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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Thibault Darcillon (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | Using fixed effects panel data models on a sample of 15 OECD countries over the period 1970-2007, this article explores the linkages between labor-market volatility, financial development and welfare state institutions. We analyze the interacted impact of financial development on the one hand and welfare state institutions (i.e., overall social spending) on the other hand on volatility of hours worked and volatility of wages. Our results indicate that financial development is associated with higher volatility on labor-markets. Estimates of the marginal effects show that overall social spending increasingly reduces labor-market volatility with the degree of financial development, and more specifically for low-skilled workers through compensation mechanisms. Finally, we control for potential reversed causality by running IV-GMM estimations suggesting that increasing financial development has not threatened the governments' ability to play an active role in cushioning fluctuations on labor markets. |
| Keywords: | Labor-market volatility, financial development, social security expenditure, compensation hypothesis. |
| JEL: | F41 I3 P16 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:13070&r=lab |
| By: | Fuhai Hong; Tanjim Hossain; John List; Migiwa Tanaka |
| Abstract: | A well-recognized problem in the multitasking literature is that workers might substantially reduce their effort on tasks that produce unobservable outputs as they seek the salient rewards to observable outputs. Since the theory related to multitasking is decades ahead of the empirical evidence, the economic costs of standard incentive schemes under multitasking contexts remain largely unknown. This study provides empirical insights quantifying such effects using a field experiment in Chinese factories. Using more than 2200 data points across 126 workers, we find sharp evidence that workers do trade off the incented output (quantity) at the expense of the non-incented one (quality) as a result of a piece rate bonus scheme. Consistent with our theoretical model, treatment effects are much stronger for workers whose base salary structure is a flat wage compared to those under a piece rate base salary. While the incentives result in a large increase in quantity and a sharp decrease in quality for workers under a flat base salary, they result only in a small increase in quantity without affecting quality for workers under a piece rate base salary. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feb:natura:00388&r=lab |
| By: | Blanco, M.; Dalton, P.S.; Vargas, J.F. (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Abstract: We investigate whether and how the type of unemployment bene t institution affects productivity. We designed a field experiment to compare workers' productivity under a welfare system, where the unemployed receive an unconditional monetary transfer, with their productivity under a workfare system, where the transfer is received conditional on the unemployed spending some time on ancillary activities. First, we fi nd that having an unemployment bene fit institution, regardless of whether it makes transfers conditional or unconditional, increases workers' productivity. Second, we find that productivity is higher under Welfare than under Workfare. Becoming unemployed under Welfare comes at the psychological cost of a drop in self-esteem, presumably due to the shame or stigma associated with receiving an unconditional unemployment benefi t. We document the empirical relevance of precisely this channel. The differences we observe in productivity suggest that this psychological cost acts as an extra non- monetary incentive for workers under Welfare to put a higher effort in their work. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment Benefi ts;Workfare;Productivity;Self-esteem;Shame |
| JEL: | J24 J65 J45 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:2013057&r=lab |
| By: | Lorenzo Corsini (DISEI, Università degli Studi di Firenze) |
| Abstract: | We develop a comparative analysis on the effect that unemployment insurance schemes have on unemployment duration. We consider three aspects through which unemployment insurance schemes affect duration: 1) liquidity constraints mitigation from income support can increase duration, 2) employment services at the time of registration can increase initial re-employment probability and 3) employment counseling and monitoring of job search can increase re-employment probability during the whole unemployment spell. We describe how these aspects are present in schemes of various European countries and we assess whether they can explain the overall effect that benefits display on unemployment duration. We perform first a duration analysis and then, to tackle the issue of self-selection into participation, a propensity score matching estimation. The results confirm our interpretation of the three mechanisms so that they effectively concur in the determination of the effect that benefits have on unemployment duration. |
| Keywords: | unemployment insurance; job search;2unemployment duration; duration analysis; propensity score matching. |
| JEL: | C41 J64 J65 I38 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2013_21.rdf&r=lab |
| By: | Francisco de Castro; Matteo Salto; Hugo Steiner |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to assess the size of the wage gap between the public and private sectors within all European Union countries by using the European Structure of Earnings Survey (SES henceforth), compiled by Eurostat for the years 2006 and 2010. Public sector employees are found to enjoy on average higher wages than comparable workers in the private sector in 2010, even after controlling for the level of educational attainment. Regarding gender, contrary to other empirical papers, for the countries with full public sector coverage, we do not find evidence of a higher positive wage gap for women. On average the public wage premium is higher for older workers and workers with lower levels of education. Finally, negative public wage premia are found for workers at higher positions, whereas the positive and sometimes large overall public wage gaps are mainly explained by the sizeable gaps observed at lower job positions. |
