|
on Labour Economics |
| By: | Larsen, Mona (SFI - Danish National Centre for Social Research); Pedersen, Peder J. (University of Aarhus) |
| Abstract: | The labor market in Denmark seems to follow the trend in a number of other countries of increasing labor force participation in the 60+ group. We analyze trends for the early retirement age interval 60-64 and for the age group 65-74 where people are eligible to a national social security program from age 65. Until now, the increase in labor force participation has been most pronounced among 60-64-year-olds and among women. We find significant impact on work after retirement from education, gender, home ownership, aggregate unemployment at the time of retirement, age and education. Being married has a positive impact for men and a negative impact for women. We relate labor force participation after retirement to the cyclical situation and to the several policy reforms introduced since 1980. |
| Keywords: | labor force participation, retirement |
| JEL: | H55 J14 J26 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6537&r=lab |
| By: | Gielen, Anne C. (IZA); Tatsiramos, Konstantinos (University of Leicester) |
| Abstract: | Job protection reduces job turnover by changing firms' hiring and firing decisions. Yet the effect of job protection on workers' quit decisions and post-quit outcomes is still unknown. We present the first evidence using individual panel data from 12 European countries, which differ both in worker turnover rates and in the level of job protection. We find that workers are less likely to quit their job in countries with more job protection, but conditional on quitting they receive higher wages. This evidence can be explained by increased mobility costs associated with higher expected risk of post-quit layoff and job mismatch. |
| Keywords: | institutions, employment protection, labor mobility, job satisfaction, wages |
| JEL: | J28 J62 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6540&r=lab |
| By: | Alcobendas, Miguel Angel (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Rodríguez-Planas, Núria (IZA); Vegas, Raquel (FEDEA, Madrid) |
| Abstract: | While much of the literature on immigrants' assimilation has focused on countries with a large tradition of receiving immigrants and with flexible labor markets, very little is known on how immigrants adjust to other types of host economies. With its severe dual labor market, and an unprecedented immigration boom, Spain presents a quite unique experience to analyze immigrations' assimilation process. Using alternative datasets and methodologies, this paper provides evidence of a differential assimilation pattern for low- versus high-skilled immigrants in Spain: our key finding is that having a high-school degree does not give immigrants an advantage in terms occupational or wage assimilation (relative to their native counterparts). |
| Keywords: | wage assimilation, occupational assimilation, education |
| JEL: | J15 J24 J61 J62 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6543&r=lab |
| By: | PF Blaauw; WF Krugell |
| Abstract: | The South African labour market is characterised by sharp segmentation, high unemployment and apparently limited informal sector employment. Recent work has focussed on the importance of the quality of education while others have argued that the rigidity of the labour market constrains employment growth. This paper considers the spatial aspects of the day labour market and argues that the size and proximity of economic activity found in agglomerations ensure a thick labour market that allows for better matching between workers and jobs. The results indicate that the day labourers, who were hired by the same employer more often, receive higher earnings and the thicker metropolitan labour market allows workers to become more specialised and receive higher earnings. |
| Keywords: | Day labourers, Labour market, Agglomeration |
| JEL: | J21 J24 J31 R23 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:282&r=lab |
| By: | Haroon Bhorat; Sumayya Goga; Carlene Van Der Westhuizen (Development Policy Research Unit; Director and Professor) |
| Abstract: | The literature on the union wage gap in South Africa is extensive, spanning a range of datasets and methodologies. There is however little consensus on the appropriate method to correct for the endogeneity of union membership or the size of the union wage gap. Furthermore, there are very few studies on the bargaining council wage premium in South Africa due to lack of data on coverage of employees under these agreements. Our study, using 2005 Labour Force Survey data, firstly reconsiders the union wage gap controlling for both firm-level and job characteristics. When correcting for endogeniety of union status through a two-stage selection model and including firm size, type of employment, and non-wage benefits, we find a much lower union wage premium for African workers in the formal sector than premia reported in some previous studies. Secondly, our study estimates bargaining council wage premia for the private and public sectors. We find that extension procedures are present in both private and public bargaining council systems, but that unions negotiate for additional gains for their members at the plant-level. Furthermore, there is some evidence that unions negotiate for awards for their members in the private sector, irrespective of bargaining council coverage. |
| JEL: | A1 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctw:wpaper:11146&r=lab |
| By: | Pauline Charnoz (CREST); Elise Coudin (CREST); Mathilde Gaini (CREST) |
| Keywords: | wage differentials by skill, wage inequality, within-group wage inequality, between-group wage inequality, return heterogeneity, quantile regressions |
| JEL: | J24 J31 C21 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2011-23&r=lab |
| By: | Rodolfo Manuelli (Washington University in St. Louis and Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis); Ananth Seshadri (University of Wisconsin--Madison); Yongseok Shin (Washington University in St. Louis and Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) |
| Abstract: | We develop a model of retirement and human capital investment to study the effects of tax and retirement policies. Workers choose the supply of raw labor (career length) and also the human capital embodied in their labor. Our model explains a significant fraction of the US-Europe difference in schooling and retirement. The model predicts that reforms of the European retirement policies modeled after the US can deliver 15-35 percent gains in per-worker output in the long run. Increased human capital investment in and out of school accounts for most of the gains, with relatively small changes in career length. JEL classification: E24; J24 |
| Keywords: | Lifetime labor supply human capital |
| JEL: | E24 J24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2012-011&r=lab |
| By: | Filges, Trine (SFI - Danish National Centre for Social Research); Larsen, Mona (SFI - Danish National Centre for Social Research); Pedersen, Peder J. (University of Aarhus) |
| Abstract: | The paper studies the impact from variations in unemployment on retirement among older workers. We integrate unemployment variations with early retirement programs and other pathways out of the labor force. The paper describes retirement programs, policy changes, labor force participation among older workers and presents a new estimate of the trend in the average age of retirement. Individual panel data for the last 25 years are used in estimations of the impact from individual unemployment on the retirement decision. Unemployment is found highly significant and quantitatively important for the retirement decision. We conclude that there is a clear risk of a cyclical downturn resulting in a more long run reduction in productive capacity with negative consequences for the budget of the public sector. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, labor force participation, retirement |
| JEL: | E32 J21 J26 J64 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6538&r=lab |
| By: | Holzer, Harry J. (Georgetown University) |
| Abstract: | To improve the employment rates and earnings of Americans workers, we need to create more coherent and effective education and workforce development systems, focusing primarily (though not exclusively) on disadvantaged youth and adults, and with education and training more clearly targeted towards firms and sectors providing good-paying jobs. This paper proposes a new set of competitive grants from the federal government to states that would fund training partnerships between employers in key industries, education providers, workforce agencies and intermediaries at the state level, plus a range of other supports and services. The grants would especially reward the expansion of programs that appear successful when evaluated with randomized control trial techniques. The evidence suggests that these grants could generate benefits that are several times larger than their costs, and would therefore lead to higher earnings and lower unemployment rates among the disadvantaged. |
