|
on Labour Economics |
| By: | Lei Fang; Pedro Silos |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the change in wages associated with a spell of unemployment. The novelty lies in using monthly data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to analyze the dynamics of those wage changes across different business cycles. The level of education or the sector of re-employment affects the change in wages following an unemployment spell differently across different downturns. The degree of wage rigidity varies across recessions; wage changes pre- and post-unemployment are sometimes procyclical and sometimes countercyclical. These results may be useful for understanding the different aggregate employment dynamics observed across downturns and recoveries. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedawp:2012-16&r=lab |
| By: | Aysit Tansel (Department of Economics, METU); Elif Oznur Kan (Department of International Trade, Cankaya University) |
| Abstract: | In this study, we examine the formal/informal sector earnings differentials in the Turkish labor market using detailed econometric methodologies and a novel panel data set drawn from the 2006-2009 Income and Living Conditions Survey (SILC). In particular, we test if there is evidence of traditional segmented labor markets theory which postulates that informal workers are typically subject to lower remuneration than similar workers in the formal sector. Estimation of standard Mincer earnings equations at the mean using OLS on a pooled sample of workers confirms the existence of an informal penalty, but also shows that almost half of this penalty can be explained by observable variables. Along wage/self-employment divide, our results are in line with the traditional theory that formal-salaried workers are paid significantly higher than their informal counterparts. Confirming the heterogeneity within informal employment, we find that self-employed are often subject to lower remuneration compared to those who are salaried. Moreover, using quantile regression estimations, we show that pay differentials are not uniform along the earnings distribution. More specifically, we find that informal penalty decreases with the earnings level, implying a heterogeneous informal sector with upper-tier jobs carrying a significant premium and lower-tier jobs being largely penalized. Finally, fixed effects estimation of the earnings gap depict that unobserved individual fixed effects when combined with controls for observable individual and employment characteristics explain the pay differentials between formal and informal employment entirely, thereby implying that formal/informal segmentation may not be a stylized fact of the Turkish labor market as previously thought. |
| Keywords: | Earnings gap, formal/informal employment, labor market dynamics, panel data, Turkey |
| JEL: | J21 J31 J40 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:met:wpaper:1204&r=lab |
| By: | Carolina Castagnetti (Department of Economics and Management, University of Pavia); Luisa Rosti (Department of Economics and Management, University of Pavia) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the gender pay gap among Italian university graduates on entry to the labor market, and stresses the importance of gender stereotypes on subjective assessment of individual productivity. We build upon previous research about gender and wage inequality introducing tournament theory as a convenient framework for the gender pay gap analysis. We hypothesize that the effects of gender stereotypes make occupational tournaments unfair. As a consequence, male workers have higher probabilities of winning the wage competition. Our data show that in contexts where the stereotype is most likely to occur, making tournaments less fair, the unexplained component of the gender pay gap is higher. |
| Keywords: | Labor market, Italy, Gender pay gap, Stereotypes, Tournaments |
| JEL: | J24 J7 J3 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pav:demwpp:demwp0010&r=lab |
| By: | William T. Dickens; Robert K. Triest |
| Abstract: | The effect of the Great Recession on the U.S. labor market will likely persist even after economic output has recovered. Although the recession did not greatly change the relative probabilities of job loss for different types of workers, the long-run impact will vary by worker characteristics. Workers who lost long-term jobs during the Great Recession are at increased risk of future job loss due to the loss of protection afforded by long-term job tenure, and older displaced workers are at a relatively high risk of prolonged spells of unemployment and premature retirement. The recent increase in the job vacancy rate with relatively little change in the unemployment rate suggests a decrease in the efficiency of job matching and an increase in the NAIRU. However, this phenomenon may pass once aggregate demand has increased enough to bring vacancy rates back within their normal range and extended unemployment insurance programs have expired. |
| Keywords: | Recessions ; Labor market |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbwp:12-9&r=lab |
| By: | Giuseppe Coco (University of Florence); Raffaele Lagravinese (University of Roma 3) |
| Abstract: | In the face of past ambiguous results on growth effects of education when measured through school attainment, some papers suggest that some countries may be unable to use productively their schooling output because of the scope of cronyism. We dig deeper and demonstrate that, in a stylized model, cronyism in the labour market, e.g. the ability to exert influence to gain high wage positions without merit, may impact heavily on the relationship between schooling inputs and cognitive skills, due to incentive effects. We then use a two-stage DEA approach to identify factors affecting inefficiency in education performance of OECD countries when the output is proxied by PISA scores. Along with other well known factors, a measure of corruption, our chosen proxy for cronyism, explains a substantial fraction of the inefficiency. This result suggests that, as in our model, in the presence of cronyism, incentives to cognitive skills acquisition are dampened. Analogously to developing countries but for different reasons, the best way to improve the education system performance in OECD countries may well be to fight corruption and increase transparency in labour access. |
| Keywords: | education, corruption, technical efficiency, DEA. |
| JEL: | C14 C61 D73 I21 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2012-270&r=lab |
| By: | Bradley, Elizabeth S. |
| Abstract: | During economic downturns, college students can alter their postsecondary education decisions through several channels. This paper focuses on college major choice, one higher education decision that might change after a recession, and one that few researchers have explored. Due to data limitations, previous research is unable to provide definitive results on if, or how, matriculating freshmen change college majors during recessions. The data used for this study assuages those limitations and is obtained from the "Freshman Survey," administered by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP). Building on what is already known about how students choose college majors and how they respond to information shocks, the theoretical model proposes that during economic downturns, students will switch to fields with higher relative wage and employment opportunities. First, this study finds that freshmen are less likely to have undeclared intended majors after recessions. Then, a multinomial logit empirical technique strongly suggests that after economic downturns, those who declare intended majors are more likely to choose ones that offer higher wages and provide more job security, like Technology, Business, Engineering and Health. University administrators can apply this empirical model to their own institutional-level data. In the presence of substantial budget cuts, administrators can anticipate the majors that will require more resources and those from which they can transfer resources to efficiently meet student demand. More broadly, these conclusions offer better information on labor force composition after recessions, which can enhance forecasting of likely shortages and surpluses in the labor market. |
| Keywords: | College major choice; Business Cycles; Higher Education |
| JEL: | I23 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–10–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:42412&r=lab |
| By: | Meghir, Costas (Yale University and IFS, London); Narita, Renata (World Bank); Robin, Jean-Marc (Sciences Po, Paris and U College London) |
| Abstract: | It is often argued that informal labor markets in developing countries promote growth by reducing the impact of regulation. On the other hand informality may reduce the amount of social protection offered to workers. We extend the wage-posting framework of Burdett and Mortensen (1998) to allow heterogeneous firms to decide whether to locate in the formal or the informal sector, as well as set wages. Workers engage in both off the job and on the job search. We estimate the model using Brazilian micro data and evaluate the labor market and welfare effects of policies towards informality. |
| JEL: | J24 J30 J42 J60 O17 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:yaleco:109&r=lab |