| JEL: | J31 J45 O52 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:euf:ecopap:0508&r=lab |
| By: | Cipollone, Angela (LUISS Guido Carli University); Patacchini, Eleonora (Sapienza University of Rome); Vallanti, Giovanna (LUISS Guido Carli University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the changes in women's participation patterns across 15 EU countries over the last 20 years using individual data from ECHP and EUSILC databases. Our findings reveal a role of social policies and institutional factors that is stronger than what has so far been assessed. Labor market reforms explain almost 25% of the actual increase in labor force participation for young women, and more than 30% for highly educated women. The effects of labor market reforms on the participation of low skilled women in the labor force are instead surprisingly small. We also find that reforms of the institutional framework towards a model of flexicure labor market are effective in enhancing women labor supply only when deregulation is accompanied by sufficient social compensation. |
| Keywords: | employment gender gap, labor market institutions, child-rearing, elderly care, flexicurity |
| JEL: | J11 J21 J2 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7710&r=lab |
| By: | Dominique Goux (CREST); Eric Maurin (Paris School of Economics); Barbara Petrongolo (Queen Mary, University of London) |
| Abstract: | We study interdependencies in spousal labor supply by exploiting the design of the French workweek reduction, which introduced exogenous variation in one's spouse's labor supply, at constant earnings. Treated employees work on average two hours less per week. Husbands of treated women respond by reducing their labor supply by about half an hour, consistent with substantial leisure complementarity, and specifically cut the non-usual component of their workweek, leaving usual hours unchanged. Women's response to their husband's treatment is instead weak and rarely statistically significant, possibly due to heavier constraints in the organization of their workweek. |
| Keywords: | Labour supply, Workweek reduction, Leisure complementarity |
| JEL: | J22 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:wp709&r=lab |
| By: | Anthony Edo (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the immigration impact on native outcomes using micro-level data for France. I find that immigration does not affect the wages of competing natives, but induces adverse employment effects. This finding is consistent with a wage structure that is much less flexible in France. The quality of the data allows to dig more deeply into the interpretation of the immigration impact. First, I show that immigrants displace native workers because they are more willing to have bad employment conditions. Second, I find that natives on short-term contracts, who are less subject to wage rigidities, do experience wage losses due to immigration. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, wage rigidities, employment, naturalization. |
| JEL: | F22 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:13064&r=lab |
| By: | Roger, Muriel; Caroli, Eve; Behaghel, Luc |
| Abstract: | We analyse the role of training in mitigating the negative impact of technical and organizational changes on the employment prospects of older workers. Using a panel of French firms in the late 1990s, we first estimate wage bill share equations for different age groups. Consistently with what is found in the literature, we find that adopting new technologies and innovative work practices negatively affects the wage bill share of older workers. In contrast, training older workers more than average increases their share in the wage bill in the next period. So, training contributes to offset the negative impact of ICT and innovative work practices. However, it does not reduce the age bias associated with these innovative devices : the interaction terms between training and ICT/innovative work practices are either insignificant or negative. As a second step, we estimate the impact of ICT, innovative work practices and training on employment flows by age group in the next period. We get similar results to those obtained with wage bill shares. Overall, training appears to have a positive impact on the employability of older workers, but it offers limited prospects to dampen the age bias associated with new technologies and innovative work practices. |
| Keywords: | Technical change; organizational change; training; older workers; |
| JEL: | J14 J24 J26 O30 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dau:papers:123456789/7243&r=lab |
| By: | Dolores Messer (University of Bern, Switzerland); Guido Schwerdt (Ifo Institute for Economic Research and CESifo, Munich, Germany); Ludger Woessmann (University of Munich, Ifo Institute for Economic Research, CESifo); Stefan C. Wolter (Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education, University of Bern, CESifo, IZA; University of Bern, Centre for Research in Economics of Education,) |
| Abstract: | Lifelong learning is often promoted in ageing societies, but little is known about its returns or governmentsÕ ability to advance it. This paper evaluates the effects of a large-scale randomized field experiment issuing vouchers for adult education in Switzerland. We find no significant average effects of voucher-induced adult education on earnings, employment, and subsequent education one year after treatment. But effects are heterogeneous: Low-education individuals are most likely to profit from adult education, but least likely to use the voucher. The findings cast doubt on the effectiveness of existing unrestricted voucher programs in promoting labor market outcomes through adult education. |
