|
on Labour Economics |
|
Issue of 2013‒09‒13
seventeen papers chosen by Erik Jonasson National Institute of Economic Research |
| By: | Giannelli, Gianna Claudia (University of Florence); Jaenichen, Ursula (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg); Rothe, Thomas (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | The German "employment miracle", with a weak decline in employment and low unemployment during the great recession, seems to be a good example for a successful labour market reform. Nevertheless, there are concerns about rising inequality in the labour market. In this paper we analyze the quality of newly started jobs between 1998 and 2010 using a huge administrative data set which allows us to look at job durations and earnings for different groups of workers. We discuss changes in the distributions of job durations and earnings over time, and present microeconometric models controlling for individual, firm and regional characteristics. Our results show a fairly constant level of overall job stability, but decreasing real wages and rising wage dispersion over time. |
| Keywords: | labour market reforms, job quality, job duration, real wages, Germany, 1998-2010 |
| JEL: | C34 C41 J31 J62 J68 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7580&r=lab |
| By: | Cerveny, J.; Ours, J.C. van (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Abstract: This paper examines whether unemployment of non-western immigrant workers in the Netherlands was disproportionally affected by the Great Recession. We analyze unemployment data covering the period November 2007 to February 2013 finding that the Great Recession affected unemployment rates of non-western immigrant workers in absolute terms more than unemployment rates of native workers. However, in relative terms there is not much of a difference. We also find that the sensitivity of individual job finding rates to the aggregate state of the labor market does not differ between natives and non-western immigrants. In combination our findings suggest that the Great Recession did not have a different impact on the unemployment of non-westerns immigrants and native Dutch. |
| Keywords: | Great Recession;unemployment;non-western immigrants. |
| JEL: | J15 J64 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:2013049&r=lab |
| By: | Jeremy Lise (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London); Jean-Marc Robin (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | We develop an equilibrium model of on-the-job search with ex-ante heterogeneous workers and firms, aggregate uncertainty and vacancy creation. The model produces rich dynamics in which the distributions of unemployed workers, vacancies and worker-firm matches evolve stochastically over time. We prove that the surplus function, which fully characterises the match value and the mobility decision of workers, does not depend on these distributions. We estimate the model on US labour market data from 1951-2007 and predict the fit for 2008-12. We use the model to measure the cyclicality of mismatch between workers and jobs. |
| Keywords: | On-the-job search, heterogeneity, aggregate fluctuations, mis-match |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:13/22&r=lab |
| By: | Nicola Branson (SALDRU, School of Economics, University of Cape Town); Cally Ardington (SALDRU, School of Economics, University of Cape TownAuthor-Email:); David Lam (davidl@isr.umich.edu); Murray Leibbrandt (SALDRU, School of Economics, University of Cape Town) |
| Abstract: | Rapid increases in educational attainment and the massification of secondary education in South Africa resulted in substantial differences in the supply and quality of educated workers across generations. This paper describes changes in the distribution of education across birth cohorts and how these relate to changes in the probability of employment, the distribution of earnings and the earnings premiums to complete secondary and tertiary education. Tracking cohorts over time allows us to disentangle generational and life-cycle components of these changes. Younger cohorts are shown to have increasingly faced worse labour market conditions than their predecessors, although this may be changing for cohorts born after 1980. Furthermore, the relative reward to complete secondary and tertiary education has remained positive, and increased for tertiary educated cohorts born since the 1960s. Increases in earnings inequality among those with complete secondary education suggests increased variance in education quality during the period when completed secondary education expanded rapidly. |
| Keywords: | Educational attainment, Earnings, Employment, South Africa, Cohort analysis |
| JEL: | I25 I24 J24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:105&r=lab |
| By: | Nagler, Paula (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | The introduction of unemployment insurance savings accounts (UISA) in Chile in October 2002 brought in more comprehensive unemployment protection while decreasing the opportunity costs of job change. Being the first to empirically investigate the effect of UISA on employment duration, this paper examines (i) whether the introduction of UISA affected employment duration among formal private sector workers, and (ii) the magnitude of this effect. The analysis is performed on longitudinal social protection data and uses survival analysis techniques, including non-parametric, semi-parametric and parametric analysis, and competing-risk models. The paper finds that workers participating in the scheme show an increased hazard ratio of leaving employment, or accelerated time to employment termination. The effect is larger for workers becoming unemployed or inactive compared to workers changing jobs. The results provide strong support that the introduction of UISA led to shorter employment duration and higher mobility of the workforce in Chile. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment Insurance Savings Accounts, Employment Duration, Survival Analysis, Chile |
| JEL: | C41 J63 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2013039&r=lab |
| By: | Winters, John V. (Oklahoma State University); Xu, Weineng (University of Arkansas, Fayetteville) |
| Abstract: | Economics has been shown to be a relatively high earning college major, but geographic differences in earnings have been largely overlooked. This paper uses the American Community Survey to examine geographic differences in both absolute earnings and relative earnings for economic majors. We find that there are substantial geographic differences in both the absolute and relative earnings of economics majors even controlling for individual characteristics such as age and advanced degrees. We argue that mean earnings in specific labor markets are a better measure of the benefits of majoring in economics than simply looking at national averages. |
