|
on Labour Economics |
| By: | van der Klaauw, Bas (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This overview describes the development of methods for empirical research in the field of labor economics during the past four decades. This period is characterized by the use of micro data to answer policy relevant research question. Prominent in the literature is the search for exogenous variation in treatment assignment which can be exploited to estimate causal effects. With the increased availability of detailed administrative data empirical labor economics and more generally empirical microeconomics will become an even more prominent field in economics research. |
| Keywords: | treatment effects, endogeneity, selection, experiments, labor market behavior, microeconometrics |
| JEL: | C21 C26 C93 J68 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8047&r=lab |
| By: | Kosfeld, Michael (Goethe University Frankfurt); Neckermann, Susanne (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Yang, Xiaolan (Zhejiang University) |
| Abstract: | We manipulate workers' perceived meaning of a job in a field experiment. Half of the workers are informed that their job is important, the other half are told that their job is of no relevance. Results show that workers exert more effort when meaning is high, corroborating previous findings on the relationship between meaning and work effort. We then compare the effect of meaning to the effect of monetary incentives and of worker recognition via symbolic awards. We also look at interaction effects. While meaning outperforms monetary incentives, the latter have a robust positive effect on performance that is independent of meaning. In contrast, meaning and recognition have largely similar effects but interact negatively. Our results are in line with image-reward theory (Bénabou and Tirole 2006) and suggest that meaning and worker recognition operate via the same channel, namely image seeking. |
| Keywords: | meaning, monetary incentives, worker recognition, field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 J33 M12 M52 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8055&r=lab |
| By: | Andersson, Åke E. (Jönköping International Business School); Andersson , David Emanuel (Nottingham University Business School China); Hårsman, Björn (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Daghbashyan, Zara (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Unemployment rates differ dramatically across European regions. This paper analyses these differences by integrating institutional and spatial perspectives into a unified theoretical framework. An econometric model is then used to analyse differences among European NUTS2 regions. The results of random-effects models indicate that there are four key factors that explain regional unemployment rates. Flexible labour market regulations and above-average levels of interpersonal trust are institutional factors that reduce unemployment. Accessibility factors such as inter-regional transport connectivity and local access to skilled workers have similarly substantial effects. Whether a region belongs to the Eurozone or not seems to be less important. |
| Keywords: | unemployment; Euro; institutions; accessibility |
| JEL: | R10 R15 R23 R28 |
| Date: | 2014–03–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0355&r=lab |
| By: | Kok, Suzanne (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); ter Weel, Bas (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis) |
| Abstract: | This research applies a task-based approach to measure and interpret changes in the employment structure of the 168 largest US cities in the period 1990-2009. As a result of technological change some tasks can be placed at distance, while others require proximity. We construct a measure of task connectivity to investigate which tasks are more likely to require proximity relative to others. Our results suggest that cities with higher shares of connected tasks experienced higher employment growth. This result is robust to a variety of other explanations including industry composition, routinisation, and the complementarity between skills and cities. |
| Keywords: | occupations, tasks, cities, employment |
| JEL: | J20 J30 O30 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8053&r=lab |
| By: | Pan Ké Shon, Jean-Louis (CREST-LSQ); Verdugo, Gregory (Bank of France) |
| Abstract: | Analysing restricted access census data, this paper examines the long-term trends of immigrant segregation in France from 1968 to 2007. Similar to other European countries, France experienced a rise in the proportion of immigrants in its population that was characterised by a new predominance of non-European immigration. Despite this, average segregation levels remained moderate. While the number of immigrant enclaves increased, particularly during the 2000s, the average concentration for most groups decreased because of a reduction of heavily concentrated census tracts and census tracts with few immigrants. Contradicting frequent assertions, neither mono-ethnic census tract nor ghettoes exist in France. By contrast, many immigrants live in census tracts characterised by a low proportion of immigrants from their own group and from all origins. A long residential period in France is correlated with lower concentrations and proportion of immigrants in the census tract for most groups, though these effects are sometimes modest. |