| Keywords: | Field experiment, voucher, adult education, LATE, Switzerland |
| JEL: | I22 J24 H43 C93 M53 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0094&r=lab |
| By: | Rebérioux, Antoine; Caroli, Eve; Breda, Thomas; Bassanini, Andrea |
| Abstract: | We study the compensation package offered by family firms. Using matched employer-employee data for a sample of French establishments in the 2000s, we first show that family firms pay on average lower wages to their workers. This family/non-family wage gap is robust to controlling for several establishment and individual characteristics and does not appear to be due either to the differential of productivity between family and non-family firms or to unobserved establishment and individual heterogeneity. Moreover, it is relatively homogeneous across workers with different gender, educational attainment and age. By contrast, the family/non-family wage gap is found to be larger for clerks and blue-collar workers than for managers, supervisors and technicians, for whom we find no significant wage gap. As a second step, we investigate why workers stay in family firms while being paid less. We show that these firms offer greater job security. We find evidence that the rate of dismissal is lower in family than in non-family firms. We also show that family firms rely less on dismissals and more on hiring reductions when they downsize. These results are confirmed by subjective data : the perceived risk of dismissal is significantly lower in family firms than in non-family ones. We speculate that our results can be explained either by a compensating wage differential story or by a model in which workers sort in different firms according to their preferences. |
| Keywords: | Family firms; wages; job security; linked employer-employee data; |
| JEL: | G34 J31 J33 J63 L26 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dau:papers:123456789/7244&r=lab |
| By: | Régis Barnichon; Andrew Figura |
| Abstract: | The matching function -a key building block in models of labor market frictions- implies that the job finding rate depends only on labor market tightness. We estimate such a matching function and find that the relation, although remarkably stable over 1967-2007, broke down spectacularly after 2007. We argue that labor market heterogeneities are not fully captured by the standard matching function, but that a generalized matching function that explicitly takes into account worker heterogeneity and market segmentation is fully consistent with the behavior of the job finding rate. The standard matching function can break down when, as in the Great Recession, the average characteristics of the unemployed change too much, or when dispersion in labor market conditions -the extent to which some labor markets fare worse than others- increases too much. |
| Keywords: | job finding, aggregate, composition, dispersion |
| JEL: | J6 E24 E32 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1395&r=lab |
| By: | Régis Barnichon; Andrew Figura |
| Abstract: | The US labor market witnessed two apparently unrelated secular movements in the last 30 years: a decline in unemployment between the early 1980s and the early 2000s, and a decline in participation since the early 2000s. Using CPS micro data and a stock- flow accounting framework, we show that a substantial, and hitherto unnoticed, factor behind both trends is a decline in the share of nonparticipants who are at the margin of participation. A lower share of marginal nonparticipants implies a lower unemployment rate, because marginal nonparticipants enter the labor force mostly through unemployment, while other nonparticipants enter the labor force mostly through employment. |
| Keywords: | marginal participant, want a job, stock-flow decomposition. |
| JEL: | J6 E24 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1397&r=lab |
| By: | Fredrik Carlsen (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology); Jorn Rattso (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology); Hildegunn E. Stokke (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology) |
| Abstract: | We analyze static and dynamic agglomeration effects across education groups. The data are based on administrative registers covering all full time workers in the private sector of Norway during 2001-2010, about 6.5 million worker-year observations, including place and sector of work experience since 1993. Accounting for unobservable abilities with identification based on movers, the static urban wage premium is similar across education groups. When the history of work experience in different regions and sectors is included, we show that the dynamic wage premium increases in education level and that highly educated in high wage sectors have the largest learning advantage. |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration economies, sorting, education, worker experience |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J61 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–11–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nst:samfok:15213&r=lab |
| By: | A. Kerem Cosar; Nezih Guner; James Tybout |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the combined effects of reductions in trade frictions, tariffs, and firing costs on firm dynamics, job turnover, and wage distributions. It uses establishment-level data from Colombia to estimate an open economy dynamic model that links trade to job flows in a new way. The fitted model captures key features of Colombian firm dynamics and labor market outcomes, as well changes in these features during the past 25 years. Counterfactual experiments imply that integration with global product markets has increased both average income and job turnover in Colombia. In contrast, the experiments find little role for this country’s labor market reforms in driving these variables. The results speak more generally to the effects of globalization on labor markets in Latin America and elsewhere. |
