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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Menzie D. Chinn; Laurent Ferrara; Valérie Mignon |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at investigating the relationship between employment and GDP in the United States. We disentangle trend and cyclical employment components by estimating a non-linear Okun’s law based on a smooth transition error-correction model that simultaneously accounts for long-term relationships between growth and employment and short-run instability over the business cycle. Our findings based on out-of-sample conditional forecasts show that, since the exit of the 2008-09 recession, US employment is on average around 1% below the level implied by the long run output-employment relationship, meaning that about 1.2 million of the trend employment loss cannot be attributed to the identified cyclical factors. |
| JEL: | C22 E24 E32 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19047&r=lab |
| By: | Maury Gittleman; Morris M. Kleiner |
| Abstract: | Recent estimates in standard models of wage determination for both unionization and occupational licensing have shown wage effects that are similar across the two institutions. These cross-sectional estimates use specialized data sets, with small sample sizes, for the period 2006 through 2008. Our analysis examines the impact of unions and licensing coverage on wage determination using new data collected on licensing statutes that are then linked to longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) from 1979 to 2010. We develop several approaches, using both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, to measure the impact of these two labor market institutions on wage determination. Our estimates of the economic returns to union coverage are greater than those for licensing requirements. |
| JEL: | J18 J24 J44 J5 J51 J82 J88 K2 K31 L43 L5 L51 L98 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19061&r=lab |
| By: | Henry S. Farber; Robert G. Valletta |
| Abstract: | In response to the Great Recession, the availability of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits was extended to an unprecedented 99 weeks in many U.S. states in the 2009-2012 period. We use matched monthly data from the CPS to exploit variation in the timing and size of the UI benefit extensions across states to estimate the overall impact of these extensions on individual exit from unemployment, and we compare the estimated impact with that for the prior extension of benefits during the much milder downturn in the early 2000s. In both periods, we find a small but statistically significant reduction in the unemployment exit rate and a small increase in the expected duration of unemployment. The effects on exits and duration are primarily due to a reduction in exits from the labor force rather than to a decrease in exits to employment (the job finding rate). Although the overall effect of UI extensions on exit from unemployment is small, it implies a substantial effect of extended benefits on the steady-state share of unemployment in the cross-section that is long-term. |
| JEL: | J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19048&r=lab |
| By: | Stephani, Jens (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Using rich German linked employer-employee data and endogenous switching regression models, I show that large firms and firms with a high export share or a low proportion of fixed-term workers provide higher wage growth for low-wage workers. While having many low-paid co-workers dampens the wage growth of both low-wage workers and higher-wage workers, there are also employers who provide higher wage growth only for higher-wage workers. The results indicate a certain degree of labour market segmentation that is a) important for the wage mobility of individual workers and b) relevant in the context of polarisation and rising wage inequality." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | J30 J60 |
| Date: | 2013–05–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201304&r=lab |
| By: | Stefania Albanesi (Federal Reserve Bank of New York and CEPR); Aysegul Sahin (Federal Reserve Bank of New York) |
| Abstract: | The unemployment gender gap, defined as the difference between female and male unemployment rates, was positive until 1980. This gap virtually disappeared after 1980, except during recessions when men's unemployment rate always exceeds women's. We study the evolution of these gender differences in unemployment from a long-run perspective and over the business cycle. Using a calibrated three-state search model of the labor market, we show that the rise in female labor force attachment and the decline in male attachment can mostly account for the closing of the gender unemployment gap. Evidence from nineteen OECD countries also supports the notion that convergence in attachment is associated with a decline in the gender unemployment gap. At the cyclical frequency, we find that gender differences in industry composition are important in recessions, especially the most recent, but they do not explain gender differences in employment growth during recoveries. |
| Keywords: | Gender unemployment gap, labor market attachment |
| JEL: | E24 J64 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2013-04&r=lab |
| By: | Vikman, Ulrika (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates how access to paid parental leave affects labor market entrance for immigrating mothers with small children. Paid parental leave together with job protection may increase labor force participation among women but if it is too generous it may create incentives to stay out of the labor force. This incentive effect may be especially true for mothers immigrating to a country where having small children automatically makes the mothers eligible for the benefit. To evaluate the differences in the assimilation process for those who have access to the parental leave benefit and those who do not, Swedish administration data is used in a difference-in-differences specification to control for both time in the country and the age of the youngest child. The results show that labor market entrance is delayed for mothers and that they are less likely to be a part of the labor force for up to seven years after their residence permit if they had access to parental leave benefits when they came to Sweden. This reduction in the labor force participation is to some extent driven by unemployment since the effect on employment is smaller. But there is still an effect on employment of 3 percentage points lower participation rates 2–6 years after immigration. |
| Keywords: | Immigrant assimilation; labor market entrance; paid parental leave benefit |
| JEL: | J13 J15 J21 |
| Date: | 2013–02–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2013_004&r=lab |