| By: | Nymoen, Ragnar (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo); Sparrman, Victoria (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the quantitative importance of labour market institutions for equilibrium unemployment in OECD. The empirical equation for unemployment is based on the solution of a dynamic macroeconomic model where wages and prices are jointly determined with unemployment. Compared to existing studies, the theoretical model implies a higher order dynamics in the nal equation for unemployment and the sample has more variation in unemployment and in institutions. Finally, we incorporate objectively and automatically selected indicators for structural breaks. We find that institutional variables have statistical signi cance, but that these variables account for relatively little of the overall change in the OECD average unemployment rate. The shocks to the economy have been more important for the evolution in the actual average unemployment rate. |
| Keywords: | OECD area unemployment; dynamics; structural breaks; equilibrium unemployment; wage setting; NAIRU; labour market institutions; automatic variable selection |
| JEL: | C22 C23 C26 C51 E02 E11 E24 |
| Date: | 2012–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2012_020&r=lab |
| By: | Schneeweis, Nicole (Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz); Skirbekk, Vegard (IIASA, Laxenburg); Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf (Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, affiliated with IHS, IZA, and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | We study the relationship between education and cognitive functioning at older ages by exploiting compulsory schooling reforms, implemented in six European countries during the 1950s and 1960s. Using data of individuals aged 50+ from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we assess the causal effect of education on old-age memory, fluency, numeracy, orientation and dementia. We find a positive impact of schooling on memory. One year of education increases the delayed memory score by about 0.3, which amounts to 16% of the standard deviation. Furthermore, for women, we find that more education reduces the risk of dementia. |
| Keywords: | Compulsory schooling, Instrumental variables, Education, Cognitive functioning, Memory, Aging, Dementia |
| JEL: | I21 J14 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ihs:ihsesp:293&r=lab |
| By: | Nikolaos Georgantzis (GLOBE & Economics Department, University of Granada, Spain; LEE & Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón-Spain); Efi Vasileiou (University of Panthéon-Assas (Paris-2), France; LEE, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón-Spain) |
| Abstract: | This article tests whether workers are indifferent between risky and safe jobs provided that, in labour market equilibrium, wages should serve as a utility equalizing device. Workers’ preferences are elicited through a partial measure of overall job satisfaction: satisfaction with job-related risk. Given that selectivity turns out to be important, we use selectivity corrected models. Results show that wage differentials do not exclusively compensate workers for being in dangerous jobs. However, as job characteristics are substitutable in workers’ utility, they could feel satisfied, even if they were not fully compensated financially for working in dangerous jobs. |
| Keywords: | Satisfaction with Job Risk; Compensating Wage Differentials; Dangerous Job |
| JEL: | C23 J31 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jau:wpaper:2012/18&r=lab |
| By: | Stüber, Heiko (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "So far little empirical evidence exists on how real wages of newly hired workers react to business cycle conditions. This paper aims at filling this gap for Germany by analyzing the cyclical behavior of real wages of newly hired workers while controlling for 'cyclical upgrading' and 'cyclical downgrading' in employee/employer matches over the cycle. The analysis is undertaken for the 1977 to 2009 period using administrative longitudinal matched employer-employee wage data. I find that an increase in the unemployment rate of one percentage point decreases the real wages of job entries within given firm-jobs by about 1.27 percent. In light of the magnitude of the entry-wage cyclicality it seems that introducing wage rigidity in the Mortensen- Pissarides model in order to amplify realistic volatility of unemployment is not supported by the data. Further I show that the procyclicality of the employment/ population ratio is identical to the procyclicality of real entry wages. This counters the view of many macroeconomists that wages are much less cyclical than employment and unemployment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Reallohn, Lohntheorie, Lohnelastizität, Konjunkturzyklus, Arbeitslosigkeit, Lohnstarrheit |
| JEL: | E24 J31 E32 |
| Date: | 2012–03–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:062012&r=lab |
| By: | González de San Román, Ainara (University of the Basque Country); de la Rica, Sara (University of the Basque Country) |
| Abstract: | Our goal in this paper is to focus on highly educated men and women and try to explore the trade‐offs between family and working career in Spain, where changes in female behavior with respect to the labor market have been relatively recent but rather important. We compare male and female behavior with respect to labor supply and labor performance along their life cycle for different birth cohorts to explore the connection between family and work over time. Our results indicate that family plays a crucial role as a source of gender differences in the labor market in Spain. By 2008, children are the main determinant of the observed gap in labor supply between college men and women. Furthermore, with respect to hours worked, children are also an important determinant for the decision of college‐educated mothers to choose to work part‐time. However, children do not seem to contribute to explain the observed gender wage gap (5%) between college men and women. |
| Keywords: | gender gaps, career development, family and work, Spain |
| JEL: | J12 J2 J3 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6978&r=lab |
| By: | Colin Cannonier (Belmont University); Naci Mocan (Louisiana State University, NBER and IZA) |
| Abstract: | We use data from Sierra Leone where a substantial education program provided increased access to education for primary-school age children but did not benefit children who were older. We exploit the variation in access to the program generated by date of birth and the variation in resources between various districts of the country. We find that the program has increased educational attainment and that an increase in education has changed women’s preferences. An increase in schooling, triggered by the program, had an impact on women’s attitudes towards matters that impact women’s health and on attitudes regarding violence against women. An increase in education has also reduced the number of desired children by women and increased their propensity to use modern contraception and to be tested for AIDS. While education makes women more intolerant of practices that conflict with their well-being, increased education has no impact on men’s attitudes towards women’s well-being. |
| Keywords: | Health, education, empowerment, violence against women |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koc:wpaper:1231&r=lab |
| By: | Paula Herrera-Idárraga (AQR – IREA, University of Barcelona, Avda Diagonal, 690, 08034 Barcelona, Spain & Department of Economics, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Carrera 7 No. 40 – 62, Bogotá, Colombia.); Enrique López-Bazo (AQR – IREA, University of Barcelona, Avda Diagonal, 690, 08034 Barcelona, Spain & European Commission, Joint Research Center (JRC), Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS). Calle Inca Garcilaso 3, 41092 Sevilla, Spain.); Elisabet Motellón (AQR – IREA, University of Barcelona, Avda Diagonal, 690, 08034 Barcelona & Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Avda Tibidabo 39-43, 08035 Barcelona, Spain.) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we explore the connection between labor market segmentation in two sectors, a modern protected formal sector and a traditional- unprotected-informal sector, and overeducation in a developing country. Informality is thought to have negative consequences, primarily through poorer working conditions, lack of social security, as well as low levels of productivity throughout the economy. This paper considers an aspect that has not been previously addressed, namely the fact that informality might also affect the way workers match their actual education with that required performing their job. We use micro-data from Colombia to test the relationship between overeducation and informality. Empirical results suggest that, once the endogeneity of employment choice has been accounted for, formal male workers are less likely to be overeducated. Interestingly, the propensity of being overeducated among women does not seem to be closely related to the employment choice. |
| Keywords: | Segmented labor markets, Formal/Informal employment, Human capital, Economic development |
| JEL: | O15 J21 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xrp:wpaper:xreap2012-20&r=lab |
| By: | Stadin, Karolina (Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the probability of filling a vacancy, how it varies with the number of unemployed and number of vacancies in the local labor market, and what impact it has on employment. A greater availability of unemployed workers should make it easier for a firm to fill a vacancy but more vacancies at other firms should make it more difficult, due to the congestion effect. I use monthly panel data for all local labor markets in Sweden from 1992-2011. The results suggest that unemployment has a weak positive effect on the probability of filling a vacancy, while the number of vacancies in the local labor market has a significant and robust negative effect. Simulations of a theoretical model, with parameters based on the estimation, show economically significant effects of shocks to the number of vacancies on employment dynamics, while shocks to the number of unemployed are not very important. Matching frictions are more important for employment during booms than during recessions. |
