn from the analysis of the Argentine case. -- |
| Keywords: | Trade liberalization,unemployment,skilled labor,inequality |
| JEL: | F14 F16 J60 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:20123&r=lab |
| By: | Rowena Gray (University of Essex, UK) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a new picture of the labor market effects of technological change in pre-WWII United States. I show that, similar to the recent computerization episode, the electrification of the manufacturing sector led to a "hollowing out" of the skill distribution whereby workers in the middle of the distribution lost out to those at the extremes. To conduct this analysis, a new dataset detailing the task composition of occupations in the United States for the period 1880-1940 was constructed using information about the task content of over 4,000 occupations from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (1949). This unique data was used to measure the skill content of electrification in U.S. manufacturing. OLS estimates show that electrification increased the demand for clerical, numerical, planning and people skills relative to manual skills while simultaneously reducing relative demand for the dexterity-intensive jobs which comprised the middle of the skill distribution. Thus, early twentieth century technological change was unskill-biased for blue collar tasks but skill-biased on aggregate. These results are in line with the downward trend in wage differentials within U.S. manufacturing up to 1950. To overcome any threat to the exogeneity of the electricity measure, due for example to endogenous technological change, 2 instrumental variable strategies were developed. The first uses cross-state differences in the timing of adoption of state-level utility regulation while the second exploits differences in state-level geography that encouraged the development of hydro-power generation and thus made electricity cheaper. The results from these regressions support the main conclusions of the paper. |
| Keywords: | Technological change, skill bias |
| JEL: | J23 O33 N32 N33 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0009&r=lab |
| By: | Stampini, Marco (Inter-American Development Bank); Leung, Ron (African Development Bank); Diarra, Setou M. (Université Laval); Pla, Lauréline (African Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | In recent years, the private sector has been recognized as a key engine of Africa's economic development. Yet, the most simple and fundamental question remains unanswered: how large is the African private sector? We present novel estimates of the size of the private sector in 50 African countries derived from the analysis of national accounts and labor market data. Our results point to a relatively large size of the African private sector. National account data shows that this accounts for about 2/3 of total investments, 4/5 of total consumption and 3/4 of total credit. In relative terms, large private sector countries are concentrated in Western Africa (Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Niger, Senegal and Togo), Central Africa (Cameroun, Republic of Congo) and Eastern Africa (Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania), with the addition of Mauritius. Countries with small private sectors include a sample of oil-exporters (Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Libya and Nigeria), some of the poorest countries in the continent (Burundi, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Sao Tome e Principe), Zambia and Botswana. Over the last ten years, the size of the private sector has been contracting significantly in oil exporting countries, although the variation in its size does not appear to be significantly correlated with growth performance. Labor market data reinforces the idea of a large private sector, which provides about 90% of total employment opportunities. However, most of this labor is informal and characterized by low productivity: permanent wage jobs in the private sector account on average for only 10% of total employment (a share similar to that provided by public administration and state owned enterprises). South Africa is the notable exception, with formal wage employment in the private sector representing 46% of total employment. Finally, we find evidence of negative private sector earning premiums, suggesting that market distortions abound. These are likely to prevent the efficient allocation of human resources, and to reduce the overall productivity of the African economies. |
| Keywords: | private sector size, private sector development, private consumption, private investment, national accounts, private sector employment, private sector earnings, labor markets, Africa |
| JEL: | H10 J21 O10 O55 P17 Y10 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6267&r=lab |
| By: | Kahanec, Martin (Central European University, Budapest); Kim, Anna Myunghee (IZA); Zimmermann, Klaus F. (IZA and University of Bonn) |