| Keywords: | education, workforce development, jobs, skills, employment |
| JEL: | J2 J3 J6 J08 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izapps:pp42&r=lab |
| By: | Burde, Dana (New York University); Linden, Leigh L. (University of Texas at Austin) |
| Abstract: | We conduct a randomized evaluation of the effect of village-based schools on children's academic performance using a sample of 31 villages and 1,490 children in rural northwestern Afghanistan. The program significantly increases enrollment and test scores among all children, eliminates the 21 percentage point gender disparity in enrollment, and dramatically reduces the disparity in test scores. The intervention increases formal school enrollment by 42 percentage points among all children and increases test scores by 0.51 standard deviations (1.2 standard deviations for children that enroll in school). While all students benefit, the effects accrue disproportionately to girls. Evidence suggests that the village-based schools provide a comparable education to traditional schools. Estimating the effects of distance on academic outcomes, children prove very sensitive: enrollment and test scores fall by 16 percentage points and 0.19 standard deviations per mile. Distance affects girls more than boys – girls' enrollment falls by 6 percentage points more per mile (19 percentage points total per mile) and their test scores fall by an additional 0.09 standard deviations (0.24 standard deviations total per mile). |
| Keywords: | Afghanistan, RCT, education, gender |
| JEL: | I21 I25 I28 O12 O22 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6531&r=lab |
| By: | Angrist, Joshua (MIT); Pathak, Parag A. (MIT); Walters, Christopher R. (MIT) |
| Abstract: | Estimates using admissions lotteries suggest that urban charter schools boost student achievement, while charter schools in other settings do not. Using the largest available sample of lotteried applicants to charter schools, we explore student-level and school-level explanations for this difference in Massachusetts. In an econometric framework that isolates sources of charter effect heterogeneity, we show that urban charter schools boost achievement well beyond that of urban public school students, while non-urban charters reduce achievement from a higher baseline. Student demographics explain some of these gains since urban charters are most effective for non-whites and low-baseline achievers. At the same time, non-urban charter schools are uniformly ineffective. Our estimates also reveal important school-level heterogeneity within the urban charter sample. A non-lottery analysis suggests that urban charters with binding, well-documented admissions lotteries generate larger score gains than under-subscribed urban charter schools with poor lottery records. Finally, we link charter impacts to school characteristics such as peer composition, length of school day, and school philosophy. The relative effectiveness of urban lottery-sample charters is accounted for by these schools' embrace of the No Excuses approach to urban education. |
| Keywords: | human capital, charter schools, achievement |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I28 J45 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6525&r=lab |
| By: | Masaru Sasaki (Osaka University); Miki Kohara (Osaka University); Tomohiro Machikita (IDE-JETRO) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates matching functions to measure search frictions in the Japanese labor market and presents determinants of search duration to explain the effect of unemployment benefits on a job seekerfs behavior. We employ administrative micro data that track the job search process of individuals who left or lost their job in August 2005 and subsequently registered at their local public employment service. Our finding is that the matching function would exhibit decreasing returns-to-scale for job seekers and vacancies, rather than constant return-to-scale. We also find that generous unemployment benefits lengthen (shorten) the duration of job search for job seekers who voluntarily (involuntarily) leave employment. |
| Keywords: | Job Search, Matching Model, Unemployment, Unemployment Benefits |
| JEL: | J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:1107r&r=lab |
| By: | Kerr, Andrew (University of Cape Town); Teal, Francis J. (University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyse the relative importance of individual ability and labour market institutions, including public sector wage setting and trade unions, in determining earnings differences across different types of employment. To do this we use the KwaZulu-Natal Income Dynamics Study data from South Africa, which show extremely large average earnings differentials across different types of employment. Our results suggest that human capital and individual ability explain much of the earnings differentials within the private sector, including the union premium, but cannot explain the large premiums for public sector workers. We show that a public sector premium exists only for those moving into the public sector. The paper addresses the challenges of non-random attrition and measurement error bias that panel data bring. Our results show that emphasising a simple binary dichotomy between the formal and informal sector can be unhelpful in attempting to explore how the labour market functions. |
| Keywords: | formality, trade unions, public sector, earnings, South Africa |
| JEL: | J31 J51 J45 O12 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6534&r=lab |
| By: | Cathy J. Bradley; David Neumark; Scott Barkowski |
| Abstract: | Employment-contingent health insurance creates incentives for ill workers to remain employed at a sufficient level (usually full-time) to maintain access to health insurance coverage. We study employed married women, newly diagnosed with breast cancer, comparing labor supply responses to breast cancer diagnoses between women dependent on their own employment for health insurance and women with access to health insurance through their spouse’s employer. We find evidence that women more dependent on their own job for health insurance reduce their labor supply by less after a diagnosis of breast cancer – the estimate difference is about 5.5 to 7 percent. Women’s subjective responses to questions about working more to maintain health insurance are consistent with the conclusions from observed behavior. |
| JEL: | J2 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18060&r=lab |
| By: | Aderonke Osikominu |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how precisely short-term, job-search oriented training programs as opposed to long-term, human capital intensive training programs work. We evaluate and compare their effects on time until job entry, stability of employment, and earnings. Further, we examine the heterogeneity of treatment effects according to the timing of training during unemployment as well as across different subgroups of participants. We find that participating in short-term training reduces the remaining time in unemployment and moderately increases job stability. Long-term training programs initially prolong the remaining time in unemployment, but once the scheduled program end is reached participants exit to employment at a much faster rate than without training. In addition, they benefit from substantially more stable employment spells and higher earnings. Overall, long-term training programs are well effective in supporting the occupational advancement of very heterogeneous groups of participants, including those with generally weak labor market prospects. However, from a fiscal perspective only the low-cost short-term training schemes are cost efficient in the short run. |
| Keywords: | Training, program evaluation, duration analysis, dynamic treatment effects, multiple treatments, active labor market policy |
| JEL: | J64 C41 J68 I28 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:076&r=lab |
| By: | Ingmar Nyman (Hunter College); Matthew Baker (Hunter College) |
| Abstract: | We study a labor market in which principals and agents must search for a trading partner, and agents have private information about the value of a match. We show that competitive pressure can induce agents to lie and over-state the value of the match. This leads to insufficient frictional unemployment and search, and lower average productivity and utility. A fully tax-financed unemployment insurance can therefore eliminate the inefficiency. Moreover, because inefficient “job-hoarding” by workers occurs when there are many workers per job, the analysis provides a novel explanation for the stylized macroeconomic fact that labor productivity is procyclical. |