| Keywords: | Vacancies; Unemployment; Matching; Labor demand; Employment dynamics; Business cycle |
| JEL: | E24 E39 J23 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2012–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2012_016&r=lab |
| By: | Massimiliano Deidda |
| Abstract: | Benefits deriving from the introduction of flexibility into the labour market have not been equally distributed between demand and labour supply. Labour flexibility introduced new margins of efficiency, but GDP does not grow. The Italian firms have failed in the face of change in the international economic scenario. In the presence of inefficiencies in the labour market, companies have gained advantageous positions. Flexibility and wage moderation have made it possible to contain the losses of competitiveness and to increase the number of employees, but who has paid the price? We can not allow that the system settles on a frontier of the production with a sub-optimal allocation of resources and positions of rent, or that the segmentation in the labour market is structured and social disadvantage increases. Some people are more affected than others by labour market segmentation, such as women, youth and elderly workers, more dramatically in the south of the country: we must support them with policies that will ensure effective security in transitions from one job to another, and from work to non-work ("on the market"). |
| Date: | 2012–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pia:wpaper:102/2012&r=lab |
| By: | Blien, Uwe (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Messmann, Susanne; Trappmann, Mark (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Reservation wages indicate the wage threshold for which individual workers are inclined to supply their working capacity. In important theoretical approaches it is assumed that this threshold depends on the unemployment rate. If this is true, the variation of reservation wages might be an important force behind the regional 'wage curve', which has been estimated in many empirical studies. Up to now, the connection of regional unemployment with reservation wages has not been tested, since research possibilities depend on survey data which were not available. With the 'Labour Market and Social Security' study (PASS), a new large panel survey in Germany, information on regional reservation wages is available. The empirical analysis with this data opens up the 'black box' of the wage generation process and delivers insights about its determining factors. The analysis is based on job matching and efficiency wage theory which are used to derive a relationship between unemployment and reservation wages." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Einkommenserwartung, Arbeitslosigkeit, regionale Verteilung, IAB-Haushaltspanel, Lohnkurve, Lohnfindung, regionaler Arbeitsmarkt, Effizienzlohntheorie |
| JEL: | J64 J31 R23 |
| Date: | 2012–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:222012&r=lab |
| By: | Robert Anderton (European Central Bank); Mario Izquierdo (European Central Bank); Ted Aranki (European Central Bank); Boele Bonthius (European Central Bank); Katarzyna Budnik (European Central Bank); Ramón Gómez-Salvador (European Central Bank); Valerie Jarvis (European Central Bank); Ana Lamo (European Central Bank); Aidan Meyler (European Central Bank); Daphne Momferatou (European Central Bank); Roberta Serafini (European Central Bank); Magdalena Spooner (European Central Bank); Martine Druant (Nationale Bank van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique); Jan De Mulder (Nationale Bank van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique); Katja Sonderhof (Deutsche Bundesbank); Daniel Radowski (Deutsche Bundesbank); Orsolya Soosaar (Eesti Pank/ Bank of Estonia); Natalja Viilmann (Eesti Pank/ Bank of Estonia); Suzanne Linehan (Central Bank of Ireland); Daphne Nicolitsas (Bank of Greece); Sergio Puente (Banco de España); Cristina Fernandez (Banco de España); Gregory Verdugo (Banque de France); Matteo Mogliani (Banque de France); Henri Fraisse (Banque de France); Roberta Zizza (Banca d’Italia); Michalis Ktoris (Central Bank of Cyprus); Cindy Veiga Nunes (Banque centrale du Luxembourg); Muriel Bouchet (Banque centrale du Luxembourg); Sandra Zerafa (Central Bank of Malta); Ian Sapiano (Central Bank of Malta); Marco Hoeberichts (De Nederlandsche Bank); Jante Parlevliet (De Nederlandsche Bank); Alfred Stiglbauer (Oesterreichische Nationalbank); Paul Ramskogler (Oesterreichische Nationalbank); José R. Maria (Banco de Portugal); Cláudia Duarte (Banco de Portugal); Manca Jesenko (Banka Slovenije); Helena Solcanska (Národná banka Slovenska); Pavel Gertler (Národná banka Slovenska); Vanhala Juuso (Suomen Pankki– Finlands Bank); Heidi Schauman (Suomen Pankki– Finlands Bank) |
| Abstract: | Between the start of the economic and financial crisis in 2008, and early 2010, almost four million jobs were lost in the euro area. Employment began to rise again in the first half of 2011, but declined once more at the end of that year and remains at around three million workers below the pre-crisis level. However, in comparison with the severity of the fall in GDP, employment adjustment has been relatively muted at the aggregate euro area level, mostly due to significant labour hoarding in several euro area countries. While the crisis has, so far, had a more limited or shorter-lived impact in some euro area countries, in others dramatic changes in employment and unemployment rates have been observed and, indeed, more recent data tend to show the effects of a reintensification of the crisis. The main objectives of this report are: (a) to understand the notable heterogeneity in the adjustment observed across euro area labour markets, ascertaining the role of the various shocks, labour market institutions and policy responses in shaping countries’ labour market reactions; and (b) to analyse the medium-term consequences of these labour market developments. With these objectives in mind, the SIR Task Force has carried out several specific exercises (e.g. it has conducted a questionnaire among euro area National Central Bank (NCB) experts on main policy measures adopted since the start of the crisis; it has updated a previous Wage Dynamics Network (WDN) questionnaire on wage bargaining institutions in euro area countries; and it has computed worker flows series from Labour Force Survey (LFS) microdata available at most euro area NCBs). JEL Classification: J2, J3, J6 |
| Keywords: | Labour demand; labour supply; employment; unemployment; participation; euro area countries; crisis; heterogeneity; labor market flows; working time; wages; collective bargaining; labour market institutions; rigidities; structural unemployment; mismatch; beveridge curve; hysteresis; NAIRU; labour market policies; structural reforms |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbops:20120138&r=lab |
| By: | David Card; Jörg Heining; Patrick Kline |
| Abstract: | We study the role of establishment-specific wage premiums in generating recent increases in West German wage inequality. Models with additive fixed effects for workers and establishments are fit in four distinct time intervals spanning the period 1985-2009. Unlike standard wage models, specifications with both worker and plant-level heterogeneity components can explain the vast majority of the rise in wage inequality. Our estimates suggest that the increasing variability of West German wages results from a combination of rising heterogeneity between workers, rising variability in the wage premiums at different establishments, and increasing assortativeness in the matching of workers to plants. We use the models to decompose changes in wage gaps between different education levels, occupations, and industries, and in all three cases find a growing contribution of plant heterogeneity and rising assortativeness between workers and establishments. |
| JEL: | J01 J3 J4 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18522&r=lab |
| By: | Laurence Lizé (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne); Nicolas Prokovas (Pôle Emploi et Université de Paris 3 - ICEE) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on jobs found by formerly unemployed people ; it is based on the 2007 and 2009 « leaving unemployment » surveys. A review of recent studies about job quality shows the importance of multi-dimensional approaches. Yet few research works are concerned with job quality of formerly unemployed people. A coincident indicator of this « quality » has therefore been set ; it is based on variables such as : term of contract, full- or part-time status, working time, and wages. Risks of short-term and badly paid jobs have also been explored. It appears that leaving unemployment leads massively to low quality jobs. |
| Keywords: | Labour market, unemployment, employment, job quality, mobility. |
| JEL: | J6 J21 J64 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:12073&r=lab |
| By: | Aysit Tansel (Department of Economics, METU); Elif Oznur Kan (Department of International Trade, 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:met:wpaper:1201&r=lab |