| Keywords: | international trade, firm dynamics, size distribution, labor market frictions, inequality |
| JEL: | F12 F16 E24 J64 L11 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:732&r=lab |
| By: | John Moffat (Durham University); Duncan Roth (University of Marburg) |
| Abstract: | The demographic and education composition of European countries is changing: the population share of young individuals is declining while that of the highly educated is rising. This paper estimates the impact of cohort size on wages using data on 21 European countries covering 2007-2010 to cast light on the economic consequences of changes in the profile of the labour force. The effect of cohort size on wages is identified through an instrumental variables strategy which, in contrast to previous analyses of European data, addresses self-selection into geographical areas as well as into educational groups. The results support the hypothesis that cohort size has a negative effect on male wages, particularly for the highly educated. However, these negative cohort size effects are not persistent. |
| Keywords: | Cohort size; wages; causal effect; instrumental variables; EU-SILC |
| JEL: | J10 J21 J31 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:201346&r=lab |
| By: | Addison, John; Ozturk, Orgul; Wang, Si |
| Abstract: | Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 indicate that between 1996 and 2010 females on average lost some of the promotion momentum they had achieved at the beginning of mid-career, although they outperformed males in this regard. For both genders economic downturn has contributed to reduced promotion probabilities. In the case of women, however, cohort effects rather than the cycle seem to explain the promotion experience during the Great Recession. Promotions translate into higher real wage increases, and typically more so where job responsibilities increase. Crowding effects, if not necessarily a thing of the past, are no longer manifested in reduced female promotion rates or earnings. |
| Keywords: | promotion, earnings, early/mid/peak career, gender |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J62 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:51390&r=lab |
| By: | Audra J. Bowlus (University of Western Ontario); Masashi Miyairi (University of Western Ontario); Chris Robinson (University of Western Ontario) |
| Abstract: | Immigrant assimilation is a major issue in many countries. While most of the literature studies assimilation through a human capital framework, we examine the role of job search assimilation. To do so, we estimate an equilibrium search model of immigrants operating in the same labor market as natives, where newly arrived immigrants have lower job offer arrival rates than natives but can acquire the same arrival rates according to a stochastic process. Using Canadian panel data, we find substantial differences in job offer arrival and destruction rates between natives and immigrants that are able to account for three fifths of the observed earnings gap. The estimates imply that immigrants take, on average, 13 years to acquire the native search parameters. The job search assimilation process generates 18% earnings growth for immigrants in a 40 year period following migration. |
| Keywords: | None available |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwo:hcuwoc:20136&r=lab |
| By: | Laura Hospido (Banco de España and IZA); Gema Zamarro (Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research. University of Southern California) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study the retirement patterns of couples in a multi-country setting using data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe. In particular, we test whether women’s (men’s) transitions out of the labor force are causally related to the actual realization of their husbands’ (wives’) transition, using the institutional variation in country-specific early and full statutory retirement ages to instrument the latter. Exploiting the discontinuities in retirement behavior across countries, we find a significant joint retirement effect, especially for women, of around 16 to 18 percentage points. For men, we find a similar but less precise effect. Our empirical strategy allows us to give a causal interpretation to the effect we estimate. In addition, this effect has important implications for policy analysis. |
| Keywords: | Joint retirement, Social security incentives |
| JEL: | J26 D10 C21 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:1317&r=lab |
| By: | André Hajek |
| Abstract: | By using longitudinal data the relation between satisfaction with life and unemployment is analyzed in this study. Data used in this publication were made available by the German Socio Economic Panel Study (SOEP) at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), Berlin. A period from 1998-2009 is evaluated. This publication has two goals. (1) To estimate the effects of voluntary and involuntary unemployment on life satisfaction. (2) Moreover, the intent is to answer the question of whether job prospects influence life satisfaction. This study has yielded the following results: In contrast to voluntary job leavings involuntary job leavings noticeable reduce satisfaction. Furthermore, a lack of job prospects before leaving the last position decreases life satisfaction as well. Additionally, an exogenous stimulus (plant shutdown) diminishes satisfaction, especially those of men. The implications are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Life satisfaction, unemployment, SOEP, fixed-effects, job prospects, voluntariness |