| Keywords: | Search; Private Information; Competition; Labor Productivity; Unemployment Insurance |
| JEL: | D24 D82 D83 E32 J64 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:htr:hcecon:437&r=lab |
| By: | Black, Sandra E. (University of Texas at Austin); Devereux, Paul J. (University College Dublin); Loken, Katrine V. (University of Bergen); Salvanes, Kjell G. (Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)) |
| Abstract: | Given the wide use of childcare subsidies across countries, it is surprising how little we know about the effect of these subsidies on children's longer run outcomes. Using a sharp discontinuity in the price of childcare in Norway, we are able to isolate the effects of childcare subsidies on both parental and student outcomes. We find very small and statistically insignificant effects of childcare subsidies on childcare utilization and parental labor force participation. Despite this, we find significant positive effect of the subsidies on children's academic performance in junior high school, suggesting the positive shock to disposable income provided by the subsidies may be helping to improve children's scholastic aptitude. |
| Keywords: | education, income subsidy, child care |
| JEL: | I1 J1 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6541&r=lab |
| By: | Michael F. Lovenheim; C. Lockwood Reynolds |
| Abstract: | The higher education system in the United States is characterized by a large degree of quality heterogeneity, and there is a growing literature suggesting students attending higher quality universities have better educational and labor market outcomes. In this paper, we use NLSY97 data combined with the difference in the timing and strength of the housing boom across cities to examine how short-run home price growth affects the quality of postsecondary schools chosen by students. Our findings indicate a $10,000 increase in a family’s housing wealth in the four years prior to a student becoming of college-age increases the likelihood she attends a flagship public university relative to a non-flagship public university by 2.0 percent and decreases the relative probability of attending a community college by 1.6 percent. These effects are driven by relatively lower and middle-income families. We show that these changes are due to the effect of housing wealth on where students apply, not on whether they are admitted. We also find that short-run increases in home prices lead to increases in direct quality measures of the institutions students attend. Finally, for the lower-income sample, we find home price increases reduce student labor supply and that each $10,000 increase in home prices is associated with a 1.8% increase in the likelihood of completing college. |
| JEL: | I21 I23 J24 R31 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18075&r=lab |
| By: | Melissa A. Boyle; Joanna N. Lahey |
| Abstract: | Although government expansion of health insurance to older workers leads to labor supply reductions for recipients, there may be spillover effects on the labor supply of affected spouses who are not covered by the programs. In the simplest model, health insurance on the job is paid for in terms of lower compensation on the job. Receiving health insurance exogenous to employment is akin to a positive income shock for the household, causing total household labor supply to drop. However, it is not clear within the household whether this decrease in labor supply will be borne by both spouses or by a specific spouse. We use a mid-1990s expansion of health insurance for U.S. veterans to provide evidence on the effects of expanding health insurance availability on the labor supply of spouses. Using data from the Current Population Survey, we employ a difference-in-differences strategy to compare the labor market behavior of the wives of older male veterans and non-veterans before and after the VA health benefits expansion to test the impact of public health insurance on these spouses. Our findings suggest that although household labor supply may decrease because of the income effect, the more flexible labor supply of wives allows the wife’s labor supply to increase, particularly for those with lower education levels. |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2012-16&r=lab |
| By: | David H. Autor; David Dorn; Gordon H. Hanson |
| Abstract: | We analyze the effect of rising Chinese import competition between 1990 and 2007 on local U.S. labor markets, exploiting cross-market variation in import exposure stemming from initial differences in industry specialization while instrumenting for imports using changes in Chinese imports by industry to other high-income countries. Rising exposure increases unemployment, lowers labor force participation, and reduces wages in local labor markets. Conservatively, it explains one-quarter of the contemporaneous aggregate decline in U.S. manufacturing employment. Transfer benefits payments for unemployment, disability, retirement, and healthcare also rise sharply in exposed labor markets. |
| JEL: | F16 H53 J23 J31 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18054&r=lab |
| By: | Claudia Tello (AQR-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain); Raul Ramos (AQR-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain); Manuel Artís (AQR-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain) |
| Abstract: | This paper conducts an empirical analysis of the relationship between wage inequality, employment structure, and returns to education in urban areas of Mexico during the past two decades (1987-2008). Applying Melly’s (2005) quantile regression based decomposition, we find that changes in wage inequality have been driven mainly by variations in educational wage premia. Additionally, we find that changes in employment structure, including occupation and firm size, have played a vital role. This evidence seems to suggest that the changes in wage inequality in urban Mexico cannot be interpreted in terms of a skill-biased change, but rather they are the result of an increasing demand for skills during that period. |
| Keywords: | wage inequality, quantile regressions, decomposition. |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xrp:wpaper:xreap2012-07&r=lab |
| By: | Francoise Carre (University of Massachusetts-Boston); Chris Tilly (UCLA) |
| Abstract: | In settings where most workers have full-time schedules, hourly wages are appropriate primary indicators of job quality and worker outcomes. However, in sectors where full-time schedules do not dominate— primarily service-producing activities—total hours matter, in addition to hourly wages, for job quality and worker outcomes. In this paper we employ a sector-focused, comparative framework to further examine hours levels—measured as average weekly hours—and trends in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. We analyze the retail sector, which is of interest because of its high rate of part-time employment in the U.S. Based on our fieldwork in the United States and Mexico and qualitative literature on Canadian retail work, we argue that the combination of business strategies and very different institutional constraints will lead U.S. retailers to a greater extent and Canadian retailers to a lesser extent to shorten hours and expand part-time jobs, whereas in Mexico it will lead retailers to lengthen hours. We apply this argument to predictions about differences in levels and trends. Drawing on standard public data sources from the three countries, we compare means and run time series regressions to estimate trends net of cyclical effects. Results broadly support our predictions, especially the distinction between the United States and Canada on the one hand and Mexico on the other. We provide additional context for these findings. |
| Keywords: | United States, Canada, job quality, Mexico, part-time, retail, schedule, working hours |
| JEL: | D22 J22 J23 J81 L81 P52 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:12-183&r=lab |
| By: | Rodney J. Andrews; Jing Li; Michael F. Lovenheim |
