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on Labour Economics |
| By: | El-Sahli, Zouheir (Department of Economics, Lund University); Upward, Richard (University of Nottingham) |
| Abstract: | We investigate how individual workers and local labour markets adjust over a long time period to a discrete and plausibly exogenous technological shock, namely the introduction of containerisation in the UK port industry. This technology, which was introduced rapidly between the mid-1960s and the late-1970s, had dramatic consequences for specific occupations within the port industry. Using longitudinal micro-census data we follow dock-workers over a 40 year period and examine the long-run consequences of containerisation for patterns of employment, migration and mortality. The results show that the job guarantees protected dock-workers’ employment until their removal in 1989. A matched comparison of workers in com- parable unskilled occupations reveals that, even after job guarantees were removed, dock-workers did not fare worse than the comparison group in terms of their labour market outcomes. Our results suggest that job guarantees may significantly reduce the cost to workers of sudden technological change, albeit at a significant cost to the industry. |
| Keywords: | containerisation; labour markets; England and Wales; dock workers; technological change. |
| JEL: | J51 J64 J65 O33 |
| Date: | 2015–04–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2015_011&r=lab |
| By: | David G. Blanchflower; Andrew T. Levin |
| Abstract: | In the wake of a severe recession and a sluggish recovery, labor market slack cannot be gauged solely in terms of the conventional measure of the unemployment rate (that is, the number of individuals who are not working at all and actively searching for a job). Rather, assessments of the employment gap should reflect the incidence of underemployment (that is, people working part time who want a full-time job) and the extent of hidden unemployment (that is, people who are not actively searching but who would rejoin the workforce if the job market were stronger). In this paper, we examine the evolution of U.S. labor market slack and show that underemployment and hidden unemployment currently account for the bulk of the U.S. employment gap. Next, using state-level data, we find strong statistical evidence that each of these forms of labor market slack exerts significant downward pressure on nominal wages. Finally, we consider the monetary policy implications of the employment gap in light of prescriptions from Taylor-style benchmark rules. |
| JEL: | E24 E32 E52 E58 J21 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21094&r=lab |
| By: | Ding, Ding (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Labor mobility is mechanism for transfer the technology and innovation from multinational firms (MNEs) to non-multinational firms (non-MNEs). In this paper, we use a unique employer-employee data set in Sweden to provide individual-firm match dataset. Using the special research framework, we provide empirical evidence that hiring workers from MNEs can lead to knowledge spillover to non-MNEs and convert to innovation, even after controlling the region, industry and year effect, individuals’ and firms’ characteristics. We find hiring workers from a domestic MNEs generates stronger spillover effects compare to foreign MNEs and higher-educated workers are better able to transfer the knowledge. |
| Keywords: | Multinational enterprise; Ownership; Labor mobility; knowledge spillover |
| JEL: | F23 J61 O33 |
| Date: | 2015–04–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0402&r=lab |
| By: | Andreason, Stuart (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta) |
| Abstract: | Since the early 1990s, metropolitan entities and local governments have targeted incentives, policies, and investments with the goal of highly educated and skilled workers to locate in their communities. These efforts focus on attracting workers who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher and have had a profound effect on the form and management of metropolitan areas, but there is not clear evidence that growth in bachelor’s or higher degree attainment improves metropolitan labor market outcomes. I use an outcomes-based cluster-discriminant analysis to test whether or not metropolitan areas with growth in bachelor’s or higher degree (BA+) attainment from 1990 to 2010 that is above the national average experienced improvements in the local labor market. Increased BA+ attainment leads to two distinct set of local labor market outcomes: one in which earnings per job increases but inequality, unemployment, and poverty rates rise, and the other in which income inequality growth is low and unemployment and poverty rates decline but earnings per job are stagnant or negative. I find evidence that “educational segregation,” restrictive land-use policies, crime, and changes in military employment all predict outcomes. |
| Keywords: | educational attainment; metropolitan labor markets; labor market outcomes; talent attraction and retention |
| JEL: | J10 O21 R11 |
| Date: | 2015–04–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedawp:2015-04&r=lab |
| By: | Tomas Hellebrandt (Peterson Institute for International Economics); Michael Jarand (Peterson Institute for International Economics); Jacob Funk Kirkegaard (Peterson Institute for International Economics); Tyler Moran (Peterson Institute for International Economics); Adam S. Posen (Peterson Institute for International Economics); Justin Wolfers (Peterson Institute for International Economics); Jan Zilinsky (Peterson Institute for International Economics) |
| Abstract: | As the United States emerges from the Great Recession, concern is rising over the issues of income inequality, stagnation of wages, and especially the struggles of lower-skilled workers at the bottom end of the wage scale. A number of major American employers—for example, Aetna and Walmart—have begun to voluntarily raise the pay of their own lowest-paid employees. In this collection of essays, economists from the Peterson Institute for International Economics analyze the potential benefits and costs of widespread wage increases for lower-skilled workers, if adopted by a relevant share of US private employers. The PIIE fellows conclude that raising the pay of many of the lowest-paid US private-sector workers would not only reduce income inequality but also boost overall productivity growth, with likely minimal effect on employment in the current financial context. |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iie:piiebs:piieb15-2&r=lab |
| By: | Winters, John V. (Oklahoma State University); Li, Yu (Oklahoma State University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effects of county-level urbanization and natural amenities on subjective well-being (SWB) in the U.S. SWB is measured using individual-level data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) which asks respondents to rate their overall life satisfaction. Using individual-level SWB data allows us to control for several important individual characteristics. The results suggest that urbanization lowers SWB, with relatively large negative effects for residents in dense counties and large metropolitan areas. Natural amenities also affect SWB, with warmer winters having a significant positive effect on self-reported life-satisfaction. Implications for researchers and policymakers are discussed. |
| Keywords: | subjective well-being, urbanization, population density, amenities, quality of life |
| JEL: | I00 Q00 R00 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8966&r=lab |
| By: | Nitika Bagaria (London School of Economics and Centre for Economic Performance); Barbara Petrongolo (Queen Mary University of London, Centre for Economic Performance and CEPR); John Van Reenen (London School of Economics, Centre for Economic Performance, NBER and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | Disability rolls have escalated in developed nations over the last 40 years. The UK, however, stands out because the numbers on these benefits stopped rising when a welfare reform was introduced that integrated disability benefits with unemployment insurance (UI). This policy reform improved job information and sharpened bureaucratic incentives to find jobs for the disabled (relative to those on UI). We exploit the fact that policy was rolled-out a quasi-random across geographical areas. In the long-run the policy improved the outflows from disability benefits by 6% and had an (insignificant) 1% increase in unemployment outflows. This is consistent with a model where information helps both groups, but bureaucrats were given incentives to shift effort towards helping the disabled find jobs and away from helping the unemployed. Interestingly, in the short-run the policy had a negative impact for both groups suggesting important disruption effects. The policy passes a dynamic cost-benefit calculation, but the costs of the organizational disruption implies that benefits take about six years to exceed the one-off set-up costs making it unattractive for (myopic) policy-makers. |
| Keywords: | Incentives, Public sector, Unemployment benefits, Performance standards |
| JEL: | H51 I13 J18 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:wp742&r=lab |