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on Labour Economics |
| By: | António Morgado (ISCAL - IPL. Polithecnic Institute of Lisbon); Tiago Neves Sequeira (Departamento de Gestão e Economia and CEFAGE-UBI); Marcelo Santos (Departamento de Gestão e Economia and CEFAGE-UBI); Alexandra Ferreira Lopes (Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, ISCTE-IUL, ISCTE); Ana Balcão Reis (Nova School of Business and Economics) |
| Abstract: | We calculate aggregate measures of mismatch in the labour market for 30 European countries. These indicators measure vertical mismatch (related to the level of education, e.g. overeducation, and undereducation) and horizontal mismatch (related to the eld of education) and are comparable across countries and through time. We obtain that in European countries between 15% to nearly 35% of workers have a job for which they have more (or less) qualications than the usual level. Approximately 20% to nearly 50% work in a job for which they do not have the usual eld qualication. There is a great variability on mismatch incidence across European labour markets. Undereducation affects more workers than overeducation in most European countries. Low correlations between mismatch and unemployment indicate that mismatch should be regarded as an additional informative variable, useful to characterize labour markets. We also study the in uence of the different measures of mismatch on the evolution of per capita output in both the short and long-run. We nd evidence of strong short-run effects of mismatch. |
| Keywords: | Education; Human Capital; Mismatch; Labour Market. |
| JEL: | J24 O50 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfe:wpcefa:2014_13&r=lab |
| By: | Daniel D. Schnitzlein |
| Abstract: | Motivated by contradictory evidence on intergenerational mobility in Germany, I present a cross-country comparison of Germany and the US, reassessing the question of whether intergenerational mobility is higher in Germany than the US. I can reproduce the standard result from the literature, which states that the German intergenerational elasticity estimates are lower than those for the US. However, based on highly comparable data, even a reasonable degree of variation in the sampling rules leads to similar estimates in both countries. I find no evidence for nonlinearities along the fathers' earnings distribution. In contrast, the analysis shows that mobility is higher for the sons at the lowest quartile of the sons' earnings distribution in both countries. In Germany this result is mainly driven by a high downward mobility of sons with fathers in the upper middle part of the earnings distribution. The corresponding pattern is clearly less pronounced in the US. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, SOEP, CNEF, Germany, US |
| JEL: | J62 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp689&r=lab |
| By: | Jauer, Julia; Liebig, Thomas; Martin, John P.; Puhani, Patrick A. |
| Abstract: | The question of whether migration can be an equilibrating force in the labour market is an important criterion for an optimal currency area. It is of particular interest currently in the context of high and rising levels of labour market disparities, in particular within the Eurozone where there is no exchange-rate mechanism available to play this role. We shed some new light on this question by comparing pre- and post-crisis migration movements at the regional level in both Europe and the United States, and their association with asymmetric labour market shocks. We find that recent migration flows have reacted quite significantly to the EU enlargements in 2004 and 2007 and to changes in labour market conditions, particularly in Europe. Indeed, in contrast to the pre-crisis situation and the findings of previous empirical studies, there is tentative evidence that the migration response to the crisis has been considerable in Europe, in contrast to the United States where the crisis and subsequent sluggish recovery were not accompanied by greater interregional labour mobility in reaction to labour market shocks. Our estimates suggest that, if all measured population changes in Europe were due to migration for employment purposes – i.e. an upper-bound estimate – up to about a quarter of the asymmetric labour market shock would be absorbed by migration within a year. However, in the Eurozone the reaction mainly stems from migration of third-country nationals. Even within the group of Eurozone nationals, a significant part of the free mobility stems from immigrants from third countries who have taken on the nationality of their Eurozone host country. |
| Keywords: | Free mobility, migration, economic crisis, labour market adjustment, Eurozone, Europe, United States |
| JEL: | F15 F16 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:econwp:2014:32&r=lab |
| By: | Fatima, Syeda Tamkeen |
| Abstract: | The distributional impact of globalization is of great academic interest. This paper traces the progression of theoretical trade models and their ability to explain the differential impact of off-shoring on skill premiums (i.e. skilled-unskilled wage dispersion) in the recipient developing countries. In light of the increasing trend of off-shoring activities, it is important to look at its consequence on labor demand and skill composition in the south which can in turn affect the wage dispersion in these economies. The varied impact of off-shoring activities onto the wage dispersion in the south as supported by the empirical evidence calls for a comprehensive model that can reconcile these differences. The class of theoretical models pointing in only one direction of either an increase, decrease or no change in wage dispersion need to be enriched to take account of multiple equilibrium or asymmetric pattern of skill premium obtained under different circumstances. |
| Keywords: | Off-shoring; Foreign direct investment; FDI; Wage inequality; Skill premium; Developing south |
| JEL: | F16 J31 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bom:ieewps:207&r=lab |
| By: | Oscar Bajo-Rubio (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha); Carmen Díaz-Mora (University of Castilla-La Mancha) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyse the impact on domestic employment resulting from outward FDI performed by Spanish firms, using industry data for the period 1995‐2011. Together with the effects on total employment, we differentiate the effects according to the particular groups of countries and activities to which those FDI outflows are addressed. In addition, the impact of outward FDI on the demand for labour is also analysed separately for high and low skill levels of the labour force. |
| Keywords: | Foreign direct investment, Employment, Spanish economy |
| JEL: | F21 F23 J40 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aee:wpaper:1409&r=lab |