| Abstract: | This paper uses administrative data on schooling and earnings from Texas to estimate the effect of college quality on the distribution of earnings. We proxy college quality using the college sector from which students graduate and focus on identifying how graduating from UT-Austin, Texas A\&M or a community college affects the distribution of earnings relative to graduating from a non-flagship university in Texas. Our methodological approach uses the rich set of observable student academic ability and background characteristics in the data to adjust the earnings distributions across college sectors for the fact that college sector quality is correlated with factors that also affect earnings. Although our mean earnings estimates are similar to previous work in this area, we find evidence of substantial heterogeneity in the returns to college quality. At UT-Austin, the returns increase across the earnings distribution, while at Texas A\&M they tend to decline with one's place in the distribution. For community college graduates, the returns relative to non-flagship four-year graduates are negative across most of the distribution of earnings, but they approach zero and become positive for higher earners. Our data also allow us to estimate effects separately by race and ethnicity, and we find that historically under-represented minorities experience the highest returns in the upper tails of the earnings distribution, particularly among UT-Austin and community college graduates. While we focus on graduates, we also show our estimates are robust to examining college attendees as well as to many other changes in the sample and to the estimation strategy. Overall, these estimates provide the first direct evidence of the extent of heterogeneity in the effect of college quality on subsequent earnings, and our estimates point to the need to consider such heterogeneity in human capital models that incorporate college quality. |
| JEL: | I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18068&r=lab |
| By: | Marina Murat; Davide Ferrari; Patrizio Frederic |
| Abstract: | Using data from PISA 2006 on 29 countries, this paper analyses immigrant school gaps (difference in scores between immigrants and natives) and focuses on tracking and comprehensive educational systems. Results show that the wider negative gaps are present where tracking is sharp and less frequently in countries with comprehensive schooling. In both cases, negative gaps are concentrated in continental Western Europe, where they are also often related to immigrants and natives attending different schools, or are significant within schools |
| Keywords: | Immigrant students, educational systems, PISA |
| JEL: | F22 I21 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:recent:080&r=lab |
| By: | Lechmann, Daniel S. J.; Schnabel, Claus |
| Abstract: | Using a large data set for Germany, we show that both the raw and the unexplained gender earnings gap are higher in self-employment than in paid employment. Applying an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, more than a quarter of the difference in monthly self-employment earnings can be traced back to women working fewer hours than men. In contrast variables like family background, working time flexibility and career aspirations do not seem to contribute much to the gender earnings gap, suggesting that self-employed women do not earn less because they are seeking work-family balance rather than profits. Differences in human capital endowments account for another 13 percent of the gap but segregation does not contribute to the gender earnings gap in a robust way. -- Mit einem großen Datensatz für Deutschland zeigen wir, dass sowohl der gesamte geschlechtsspezifische Verdienstunterschied als auch dessen unerklärter Teil bei Selbständigen größer ausfallen als bei abhängig Beschäftigten. Gemäß einer Oaxaca-Blinder-Zerlegung ist über ein Viertel des Unterschieds im Monatsverdienst von Selbständigen darauf zurückzuführen, dass Frauen kürzere Arbeitszeiten haben als Männer. Dagegen scheinen Variablen wie Familienhintergrund, Arbeitszeitflexibilität und Karriereaspiration nicht substanziell zum Geschlechter-Verdienstdifferenzial beizutragen. Dies legt nahe, dass selbständige Frauen nicht deshalb weniger verdienen, weil sie eher an der Vereinbarkeit von Arbeit und Familie und weniger an Gewinnerzielung interessiert sind. Unterschiede in der Humankapitalausstattung erklären weitere 13 Prozent des Differenzials, doch Segregation spielt keine eindeutige Rolle. |
| Keywords: | earnings differential,entrepreneurship,gender pay gap,Germany,self-employed,self-employment |
| JEL: | J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:faulre:77&r=lab |
| By: | Colin Green; John S. Heywood; Nikolaos Theodoropoulos |
| Abstract: | In the first study using British data, we show that the average wage advantage of holding a performance pay job is greater for minorities than that for Whites. This generates a smaller ethnic wage gap among performance pay jobs than among time rate jobs. Yet, this pattern is driven by those receiving bonuses not those receiving performance related pay and it is evident only for Asians and for those in managerial jobs. Moreover, it is partially driven by sorting in which the more able take bonus jobs. Nonetheless, the basic results persist with diminished magnitude in fixed effect estimates. These findings differ dramatically from those for United States in which bonuses appear to increase racial differentials especially at the top of the earnings distribution. |
| Keywords: | Performance Pay;Ethnic Earnings Differentials |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucy:cypeua:06-2012&r=lab |
| By: | Bruno Jacquet; Etienne Lehmann (CREST); Bruno Van der Linden |
| Keywords: | Optimal taxation, Labor market frictions, Unemployment |
| JEL: | D82 H21 J64 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2011-15&r=lab |
| By: | Azam, Mehtabul (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | Public works programs, aimed at building a strong social safety net through redistribution of wealth and generation of meaningful employment, are becoming increasingly popular in developing countries. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), enacted in August 2005, is one such program in India. This paper assesses causal impacts (Intent-to-Treat) of NREGA on public works participation, labor force participation, and real wages of casual workers by exploiting its phased implementation across Indian districts. Using nationally representative data from Indian National Sample Surveys (NSS) and Difference-in-Difference framework, we find that there is a strong gender dimension to the impacts of NREGA: it has a positive impact on the labor force participation and this impact is mainly driven by a much sharper impact on female labor force participation. Similarly, NREGA has a significant positive impact on the wages of female casual workers-real wages of female casual workers increased 8% more in NREGA districts compared with the increase experienced in non-NREGA districts. However, the impact of NREGA on wages of casual male workers has only been marginal (about 1%). Using data from pre-NREGA period, we also perform falsification exercise to demonstrate that the main conclusions are not confounded by pre-existing differential trends between NREGA and non-NREGA districts. |
| Keywords: | difference-in-difference, intent-to-treat, NREGA, rural India |
| JEL: | I38 O11 J21 J38 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6548&r=lab |
| By: | Vu , Van Huong |
| Abstract: | Based on a unique matched firm-worker panel dataset between 2007 and 2009, empirical results show that export participation has a positive impact on wages when taking account of firm characteristics alone. However, exporter wage premium completely vanishes when both firm and worker characteristics are added simultaneously. This finding is also confirmed when controlling for time-invariant unobservable factors by spell fixed effect estimations. Furthermore, using a firm level balanced panel dataset in the same periods, the hypothesis of the positive role of export status on employment quality is rejected when it has a positive effect on the share of casual workers. However, this result is not robust across sectors and locations. Export participation continues to yield a positive impact on the share of casual worker in low tech sectors. However, a negative effect on employment quality is observed in high tech industries. The findings suggest that policies encouraging and supporting exporting should not only focus on the amount of employment created but also on the quality of employment, especially for low technology industries. |
| Keywords: | Export participation; wage; employment; Vietnam |
| JEL: | F16 F1 |
| Date: | 2012–05–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38696&r=lab |
| By: | Christian Belzil (CREST); Jörgen Hansen (Concordia University, CIRANO, CIREQ and IZA); Xingfei Liu (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 Accumulation, Comparative Advantages, Returns to schooling, Education and Growth,Dynamic Discrete Choice, Dynamic Programming |
| JEL: | I2 J1 J3 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2012-01&r=lab |