| Keywords: | economics major, earnings differentials, college education, local labor markets |
| JEL: | I23 J24 J31 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7584&r=lab |
| By: | Bas ter Weel; Lex Borghans; Bruce A. Weinberg |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that people skills are important determinants of labor-market outcomes, including occupational choice and wages. Technological and organizational changes have increased the importance of people skills in the workplace. We particularly focus on how the increased importance of people skills has affected the labor-market outcomes of underrepresented groups assuming gender differences in interactions and that cultural differences (including prejudice) may impede cross-racial and ethnic interactions. Our estimates for Britain, Germany and the United States are consistent with such an explanation. Acceleration in the rate of increase in the importance of people skills between the late 1970s and early 1990s in the US can help explain why the gender-wage gap closed and the black-white wage gap stagnated in these years relative to the preceding and following years. |
| JEL: | J16 J21 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpb:discus:253&r=lab |
| By: | Ekaterina Selezneva; Philippe Van Kerm |
| Abstract: | This paper exploits data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) to re-examine the gender wage gap in Germany on the basis of inequality-adjusted measures of wage differentials which fully account for gender differences in pay distributions. The inequality-adjusted gender pay gap measures are significantly larger than suggested by standard indicators, especially in East Germany. Women appear penalized twice, with both lower mean wages and greater wage inequality. A hypothetical risky investment question collected in 2004 in the SOEP is used to estimate individual risk aversion parameters and benchmark the ranges of inequality-adjusted wage differentials measures. |
| Keywords: | Gender gap, wage differentials, wage inequality, expected utility, risk aversion, East and West Germany, SOEP, Singh-Maddala distribution, copula-based selection model |
| JEL: | D63 J31 J70 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp579&r=lab |
| By: | Mavromaras, Kostas G. (NILS, Flinders University); Zhu, Rong (NILS, Flinders University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we estimate the interdependence of labour force participation decisions made by Australian couples from 2001 to 2011. We focus on couples with a mature age husband, and estimate the interdependence of the participation decision of the couple. We find that the decision of a wife to work or not influences positively, and in a causal fashion, the decision of her husband to work or not. In our paper we use counterfactual analysis to estimate the impact of the increasing labour force participation of a wife on her husband's participation. We find that the increased labour force participation of married women observed between 2002 and 2011 has been responsible for about a 4 percentage points increase in the participation of their mature age husbands. |
| Keywords: | labour force participation, spousal status, joint decision making, male employment trends, Australia |
| JEL: | J14 J21 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7581&r=lab |
| By: | Frédéric Gavrel (CREM - Centre de Recherche en Economie et Management - CNRS : UMR6211 - Université de Rennes 1 - Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, TEPP - Travail, Emploi et Politiques Publiques - CNRS : FR3435 - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (UPEMLV)) |
| Abstract: | In order to study the in uence of capital mobility on labor market policy, this paper adapts the search-matching approach to an economy with an exogenous stock of capital. Contrary to most matching models, laissez-faire is unavoidably ine cient. However, public policy can neutralize this market failure by implementing a minimum wage. This result leads us to address a much-debated issue: Does capital mobility constrain labor market policies when governments cannot cooperate? To that end we extend the analysis to a n-country symmetric model where the setting of minimum wages results from a Nash non-cooperative game. We nd that, in this context, capital mobility does not a ect the e ciency of public policy. |
| Keywords: | Capital mobility; Search unemployment; Minimum wage effi ciency |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00856270&r=lab |
| By: | Geoffrey Tate; Liu Yang |
| Abstract: | We estimate the labor market consequences of corporate diversification using worker-firm matched data from the U.S. Census Bureau. We find evidence that workers in diversified firms have greater cross-industry mobility. Displaced workers experience significantly smaller losses when they move to a firm in a new industry in which their former firm alsooperates. We also find more active internal labor markets in diversified firms. Diversified firms exploit the option to redeploy workers internally from declining to expanding industries. Though diversified firms pay higher wages to retain workers, their labor is also more productive than focused firms of the same size, age, and industry. Overall, internal labor markets provide a bright side to corporate diversification. |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:13-40&r=lab |
| By: | Lechner, Michael; Wunsch, Conny; Scioch, Patrycja |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the link between variation in the supply of workers who participate in specific types of active labour market policies (ALMPs) and firm performance using a new exceptionally informative German employer-employee data base. For identification we exploit that German local employment agencies (LEAs) have a high degree of autonomy in determining their own mix of ALMPs and that firms' hiring regions overlap only imperfectly with the areas of responsibility of the LEAs. Our results indicate that in general firms do not benefit from ALMPs and in some cases may even be harmed by certain programs, in particular by sub¬sidized employment and longer training programs. These findings complement the negative assessment of the cost-effectiveness of ALMPs from the empirical literature on the effects for participants. |