| Abstract: | This paper's main purpose is to gauge immigrants' demand for social assistance and services and identify the key barriers to social and labor market inclusion of immigrants in the European Union. The data from an online primary survey of experts from organizations working on immigrant integration in the EU is analyzed using simple comparative statistical methods; the robustness of the results is tested by means of Logit and ordered Logit statistical models. We find that the general public in Europe has rather negative attitudes towards immigrants. Although the business community views immigrants somewhat less negatively, barriers to immigrant labor market inclusion identified include language and human capital gaps, a lack of recognition of foreign qualifications, discrimination, intransparent labor markets and institutional barriers such as legal restrictions for foreign citizens. Exclusion from higher education, housing and the services of the financial sector aggravate these barriers. Changes in the areas of salaried employment, education, social insurance, mobility and attitudes are seen as most desired by members of ethnic minorities. The current economic downturn is believed to have increased the importance of active inclusion policies, especially in the areas of employment and education. These results appear to be robust with respect to a number of characteristics of respondents and their organizations. |
| Keywords: | ethnic minorities, migration, labor market integration, economic crisis, enlarged European Union, welfare state |
| JEL: | J15 J71 J78 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6260&r=lab |
| By: | Ewout Frankema (Utrecht University); Marlous van Waijenburg |
| Abstract: | Recent studies on African economic history have emphasized the structural impediments to African growth, such as adverse geographical conditions and extractive colonial institutions. The evidence is mainly drawn from cross-country regressions on late 20th century income levels, assuming persistent effects of historical causes over time. But to which extent has African poverty been a persistent phenomenon? Our study sheds light on this question by providing new evidence on long-term African growth-trajectories. We show that slave trade regressions are not robust for pre-1970s GDP per capita levels, or for pre-1973 and post-1995 growth rates. We calculate urban unskilled real wages of African workers in nine British African countries 1880-1965, adopting Allen’s (2009) subsistence basket methodology. We find that real wages were above subsistence level, rose significantly over time and were, in major parts of British Africa, considerably higher than real wages in Asian cities up to, at least the 1930s. We explain the intra-African variation in real wage levels by varying colonial institutions concerning land alienation, taxation and immigration. |
| Keywords: | Africa, living standards, real wages, labor market, colonial institutions |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucg:wpaper:0024&r=lab |
| By: | Goldbach, Stefan |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether entrepreneurs with technical education are more innovative in high-tech industries than economists. The main contribution to the literature is in using the type of education as main explanatory variable for innovation. To analyze this question, the KfW/ZEW Start-Up Panel between 2005 and 2007 is used. Two independent OLS regressions are conducted for entrepreneurs with university degree and practical education. The results suggest that education matters for individuals with a university degree in high-tech industries but not for people with practical education. Having an economics degree is correlated with higher innovativeness. Therefore, for the underlying sample we do not find a ‘nerd effect’. The results depend on the underlying definition of innovation, as robustness checks show. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, innovation, education |
| Date: | 2012–01–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:ddpeco:56008&r=lab |
| By: | Rinne, Ulf (IZA); Zimmermann, Klaus F. (IZA and University of Bonn) |
| Abstract: | The mild response of the German labor market to the worst global recession in post-war history appears as an economic miracle. In response to the crisis, Germany has shown to be a strong case of internal flexibility. We argue that important factors that have contributed to this development include the strong position of the German economy due to recent labor market reforms, the nature of the crisis affecting mainly export-oriented companies in Germany, the extension of short-time work, the behavior of social partners, and automatic stabilizers. Among these factors, we emphasize the key role of the interaction between short-time work and long-term shortages of skilled workers in sectors and regions that were particularly affected by the crisis. Although the German experience is in stark contrast to that in the United States, we identify and discuss three challenges that will be at the center of debate on both sides of the Atlantic in the future. |
| Keywords: | economic crisis, Germany, short-time work, unemployment, labor market institutions, internal flexibility |
| JEL: | J68 J21 P52 O57 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6250&r=lab |
| By: | Vincent Mangematin (MTS - Management Technologique et Strategique - Grenoble Ecole de Management) |