| JEL: | J64 I31 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp601&r=lab |
| By: | Kelly, Elish; McGuinness, Seamus |
| Abstract: | The labour market consequences of the severe fall in economic activity that took place in Ireland after the recent global recession were quite stark, especially for young people. One particularly disquieting development has been the rise in the number of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET), which increased from 11.8 per cent in 2006 to 24 per cent in 2011 (Eurostat, 2013). Very little is known about NEET individuals in Ireland, either in terms of their profile or their labour market transitions, i.e., the extent to which youth NEETs have transitioned into employment. Given this information gap, and particularly its importance for the design of effective activation measures to assist young NEETs, this paper uses newly available longitudinal data from the Quarterly National Household Survey to examine the extent to which transitions to employment among NEETs and prime-aged unemployed changed over the recent recession in Ireland. The paper found that the rate of transition to employment fell dramatically for both groups between 2006 and 2011. The results from the analysis also revealed that the drop in the transition rates of NEET and prime-aged unemployed individuals' was not due to changes in the underlying sub-group population structures but to changes in external factors that have had an impact on individuals possessing certain characteristics during the recession. From a policy perspective, the results would seem to support a greater emphasis on higher levels of human capital (i.e., third-level qualifications) for young NEETs, and the redesign of vocational-type qualifications (i.e., Post Leaving Cert level courses) to increase their relevance to those areas of the labour market where jobs are emerging. |
| Keywords: | data/education/employment/human capital/Individuals/Ireland/labour market/Policy/population/recession |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp465&r=lab |
| By: | Nabanita Datta Gupta (Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University); Mona Larsen (SFI - The Danish National Centre for Social Research); Lars Brink Thomsen (Danmarks Nationalbank) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the effects of wage subsidy programs for the disabled, in particular, their potential for welfare-loss reduction vs. deadweight loss creation. We do this in the context of the Danish Flexjob scheme, a large, nation-wide scheme that was implemented in 1998 and targeted towards improving the employment prospects of the long-term disabled with partial working capacity. We analyse the hiring response to a shock in the wage reimbursement amount to certain firms using the program. Firms received a salary reimbursement for both current and new employees granted a Flexjob subsidy. In 2002, the reimbursement to government firms was lowered while the reimbursement to municipal and regional employers remained the same. We combine the reform with unique data on whether or not a new Flexjob hiree was previously employed in a regular (unsubsidized) job at the same firm. Thus, we can investigate whether the changes in the reimbursement amount to governmental units affected the share of Flexjobs within such firms that were allocated to retained employees versus to new hires. The findings show substantial substitution between “insiders” and “outsiders” after the reform. After the reform, governmental firms create fewer Flexjobs. At the same time, the composition of Flexjob hires within such firms changes substantially: the share of new Flexjobs allocated to retained employees is twice as large as it would have been in absence of the reform. The finding on deadweight loss seems to run counter to the theoretical prediction. A possible alternative mechanism for the finding could be that when subsidies are reduced and worker productivity is not known with certainty, employers have an economic incentive to fill Flexjob positions from inside the firm. |
| Keywords: | disability, wage subsidies, deadweight loss, difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | I38 J14 C21 |
| Date: | 2013–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2013-24&r=lab |
| By: | Hart, Robert A; Roberts, J Elizabeth |
| Abstract: | Based on detailed payroll data of blue collar male and female labor in Britain's engineering and metal working industrial sectors between the mid-1920s and mid-1960s, we provide empirical evidence in respect of several central themes in the piecework-timework wage literature. The period covers part of the heyday of pieceworking as well as the start of its post-war decline. We show the importance of relative piece rate flexibility during the Great Depression as well as during the build up to WWII and during the war itself. We account for the very significant decline in the differentials after the war. Labor market topics include piecework pay in respect of compensating differentials, labor heterogeneity, and the transaction costs of pricing piecework output. |
| Keywords: | output pricing; labor heterogeneity; output fluctuations; Piecework - timework hourly pay differentials |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stl:stledp:2013-12&r=lab |
| By: | Abigail Cooke; Thomas Kemeny; David Rigby |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of international trade, and specifically imports from low-wage countries, in determining patterns of job loss in U.S. manufacturing industries between 1992 and 2007. Motivated by intuitions from factor-proportions-inspired work on offshoring and heterogeneous firms in trade, we build industry-level measures of import competition. Combining worker data from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics dataset, detailed establishment information from the Census of Manufactures, and transaction-level trade data, we find that rising import competition from China and other developing economies increases the likelihood of job loss among manufacturing workers with less than a high school degree; it is not significantly related to job losses for workers with at least a college degree. |