| Keywords: | immigration, spatial segregation, France |
| JEL: | J61 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8062&r=lab |
| By: | Amanda Gosling; Mathan Satchi |
| Abstract: | We present a job posting model of a labour market where jobs differ in characteristics other than wages and workers differ in their marginal willingness to pay for such characteristics. This creates incentives for firms to separate workers by posting multiple jobs. The interaction between these separation incentives and the standard search frictions is the key contribution of the paper. The paper examines the implications for policies such as a minimum wage or ones which set minimum standards on these non-wage job characteristics. We show that policies that set standards on wages and the other job characteristics can increase the utility of the worst-off workers and may reduce inefficient forms of unemployment. Policies that only intervene in one aspect on the other hand may increase these forms of unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Search; Job posting; Non-wage characteristics; Separation incentives; Minimum Wages |
| JEL: | J31 J32 J42 J64 J80 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:1401&r=lab |
| By: | Yolanda F. Rebollo-Sanz (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Jose Ignacio García Pérez (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide) |
| Abstract: | Unemployment insurance is usually found to show negative effects in the transition from unemployment to a new job. However, the extent to which workers’ careers might improve or deteriorate as a result of the unemployment insurance system is not immediately clear. This paper addresses the effects of certain aspects of this system on employment stability by jointly accounting for benefits endogeneity, dynamic selection issues and occurrence dependence. The analysis is undertaken for a dual labour market, such as the market in Spain, where temporary and permanent workers differ with respect to numerous individual and labour market characteristics. We find that non-insured unemployed workers experience a greater rate of transition to employment than insured workers. But we also find that benefits encourage job stability for temporary workers not only by increasing subsequent job tenure but also by increasing the probability of entering into a permanent contract. Finally, we get that shortening the duration of the benefit entitlement period does not seem to lead to significant gains in overall employment stability, which increases at most by 4.3%. . |
| Keywords: | Unemployment insurance; Multivariate Mixed Proportional Hazard Model; Job Turnover; Employment Stability; Employment Dynamics |
| JEL: | J63 J64 J65 J68 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:14.02&r=lab |
| By: | Jesper Bagger (Royal Holloway, University of London); Rasmus Lentz (University of Wisconsin-Maddison) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies wage dispersion in an equilibrium on-the-job-search model with endogenous search intensity. Workers differ in their permanent skill level and firms differ with respect to productivity. Positive (negative) sorting results if the match production function is supermodular (submodular). The model is estimated on Danish matched employer-employee data. We find evidence of positive assortative matching. In the estimated equilibrium match distribution, the correlation between worker skill and firm productivity is 0.12. The assortative matching has a substantial impact on wage dispersion. We decompose wage variation into four sources: Worker heterogeneity, firm heterogeneity, frictions, and sorting. Worker heterogeneity contributes 51% of the variation, firm heterogeneity contributes 11%, frictions 23%, and finally sorting contributes 15%. We measure the output loss due to mismatch by asking how much greater output would be if the estimated population of matches were perfectly positively assorted. In this case, output would increase by 7.7%. |
| Keywords: | Sorting, Worker heterogeneity, Firm heterogeneity, On-the-job search, Wage dispersion, Matched employer-employee data |
| JEL: | J24 J33 J62 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2014–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2014-11&r=lab |