| Abstract: | How have reforms in French doctoral education and academic research been implemented? How do changing doctoral education practices lead to changing research practices? New practice adoption among academics usually happens incrementally in the course of their everyday activity. Top-down organizational change requires these autonomous professionals to adopt new practices willingly, so as to comply with the reform. Understanding the microlevel conditions under which this adoption happens is critical to the management of change in universities and research organizations. Drawing on the empirical analysis of a reform seeking to improve PhD supervision in French universities, we find that academics adopt new practices only once they have performed a cognitive reframing of the situation, and under the condition that new practices are - or can be made - compatible with their autonomy of judgment and their extant professional role and identity. Otherwise, the reform leads to ceremonial adoption, hesitation or rejection of new practice. Paradoxically, coercive features of the reform may support new practice adoption, but only when they are taken over by professionals themselves and support them in the building of a leader figure compatible with professional values. |
| Keywords: | University policy; Science policy, Change implementation; Practice adoption; PhD, Research Practices |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:gemwpa:hal-00658038&r=lab |
| By: | Arnt Ove Hopland (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology) |
| Abstract: | Abstract This paper studies the effects from poor school building conditions on student achievements in Norwegian primary schools based on results from national tests in mathematics, English and Norwegian. The benchmark OLS results suggest a negative relationship, but the estimates are mostly insignificant. Further, a municipality fixed effects (MFE) and an instrumental variable approach (IV) is suggested as alternatives to OLS in order to battle potential endogeneity issues due to unobservable characteristics. The results from the OLS and IV procedures are mostly similar to the OLS results. |
| Date: | 2012–01–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nst:samfok:12512&r=lab |
| By: | Julia Driessen (University of Pittsburgh); Abdur Razzaque (International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh); Damian Walker (Johns Hopkins University); David Canning (Harvard School of Public Health) |
| Abstract: | There is increasing evidence that early childhood health interventions have long term effects on cognitive development, educational achievement, and adult productivity. We examine the effect of measles vaccination on the school enrollment of children in Matlab, Bangladesh. An intensive measles vaccination program was introduced in two areas of Matlab in 1982, and extended to two more areas in 1985. Using this staggered rollout as an instrument for vaccination, we find that age appropriate vaccination raises the probability that a boy has enrolled in school by 9.5 percentage points but appears to have no effect on girls' enrollment. |
| Keywords: | health, measles vaccination, school enrollment, Matlab |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gdm:wpaper:8111&r=lab |
| By: | Dustmann, Christian (University College London); Glitz, Albrecht (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate how changes in the skill mix of local labor supply are absorbed by the economy. We distinguish between three adjustment mechanisms: through factor prices, through an expansion in the size of those production units that use the more abundant skill group more intensively, and through more intensive use of the more abundant skill group within production units. We investigate which of these channels is dominant. We contribute to the existing literature by analyzing these adjustments on the level of firms, rather than industries, and by assessing the role of new firms in the absorption process of labor supply shocks. Our analysis is based on administrative data, comprising the entirety of firms in Germany over a 10 years period. We find that, while factor price adjustments are important in the non-tradable sector, labor supply shocks do not induce factor price changes in the tradable sector. In this sector, most of the adjustment to changes in relative factor supplies takes place within firms by changing relative factor intensities. Given the non-response of factor prices, this finding points towards changes in production technology. Our results further show, that firms that enter and exit the market are an important additional channel of adjustment. Finally, we demonstrate that an industry level analysis is likely to over-emphasize technology-based adjustments. |
| Keywords: | immigration, endogenous technological change, firm structure |
| JEL: | F1 J2 J61 L2 O3 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6257&r=lab |
| By: | Sandrine Levasseur (Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Économiques); (Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Économiques) |