| Keywords: | International trade, import competition, job loss, inequality, manufacturing |
| JEL: | F14 F15 F16 J31 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0148&r=lab |
| By: | Fasih, Tazeen; Patrinos, Harry Anthony; Sakellariou, Chris |
| Abstract: | Little is known about which of the skills that make up workers'human capital contribute to higher earnings. Past empirical evidence suggest that most of the return to schooling is generated by effects or correlates unrelated to the skills measured by the available tests. This paper uses the International Adult Literacy and the Adult Literacy and Life Skills surveys to obtain multi-country estimates of the components of the return to schooling. The results reveal considerable heterogeneity and a dichotomy between two groups of countries. For a subgroup of educationally advanced countries, nearly half of the return to schooling can be attributed to labor marker-relevant functional literacy skills associated with schooling, while for a subgroup of less educationally advanced countries, such skills account for just over 20 percent of the return to schooling, while the return to schooling mostly reflects the signaling value of schooling. |
| Keywords: | Education For All,Primary Education,Access&Equity in Basic Education,Teaching and Learning,Secondary Education |
| Date: | 2013–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6697&r=lab |
| By: | Zwysen, Wouter |
| Abstract: | The transmission of economic (dis-)advantage over time should take into account the probability of employment as well as employment conditions, especially given the recent increase in the proportion of non-working people. We study the effect of young people experiencing their father not working on a range of labour market outcomes as young adults using the UKHLS. We find that children of non-working fathers are less likely to work themselves and are less satisfied when working despite similar experiences to their peers in terms of wages and contract. Testing several mediators, we find indications that these young adults experience worklessness as a less negative experience. |
| Date: | 2013–11–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2013-24&r=lab |
| By: | Melvyn G Coles; Marco Francesconi |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a new equilibrium model of two-sided search where agents have multiple attributes and general payoff functions. The model can be applied to several substantive issues. Here we use it to provide a novel understanding of the separate effects of equal opportunities for women in the labor market and improved contraception on female education, employment, and timing of first births after World War II. We find that the diffusion of the pill might have played an important role in explaining the observed rise in female education and employment since the 1960s. But without equal opportunities, these changes would have not occurred |
| Date: | 2013–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esx:essedp:742&r=lab |
| By: | Ciccone, Antonio (Universitat Pompeu Fabra); Peri, Giovanni (University of California) |
| Abstract: | We find that over the period 1950–1990, states in United States absorbed increases in the supply of schooling due to tighter compulsory schooling and child labor laws mostly through within-industry increases in the schooling intensity of production. Shifts in the industry composition towards more schooling-intensive industries played a less important role. To try and understand this finding theoretically, we consider a free trade model with two goods/industries, two skill types, and many regions that produce a fixed range of differentiated varieties of the same goods. We find that a calibrated version of the model can account for shifts in schooling supply being mostly absorbed through within-industry increases in the schooling intensity of production even if the elasticity of substitution between varieties is substantially higher than estimates in the literature. |
| Keywords: | human capital; skills; schooling; labor demand; United States |
| JEL: | E24 I20 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–09–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0377&r=lab |
| By: | Mion, Giordano; Opromolla, Luca David |
| Abstract: | Knowledge is key to the success of a firm. Firms and their managers acquire knowledge via channels which are often difficult to track down and quantify. By matching employer-employee data with trade data at the firm level we show that the export experience acquired by managers in previous firms leads their current firm towards higher export performance, and commands a sizeable wage premium for the manager. Export knowledge is decisive when it is market-specific: managers with experience related to markets served by their current firm receive an even higher wage premium; firms are more likely to enter markets where their managers have experience; exporters are more likely to stay in those markets, and their sales are on average higher. Our findings are robust to controlling for endogeneity. The impact of managers’ export experience on a firm’s export performance is at least as strong as that of firm productivity. JEL Classification: M2, L2, F16, J31, J62 |
| Keywords: | export experience, firm trade performance, job mobility, managers, wage premium |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20131596&r=lab |
| By: | Nicholas Longford; Ioana C. Salagean |