| By: | Schmerer, Hans-Jörg (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "This paper proposes a multi-industry trade model with integrated capital and goods markets. Labor market imperfections in line with Mortensen and Pissarides (1994) give rise to unemployment and a channel for the government to influence markets through institutional changes. Labor market interventions feedback into the product market through changes in a country's competitiveness. Moreover, the distinction between high- and low-skill workers facilitates the analysis of skill-biased institutional changes that have stronger impact on certain skill groups. The comparative static exercise in this paper shows that high-skilled benefit from low-skill biased labor market reforms through higher wages. Lower labor costs reduce unemployment of the low-skilled and increases the reforming country's competitiveness. One-sided labor market interventions have feedback effects through adjustments at the extensive margin, which affect all workers at home and abroad irrespective of their level of skill. Governments in the non-reforming countries may react to this loss in competitiveness by initiating cooperative labor market reforms instead." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | F16 E24 J6 F21 |
| Date: | 2012–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:242012&r=lab |
| By: | Ola Lotherington Vestad (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this paper is to estimate labour supply effects of an early retirement programme in Norway. Detailed administrative data are employed in order to characterize full paths towards retirement and account for substitution from other exit routes, such as unemployment and disability insurance. By exploiting a reduction in the lower age limit for early retirement as a source of exogenous variation in individual eligibility I obtain robust difference-in-differences and triple differences estimates indicating that more than two out of three pensioners would still be working at the age of 63 had the age limit been 64 rather than 62. Hence, although successful in creating a more dignified exit route for early leavers, the programme also generated substantial costs in terms of inducing others to retire earlier. |
| Keywords: | Induced retirement; Pension reform; Matched employer-employee register data; Difference-in-differences. |
| JEL: | H55 I38 J26 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:717&r=lab |
| By: | Torberg Falch and Marte Rønning (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effect of assigning homework on student achievement using data from 16 OECD countries that participated in TIMSS 2007. The model exploits withinstudent variation in homework across subjects in a sample of primary school students who have the same teacher in two related subjects; mathematics and science. Unobserved teacher and student characteristics are thus conditioned out of the model and the identification rests on random relative homework assignment across the subjects at the teacher and classroom level. We find a modest, but statistically significant effect of homework. The effect varies across countries, and it is positively correlated with the amount of time students and teachers spend in the classroom. |
| Keywords: | Homework assignment; student achievement |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I24 I |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:711&r=lab |
| By: | Robert Schwager |
| Abstract: | A model is presented where universities competitively supply education to mobile students. Students are subject to a liquidity constraint so that tuition must be paid out of pre-university income. It is shown that student loans provided by home jurisdictions will ensure an ecient quality of higher education if loans do not contain any subsidy. If there is income-related debt relief, however, the equilibrium quality of education is ineciently low. This is because students reduce their expected future income by attending a university oering low quality, and thereby reduce the amount of debt to be repaid. |
| Keywords: | education, university, mobility, liquidity constraint, debt relief |
| JEL: | H75 I23 |
| Date: | 2012–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:cegedp:137&r=lab |
| By: | Patricia Cortés (School of Management, Boston University); Jessica Pan (National University of Singapore) |
| Abstract: | In recent years, the US has become increasingly reliant on foreign registered nurses to satisfy health care demands. The Philippines has emerged as the single largest source of nurses educated abroad, representing more than half of foreign nurses entering the US in the last decade. One of the main concerns raised by the importation of nurses is the quality of care that they provide. This paper addresses this question by analyzing the relative quality of foreign educated nurses and its evolution over time using Census data from 1980 to 2010 and wages as a measure of skill. We find a positive wage premium for nurses educated in the Philippines, but not for foreign nurses educated elsewhere. This premium cannot be explained by differences in demographics, education, work experience, location, or detailed job characteristics. The assimilation profile of Filipino nurses and the types of hospitals that hire them strongly suggest that the premium reflects quality differences and not just unobserved characteristics of the job that carry a higher wage but are unrelated to skill. We provide evidence that the wage premium is likely to be driven by strong positive selection into nursing among Filipinos resulting from the high and heterogeneous returns to the occupation generated by active government support for the migration of nurses in the Philippines. |
| Keywords: | Nurses, Migration, Selection, Skills. |
| JEL: | J61 J24 J44 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1231&r=lab |
| By: | Géraldine Rieucau (LED - Laboratoire d'Economie Dyonisien - Université Paris VIII - Vincennes Saint-Denis : EA3391, CEE - Centre d'études de l'emploi - Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur et Recherche - Ministère du Travail, de l'Emploi et de la Santé); Marie Salognon (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | In France, one of ten recently-hired workers works in retailing. The literature provides evidence about the screening criteria used to fill low-wage vacancies in stores. However, neither the stage when criteria matter nor the forefront role of information channels (direct applications, word-of-mouth, employment agency and job ads) has been well explored. Drawing on 35 interviews conducted in 2010-2011, with actors involved in recruitment activites and with recently-hired workers in large stores in Greater Paris. This article explores the initial interaction between job seekers and recruiters. It is argued that the screening criteria vary according to the way employers received information about applicants and first interact with them (by mail, phone or face-to-face). This contribution highlights the importance of walk-in applications, which prioritize selection based on residence, appearances and availability. Changes in the first interaction impact the whole selection process and may change the profile of the workers hired. |
| Keywords: | Economy of conventions; French retailing; information channels; low-wage jobs; recruitment; screening criteria. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00747895&r=lab |
| By: | Saul D. Hoffman (Department of Economics,University of Delaware) |
| Abstract: | : A recent Census Bureau report shows that the gender earnings ratio for year-round full-time workers varies substantially across states, with a range of 24 percentage points. In this paper, I examine this variation by estimating state-fixed effect models of earnings for men and women, using data from the 2008 and 2009 CPS. I find that state fixed effects affecting men’s and women’s earnings are persistent, even after control for other variables. Louisiana has the lowest unadjusted and regression-adjusted gender earnings ratio, while DC and Maine have the highest unadjusted and adjusted earnings ratios, respectively. States with particularly low overall gender earnings ratios have low ratios even within detailed education and occupation categories. |
| Keywords: | Gender Gap, Women’s Earnings, Fixed Effects |
| JEL: | J16 J30 J31 J70 J71 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dlw:wpaper:12-14.&r=lab |
| By: | Zeynel Abidin Ozdemir (Department of Economics, Gazi University); Mehmet Balcilar (Department of Economics, Eastern Mediterraen University); Aysit Tansel (Department of Economics, METU) |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that the structural breaks are an important characteristic of the monthly labor force participation rate (LFPR) series of Australia, Canada and the USA. Therefore we allow for endogenously determined multiple structural breaks in the empirical specifications of fractionally integrated ARMA model. The findings indicate that contrary to the previous research the LFPRs of Australia, Canada and the USA are stationary implying that the informational value of the unemployment rates about the behavior of labor markets and the causes of joblessness are useful. |
| Keywords: | Labor Force Participation Rates; Structural Change; Stationarity |
| JEL: | C22 E24 J21 |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:met:wpaper:1206&r=lab |