| By: | Elsayed, Ahmed (ROA, Maastricht University); de Grip, Andries (ROA, Maastricht University); Fouarge, Didier (ROA, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | Using data from the UK Skills Surveys, we show that the part-time pay penalty for female workers within low- and medium-skilled occupations decreased significantly over the period 1997-2006. The convergence in computer use between part-time and full-time workers within these occupations explains a large share of the decrease in the part-time pay penalty. However, the lower part-time pay penalty is also related to lower wage returns to reading and writing which are performed more intensively by full-time workers. Conversely, the increasing returns to influencing has increased the part-time pay penalty despite the convergence in the influencing task input between part-time and full-time workers. The relative changes in the input and prices of computer use and job tasks together explain more than 50 percent of the decrease in the part-time pay penalty. |
| Keywords: | part-time work, pay penalty, job tasks, computer use |
| JEL: | J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8069&r=lab |
| By: | Gathmann, Christina (Heidelberg University); Keller, Nicolas (Alfred-Weber-Institut für Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Universität Heidelberg) |
| Abstract: | Immigrants in many countries have lower employment rates and lower earnings than natives. In this paper, we ask whether a more liberal access to citizenship can improve the economic integration of immigrants. Our analysis relies on two major immigration reforms in Germany, a country with a relatively weak record of immigrant assimilation. For identification, we exploit discontinuities in the reforms' eligibility rules. Between 1991 and 1999, adolescents could obtain citizenship after eight years of residency in Germany, while adults faced a 15-year residency requirement. Since 2000, all immigrants face an 8-year residency requirement. OLS estimates show a positive correlation between naturalization and labor market performance. Based on the eligibility rules, we find few returns of citizenship for men, but substantial returns for women. Returns are also larger for more recent immigrants, but essentially zero for traditional guest workers. Overall, liberalization of citizenship provides some benefits in the labor market but is unlikely to result in full economic and social integration of immigrants in the host country. |
| Keywords: | citizenship, assimilation, language, welfare, Germany |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8064&r=lab |
| By: | John M. Nunley; Adam Pugh; Nicholas Romero; Richard Alan Seals, Jr. |
| Abstract: | We conduct a résumé audit to estimate the impact of unemployment and underemployment on the employment prospects facing recent college graduates. We find no evidence that employers use current or past unemployment spells, regardless of their length, to inform hiring decisions. By contrast, college graduates who became underemployed after graduation receive about 15-30 percent fewer interview requests than job seekers who became “adequately” employed after graduation. Internship experience obtained while completing one's degree reduces the negative effects of underemployment substantially. |
| Keywords: | College Major; Underemployment; Unemployment; Duration Dependence; Employment Opportunities; Internships; Labor Demand; Field Experiments; Correspondence Studies |
| JEL: | J23 J24 J64 J70 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:abn:wpaper:auwp2014-04&r=lab |
| By: | John M. Nunley; Adam Pugh; Nicholas Romero; Richard Alan Seals, Jr. |
| Abstract: | We present experimental evidence from a correspondence test of racial discrimination in the labor market for recent college graduates. Online job advertisements were answered with over 9,000 résumé s from fictitious, recently-graduated job seekers. We find strong evidence of differential treatment by race: black applicants receive approximately 14 percent fewer interview requests than their otherwise identical white counterparts. The racial gap in employment opportunities increases as perceived productivity characteristics are added, which is difficult to reconcile with models of statistical discrimination. We investigate different channels through which the observed racial differences might occur and conclude that taste-based discrimination at the race-skill level is the most likely explanation. The racial differences identified operate primarily through customer-level discrimination. |
| Keywords: | Racial Discrimination; Employment; Productivity; Field Experiments; Correspondence Studies |
| JEL: | J23 J24 J71 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:abn:wpaper:auwp2014-06&r=lab |
| By: | van den Berg, Gerad J. (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Back Kjaersgaard, Lene (Aarhus University); Rosholm, Michael (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effects of meetings between the unemployed and their case workers on the transition rate from unemployment to employment using detailed Danish event history data obtained from administrative registers. We find large positive effects of meetings. The transition rate strongly increases in the week the meeting is held, and this effect persists for some weeks after the meeting. The effect size tends to increase with the number of meetings. The effect of the first meeting on the transition rate to work does not depend on the timing of the meeting. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment; active labor market policy; unemployment duration; treatment effects; meetings; job search assistance; employment agency |