| Abstract: | We present an analysis of the register of all unemployment episodes in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg over a recent period of 55 months. We apply propensity score matching to account for the systematic differences among the groups of subjects (registrants) and unemployment spells. We devise graphical and tabular summaries for describing the sequences of employment states of the members of the labour force who register at Agence pour le développement de l'emploi, the Luxembourg Public Unemployment Agency. Some employment-related information about them is collected by linking their records to the national register of social security contributions, maintained by Inspection générale de la sécurité sociale. A class of univariate indices for characterising the sequences of labour force states is defined. |
| Keywords: | Administrative register; index; labour force status; propensity matching; sequences of states; unemployment spells. |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1396&r=lab |
| By: | Murat Tasci (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland); Pedro Amaral (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland) |
| Abstract: | We show that the inability of a standardly-calibrated stochastic labor search-and-matching model to account for the observed volatility of unemployment and vacancies extends beyond U.S. data to a set of OECD countries -- the volatility puzzle is ubiquitous. We also argue that using cross-country data is helpful in evaluating the relative merits of the model alternatives that have appeared in the literature. In illustrating this point, we take the solution proposed in Hagedorn and Manovskii (2008) and show that it continues to predict counterfactually low volatility in labor market variables for countries that exhibit sufficiently low persistence in their estimated productivity processes. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed013:450&r=lab |
| By: | Lechmann, Daniel S. J. |
| Abstract: | Most self-employed would apparently earn higher earnings if they were working in paid employment. One explanation for this 'return-to-entrepreneur-ship puzzle' could be that entrepreneurship entails substantial non-monetary bene-fits, such as autonomy, flexibility, and task variety. Utilizing German data and a de-composition analysis, this study examines the contribution of such working condi-tions to the observed earnings differential between self-employment and paid em-ployment. The results imply that working conditions differences do not contribute to resolve the return-to-entrepreneurship puzzle. Rather, (mis-)measurement of earnings seems to be an issue. -- Die meisten Selbständigen könnten als abhängig Beschäf-tigte anscheinend höhere Einkünfte erzielen. Möglicherweise arbeiten sie dennoch weiterhin als Selbständige, weil die Selbständigkeit nicht-monetäre Vorteile, wie etwa mehr Autonomie, Flexibilität und Abwechslung, mit sich bringt. Unter Verwendung eines Datensatzes deutscher Erwerbstätiger und mittels einer Zerlegungsanalyse untersucht diese Studie, inwiefern Unterschiede in solchen Arbeitsbedingungen die Unterschiede in den Einkünften zwischen Selbständigen und abhängig Beschäftigten erklären könnten. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass Unterschiede in den Arbeitsbedingungen nicht dazu beitragen, die (zu) niedrigen Einkünfte der Selbstän-digen zu erklären. Vielmehr scheinen Schwierigkeiten bei der Messung der Einkünfte eine Rolle zu spielen. |
| Keywords: | compensating differentials,Germany,returns to entrepreneurship,self-employment,working conditions |
| JEL: | J23 J31 J81 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:faulre:86&r=lab |
| By: | Elgin, Ceyhun; Yucel, Emekcan |
| Abstract: | In this paper, the authors investigate the determinants of weight for leisure in preferences. First, using a dynamic general equilibrium model, they back out the weight for leisure for an unbalanced panel of 52 countries over the period from 1950 to 2009. Then, the authors perform several panel data regressions using the backed-out values of the preference for leisure as the dependent variable. Estimation results imply that trade openness, GDP per-capita and average temperature positively affect the weight for leisure in preferences in a robust manner. The authors also find some evidence about the effect of unionization and unemployment. -- |
| Keywords: | leisure,preferences,panel data |
| JEL: | C23 C33 J20 J22 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201357&r=lab |
| By: | Christine Erhel (CEE et Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne); Charlotte Levionnois (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne et CEE) |
| Abstract: | This article examines the reaction function of labour market expenditure to the economic cycle and especially to the labour market situation in 24 OECD countries, over the period 1985 to 2010. The level of public debt is also introduced as a potential determinant of labour market policy expenditures. Using a fixed effect model with interacting terms, it focuses on two periods of crisis (1992-1993 and 2007-2009). The results indicate that the level of reactivity of labour market expenditure did in general decrease between the early 1990s and the 2008 downturn. This could result from important reforms in this field, over the last 20 years. |
| Keywords: | Labour market policies, international comparisons, crisis. |
| JEL: | C33 J08 J38 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:13060&r=lab |
| By: | Peter R. Mueser (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Colleen M. Heflin |