| Abstract: | This article provides an assessment of labour market adjustments occurring in Estonia during the global crisis. As part of the so-called internal devaluation, the strategy followed was very successful in shrinking the unit labour costs, thus helping Estonian enterprises to gain international competitiveness. The whole gamut of tools available in terms of flexibility was used, at least in the worst time of the financial crisis: massive lay-offs, reduced working time and wage cuts. At mid-2011, Estonia stood as one of the most dynamic EU country to recover with exports growth. On the social side, however, the track record is not as positive: the purchasing power of workers has been reduced and unemployment still remains strong and persistent despite the economic recovery. |
| Keywords: | Labour market, crisis, Estonia, internal devaluation |
| JEL: | F33 F41 J30 J01 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fce:doctra:1125&r=lab |
| By: | Peter Hoeller; Isabelle Joumard; Mauro Pisu; Debbie Bloch |
| Abstract: | Countries differ widely with respect to the level of labour income inequality among individuals of working age. Labour income inequality is shaped by differences in wage rates, hours worked and inactivity rates. Individual labour income inequality is the main driver of household market income inequality, with family formation as well as self-employment and capital income dispersion playing a smaller role. Household disposable income dispersion is lower in all OECD countries than household market income inequality, due to the redistributive effect of tax and transfer systems, but redistribution differs widely across countries. This paper maps income inequality for all OECD countries across various inequality dimensions and summarises them in inequality outcome diamonds. It also provides a cluster analysis that identifies groups of countries that share similar inequality patterns.<P>Moins d'inégalités de revenu et plus de croissance – Ces deux objectifs sont-ils compatibles? : Partie 1. Cartographie des inégalités de revenu dans les pays de l'OCDE<BR>Les inégalités des revenus du travail entre les personnes en âge de travailler varient largement selon les pays. Elles reflètent les écarts de salaire, de nombre d‘heures ouvrées et de taux d‘inactivité. Ces inégalités sont le principal facteur d‘inégalité du revenu marchand des ménages, la composition de la famille, l‘emploi indépendant et la répartition des revenus du capital jouant un moindre rôle. La répartition du revenu disponible des ménages dans tous les pays de l‘OCDE est moins importante que l‘inégalité du revenu marchand des ménages en raison de l‘effet redistributif de l‘impôt et des systèmes de transfert, mais cette redistribution est très variable selon les pays. Ce document dresse une cartographie des inégalités de revenu dans tous les pays de l‘OCDE en distinguant les différentes composantes de revenus et en les synthétisant sous forme de figures en diamant rendant compte des résultats obtenus. Il présente en outre une analyse par clusters mettant en évidence les groupes de pays ayant en commun les mêmes structures d‘inégalité.Countries differ widely with respect to the level of labour income inequality among individuals of working age. Labour income inequality is shaped by differences in wage rates, hours worked and inactivity rates. Individual labour income inequality is the main driver of household market income inequality, with family formation as well as self-employment and capital income dispersion playing a smaller role. Household disposable income dispersion is lower in all OECD countries than household market income inequality, due to the redistributive effect of tax and transfer systems, but redistribution differs widely across countries. This paper maps income inequality for all OECD countries across various inequality dimensions and summarises them in inequality outcome diamonds. It also provides a cluster analysis that identifies groups of countries that share similar inequality patterns. |
| Keywords: | poverty, welfare, cluster analysis, inequality, pauvreté, bien-être, inégalité, analyse par clusters |
| JEL: | C38 D30 D6 D63 E24 I24 I3 |
| Date: | 2012–01–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:924-en&r=lab |
| By: | David Bell; Steffen Otterbach; Alfonso Sousa-Poza |
| Abstract: | The issue of whether employees who work more hours than they want to suffer adverse health consequences is important not only at the individual level but also for governmental formation of work time policy. Our study investigates this question by analyzing the impact of the discrepancy between actual and desired work hours on self-perceived health outcomes in Germany and the United Kingdom. Based on nationally representative longitudinal data, our results show that work-hour mismatches (i.e., differences between actual and desired hours) have negative effects on workers´ health. In particular, we show that "overemployment" - working more hours than desired - has negative effects on different measures of self-perceived health. |
| Keywords: | Work time, hours constraints, health, Germany, United Kingdom |
| JEL: | I10 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp424&r=lab |
| By: | Angela Luci (INED - Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques Paris - INED, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne); Olivier Thevenon (INED - Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques - INED) |