| By: | Piero Cipollone (World Bank); Pasqualino Montanaro (Bank of Italy); Paolo Sestito (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | The problems of Italy’s education system mostly stem from its modus operandi and interactions with the expectations of families and students. The recent signs of improvement in Italian students’ proficiency, plausibly reflecting greater emphasis on rigour, could be reinforced by making schools more autonomous and accountable, including in matters of staff management, and with a nationwide programme of support for the schools in greatest difficulty. The cost savings obtained over the years should mostly be reinvested into the system, enhancing teachers’ professionalism. In higher education, the increasing supply of degree courses has not affected the typical problems of Italy’s public universities, which: still attract few researchers and students from abroad; are too undifferentiated and unspecialized; have a predominantly local teacher and student base. The renewal begun with the recent university reform, which has challenged the historically self-referential governance of the system, must stimulate more internal competition within the Italian university system with well-defined and stable rules to foster quality and reward merit, and it must also allow individual universities more autonomy so that a more differentiated supply structure can emerge. |
| Keywords: | human capital, school,; university |
| JEL: | I20 I21 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_122_12&r=lab |
| By: | E. Podrecca; G. Rossini |
| Abstract: | The labor wage is the result of market variables and institutional settings of a country. In an open economy the determination of the market wage rate may be further affected by the extent of international mobility of both factors of production, labor and capital. Labor mobility is represented by migration in and out of a country, while capital mobility relates mostly to the extent of foreign direct investment (FDI) outflows and inflows. Migrants may represent an addition to the native labor force of a country and, in some cases, play a substitute role with respect to incumbent workers. FDI, in particular of the greenfield category, represents either a supplement to or a reduction of the domestic capital and, by and large, changes the opportunity set of a firm’s CEO with respect to the corresponding company operating in a closed economy. International factor mobility and domestic market variables, such as unemployment and productivity, interact in the wage setting process. In this paper, we derive a theoretical wage equation following the above premises, and perform pooled mean group estimates of its parameters on panel data for a group of 13 European countries with quarterly time observation over the period 1996-2007. We find that capital outflows have a robust negative effect on the wage rate. The effects of migration inflows, on the other hand, are not so clear-cut, as they can be nullor negative depending on the sample of countries considered. |
| JEL: | F2 J5 J6 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp826&r=lab |
| By: | Haroon Bhorat; Ravi Kanbur; Natasha Mayet (Development Policy Research Unit; Director and Professor) |
| Abstract: | Minimum wage legislation is central in South African policy discourse, with both strong support and strong opposition. The validity of either position depends, however, on the effectiveness of minimum wage enforcement. Using detailed matching of occupational, sectoral and locational codes in the 2007 Labour Force Survey to the gazetted minimum wages, this paper presents, we believe for the first time, estimates of minimum wage violation in South Africa. Our results give considerable cause for concern. Minimum wage violation is South Africa is disturbingly high. We find that 44% of covered workers get paid wages below the legislated minimum, whilst the average depth of shortfall is 35% of the minimum wage. Around this average, violation is most prevalent in the Security, Forestry and Farming Sectors. We hope that the quantifications in this paper will provide a more solid basis for discussion of minimum wage levels and their enforcement in South Africa. |
| Keywords: | Minimum Wage Violation, South Africa |
| JEL: | A1 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctw:wpaper:11143&r=lab |
| By: | Tansel, Aysit (Middle East Technical University); Güngör, Nil Demet (Atilim University) |
| Abstract: | Several recent empirical studies have examined the gender effects of education on economic growth or on steady-state level of output using the much exploited, familiar cross-country data in order to determine their quantitative importance and the direction of correlation. This paper undertakes a similar study of the gender effects of education using province level data for Turkey. The main findings indicate that female education positively and significantly affects the steady-state level of labor productivity, while the effect of male education is in general either positive or insignificant. Separate examination of the effect of educational gender gap was negative on output. The results are found to be robust to a number of sensitivity analyses, such as elimination of outlier observations, controls for simultaneity and measurement errors, controls for omitted variables by including regional dummy variables, steady-state versus growth equations and considering different samples. |
| Keywords: | labor productivity, economic development, education, gender, Turkey |
| JEL: | O11 O15 I21 J16 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6532&r=lab |
| By: | Brown, W. Mark<br/> Newbold, Bruce |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the process by which migrants experience gains in earnings subsequent to migration and, in particular, the advantage that migrants obtain from moving to large, dynamic metropolitan labour markets, using Toronto as a benchmark. There are two potentially distinct patterns to gains in earnings associated with migration. The first is a step upwards in which workers realize immediate gains in earnings subsequent to migration. The second is accelerated gains in earnings subsequent to migration. Immediate gains are associated with obtaining a position in a more productive firm and/or a better match between worker skills and abilities and job tasks. Accelerated gains in earnings are associated processes that take time, such as learning or job switching as workers and firms seek out better matches. Evaluated here is the expectation that the economies of large metropolitan areas provide workers with an initial productive advantage stemming from a one-time improvement in worker productivity and/or a dynamic that accelerates gains in earnings over time through the potentially entwined processes of learning and matching. A variety of datasets and methodologies, including propensity score matching, are used to evaluate patterns of income gains associated with migration to Toronto. |
| Keywords: | Population and demography, Labour, Mobility and migration, Wages, salaries and other earnings |
| Date: | 2012–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp1e:2012023e&r=lab |
| By: | Kirdar, Murat; Dayioglu, Meltem; Koc, Ismet |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the impact of the extension of compulsory schooling in Turkey from 5 to 8 years—which increased the 8th grade completion rate for women by 30 percentage points—on marriage and birth outcomes of teenage women in Turkey. We find that increased compulsory schooling years reduce the probability of teenage marriage and births for women substantially, and these effects persist well beyond the new compulsory schooling years: the probability of marriage by age 18 falls by more than 4 percentage points and the probability of giving birth by age 19 falls by more than 4.5 percentage points for the earliest cohorts affected by the policy. In addition, the new policy increases the time to first-birth after marriage. We find conclusive evidence that longer compulsory schooling years have human capital effects on the time to first-birth, as well as incarcertation effects on teenage marriage; there is also suggestive evidence for human capital effects on teenage marriage. |
| Keywords: | Teenage marriage; Teenage births; Education; Compulsory Schooling Policy; Regression-Discontunity |
| JEL: | J13 I21 I28 J12 D10 |
| Date: | 2012–05–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38735&r=lab |
| By: | Prettner, Klaus (Harvard University); Bloom, David E. (Harvard University); Strulik, Holger (University of Hannover) |
| Abstract: | It is widely argued that declining fertility slows the pace of economic growth in industrialized countries 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 associated behavioral changes. We formalize these arguments by setting forth a dynamic consumer optimization model that incorporates endogenous fertility as well as endogenous education 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 |