| By: | Ellguth, Peter (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Gerner, Hans-Dieter (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Stegmaier, Jens (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "German employment relations are characterized by a distinct dual system: First, working conditions and wages are determined by industry level collective bargaining agreements. Second, on the establishment level the works council is responsible for employer-employee negotiations. But since the mid-1980s more and more areas of regulation were transferred from the industry to the establishment level using so called opening-clauses. Our analysis relies on rich German establishment data and reveals new insights in the institutional machinery of wage bargaining: While the existence of such clauses is related to higher wages (11 %), their application results in wages cuts of roughly the same size. Regarding works councils our results suggest that they are able to prevent negative wage effects of opening clauses on average." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Tarifverhandlungen, Tarifvertrag, Betriebsrat, Lohnfindung, Öffnungsklausel, IAB-Betriebspanel |
| JEL: | J53 J31 |
| Date: | 2012–03–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:052012&r=lab |
| By: | Kang, Lili; Peng, Fei |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the selection biases in the cyclical behaviour of real wages using the German Socio-Economic Panel Data (GSOEP) for the 1984-2009 period. We find rigid wages of job stayers in Germany. |
| Keywords: | Selection; Wage cyclicality; Panel data |
| JEL: | E32 C52 J31 C33 |
| Date: | 2012–10–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:42452&r=lab |
| By: | John Chalmers; Woodrow T. Johnson; Jonathan Reuter |
| Abstract: | The Oregon Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) is a hybrid pension plan that provides employees the security of a defined benefit (DB) pension plus the option to receive instead retirement benefits based on a defined contribution-style (DC) retirement account. We use PERS administrative data for 1990 to 2003 to study the effect of this hybrid design on employers’ costs and employees’ retirement-timing decisions. We have four findings. First, the option built into PERS is costly for employers to provide. Ex post, average retirement benefits are 49% higher in the hybrid plan than they would have been in a traditional DB plan. For the typical retiree, simulations show that our ex post estimate lies between the 50th and 75th percentiles of the ex ante distribution. Second, the hybrid plan distorts employees’ retirement timing decisions relative to a traditional DB plan. Looking across benefit formulas, we find that as an employee’s DC benefit increases above her DB benefit, so does the probability that she retires before the normal retirement age. Third, we find that retirement timing decisions respond to two sources of exogenous variation in the level of the DC benefit. Finally, we find evidence of peer effects in that employees respond more strongly to their own retirement incentives when more of their coworkers face similar incentives. The retirement waves that result from employees seeking to avoid declines in pension benefits are likely to impose significant administrative costs on employers. |
| JEL: | D83 H55 J26 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18517&r=lab |
| By: | Aysit Tansel (Department of Economics, METU); Nil Demet Gungor (Department of Economics, 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:met:wpaper:1203&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, Geringverdiener, Berufsverlauf |
| JEL: | J30 J60 |
| Date: | 2012–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:012012&r=lab |
| By: | Brunello, Giorgio (University of Padova); De Paola, Maria (University of Calabria) |
| Abstract: | Having leader positions at school, as well as participating in sports and clubs helps promoting valuable non cognitive skills, including leadership, self-discipline, motivation, competitiveness and self-esteem. We use survey data from the US and Japan to investigate whether these behaviors in middle and high school are affected by the gender composition of siblings. We find that having only sisters at age 15 increases substantially the probability of school leadership both for males and for females in the US and the probability of sport participation for males in Japan. We also find that parental education matters more for these behaviors in the US than in Japan, and that in the latter country the oldest son or daughter are more likely to be leaders in school. |
| Keywords: | non-cognitive skills, school behaviors, siblings |
| JEL: | J24 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6976&r=lab |
| By: | Ranis, Gustav (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | Unskilled labor is the abundant resource in many developing countries, especially at an early stage of their development. Yet, even as at given technologies labor markets have not cleared, neo-classical economists have rejected the notion of an institutional or bargaining wage not based on competitive full employment marginal productivity fundamentals. This paper puts to rest some objections to labor surplus theory based on "red herrings" and then addresses the substantive challenges from the micro-econometric branch of neo-classical economics. We contend that the finding of inelastic supply curves of labor is based on a cross-section static analysis of labor supply within agriculture while the labor surplus model deals with tracing the dynamic reallocation of labor from a traditional to a neo-classical organized sector in a dualistic economy. We present data for a number of labor surplus developing countries showing that institutional wages lag behind agricultural productivity increases as countries move towards a "turning point" when inter-sectoral balanced growth has eliminated unskilled labor and the economy has lost its dual characteristic. |
| JEL: | O10 O11 O17 O18 O41 O43 O57 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:yaleco:107&r=lab |
| By: | Parrotta, Pierpaolo (Aarhus School of Business); Pozzoli, Dario (Aarhus University); Pytlikova, Mariola (Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | Using a matched employer-employee data-set, we analyze how workforce diversity in terms of cultural background, education and demographic characteristics affects the productivity of firms in Denmark. Implementing a structural estimation of the firms' production function (Ackerberg et al. 2006), we find that labor diversity in education significantly enhances a firm's value added. Conversely, diversity in ethnicity and demographics induces negative effects on firm productivity. Therefore, the negative effects, which are derived from the communication and integration costs associated with a more culturally and demographically diverse workforce, seem to outweigh the positive effects of creativity and knowledge spillovers. |
| Keywords: | labor diversity, skill complementarity, communication barriers, total factor productivity |
| JEL: | J15 J16 J24 J61 J81 L20 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6973&r=lab |
| By: | Nordmeier, Daniela (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "This paper analyzes the importance of time aggregation in the measurement of worker flows by exploiting daily information from German administrative data. Time aggregation caused by comparing monthly labor market states leads to an underestimation of total worker flows by around 10%. Contrary to the claim of Shimer (2005, 2012), the time aggregation bias in the separation rate is relatively unaffected by business cycle fluctuations, whereas the time aggregation bias in the job finding rate is procyclical. Nevertheless, monthly time aggregation does not have notable effects on the relative contributions to steady-state unemployment dynamics. The reconsideration of German worker flows reveals that both the job finding rate and the separation rate play an important role for German unemployment dynamics, but the job finding rate dominates in the long run." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Arbeitsplatzwechsel, Arbeitsuche, friktionelle Arbeitslosigkeit, Arbeitsmarkt - Zu- und Abgänge, zwischenbetriebliche Mobilität, Arbeitskräftemobilität, Arbeitsstatistik, Arbeitsmarktindikatoren, institutionelle Faktoren, matching, beruflicher Status, Statusmobilität, Arbeitsmarktforschung - Methode |
| Date: | 2012–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:122012&r=lab |
| By: | Marina Murat |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of international students on the UK bilateral trade with 167 partner economies during 1999-2009. The base hypothesis is that transnational social networks lower the invisible trade barriers existing between countries. University students typically develop ties of friendship and trust that can last for decades after graduation and may evolve into economic and business ties. I find robust evidence that education networks boost the bilateral trade between the UK and the home countries of graduates and students. At a more disaggregated level, the strongest effects on exports and imports derive from the networks linked to the Middle East and to the new member countries of the European Union. |
| Keywords: | international students, higher education, networks, bilateral trade; |
| JEL: | I23 J24 F14 F20 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:recent:087&r=lab |
| By: | Nguyen, Trong-Ha (University of Queensland); Liu, Amy Y.C. (Australian National University); Booth, Alison L. (Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | In the absence of a broad-based pension scheme, the elderly in developing countries may rely on monetary transfers made by their children and on their own labour supply. This paper examines whether monetary transfers from children help to reduce elderly parents' need to work. Taking the possible endogeneity of children's transfers in the parents' labour supply into account and using maximum likelihood methods and Vietnamese data, we find that monetary transfers help the elderly cope with risks associated with old age or illness. At the same time, however, monetary transfers are not sufficient to fully substitute for parents' labour supply. |