| JEL: | C31 J64 |
| Date: | 2014–03–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2014_006&r=lab |
| By: | Hairault, Jean-Olivier (University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne); Langot, François (University of Le Mans); Sopraseuth, Thepthida (University of Cergy-Pontoise) |
| Abstract: | Since the last recession, it is usually argued that older workers are less affected by the economic downturn because their unemployment rate rose less than the one of prime-age workers. This view is a myth: older workers are more sensitive to the business cycle. We document volatilities of worker flows and hourly wage across age groups on CPS data. We find that old worker's job flows are characterized by a higher responsiveness to business cycles than their younger counterparts. In contrast, their wage cyclicality is lower than prime-age workers'. Beyond this empirical contribution, we show that a life-cycle Mortensen & Pissarides (1994) model is well suited to explain these facts: older workers' shorter work-life expectancy endogenously reduces their outside options and leads their wages to be less sensitive to the business cycle. Thus, in a market where wage adjustments are small, quantities vary a lot: this is the case for older workers, whereas the youngest behave like infinitively-lived agents. Our theoretical results point out that Shimer (2005)'s view on the MP model is consistent with prime-age workers' labor market while aging endogenously introduces real wage rigidities, allowing to match what we observe for old workers, without specific assumptions as in Hagendorn & Manovskii (2008). |
| Keywords: | search, matching, business cycle, life-cycle |
| JEL: | E32 J11 J23 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8076&r=lab |
| By: | Hirshleifer, Sarojini (University of California, San Diego); McKenzie, David (World Bank); Almeida, Rita K. (World Bank); Ridao-Cano, Cristobal (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | We use a randomized experiment to evaluate a large-scale active labor market policy: Turkey's vocational training programs for the unemployed. A detailed follow-up survey of a large sample with low attrition enables precise estimation of treatment impacts and their heterogeneity. The average impact of training on employment is positive, but close to zero and statistically insignificant, which is much lower than either program officials or applicants expected. Over the first year after training we do find training to have had statistically significant effects on the quality of employment, and that the positive impacts are stronger when training is offered by private providers. However, longer-term administrative data shows that after three years these effects have also dissipated. |
| Keywords: | vocational training, active labor market programs, randomized experiment, private provision |
| JEL: | I28 J24 J68 O12 C93 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8059&r=lab |
| By: | Francesco Zanetti; Konstantinos Theodoridis |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a VAR model estimated with Bayesian methods to identify the effect of productivity news shocks on labor market variables by imposing that they are orthogonal to current technology but they explain future observed technology.� In the aftermath of a positive news shock, unemployment falls, whereas wages and the job finding rate increase.� The analysis establishes that news shocks are important in explaining the historical developments in labor market variables, whereas they play a minor role for movements in real activity.� We show that the empirical responses to news shocks are in line with those of a baseline search and matching model of the labor market and that the job destruction rate and real wage rigidities are critical for the variables' responses to the news shock. |
| Keywords: | Anticipated productivity shocks, Bayesian SVAR methods, labor market search frictions |
| JEL: | E32 C32 C52 |
| Date: | 2014–02–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:699&r=lab |
| By: | Frederic 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: | This paper reexamines the e ciency of participation with heterogeneous workers in a search-matching model with bargained wages and free entry. As- suming that rms hire their best applicants, we state that participation is insu cient whatever workers' bargaining strengths. The reason for this is that, when holding a job, the marginal participant should receive the entire output. As a consequence, introducing a (small) minimum wage raises participation, job creation, and employment. Therefore the aggregate income of the economy is enhanced. |
| Keywords: | search and maching ; participation ; heterogeneous workers ; applicant ranking ; efficiency ; minimum wage |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00972289&r=lab |