| Abstract: | We examine how far fertility trends respond to family policies in OECD countries. In the light of the recent fertility rebound observed in several OECD countries, we empirically test the impact of different family policy settings on fertility, using data from 18 OECD countries that spans the years 1982 to 2007. Our results confirm that each instrument of the family policy package (paid leave, childcare services and financial transfers) has a positive influence, suggesting that the addition of these supports for working parents in a continuum during the early childhood is likely to facilitate parents' choice to have children. Policy levers do not have similar weight, however: in-cash benefits covering childhood after the year of childbirth and the coverage of childcare services for children under age three have a larger potential influence on fertility than leave entitlements and benefits granted around childbirth. Our findings are robust once controlling for birth postponement, endogeneity, time lagged fertility reactions and for different national contexts, such as economic development, female employment rates, labour market insecurity and childbearing norms. |
| Keywords: | family policies; fertility; demographic economics; female employment; gender economics |
| Date: | 2011–12–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00660630&r=lab |
| By: | Leticia Arroyo Abad; Elwyn A.R. Davies; Jan Luiten van Zanden |
| Abstract: | On the basis of a newly constructed dataset, this paper presents long-term series of the price levels, nominal wages, and real wages in Spanish Latin America – more specifically in Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, and Argentina – between ca. 1530 and ca. 1820. It synthesizes the work of scholars who have collected and published data on individual cities and periods, and presents comparable indices of real wages and prices in the colonial period that give a reasonable guide to trends in the long run. We show that wages and prices were on average much higher than in Western Europe or in Asia, a reflection of the low value of silver that must have had consequences for competitiveness of the Latin American economies. Labour scarcity was the second salient feature of Spanish Latin America and resulted in real wages much above subsistence and in some cases (Mexico, Bolivia, Argentina) comparable to levels in Northwestern Europe. For Mexico, this was caused by the dramatic decline of the population after the Conquest. For Bolivia, the driving force was the boom in silver mining in Potosi that created a huge demand for labour. In the case of Argentina, low population density was a pre-colonial feature. Perhaps due to a different pattern of depopulation, the real wages of other regions (Peru, Colombia, Chile) were much lower, and only increased above subsistence during the first half of the 18th century. These results are consistent with independent evidence on biological standards of living and with estimates of GDP per capita at the beginning of the 19th century.? |
| Keywords: | Wages, Prices, Latin America, Early Modern Period |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucg:wpaper:0020&r=lab |
| By: | Isabell Koske; Jean-Marc Fournier; Isabelle Wanner |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the role of macroeconomic factors and structural policies in shaping the distribution of labour income. Technological change and globalisation play at least some role in driving inequality patterns, but structural policy can also have an important influence on inequality outcomes, in particular through education and labour market policies. Drawing on empirical analysis of the links between structural policies and the distribution of labour income, the paper looks at potential policy trade-offs and complementarities with respect to the two policy objectives of lowering income inequality and raising economic growth. It concludes that many policies yield a double dividend in the sense that they contribute to achieving both goals simultaneously. This relates in particular to policies that facilitate the accumulation of human capital, that make educational achievement less dependent on personal and social circumstances, that reduce labour market dualism and that promote the labour market integration of immigrants and women.<P>Moins d'inégalités de revenu et plus de croissance – Ces deux objectifs sont-ils compatibles? : Partie 2. La répartition des revenus du travail<BR>Ce papier explore le rôle des facteurs macroéconomiques et des politiques structurelles comme déterminants de la distribution des revenus du travail. Si les mutations technologiques et la mondialisation contribuent, à tout le moins, à la formation des inégalités, les politiques publiques, en particulier l’éducation et les politiques du marché du travail, peuvent aussi avoir une influence importante. À partir de l’analyse empirique des liens entre politiques publiques et répartition des revenus du travail, ce document examine les éventuels arbitrages et complémentarités entre les deux objectifs que sont la réduction des inégalités de revenu d’une part et le relèvement de la croissance économique d’autre part. Il conclut que nombre de politiques sont doublement payantes car elles contribuent à la réalisation simultanée de ces deux objectifs. Cela vaut en particulier pour les politiques favorisant l’accumulation de capital humain, rendant le potentiel d’éducation moins tributaire de la situation personnelle et sociale, réduisant le dualisme du marché du travail et promouvant l’intégration des immigrants et des femmes sur le marché du travail. |