| Keywords: | old-age support, labour supply, inter-generational transfers, endogenous variable, maximum likelihood |
| JEL: | J14 J22 J26 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6974&r=lab |
| By: | Joaquín Gómez-Miñambres (Economic Science Institute, Chapman University); Brice Corgnet (Argyros School of Business and Economics, Chapman University); Roberto Hernán González (Universidad de Granada, Department of Economic Theory and Economic History) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to test the effectiveness of wage-irrelevant goal setting policies in a laboratory environment. In our design, managers can assign a goal to their workers by setting a certain level of performance on the work task. To establish our theoretical conjectures we develop a model where assigned goals act as reference points to workers’ intrinsic motivation, creating a sense of gain when attained and a sense of loss when not attained. Consistent with our theoretical framework, we find evidence that managers set goals that are challenging but attainable for an average-ability worker. Workers respond to these goals by increasing effort, performance and by decreasing on-the-job leisure activities with respect to the no-goal setting baseline. We study the interaction between goal setting and monetary rewards by considering different values for the monetary incentives involved in completing the task. Interestingly, we find that goal setting is especially effective when monetary incentives are strong. These results suggest that goal setting may foster workers’ intrinsic motivation and increase their level of performance beyond what is achieved using solely monetary incentives. |
| Keywords: | Intrinsic motivation, incentives, goal-setting, reference dependent preferences, virtual organizations. |
| JEL: | C92 D23 M54 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chu:wpaper:12-24&r=lab |
| By: | Raymundo Campos (Center for Economic Studies, El Colegio de Mexico); Gerardo Esquivel (Center for Economic Studies, El Colegio de Mexico); Nora Lustig (Tulane University) |
| Abstract: | Inequality in Mexico rose between 1989 and 1994 and declined between 1994 and 2010. We examine the role of market forces (demand and supply of labour by skill), institutional factors (minimum wages and unionization rate), and public policy (cash transfers) in explaining changes in inequality. We apply the ‘re-centered influence function’ method to decompose changes in hourly wages into characteristics and returns. The main driver is changes in returns. Returns rose (1989-1994) due to institutional factors and labour demand. Returns declined (1994-2006) due to changes in supply and -to a lesser extent-in demand; institutional factors were not relevant. Government transfers contributed to the decline in inequality, especially after 2000. |
| Keywords: | inequality; wages; disposable income; labour markets; Mexico. |
| JEL: | D31 J20 J31 O54 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2012-267&r=lab |
| By: | Robert A. Moffitt |
| Abstract: | The decline in the employment-population ratios for men and women over the period 2000-2007 prior to the Great Recession represents an historic turnaround in the evolution of U.S. employment. The decline is disproportionately concentrated among the less educated and younger groups within the male and female populations and, for women, disproportionately concentrated among the unmarried and those without children. About half of men’s decline can be explained by declines in wage rates and by changes in nonlabor income and family structure influences, but the decline among women is more difficult to explain and requires distinguishing between married and unmarried women and those with and without children, who have each experienced quite different wage and employment trends. Neither taxes nor transfers appear likely to explain the employment declines, with the possible exception of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Other influences such as the minimum wage or health factors do not appear to play a role, but increases in incarceration could have contributed to the decline among men. |
| JEL: | J2 J22 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18520&r=lab |
| By: | Ana Corbacho; Steve Brito; Rene Osorio Rivas |
| Abstract: | The drivers of educational attainment have been the subject of much research both in the developed and the developing world. Yet, nothing is known about the effect of birth registration on schooling outcomes. Birth registration is not only a fundamental human right but also a requirement to obtain additional documents of legal identity and access many government benefits. Using data for the Dominican Republic, this paper is the first to shed light on the causal impact of the lack of birth registration on education. Controlling for potential endogeneity and standard socioeconomic determinants of education, this paper finds that children without documents of birth registration do not face lower chances of entering the schooling system. Yet, the absence of birth registration becomes a critical obstacle to graduate from primary school and translates into fewer years of overall educational attainment. |
| Keywords: | Public Sector :: Civil Registration, Economics :: Economic Development & Growth, Rural & Urban Development, Tax Revenue, Elasticities, Business Cycles, Schooling, Under-registration |
| JEL: | O12 R12 R20 |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:76178&r=lab |
| By: | Mendolicchio, Concetta (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Paolini, Dimitri; Pietra, Tito |
| Abstract: | "We consider an economy where production may use labor of two different skill levels. Workers are heterogeneous and, by investing in education, self-select into one of the two skills. Ex-ante, when firms choose their investments in physical capital, they do not know the level of human capital prevailing in the labor market they will be active in. We prove existence and constrained inefficiency of competitive equilibria, which are always characterized by overeducation. An increase in total expected surplus can be obtained by shrinking, at the margin, the set of workers investing in high skill. This can be implemented by imposing taxes on the cost of investing in high skill or by imposing a progressive labor earning tax." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | ökonomische Theorie, Humankapital, Bildungsinvestitionen, Gleichgewichtstheorie |
| JEL: | J24 H2 |
| Date: | 2012–06–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:142012&r=lab |
| By: | Antoni, Manfred; Heineck, Guido |
| Abstract: | Is there a reward for basic skills in the German labor market? To answer this question, we examine the relationship between literacy, numeracy and monthly gross earnings of full-time employed workers. We use data from the ALWA survey, augmented by test scores on basic cognitive skills as well as administrative earnings data. Our results indicate that earnings are positively related to both types of skills. There furthermore is no evidence for non-linearity in this relationship and only little heterogeneity when differentiating by sub-groups. -- |
| Keywords: | literacy,numeracy,earnings,administrative data,Germany,ALWA |
| JEL: | I21 J31 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bamber:86&r=lab |
| By: | Amparo Castelló-Climent (University of Valencia); Rafael Doménech (University of Valencia, BBVA Research) |
| Abstract: | Using a broad number of indicators from an updated data set on human capital inequality for 146 countries from 1950 to 2010, this paper documents several facts regarding the evolution of income and human capital inequality. The main findings reveal that, in spite of a large reduction in human capital inequality around the world driven by a decline in the number of illiterates of several hundreds of millions of people, the inequality in the distribution of income has hardly changed. In many regions, the income Gini coefficient in 1960 was very similar to that in 2005. Therefore, improvements in literacy are not a sufficient condition to reduce income inequality, even though they improve life standards of people at the bottom of the income distribution. Increasing returns to education, external effects on wages of higher literacy rates or the simultaneous concurrence of other exogenous forces (e.g., globalization or skill-biased technological progress) may explain the lack of correlation between the evolution of income and education inequality. |
| Keywords: | Distribution of education, income inequality, human development, panel data |
| JEL: | I24 I25 O15 O50 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iei:wpaper:1201&r=lab |
| By: | Parrotta, Pierpaolo (Aarhus School of Business); Pozzoli, Dario (Aarhus University); Pytlikova, Mariola (Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the nexus between firm labor diversity and innovation using a linked employer-employee data from Denmark. Specifically, exploiting information retrieved from this comprehensive database and implementing proper instrumental variable strategies, we are able to identify the contribution of workers' diversity in cultural background, education and demographic characteristics to valuable firm's innovation activity. The latter is measured by: (1) the firm's propensity to apply for a patent, (2) the number of patent applications (intensive margin) and (3) the firm's ability to patent in different technological areas (extensive margin). We find that ethnic diversity plays an important role in propelling firm's innovation outcomes. |
| Keywords: | labor diversity, ethnic diversity, patenting activity, extensive and intensive margins |