| JEL: | I15 I25 J24 O47 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6527&r=lab |
| By: | Naoki Mitani; Takashi Oshio |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koe:wpaper:1205&r=lab |
| By: | Berger, Allen N.; Kick, Thomas; Koetter, Michael; Schaeck, Klaus |
| Abstract: | Social capital theory predicts individuals establish social ties based on homophily, i.e., affinities for similar others. We exploit a unique sample to analyze how similarities and social ties affect career outcomes in banking based on age, education, gender, and employment history to examine if homophily and connectedness increase the probability that the appointee to an executive board is an outsider (an individual without previous employment at the bank) compared to being an insider. Our results show that homophily based on age and gender raises the chance of the successful candidate being an outsider, whereas similar educational backgrounds reduce the chance that the appointee comes from outside. When we examine performance effects, we find weak evidence that social ties are associated with reduced profitability. -- |
| Keywords: | Social networks,executive careers,banking,corporate governance |
| JEL: | G21 G32 G34 J16 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdp2:201118&r=lab |
| By: | Azam, Mehtabul (World Bank); Bhatt, Vipul (James Madison University) |
| Abstract: | An important constraint in studying intergenerational education mobility for India is the lack of data that contain information about parents' education for the entire adult population. This paper employs a novel strategy to create a unique father-son matched data that is representative of the entire adult male population in India. Using this father-son matched data, we study the extent of intergenerational mobility in educational attainment in India since 1940s and provide an estimate of how India ranks among other nations. We also document this mobility across social groups, and states in India. Finally, we investigate the evolution of mobility in educational attainment across the two generations and whether this trend differs across social groups and state boundaries. We find that there have been significant improvements in educational mobility across generations in India, at the aggregate level, across social groups, and across states. Although most of the Indian states have made significant progress over time, in terms of improved mobility, there remains significant variation across states with some states faring worse than the others. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, educational persistence, India |
| JEL: | J6 I28 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6549&r=lab |
| By: | Maury Gittleman (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); Brooks Pierce (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) |
| Abstract: | A vast literature has sought to assess the magnitude of inter-industry differences in pay and explain why they exist. The measurement of inter-industry pay differentials and the resulting use of this information to assess the empirical relevance of different labor market theories have been hampered, however, by the fact that measures of total compensation -- as opposed to just wages and salaries -- are not available in the datasets traditionally used. To our knowledge, we are the first to use compensation microdata in a study of inter-industry pay differentials. Because nonwage compensation can easily exceed 40 to 50 percent of wages, its inclusion has the potential to alter measured industry pay differences, either diminishing or amplifying them. We find that the inclusion of benefits increases industry dispersion, as measured by the standard deviation of inter-industry differentials, by 16 percent when no controls are included and by an even greater 30 percent when controls are included. |
| Keywords: | inter-industry wage structure, compensation |
| JEL: | J3 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bls:wpaper:ec120020&r=lab |
| By: | Chevalier, Arnaud (Royal Holloway, University of London); Doyle, Orla (University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | One of the most consistent findings in studies of electoral behaviour is that individuals with higher education have a greater propensity to vote. The nature of this relationship is much debated, with US studies generally finding evidence of a causal relationship, while European studies generally reporting no causal effect. To assess whether the US is an exception we rely on an international dataset incorporating 38 countries, the ISSP (International Social Survey Programme) from 1985 to 2010. Both instrumental variable and multi-level modelling approaches reveal that the US is an outlier regarding the relationship between education and voter turnout. Moreover, country-specific institutional and economic factors do not explain the heterogeneity in the relationship of interest. Alternatively, we show that disenfranchisement laws in the U.S. mediate the effect of education on voter turnout, such that the education gradient in voting is greater in U.S. States with the harshest disenfranchisement legislature. As such, the observed relationship between education and voting is partly driven by the effect of education on crime. |
| Keywords: | voter turnout, education, disenfranchisement laws |
| JEL: | D72 I20 K42 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6539&r=lab |
| By: | Leppin, Julian Sebastian |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the predictive power of different estimation approaches for reservation wages. It applies stochastic frontier models for employed workers and the approach from Kiefer and Neumann (1979b) for unemployed workers. Furthermore, the question of whether or not reservation wages decrease over the unemployment period is addressed. This is done by a pseudo-panel with known reservation wages which uses data from the German Socio-Economic Panel as a basis. The comparison of the estimators is carried out by a Monte Carlo simulation. The best results are achieved by the cross-sectional stochastic frontier model. The Kiefer-Neumann approach failed to predict the decreasing reservation wages correctly. -- |
| Keywords: | job search theory,Monte Carlo simulation,reservation wages,stochastic wage frontiers |
| JEL: | C21 C23 J64 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwirp:124&r=lab |
| By: | Ronald Bachmann; Thomas K. Bauer; Hanna Kröger |
| Abstract: | This study analyses employers‘ support for the introduction of industry-specific minimum wages as a cost-raising strategy in order to deter market entry. Using a unique data set consisting of 800 firms in the German service sector, we find some evidence that high-productivity employers support minimum wages. We further show that minimum wage support is higher in industries and regions with low barriers to entry. This is particularly the case in East Germany, where the perceived threat of low-wage competition from Central and Eastern European countries is relatively high. In addition, firms paying collectively agreed wages are more strongly in favour of minimum wages if union coverage is low and the mark-up of union wage rates is high. |
| Keywords: | Minimum wage; product market competition; service sector |
| JEL: | J38 J50 L41 L80 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0329&r=lab |
| By: | McCann, Robert J. (University of Toronto); Shi, Xianwen (University of Toronto); Siow, Aloysius (University of Toronto); Wolthoff, Ronald P. (University of Toronto) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a tractable framework for studying frictionless matching in school, work, and marriage when individuals have heterogeneous social and cognitive skills. In the model, there are gains to specialization and team production, but specialization requires communication and coordination between team members, and individuals with more social skills communicate and coordinate at lower resource cost. The theory delivers full task specialization in the labor and education markets, but incomplete specialization in marriage. It also captures well-known matching patterns in each of these sectors, including the commonly observed many-to-one matches in firms and schools. Equilibrium is equivalent to the solution of a utilitarian social planner solving a linear programming problem. |
| Keywords: | social skill, cognitive skill, matching, sorting, education, labor, marriage, social welfare, linear programming |
| JEL: | E24 J12 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6533&r=lab |