| Keywords: | globalisation, product market regulation, education, technological change, income inequality, labour market institutions, labour income, éducation, mondialisation, inégalité des revenus, institutions du marché du travail, réglementation du marché du travail, revenus du travail, mutations technologiques |
| JEL: | D31 F16 G18 I24 J31 J58 J71 O33 |
| Date: | 2012–01–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:925-en&r=lab |
| By: | Seema Joshi (The author is working as Visiting Professor to Indian Council for Cultural Relation’ s (ICCR’s) recently constituted Tagore Chair, the Department of Indian Studies –Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She was also a And participant in the MsM Annual Research Conference, November 2011) |
| Abstract: | In a knowledge-intensive world driven by information technology, primary education is a must but the importance of higher education cannot be ignored. This current era of globalization has offered immense opportunities. But people must have the necessary knowledge, skills, capacities and capabilities to seize those opportunities. Herein lays the role of education and especially higher education in building up and improving human capital. Since the economic growth of India in recent years is driven primarily by services sector and within services sector by IT and ITES the sustainable development of higher education is not an option but imperative. In this light, the paper raises the following questions: Where does India’s higher education stand today? What are the challenges confronting this sector? And what are proposed reform measures in this sector? The paper concludes that there is a serious mismatch between demand and supply in higher education sector. It is imperative therefore to enhance Indian talent pool by reforming higher education system to maximize the potential of IT and ITES on the one hand and to catalyze the country’s growth driven by services sector on the other. The expansion of the higher education sector and improvement in its quality can assist India in avoiding the unemployability of graduates on the one hand and the phenomenon of ‘missing teachers’ on the other. In addition it can ensure inclusive growth by making higher education accessible and affordable. India’s Eleventh Five Year Plan is aiming at enhancing public spending, encouraging private initiatives and initiating long major institutional and policy reforms to bring about positive changes in India’s education system. The outcomes will depend upon political commitment and good governance. |
| JEL: | O53 O30 O15 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msm:wpaper:2012/01&r=lab |
| By: | Alexandra M. de Pleijt |
| Abstract: | Macroeconomic growth models underline the importance of human capital in the process of economic development. This analysis introduces a new proxy for human capital, which is educational attainment, and examines cohesion between education levels and growth for England between 1307 and 1900. The empirical evidence suggests no significant result between basic skills, such as reading and writing abilities, and growth of per capita GDP. More progressive human capital levels, as measured by average years of higher education, seem to have contributed to the process of development until the mid-eighteenth century. |
| Keywords: | Economic development, human capital, history of education, England |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucg:wpaper:0021&r=lab |
| By: | Gori, Luca; Sodini, Mauro |
| Abstract: | This study analyses the dynamics of a two-dimensional overlapping generations economy with endogenous labour supply à la Reichlin (1986) and aspirations, i.e. effective consumption by individuals of the current generation depends on the standard of living (based on consumption experience) of those that belong to the previous generation. We show that the relative importance of aspirations in utility is responsible for the existence of either one (normalised) steady state or two steady states. In particular, when the relative degree of aspiration is fairly high, the supply of labour becomes higher than those corresponding to the normalised steady state because individuals want to increase the amount of time spent at work when they are young in order to increase consumption possibilities when they are old, since the relative importance of past consumption is high in such a case. As regards local stability, the normalised steady state can be determinate or indeterminate and can undergo either a transcritical bifurcation or supercritical flip bifurcation depending on the intensity of the taste externality. Moreover, some interesting global dynamic properties emerge: indeed, when the relative importance of aspirations is strong enough, cyclical or quasi-cyclical behaviour and/or coexistence of attractors may occur. In particular, this last phenomena may cause global indeterminacy even if the stationary equilibria are locally determinate. |
| Keywords: | Aspirations; Indeterminacy; Labour supply; OLG model; Nonlinear dynamics |
| JEL: | C68 O41 J22 C61 C62 |
| Date: | 2012–01–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:35942&r=lab |