| JEL: | J15 J16 J24 J61 J82 O32 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6972&r=lab |
| By: | Anat Bracha; Chaim Fershtman |
| Abstract: | Almost all jobs require a combination of cognitive effort and labor effort. This paper focuses on the effect that competitive incentive schemes have on the chosen combination of these two types of efforts. We use an experimental approach to show that competitive incentives may induce agents to work harder but not necessarily smarter. This effect was stronger for women. |
| Keywords: | Competition |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbwp:12-12&r=lab |
| By: | David Masclet (University of Rennes1 - CREM UMR CNRS 6211, France and CIRANO, Montréal, Canada); Emmanuel Peterle (University of Rennes 1 - CREM UMR CNRS 6211, France); Sophie Larribeau (University of Rennes 1 - CREM UMR CNRS 6211, France) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates experimentally gender and race discrimination in hiring decisions through a simple controlled setting where employers can observe workers’ individual characteristics before recruiting them. In this paper, we explore whether discrimination, if any, is statistical or taste-based. For this purpose, we varied across our treatments the level of information available to the employer during the hiring stage regarding workers’ potential ability. When no relevant information on ability is provided, we observe both significant gender and race discrimination. The introduction of information on ability or competitiveness reduces discrimination significantly, suggesting that discrimination is mainly due to a lack of information rather than preferences. Our findings indicate however that the reduction in discrimination strongly depends on the nature of the additional information available. |
| Keywords: | real effort experiment; statistical discrimination; taste based discrimination; performance |
| JEL: | C90 C92 J15 J16 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tut:cremwp:201238&r=lab |
| By: | J. N. Lye and J. G. Hirschberg |
| Abstract: | Over the last few decades there have been significant increases in student enrolments in Australian non-government schools. It has been suggested that this growth has been the outcome of government subsidies to non-government schools. Despite this significant funding school fees have also been increasing. In this paper we examine these changes for Victoria and look at a number of comparisons between government and non-government schools. In addition, rather than examining the determinants of school selection we examine the determinants of fees at non-government schools by estimating a hedonic price model. We conclude that the characteristics of the schools such as university entrance performance do have a positive impact on the fees. In addition, we determine that the socioeconomic status of the other students has a positive impact as well as the scale of the school as measured by the number of staff, the variety of the offerings and the age of the school all have a positive impact. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mlb:wpaper:1161&r=lab |
| By: | Maria D. Fitzpatrick; Damon Jones |
| Abstract: | Many merit-based scholarships for college are administered at the state level, targeted to in-state residents and require attendance at an in-state institution. Though these subsidies have the potential to affect lifetime education and migration decisions, much of the literature to date has focused on just one or two outcomes (e.g. college attendance and completion) and one or two states (e.g. Georgia). Given that one of the stated goals of these programs is to increase the quality of a state's workforce, understanding the long-term effects of merit-based scholarships on mobility is crucial for evaluating their effectiveness. In this paper, we utilize the broader expansion and long history of these programs to build a comprehensive picture of how merit aid scholarship availability affects residential migration and educational attainment. To do this, we incorporate data on the introduction of broad-based merit aid programs for fifteen states and Census data on all 24 to 32 year olds in the U.S. from 1990 to 2010. We use variation in merit aid eligibility across cohorts and within states to identify treatment effects. Eligibility for merit aid programs slightly increases the propensity of state natives to live in-state, while also extending enrollment in-state into the late twenties. These patterns notwithstanding, the magnitude of merit aid effects is of an order of magnitude smaller than the population treated, suggesting that nearly all of the spending on these programs is transferred to individuals who do not alter educational or migration behavior. |
| JEL: | H7 I2 R23 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18530&r=lab |
| By: | Silvio Contessi; Francesca de Nicola; Li Li |
| Abstract: | Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries stand out in international comparisons of de jure obstacles to female employment and entrepreneurship. These obstacles are mirrored in low female labor rate participation and low entrepreneurship and ownership rates. Recent research suggests a connection between international trade and female labor participation. In this article, the authors focus on the relationship between international trade and gender in the MENA countries first analyzing female labor as a production factor, and then focusing on female entrepreneurship and firm ownership. Using country and industry-level data the authors identify countries and industries characterized by comparative advantage in female-labor. They find suggestive evidence that there is a strict link between a country specialization and its measures of female labor participation consistent with theories of brain-based technological bias. Using firm-level data, the authors then study whether trade empowers female entrepreneurs in countries-industries that exhibit comparative advantage. The authors conclude that evidence supports the view that exposure to trade affects disproportionately firms in country-industries with a comparative advantage in female labor – both in terms of female employment and female entrepreneurship and ownership – in the MENA countries and for the period they study. |
| Keywords: | International trade ; Women - Employment ; Entrepreneurship |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2012-053&r=lab |
| By: | He, Yinghua |
| Abstract: | The Boston mechanism is criticized for its poor incentive and welfare performance compared to the Gale-Shapley deferred-acceptance mechanism (DA). Using school choice data from Beijing, I investigate parents’ behavior under the Boston mechanism, taking into account parents’ possible mistakes when they strategize. Evidence shows that parents are overcautious as they play "safe" strategies too often. Wealthier/more educated parents are less overcautious and perform slightly better because they have better outside options while not being any more adept at strategizing. Parents who are always truth-telling experience a utility gain in switching from the Boston mechanism to the DA, equivalent to a 7.1% decrease in the distance to a school. Among them, 44.2% are better off under the DA, while 35.5% are worse off. |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:26414&r=lab |
| By: | Apps, Patricia (University of Sydney); Mendolia, Silvia (University of Wollongong); Walker, Ian (Lancaster University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between attendance at nursery school and children's outcomes in adolescence. In particular, we are interested in child cognitive development at ages 11, 14 and 16, intentions towards tertiary education, economic activity in early adulthood, and in a group of non-cognitive outcomes, such as risky health behaviours (smoking, early pregnancy, use of cannabis) and personality traits (feelings and commitments about school; psychological well-being). Using matching methods to control for a very rich set of child's and family's characteristics, we find that pre-school childcare largely improves results in cognitive tests at age 11 and 14 and 16, and has a positive effect on intentions towards further education and economic activity at age 19-20. Positive effects are especially noticeable for children coming from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. Results on non-cognitive outcomes are more mixed: we do not find any evidence of improvement in psychological well-being, but we do find some positive effects on health behaviours. |
| Keywords: | childcare, child outcomes |
| JEL: | J13 I21 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6971&r=lab |
| By: | Cristiano Cantore (University of Surrey); Filippo Ferroni (Banque de France, University of Surrey); Miguel A. León-Ledesma (University of Kent) |
| Abstract: | We study the relationship between hours worked and technology during the postwar period in the US. We show that the responses of hours to technological improvements have increased over time, and that the patterns captured by the SVAR are consistent with those obtained from an RBC model with a less than unitary elasticity of substitution between capital and labor. Data supports the hypothesis that the observed changes in the response of hours to a technology shock are attributable to changes in the magnitude of the degree of capital-labor substitution. We argue that the observed time-variation in can arise from changes in the structural composition of sectors (or factors) in a heterogeneous inputs production function or from biases in technological change |
| Keywords: | Real Business Cycles models, Constant Elasticity of Substitution production function, Hours worked, technology shocks |