| By: | Nao Sudo (Bank of Japan); Kozo Ueda (Waseda University); Kota Watanabe (Meiji University); Tsutomu Watanabe (University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | Standard New Keynesian models have often neglected temporary sales. In this paper, we ask whether this treatment is appropriate. In the empirical part of the pa- per, we provide evidence using Japanese scanner data covering the last two decades that the frequency of sales was closely related with macroeconomic developments. Specifically, we find that the frequency of sales and hours worked move in opposite directions in response to technology shocks, producing a negative correlation be- tween the two. We then construct a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model that takes households' decisions regarding their allocation of time for work, leisure, and bargain hunting into account. Using this model, we show that the rise in the frequency of sales, which is observed in the data, can be accounted for by the decline in hours worked during Japan's lost decades. We also find that the real effect of monetary policy shocks weakens by around 40% due to the presence of temporary sales, but monetary policy still matters. |
| Keywords: | sales; monetary policy; lost decades; time use |
| JEL: | E3 E5 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upd:utppwp:029&r=lab |
| By: | Rosario Sanchez; Mª Angeles Díaz Mayans |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:002721:272100077&r=lab |
| By: | Zhiqi Chen (Department of Economics, Carleton University); Afshan Dar-Brodeur (Statistics Canada) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to investigate whether international rivalry will lead to a “race-to-the-bottom” (RTB) in labour standards. We derive the equilibrium levels of labour standards in an environment that is most conducive to a RTB, specifically the Brander and Spencer (1985) model of strategic trade in which each government has an incentive to lower the cost of a domestic firm. Our analysis suggests that strategic trade considerations do not lead to a RTB in labour standards. To the contrary, equilibrium labour standards are higher than those in the absence of government intervention. In the case where governments are free to choose the rate of an export subsidy, labour standards are inefficiently high. Binding global trade rules that reduce the subsidy rate would move the equilibrium labour standards closer to their efficient level, and a prohibition of the subsidy would eliminate the efficiency loss in labour markets. |
| Keywords: | Labour standards, international trade, export subsidy |
| JEL: | J8 F1 |
| Date: | 2014–09–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:car:carecp:14-10&r=lab |
| By: | Vincenzo Scoppa; Manuela Stranges (Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza, Università della Calabria) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the role of culture in explaining economic outcomes at individual level analyzing how cultural values from the home country affect the decision to work of immigrants in Italy, using the National Survey of Households with Immigrants. Following the “epidemiological approach”, we relate the probability of being employed in Italy for immigrant women with the female labor force participation (LFP) in their country of origin, taken as a proxy of cultural heritage and gender role model. Controlling for a number of individual and household characteristics, we show that participation in the labor market is affected both by the culture of females’ and by their husband’s origin countries. We also show that the relationship between own decisions in the host country and home country LFP cannot be attributed to human capital quality or discrimination and it turns out to be stronger for immigrants that maintained more intense ties with their origin countries. Finally, we investigate to what extent cultural influence is driven by religious beliefs: we find that religion is a key determinant of differences in female labor decisions, but, besides religion, other cultural values exert additional influence.. |
| Keywords: | Culture, Immigration, Labor Force Participation, Epidemiological Approach, Gender, Italy |
| JEL: | Z10 Z13 J10 J15 J16 J20 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clb:wpaper:201413&r=lab |
| By: | A.Pizzo |
| Abstract: | In this paper I shed light on the issues of the (low) volatilities of labor market variables implied by the search and matching model and the (high) values of the correlations between these variables and labor productivity. On the one hand, Shimer (2005) claims that “Not only there is little amplification, but there is also no propagation of the labor productivity shock in the [search and matching] model.” On the other, starting from Galì (1999) empirical evidence about the reaction of employment to a neutral positive technological shock seems to indicate a recessionary effect in the short term, thus casting doubts about the whole transmission mechanism as described by Shimer (2005) in line with a RBC framework. I claim that a New Keynesian model with nominal rigidities is able to replicate the set of moments of both volatilities and correlations; the model presents two distinctive features: employment decreases after a positive technological shock and the calibration strategy in choosing the vacancy posting cost is different with respect of Shimer (2005) and in line with the RBC tradition. I show also that the use of the traditional separable preferences in consumption and leisure worsens the Shimer's critique, via the consequences of wealth effects on labor supply. |
| Keywords: | labor market fluctuations, technology shock, price rigidities. |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J60 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:507&r=lab |
| By: | Clément Carbonnier (Université de Cergy-Pontoise, THEMA) |
| Abstract: | The present paper investigates the incidence of payroll taxation - and more generally labor income taxation - in a search and matching model. The model considers a production function with different type of workers, allowing to understand the interactions between segmented labor markets. Furthermore, the equilibrium is reach through a double process of intra-firm wage bargaining ex post and labor demand ex ante. The model is derived analytically for linear tax function differentiated for worker type, and numerically for non-linear tax functions. The bargaining power parameter is interpreted as reflecting the intra-segment substitutability, in parallel to the inter-segment substitutability deriving from the production function and the segment size and productivity. Some standard results are found, such as the wages,unemployment and incidence increasing with respect to bargaining power; or the payroll tax burden falling mainly on workers. Moreover, it is shown that over-shifting of payroll taxes on net wages may happen. It is also shown that a stronger bargaining power induced weaker direct effect of taxes but larger crossed eects on other segments. In addition, marginal incidence decreases with respect to the payroll tax level and is therefore significantly lower than mean incidence, which may induce an underestimation of overall incidence by empirical analyses. This also induces a marginally decreasing eect on loabor costs of payroll tax cuts. |
| Keywords: | Search and matching; segemented labor market; intra-rm bargaining; tax incidence |
| JEL: | H22 J31 J38 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ema:worpap:2014-20&r=lab |