| Keywords: | Subsidized employment programs, training programs, regional variation, program evaluation |
| JEL: | J68 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:econwp:2013:18&r=lab |
| By: | Jerome Adda (Institute for Fiscal Studies and European University Institute); Christian Dustmann (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London); Costas Meghir (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Yale University); Jean-Marc Robin (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the career progression of skilled and unskilled workers with a focus on how careers are affected by economic downturns and whether formal skills, acquired early on, can shield workers from the effect of recessions. Using detailed administrative data for Germany for numerous birth cohorts across different regions, we follow workers from labour market entry onwards and estimate a dynamic life-cycle model of vocational training choice, labour supply, and wage progression. Most particularly, our model allows for labour market frictions that vary by skill group and over the business cycle. We find that sources of wage growth differ: learning-by-doing is an important component for unskilled workers early on in their careers, while job mobility is important for workers who acquire skills in an apprenticeship scheme before labour market entry. Likewise, economic downturns affect skill groups through very different channels: unskilled workers lose out from a decline in productivity and human capital, whereas skilled individuals suffer mainly from lack of mobility. |
| Keywords: | wage determination, skills, business cycles, apprenticeship training, job mobility |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:13/24&r=lab |
| By: | Margareta Kreimer; Ricardo Mora |
| Abstract: | Using micro data from the Austrian Labor Force Survey, this paper explores how decreases in the gender differential in participation rates together with increasing differentials in the incidence of part-time jobs and stable or rising levels of occupational segregation by gender affect the gender division of labor. To so so, we propose an index for the gender division of labor based on the Mutual Information index. Our main results show that the gender division of labor is very stable along the 16-year period. This is so because although the rising female labor force participation reduces the gender division of labor, increases in gender differences in the incidence of part-time jobs and increases in occupational segregation result in greater division of labor across genders. These results are robust to alternative definitions of economic activity and labor market involvement and can also be found after controlling for educational levels and fields. |
| Keywords: | Gender segregation, Female labor force participation, Part-time jobs |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:werepe:we1317&r=lab |
| By: | Kenneth W. Robertson, (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) |
| Abstract: | The Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey, conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is a large monthly survey of businesses that produces timely estimates of employment, hours, and earnings by industry and geographic area. The survey produces estimates about three weeks after the week that includes the 12th of the month, and then produces revised estimates for the same reference period as additional responses for that reference period are collected over the next two months. This paper examines the distribution of response by several characteristics, and provides profiles of monthly revisions at the national, state, and metropolitan area level. |
| Keywords: | Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics, response, revisions |
| JEL: | E24 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bls:wpaper:ec130070&r=lab |
| By: | Christopher F. Goetz |
| Abstract: | This study uses worker-level employment data from the U.S. Census Bureau to test whether falling home prices affect a worker's propensity to take a job in a different metropolitan area from where he is currently located. Using a sample of workers from the American Community Survey, I employ a within-MSA-time estimation that compares homeowners to renters in their propensities to relocate for jobs according to data from the Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics database. This strategy allows me to disentangle the influence of house prices from that of other time-varying, location-specific shocks. Estimates show that homeowners who have experienced declines in the nominal value of their home are approximately 20% less likely to take a new job in a location outside of the metropolitan area that they currently live and work in, relative to an equivalent renter. This evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that housing lock-in has contributed to the decreased labor mobility of homeowners during the recent housing bust. |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:13-43&r=lab |
| By: | Gaetano D’Adamo (Department of Applied Economics II, University of Valencia); Mariam Camarero (Department of Economics, Universidad Jaume I); Cecilio Tamarit (Department of Applied Economics II, University of Valencia) |
| Abstract: | According to the theory of wage leadership, if there is free inter-sectorial labor mobility, changes in the level of the wage in the leading sector cause changes in the same direction in other sectors’ wage. Moreover, since the traded sector (i.e. Industry) is affected by international competitive pressure, it should act as the leader, because this would be conducive to wage restraint. We apply a Vector Error Correction Model on four macro sectors (Industry, Services, Construction and the Public Sector) in ten EMU countries to test for wage leadership and wage adaptability. Our results show significant cross-country differences, with the Public Sector acting as the leader in Germany, Belgium and Greece. Countries that recently experienced a construction bubble such as Spain and Ireland show wage leadership of the construction sector. Moreover, in half of the countries, wages in different sectors are, to some extent, set autonomously, which suggests low intersectorial labor mobility. Finally, adjustment after a positive vs. negative shock to the leading sector’s wage, in Mediterranean countries, Ireland and the Netherlands is asymmetric. |
| Keywords: | Wage Leadership; Cointegrated VAR; Labor Market |
| JEL: | C32 E62 J51 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eec:wpaper:1317&r=lab |