| Abstract: | Although many programs redistribute resources in the U.S., two program were central in providing a safety net for those facing hardship during the Great Recession: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which grew to 47.7 million people in January 2013—or 15.1 percent of all Americans—and the Unemployment Insurance Program (UI), which more than doubled with the onset of the recession, reaching a seasonally adjusted maximum of 6.5 million recipients in June 2009. We examine state administrative data from Florida for SNAP and UI from late 2005 through early 2010. We focus on two research questions: 1. In the face of caseload growth and compositional change in both programs, how has joint participation in UI among SNAP recipients changed? How much of the increase in joint participation is driven by changes in the characteristics of individuals participating in SNAP? How much is driven by the changing economic and policy conditions? 2. How has the role of UI changed for SNAP participants, and in particular how have patterns of combined usage evolved during this period? We find that the number of families relying on both SNAP and UI together ballooned with the Great Recession, and that the patterns changed as expected, with UI growing dramatically in relative importance. At the same time, only a minority of those swelling the ranks of SNAP obtained benefits from the UI program, suggesting that the current safety net has important limitations in times of serious economic distress. |
| Keywords: | great recession, social insurance, safety net, SNAP, Unemployment Insurance |
| JEL: | H24 H53 I38 J65 |
| Date: | 2013–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:1318&r=lab |
| By: | Lechmann, Daniel S. J.; Schnabel, Claus |
| Abstract: | Utilising a large representative data set for Germany, this study contrasts absenteeism of self-employed individuals and paid employees. We find that absence from work is clearly less prevalent among the self-employed than among paid employees. Only to a small extent, this difference can be traced back to differences in health status and job satisfaction. Furthermore, the gap in absenteeism is apparently not driven by different behaviour in case of sickness as we find no difference in the prevalence of presenteeism between the two groups. We suspect that different behaviour in case of healthiness plays a role, highlighting potential shirking and moral hazard problems in paid employment. -- Unter Verwendung eines großen repräsentativen Datensatzes für Deutschland stellt diese Studie Fehlzeiten von Selbständigen und abhängig Beschäftigten gegenüber. Dabei zeigt sich, dass es bei Selbständigen weit weniger verbreitet ist, dem Arbeitsplatz fernzubleiben, als bei abhängig Beschäftigten. Dieser Unterschied kann nur zu einem kleinen Teil auf Unterschiede im Gesundheitszustand und der Arbeitsplatzzufriedenheit zurückgeführt werden. Anscheinend ist der Unterschied bei den Fehlzeiten auch nicht durch unterschiedliches Verhalten im Krankheitsfall zu erklären, da wir keine Unterschiede zwischen beiden Gruppen hinsichtlich Präsentismus feststellen. Wir vermuten, dass unterschiedliches Verhalten bei Gesundheit eine Rolle spielt, was auf mögliche Probleme von Moral Hazard und gezieltem Fernbleiben in abhängiger Beschäftigung hindeutet. |
| Keywords: | absenteeism,Germany,self-employed,sick leave |
| JEL: | I19 J22 J23 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:faulre:87&r=lab |
| By: | Carlsson, Magnus; Fumarco, Luca; Rooth, Dan-Olof |
| Abstract: | The advocates of correspondence testing (CT) argue that it provides the most clear and convincing evidence of discrimination. The common view is that the standard CT can identify what is typically defined as discrimination in a legal sense - what we label total discrimination in the current study -, although it cannot separate between preferences and statistical discrimination. However, Heckman and Siegelman (1993) convincingly show that audit and correspondence studies can obtain biased estimates of total discrimination - in any direction - if employers evaluate applications according to some threshold level of productivity. This issue has essentially been ignored in the empirical literature on CT experiments until the appearance of the methodology proposed by Neumark (2012). He shows that with the right data and an identifying assumption, with testable predictions, this method can identify the total discrimination. In the current paper we use this new method to reexamine a number of already published correspondence studies to investigate whether their estimate of total discrimination is affected by group differences in variances of unobservable characteristics. We also aim at improving the general understanding of to what extent the standardization level of job applications is an issue in empirical work. We find that the standardization level of the job applications being set by the experimenter appear to be a general issue in correspondence studies which must be taken seriously. |
| Keywords: | correspondence studies, discrimination |
| JEL: | J71 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uca:ucapdv:172&r=lab |
| By: | Carluccio, J.; Bas, M. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I study how the CEO's election can be biased if some directors in the board belong to the same network. I use a static Bayesian game. Directors want to elect the best candidate but they also want to vote for the winner. In that context, results show that, when no candidate is part of the network, boards with a network perform better in electing the right candidate. On the other hand, it becomes detrimental for stockholders if one candidate is part of the network. Indeed, compared to a situation where there are no interconnections between directors, the directors who are members of a network vote more often for the candidate they think is best, rather than for the one they think might win. The ones who are not part of the network follow their lead. Thus the network has power on the result of the election and therefore limits the power of the future CEO. |
| Keywords: | worker bargaining power, firm-boundaries, intra-firm trade. |
| JEL: | F14 J51 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:460&r=lab |