| By: | Bingley, Paul (The Danish National Centre for Social Research – SFI); Lundborg, Petter (Department of Economics, Lund University); Vincent Lyk-Jensen, Stéphanie (The Danish National Centre for Social Research – SFI) |
| Abstract: | Military conscription implicitly taxes draftees. Those who would have volunteered at the market wage may be forced to serve for lower wages, and those with higher opportunity costs may be forced to serve regardless, yet little is known about the distribution of this burden. We exploit the Danish draft lottery to estimate the causal effect of military service on labor earnings of young men across the cognitive ability distribution. We find that high ability men who are induced to serve face a 7 percent earnings penalty, whereas low ability men face none. Educational career disruption is an important channel. |
| Keywords: | conscription; military service; earnings; draft lottery |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J45 |
| Date: | 2014–03–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2014_010&r=lab |
| By: | Mitaritonna, Cristina (CEPII, Paris); Orefice, Gianluca (CEPII, Paris); Peri, Giovanni (University of California, Davis) |
| Abstract: | Immigrants may complement native workers, increase productivity, allow specialization by skill in the firm and lower costs. These effects could be beneficial for the firm and increase its productivity and profits. However not all firms use immigrants. Allowing firms to have differential fixed cost in hiring immigrants we analyze the impact of an increase in local supply of immigrants on firms' immigrant employment and firm's productivity. Using micro-level data on French firms, we show that a supply-driven increase in foreign born workers in a department (location) increases the productivity of firms in that department. We also find that this effect is significantly stronger for firms with initially zero level of foreign employment. Those are also the firms whose share of immigrants increases the most. We also find that the positive productivity effect of immigrants is associated with faster growth of capital and improved export performances of the firms. Finally we find a positive effect of immigration on wages of natives and on specialization of natives in complex occupations, that is common to all firms in the department. |
| Keywords: | immigrants, firms, productivity, heterogeneity, fixed costs of hiring |
| JEL: | F22 E25 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8063&r=lab |
| By: | John M. Nunley; Adam Pugh; Nicholas Romero; Richard Alan Seals, Jr. |
| Abstract: | We use experimental data from a résumé-audit study to estimate the impact of particular college majors and internship experience on employment opportunities. Our experimental design relies on the randomization of résumé characteristics to identify the causal effects of these attributes on job opportunities. Despite applying exclusively to business-related job openings, we find no evidence that business degrees improve employment prospects. Furthermore, we find no evidence linking particular degrees to interview-request rates. By contrast, internship experience increases the interview-request rate by about 14 percent. In addition, the “returns” to internship experience are larger for non-business majors than for business majors. |
| Keywords: | College Major; Internship; Employment; Field Experiments; Correspondence Studies; Résumé Audit |
| JEL: | J23 J24 J60 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:abn:wpaper:auwp2014-03&r=lab |
| By: | Hamermesh, Daniel S. (University of Texas at Austin, Royal Holloway); Kawaguchi, Daiji (Hitotsubashi University); Lee, Jungmin (Sogang University) |
| Abstract: | Are workers in modern economies working "too hard" – would they be better off if an equilibrium with fewer work hours were achieved? We examine changes in life satisfaction of Japanese and Koreans over a period when hours of work were cut exogenously because employers suddenly faced an overtime penalty that had become effective with fewer weekly hours per worker. Using repeated cross sections we show that life satisfaction in both countries may have increased relatively among those workers most likely to have been affected by the legislation. The same finding is produced using Korean longitudinal data. In a household model estimated over the Korean cross-section data we find some weak evidence that a reduction in the husband's work hours increased his wife's well-being. Overall these results are consistent with the claim that legislated reductions in work hours can increase workers' happiness. |
| Keywords: | happiness, overtime work, rat-race |
| JEL: | J22 J23 J28 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8077&r=lab |