| By: | Heckman, James J. (University of Chicago); Yi, Junjian (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | China's rapid growth was fueled by substantial physical capital investments applied to a large stock of medium skilled labor acquired before economic reforms began. As development proceeded, the demand for high skilled labor has grown, and, in the past decade, China has made substantial investments in producing it. The egalitarian access to medium skilled education characteristic of the pre-reform era has given rise to substantial inequality in access to higher levels of education. China's growth will be fostered by expanding access to all levels of education, reducing impediments to labor mobility, and expanding the private sector. |
| Keywords: | education, human capital, economic growth, inequality |
| JEL: | I25 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6550&r=lab |
| By: | Haroon Bhorat; Ravi Kanbur; Natasha Mayet (Development Policy Research Unit; Director and Professor) |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to estimate the causal effect of government enforcement on compliance with minimum wages in South Africa, a country where considerable non-compliance exists. The number of labour inspectors per capita is used as a proxy for enforcement, whilst non-compliance is measured using an index of violation that measures both the proportion of individuals violated, as well as the average depth of individual violation. Due to the potential simultaneity between enforcement and compliance, the number of labour inspectors is instrumented by the number of non-inspectors. The results suggest that there are a variety of factors impacting on violation, including firm-level, sectoral and spatial characteristics. One of the key determinants of violation is found to be the local unemployment rate. However, the number of labour inspectors is found to be insignificant in determining non-compliance. |
| Keywords: | Minimum Wage, Enforcement, Compliance, Depth of Violation, South Africa |
| JEL: | A1 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctw:wpaper:11145&r=lab |
| By: | Garnett Picot |
| Abstract: | This working paper seeks to explore the reasons why educational attainment in the immigrant population varies between North America and Europe. Specifically, the examples of Canada and Switzerland are used as Canada has an immigrant population with a typically higher rate of post-secondary education than that of the domestic population, while in Switzerland the opposite is true. Analysis shows that while differences in immigration policy play a significant role, there are many other variables which affect educational attainment in immigrants, such as the education level of the parents, source region and home language.<BR>Le présent document de travail tente d’explorer les raisons pour lesquelles le niveau de formation de la population immigrée varie entre l’Amérique du Nord et l’Europe. Il s’attache plus particulièrement aux exemples du Canada et de la Suisse, les diplômes de l’enseignement post-secondaire étant typiquement plus nombreux dans la population immigrée que dans la population autochtone au Canada, tandis qu’en Suisse, c’est l’inverse qui s’observe. L’analyse montre que si les différences en termes de politiques d’immigration jouent un rôle important, il existe également de nombreuses autres variables qui influent sur le niveau de formation de la population immigrée, telles que le niveau de formation des parents, la région d’origine et la langue parlée à la maison. |
| Date: | 2012–05–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:77-en&r=lab |
| By: | Røed, Knut (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | The paper argues that a comprehensive activation strategy is called for – in both unemployment and disability insurance – to minimize the conflict between income insurance and work incentives and to prevent the economic crisis from causing a long-lasting decline in labor force participation. A review of recent empirical evidence, particularly from the Scandinavian countries indicates that "mild" activation requirements effectively counteract moral hazard problems in social insurance. The paper also argues that the distinction between unemployment and disability is blurred, and that both temporary and permanent disability insurance programs should be designed to encourage and support the use of remaining (partial) work capacity. |
| Keywords: | activation, moral hazard, disability insurance, unemployment insurance, ALMP |
| JEL: | H55 J65 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izapps:pp41&r=lab |
| By: | Ervin Prifti (Faculty of Economics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"); Daniela Vuri (Faculty of Economics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata") |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) on fertility decisions of Italian working women using administrative data. We exploit a reform that introduced in 1990 costs for dismissals unmotivated by a 'fair cause' or 'justified motive' in firms below 15 employees and left firing costs unchanged for bigger firms. We use this quasi-experimental setup to study the hypothesis that increased EPL reduces future job insecurity and positively affects a female worker's proneness to take childbearing decisions. We use a difference in difference (OLS-DID) model to control for possible period-invariant sorting bias and an instrumental variable (IV-DID) model to account for time-varying endogeneity of the treatment status. We find that reduced economic insecurity following a strengthening of the EPL regime has a positive and sizable effect on fertility decisions of Italian working women. This result is robust to a number of checks regarding possible interactions with other policy reforms occurring around 1990, changes in the sample of workers and firms, and use of an alternative set of exclusion restrictions. |
| Keywords: | Fertility; Employment protection; Difference-in-difference; Instrumental variables; Policy evaluations. |
| JEL: | J2 J13 J65 |
| Date: | 2012–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:236&r=lab |
| By: | García-Gómez, Pilar (Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam); Labeaga, José M. (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG, Maastricht University, and UNED, Madrid); Oliva, Juan (Universidad de Castilla – La Mancha) |
| Abstract: | The therapeutic advances that have taken place since the mid 1990s have profoundly affected the situation of people living with HIV/AIDS, not only in terms of life expectancy and quality of life but also socio-economically. This has numerous effects on different aspects of the patients' life and, especially, on their working life. We analyse in this paper labour force participation and wages of people living with HIV/AIDS in Spain. We select a control group from the general population. We find that the employment probability decreases by 16.4 percentage points among asymptomatic HIV patients, by 22.5 percentage points among symptomatic HIV patients, and as much as by 41.3 percentage points if the person is in the AIDS phase. In addition, wages of HIV patients are from 9 to 34 per cent (if infected by Intravenous Drug Use) lower. Gender, educational attainment, unearned income, HIV clinical indicators and number of household members are the main determinants of the employment probability of HIV patients. On the other hand, wages do not play a significant role in employment decisions of these individuals. |
| Keywords: | HIV/AIDS, labour supply, wages, unearned income |
| JEL: | I10 J20 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2012043&r=lab |
| By: | Emin M. Dinlersoz; Jeremy Greenwood |
| Abstract: | Union membership displayed a ∩-shaped pattern over the 20th century, while the distribution of income sketched a ∪. A model of unions is developed to analyze these phenomena. There is a distribution of firms in the economy. Firms hire capital, plus skilled and unskilled labor. Unionization is a costly process. A union decides how many firms to organize and its members' wage rate. Simulation of the developed model establishes that skilled-biased technological change, which affects the productivity of skilled labor relative to unskilled labor, can potentially explain the above facts. Statistical analysis suggests that skill-biased technological change is an important factor in de-unionization. |
| JEL: | J23 J24 J51 L11 L16 L23 O14 O33 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18079&r=lab |