| By: | Hullegie, P.G.J.; Ours, J.C. van (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Abstract Unemployment insurance recipients in the Netherlands were for a long time exempted from the requirement to actively search for a job when they reached the age of 57.5. We study how this exemption affected the job finding rates of the recipients involved. We find evidence that the job finding rate of unemployed workers who were getting close to the age of 57.5 is reduced in anticipation of the removal of the search requirement. In addition we find a large negative effect on job finding rates of the actual removal of the search requirement. Apparently, even for persons with seemingly poor job prospects search requirements have a positive effect on finding rates. |
| Keywords: | eligibility criteria;unemployment benefits;job finding;older workers |
| JEL: | C41 H55 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:2013028&r=lab |
| By: | Eliasson, Tove (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies) |
| Abstract: | This article uses a matched employer-employee panel data of the Swedish labor market to study immigrant wage assimilation, decomposing the wage catch-up into parts which can be attributed to relative wage growth within and between workplaces and occupations. This study shows that failing to control for selection into employment when studying wage assimilation of immigrants is very likely to under-estimate wage catch-up. The results further show that both poorly and highly educated immigrants catch up through relative wage growth within workplaces and occupations, suggesting that employer-specific learning plays an important role for the wage catch-up. The highly educated suffers from not beneting from occupational mobility as much as the natives do. This could be interpreted as a lack of access to the full range of occupations, possibly explained by diffculties in signaling specific skills. |
| Keywords: | Firm sorting; occupational mobility; wage assimilation; host country specific human capital; employer learning |
| JEL: | D22 D31 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2013–03–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2013_006&r=lab |
| By: | Åslund, Olof (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Engdahl, Mattias (Department of Economics, Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | We study the labor market impact of opening borders to low-wage countries. The analysis exploits time and regional variation provided by the 2004 EU enlargement in combination with transport links to Sweden from the new member states. The results suggest an adverse impact on earnings of present workers in the order of 1 percent in areas close to pre-existing ferry lines. The effects are present in most segments of the labor market but tend to be greater in groups with weaker positions. The impact is also clearer in industries which have received more workers from the new member states, and for which across-the-border work is likely to be more common. There is no robust evidence on an impact on employment or wages. At least part of the effects is likely due to channels other than the ones typically considered in the literature. |
| Keywords: | Migration policy; immigration; labor market outcomes |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2013–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2013_011&r=lab |
| By: | T. Panagiotidis; G. Pelloni |
| Abstract: | This study revisits the sectoral shifts hypothesis for the US for the period 1948 to 2011. A quantile regression approach is employed in order to investigate the asymmetric nature of the relationship between sectoral employment and unemployment. Significant asymmetries emerge. Lilien’s dispersion index is significant only for relatively high levels of unemployment and becomes insignificant for low levels suggesting that reallocation affects unemployment only when the latter is high. More job reallocation is associated with higher unemployment. |
| JEL: | C22 C50 E24 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp881&r=lab |
| By: | Angelov, Nikolay (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies); Johansson, Per (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies); Lindahl, Erica (IFAU) |
| Abstract: | We compare the income and wage trajectories of women in rela- tion to their male partners before and after parenthood. Focusing on the within-couple gap allows us to control for both observed and unobserved attributes of the spouse and to estimate both short- and long-term eects of entering parenthood. Our main nding is that 15 years after the rst child was born, the male-female gender gaps in income and wages have increased with 35 and 10 percentage points, respectively. In line with a collective labor supply model, the mag- nitude of these eects depends on relative incomes or wages within the family. |
| Keywords: | Gender gap; Quantile regression; Income; Wages |
| JEL: | C21 D13 J21 |
| Date: | 2013–02–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2013_003&r=lab |
| By: | Sabine D'Costa; Henry G. Overman |
| Abstract: | This paper is concerned with the urban wage premium and addresses two central issues about which the field has not yet reached a consensus. First, the extent to which sorting of high ability individuals into urban areas explains the urban wage premium. Second, whether workers receive this wage premium immediately, or through faster wage growth over time. Using a large panel of worker-level data from Britain, we first demonstrate the existence of an urban premium for wage levels, which increases in city size. We next provide evidence of a city size premium on wage growth, but show that this effect is driven purely by the increase in wage that occurs in the first year that a worker moves to a larger location. Controlling for sorting on the basis of unobservables we find no evidence of an urban wage growth premium. Experience in cities does have some impact on wage growth, however. Specifically, we show that workers who have at some point worked in a city experience faster wage growth than those who have never worked in a city. |
| Keywords: | urban wage premium, agglomeration, cities, wage growth, worker mobility |
| JEL: | R23 J31 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0135&r=lab |
| By: | Iuliia Sonina (UP1 UFR02 - Université Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne - UFR d'Économie - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne - PRES HESAM) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the results of econometric analysis of retirement behavior of Russian pensioners. The aim of the investigation is determination of those factors that affect the retirement decision of men and women in Russia. Their understanding can be helpful for pension reform realization. This analysis is performed on the basis of data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey. The data are taken from the 15th to 19th waves of survey that correspond to 2005-2010 period of time. First of all this paper gives a survey of retirement literature, then describes the pension system in the Russian federation and particularities of retirement behaviour of Russian pensioners, after that it presents basic hypothesis of the analysis and, finally, concludes with econometric results and their interpretation. |
| Keywords: | retraite, Russie, comportements |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:dumas-00817699&r=lab |