| By: | Gregory, Bob (Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | Three decades ago most immigrants to Australia with work entitlements came as permanent settlers. Today the annual allocation of temporary visas, with work entitlements, outnumbers permanent settler visas by a ratio of three to one. The new environment, with so many temporary visa holders, has led to a two-step immigration policy whereby an increasing proportion of immigrants come first as a temporary immigrant, to work or study, and then seek to move to permanent status. Around one half of permanent visas are allocated on-shore to those who hold temporary visas with work rights. The labour market implications of this new two-step system are substantial. Immigrants from non-English speaking countries (NES), are affected most. In their early years in Australia, they have substantially reduced full-time employment and substantially increased part-time employment, usually while attending an education institution. Three years after arrival one third of NES immigrants are now employed part-time which, rather than unemployment, is becoming their principal pathway to full-time labour market integration. Surprisingly, little has changed for immigrants from English speaking countries (ES). |
| Keywords: | immigrant part-time employment, fee paying foreign students, temporary employment visas, labour market integration, immigrants, employment |
| JEL: | J15 J61 J68 F22 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8061&r=lab |
| By: | De Paoli, Anna (University of Milan Bicocca); Mendola, Mariapia (University of Milan Bicocca) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the labor market effect of international migration on child work in countries of origin. We use an original cross-country survey dataset, which combines information on international migration with detailed individual-level data on child labor at age 5-14 in a wide range of developing countries. By exploiting both within- and cross-country variation and controlling for country fixed effects, we find a strong empirical regularity about the role of international mobility of workers in reducing child labor in disadvantaged households through changes in the local labor market. |
| Keywords: | international migration, child labor, factor mobility, cross-country survey data |
| JEL: | F22 F1 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8066&r=lab |
| By: | Vaidya, Kirit |
| Keywords: | wage determination, wage rate, labour supply, data collecting, survey, data analysis, public works, fixation du salaire, taux des salaires, offre de main-d'oeuvre, collecte des données, enquête, analyse des données, travaux publics, determinación del salario, tasa de salario, oferta de mano de obra, recopilación de datos, encuesta, análisis de datos, obras públicas |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:482165&r=lab |
| By: | Kalenkoski, Charlene M. (Texas Tech University); Lacombe, Donald J. (West Virginia University) |
| Abstract: | Studies of the joint time-use decisions of spouses have relied on joint estimation of time-use equations, sometimes assuming correlated errors across spouses' equations and sometimes directly examining the effects of one spouse's time use on another's, relying on panel data or instrumental variables techniques to account for endogeneity. However, panel data often are not available and available instruments often are not satisfactory, making examination of the direct relationship between spouses' time use difficult. Spatial econometric techniques applied to cross-sectional data do not require instrumental variables. This study estimates a Spatial Autoregressive (SAR) Model to examine the labor hours of husbands and wives in dual-earner couples using the 2012 Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey (ASEC). In this model, each spouse is treated as a direct “neighbor” of the other in a spatial weight matrix and non-spouses are treated as non-neighbors. Estimates of both the own- and cross-wage effects on labor hours and an estimate of the direct relationship between spouses' labor hours are obtained. |
| Keywords: | employment, intrahousehold allocation of time, own- and cross-wage effects, spatial econometrics |
| JEL: | J22 D13 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8050&r=lab |
| By: | Connelly, Rachel (Bowdoin College); Maurer-Fazio, Margaret (Bates College); Zhang, Dandan (Peking University) |
| Abstract: | Over the course of China's economic reforms, a pronounced divergence in the labor force participation patterns of rural and urban elders emerged – rural elders increased their rates of participation while urban elders reduced theirs. In this project, based on the data of the Chinese population censuses of 1982 and 2000, we employ a two-stage procedure to take into account the endogeneity of the residency and labor force participation decisions of older persons. We find that the effect of coresidency with adult children on the labor force participation of older adult differs by urban vs. rural residence. In 1982, the LFPR of urban elders who coresided with their adult children were significantly higher than those who did not coreside. By 2000, this effect completely disappeared. In contrast, in rural areas, coresidency with adult children had a large and significant negative effect on the labor force participation of both male and female elders. This effect diminished only slightly over the reform period. Finally, we decompose the changes over time in elders' labor force participation decisions and find that the response effect for all groups (male and female, urban and rural) is positive, such that, holding the levels of demographic and economic variables constant, each group of elders would have had higher rates of participation in 2000 than in 1982. The remarkable divergence in urban and rural elders' labor force participation trends are due to differences in the relative sizes of their attribute and response effects. |