| By: | Jeronim Capaldo and Alex Izurieta |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the effects of combining fiscal austerity with flexibilization policies aimed at reducing labour costs and increasing competitiveness. Core to our analysis is a global perspective where the aggregation problem is fully taken into account. We derive a stylized macroeconomic framework of distributive and demand dynamics. We show that even in export-led regimes, after considering global feedbacks, flexibilization policies do not lead to higher income and employment. Rather, the end result is contractionary. Over time, the world economy is essentially wage-led and responds positively to coordinated Keynesian stimuli. Length: 22 pages |
| Keywords: | labour market flexibilization, fiscal austerity, international coordination, demand, distribution, Keynesian macroeconomics, aggregation problem, race to the bottom, wage-led, export-led |
| JEL: | B50 E12 E24 E25 E62 F16 F41 F42 O33 O52 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:une:wpaper:112&r=lab |
| By: | Maarek, Paul |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to understand the pattern of the labor share of income during the development process. We highlight a U-shapped relationship between development and the labor share. Our theory emphasizes the interplay between firms'monopsony power and the size of the informal sector when the formal labor market has frictions. The size of the informal sector parameterizes workers'outside opportunities in wage setting. In the first stage of development, productivity gains are not compensated by wage increases, as most of workers'outside opportunities depend on the informal sector whose productivity remains unchanged. The labor share decreases as a result. In the second stage of development, outside opportunities rely more on productivity in formal firms as the formal sector expands. Consequently, the labor share increases. We then use a policy experiment, namely capital account liberalization episodes, in order to determine the causal impact of economic development on the labor share. |
| Keywords: | Development ; Informal sector ; Labor share ; Matching frictions |
| JEL: | E25 O17 J42 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38756&r=lab |
| By: | Xavier d'Haultfoeuille (CREST); Philippe Février (CREST) |
| Keywords: | incentives, asymmetric information, optimal contracts, nonparametric identification |
| JEL: | C14 D82 D86 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2011-29&r=lab |
| By: | Laurent Lequien (CREST) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the existence of causal mechanisms from parental leave duration to subsequent wages. Our instrumental variable is a French reform giving financial incentives to take a parental leave. Two longitudinal datasets provide us with information on wages and familial background from 1976 to 2005. In our context, panel data estimations potentially suffer from unobserved heterogeneity, endogeneity and selection. We implement an innovative procedure proposed by Semykina and Wooldridge (2010) to take into account these three problems simultaneously. We find that parental leave duration has a significant and negative causal impact on later wages |
| Keywords: | Parental leave duration, wages, selection, endogeneity, panel data |
| JEL: | J31 C33 J68 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2012-04&r=lab |
| By: | William B. Peterman |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the impact on optimal tax policy of including endogenously determined retirement in a life cycle model. Allowing individuals to determine when they retire causes the optimal tax on capital to increase by 75% because of two implicit changes in the aggregate labor supply elasticity. First, including endogenous retirement causes an increase in the overall aggregate labor supply elasticity since agents can change their labor supply on both the intensive and extensive margins. In response, the government limits the distortions from the tax policy by lowering the tax on labor and increases the tax on capital. Second, given that the choice to retire is more relevant for older individuals, endogenous retirement disproportionately increases older agent's elasticity compared to younger individuals. Ideally, the government would decrease the relative labor income tax on individuals when they are older and supply labor more elastically. However, in the absence of age-dependent taxes, the government mimics such a tax policy by further increasing the tax on capital. I find that the welfare lost from not accounting for endogenous retirement when solving for the optimal tax policy is equivalent to approximately one percent of lifetime consumption. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2012-28&r=lab |
| By: | Sergio A. Lago Alves |
| Abstract: | I show that the combination of small positive trend inflation with staggered prices may account for the large relative volatilities found in US labor market data. The model does not have any wage rigidity and is hit only by an aggregate technology shock. The calibration procedure uses standard parameter values. Controlling for the sample average of the CPI inflation rate and the degree of price stickiness, the model solves the Shimer (2005) puzzle and explains the volatilities observed during two important sample periods: full sample (1951-2005) and Great Moderation (1985-2005). |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcb:wpaper:277&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Fertig; Katja Görlitz |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how to test and correct for nonresponse selection bias induced by missing income information when estimating wage functions. The novelty is to use the variation in interviewer-specific response rates as exclusion restriction within the framework of a sample selection model. |
| Keywords: | Item nonresponse; wages |
| JEL: | J30 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0333&r=lab |
| By: | Rodríguez-Planas, Núria (IZA) |
| Abstract: | Much of the literature on immigrants' cash-welfare benefits use has focused on countries with a large tradition of receiving immigrants and with well established Welfare states. This paper contributes to this literature by analyzing differences in cash-welfare benefits receipt between immigrants and natives and their determinants in Spain, a country with: (1) a small level of social assistance and a Welfare state heavily reliable on conditioned access to pensions; and (2) an unprecedented immigration boom. Different probit models of social program intake are estimated for immigrants and native-born individuals using pooled cross-sectional data from the 1999 to 2009 Spanish Labor Force Survey. Results show that a negative residual welfare gap exists and that it is mainly driven by recently arrived immigrants, whose legal status or insufficient contribution is likely to hamper participation in social programs. In addition, I find that immigrants with more than 5 years in the host country are more likely to receive unemployment benefits than natives, consistent with findings in other countries. These findings hold regardless of immigrants' continent of origin. |
| Keywords: | Southern European welfare state, immigrants' residual welfare use |
| JEL: | J15 J61 J68 I38 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6547&r=lab |
| By: | Alain Alcouffe (Department of Economics, University of Toulouse); Jeffrey Miller (Department of Economics, University of Delaware) |
| Abstract: | Over the past half century higher education has become an ever more important part of developed economies as an every greater number of young people need to prepare for a more complex world. This paper compares the response to this challenge in France and the US. This is a particularly interesting contrast since the two systems are different markedly in how they are structured: the US system is very decentralized and French system is very centralized. |
| Keywords: | higher education in France, higher education in the US, for-profit colleges |
| JEL: | I21 I22 I28 H52 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dlw:wpaper:12-09.&r=lab |
| By: | Dante Contreras; Osvaldo Larrañaga; Esteban Puentes; Tomás Rau |
| Abstract: | In this paper we assess the sensitivity of measures of inequality of opportunity to long-term earnings data. We compare indicators using four and seven year earnings with indicators that use the most commonly available yearly and monthly earnings. We argue that four and seven year earnings are preferable since they are a more precise measure of permanent income and are less affected by short-term variability. We use data available for Chile and found that the use of seven and four year earnings produces a 25% higher share of inequality of opportunity compared to yearly and monthly earnings measures. We find that parental education contributes most to income inequality in Chile. Finally, we perform Monte Carlo simulations, finding that our results are robust to several income processes. |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp352&r=lab |