| JEL: | E32 E37 C53 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:1238&r=lab |
| By: | David Aristei (University of Perugia); Cristiano Perugini (University of Perugia) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study intra-generational income mobility in European countries over the years shortly preceding the outburst of the global crisis. Income mobility plays a crucial role in shaping distributive patterns and is closely related to the capacity of a socio-economic system to provide equality of opportunities and the removal of social impediments. In this study we exploit the longitudinal structure of the EU-Silc database to provide a comprehensive overview of income mobility across 25 European countries, classified into six capitalistic models. After having descriptively analysed heterogeneity in income dynamics by means of alternative mobility measures, we identify the microeconomic drivers of household income mobility, focusing on the role of household and household head demographic, economic and job characteristics. Outcomes reveal that the levels and determinants of mobility differ remarkably in the various institutional models across Europe, particularly regarding demographic attributes, education and temporary/permanent/self-employment positions. |
| Keywords: | income mobility, household structure, institutional settings, EU-Silc data. |
| JEL: | D31 J10 O15 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2012-262&r=lab |
| By: | Peter Arcidiacono; Esteban Aucejo; Patrick Coate; V. Joseph Hotz |
| Abstract: | Proposition 209 banned using racial preferences in admissions at California's public colleges. We analyze unique data for all applicants and enrollees within the University of California (UC) system before and after Prop 209. After Prop 209, graduation rates of minorities increased by 4.4%. We characterize conditions required for better matching of students to campuses to account for this increase. We find that Prop 209 did improve matching and this improvement was important for the graduation gains experienced by less-prepared students. At the same time, better matching only explains about 20% of the overall graduation rate increase. Changes after Prop 209 in the selectivity of enrolled students explains 34-50% of the increase. Finally, it appears UC campuses responded to Prop 209 by doing more to help retain and graduate its students, which explains between 30-46% of the post-Prop 209 improvement in the graduation rate of minorities. |
| JEL: | I23 I28 J15 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18523&r=lab |
| By: | Dean R. Lillard; Anna Manzoni |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether Germans immigrants to the US work in higher-status occupations than they would have had they remained in Germany. We account for potential bias from selective migration. The probability of migration is identified using life-cycle and cohort variation in economic conditions in the US. We also explore whether occupational choices vary for Germans who migrated as children or as adults. Our results allow us to decompose observed differences in occupational status of migrants and non migrants into the part explained by selection effects and the part that is causal, extending the literature on international migration. |
| JEL: | J24 J61 J62 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp498&r=lab |
| By: | Jingye Shi (Research Institute of Economics and Management, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics); Mikal Skuterud (Department of Economics, University of Waterloo) |
| Abstract: | A fundamental challenge in informing employer-employee agency problems is measuring employee shirking activity. We identify the propensity of employees to misreport health in order to exploit favorable weather by linking Canadian weather data and survey data on short-term spells of sickness absenteeism among indoor workers during the non-winter months. The results point to a clear tendency for reported sickness absenteeism to rise with weather quality. Comparing across workers suggests larger marginal weather effects where shirking costs are higher, which we show is consistent with employees' marginal utility of outdoor leisure increasing in the interaction of their health and weather quality. |
| JEL: | D82 I10 J22 |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wat:wpaper:1208&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Neugart; Matteo G. Richiardi |
| Abstract: | We review the literature on agent-based labor market models by tracing its roots to the microsimulation literature, and surveying a selection of contributions made since the work by Bergmann (1974) and Eliasson (1976). Agent-based models have been applied to explain stylized facts of labor markets as well as for labor market policy evaluations. They also constitute a major part in agent-based macroeconomic models. Besides reviewing the various results achieved, we discuss modeling choices with respect to agents’ behavior and the structure of interaction. Our overall assessment is that agent-based labor market models have given us valuable insights into the functioning of labor markets and the consequences of labor market policies, and that they will increasingly become an essential tool of analysis, in particular when the construction of large macro-models is involved. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wplabo:125&r=lab |
| By: | Kevin J. Lansing (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and Norges Bank); Agnieszka Markiewicz (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a general-equilibrium model of skill-biased technological change that approximates the observed shifts in the shares of wage and non-wage income going to the top decile of U.S. households since 1980. Under realistic assumptions, we find that all agents can benefit from the technology change, provided that the observed rise in redistributive transfers over this period is taken into account. We show that the increase in capital’s share of total income and the presence of capital-entrepreneurial skill complementarity are two key features that help support the wages of ordinary workers as the new technology diffuses. |
| Keywords: | Income Inequality; Skill-biased Technological Change; Capital-skill |
| JEL: | E32 E44 H23 O33 |
| Date: | 2012–10–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20120114&r=lab |
| By: | Belzil, Christian; Bognanno, Michael; Poinas, François |
| Abstract: | This article estimates a dynamic reduced-form model of intra-firm promotions using an employer-employee panel of over 300 of the largest corporations in the U.S. in the period from 1981 to 1988. The estimation conditions on unobserved individual heterogeneity and allows for both an endogenous initial condition and sample attrition linked to individual heterogeneity in demonstrating the relative importance of variables that influence promotion. The role of the executive's functional area in promotion is considered along with the existence and source of promotion fast tracks. We find that while the principal determinant of promotions is unobserved individual heterogeneity, functional area has a high explanatory power, resulting in promotion probabilities that differ by functional area for executives at the same reporting level and firm. No evidence is found that an executive's recent speed of advancement in pay grade has a causal impact on in- sample promotions after conditioning on the executive's career speed of advancement. For high-level executives, fast tracks appear to result from heterogeneity in persistent individual characteristics, not from an inherent benefit in recent advancement itself. |
| Keywords: | , promotion, fast track, functional area, dynamic discrete choice |
| JEL: | C33 M5 M51 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:26504&r=lab |
| By: | Wunder, Christoph; Heineck, Guido |
| Abstract: | We analyze how well-being is related to working time preferences and hours mismatch. Selfreported measures of life satisfaction are used as an empirical approximation of true wellbeing. Our results indicate that well-being is generally lower among workers with working time mismatch. Particularly underemployment is detrimental for well-being. We further provide first evidence on spillovers from the partner's working time mismatch. However, the spillover becomes insignificant once we control for the partner's well-being. This suggests that well-being is contagious, and the spillover is due to interdependent utilities. Females experience the highest well-being when their partner is working full-time hours. Male wellbeing is unaffected over a wide interval of the partner's working hours. -- |
| Keywords: | subjective well-being,life satisfaction,working time preferences,working time mismatch,spillovers,utility interdependence |
| JEL: | I31 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bamber:85&r=lab |
| By: | Kevin Lansing; Agnieszka Markiewicz |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a general-equilibrium model of skill-biased technological change that approximates the observed shifts in the shares of wage and non-wage income going to the top decile of U.S. households since 1980. Under realistic assumptions, we find that all agents can benefit from the technology change, provided that the observed rise in redistributive transfers over this period is taken into account. We show that the increase in capital’s share of total income and the presence of capital-entrepreneurial skill complementarity are two key features that help support the wages of ordinary workers as the new technology diffuses. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:2012-23&r=lab |