| Keywords: | labor force participation, elders, China, retirement, coresidency, rural and urban, living arrangements |
| JEL: | J14 J26 J11 J12 J13 J16 J22 O15 O53 P23 R23 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8068&r=lab |
| By: | Seeun Jung (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - École normale supérieure [ENS] - Paris - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA), EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates a new way to decompose the gender wage gap with the introduction of individual risk attitudes using representative Korean data. We estimate the wage gap with correction for the selection bias, which latter results in the overestimation of this wage gap. Female workers are more risk averse. They hence prefer working in the public sector, where wages are generally lower than in the private sector. Therefore, our observation of the gender wage differential based on the normal Mincerian wage equation is overestimated. Our (corrected) wage differential is significantly reduced by 5% points, by applying the Switching Regression Model and Dubin & McFadden's selection correction. Self-selection based on risk attitudes therefore explains, in part, what is popularly perceived as gender discrimination. |
| Keywords: | Occupational Choice ; Gender Wage Gap ; Risk Preference ; Selection Bias |
| Date: | 2014–03–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00965520&r=lab |
| By: | Hiroyuki Yamada (Associate Professor, Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP)); Satoshi Shimizutani (Research Fellow, Research Division, Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the labor supply outcomes of family care provision for Japanese households in 2010, ten years after the introduction of the public long-term care insurance (LTCI) program. We found that family care provision for parents adversely affected labor market outcomes of main caregivers at home in terms of probability of working, employment status and hours worked. The adverse effect was found to be more serious for female caregivers than for male caregivers. Moreover, our results suggest that the public LTCI program seems to only partially mitigate the disadvantages of the main caregivers for both males and females. |
| Keywords: | Informal care, Caregiver, Long-term care insurance, Labor supply, Japan |
| JEL: | J22 I11 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osp:wpaper:14e004&r=lab |
| By: | Fagan, Colette; Norman, Helen; Smith, Mark; Gonzalez Menendez, María C |
| Abstract: | This report: - Assesses the current employment conditions of part-time workers in comparison with those of comparable full-time workers across a range of countries. - Investigates the barriers to mutually agreed and freely chosen part-time work that meets the needs of both employers and workers. - Identifies those government policies and enterprise policies and practices regarding working hours and working-time arrangements, which appear to be likely to improve both access to, and the quality of, part-time work arrangements, while also advancing gender equality. - Reviews and analyses those government and enterprise policies, practices and overall conditions that may help workers to successfully transition between full- and part-time work. |
| Keywords: | part time employment, working conditions, quality of working life, gender equality, emploi à temps partiel, conditions de travail, qualité de la vie de travail, égalité des genres, empleo a tiempo parcial, condiciones de trabajo, calidad de la vida de trabajo, igualdad de géneros |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:483968&r=lab |
| By: | Rudi Stracke; Wolfgang Höchtl; Rudolf Kerschbamer; Uwe Sunde |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether a designer can improve both the incentive provision and the selection performance of a promotion contest by making the competition more (or less) dynamic. A comparison of static (one-stage) and dynamic (two-stage) contests reveals that this is not the case. A structural change that improves the performance in one dimension leads to a deterioration in the other dimension. This suggests that modifications of the contest structure are an alternative to strategic handicaps. A key advantage of structural handicaps over participant-specific ones is that the implementation of the former does not require prior identification of worker types. |
| Keywords: | Promotion Contests, Heterogeneity, Incentives, Selection, Handicapping |
| JEL: | M52 J33 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inn:wpaper:2014-09&r=lab |