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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Arpaia, Alfonso (European Commission); Kiss, Aron (European Commission, Directorate Economic and Financial Affairs); Palvolgyi, Balazs (European Commission); Turrini, Alessandro (European Commission) |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses macroeconomic determinants of labour mobility and its role in the adjustment to asymmetric shocks. First, the paper develops stylised facts of mobility at the national and sub-national levels in the EU. Then, it explores the macroeconomic determinants of bilateral migration flows. Econometric evidence suggests that labour mobility increases significantly when a country joins the EU. While euro area membership seems not to be associated with an overall rise in the magnitude of mobility flows, workers do appear more ready to move from countries where unemployment is high to those where it is lower. Thirdly, the paper looks at mobility as a channel of economic adjustment by means of a VAR analysis in the vein of Blanchard and Katz (1992). Results indicate that mobility absorbs about a quarter of an asymmetric shock within 1 year. Movements in response to shocks have almost doubled since the introduction of the euro. Real wages have also become more responsive to asymmetric shocks during the same period. |
| Keywords: | labour mobility, geographic mobility, migration, gravity, adjustment, asymmetric shocks, optimal currency areas, European Union |
| JEL: | J61 J64 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izapps:pp106&r=all |
| By: | Gilles Grenier (Department of Economics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON); Yi Zhang |
| Abstract: | With Canadian data ranging from 1991 to 2011, this paper investigates the effects of the number of years since migration on the earnings of immigrants from the United States and the United Kingdom in Canada. The aim is to test whether the “negative assimilation” hypothesis proposed by Chiswick and Miller (2011) for immigrants to the United States is a universal finding for immigrants from countries with similar economic standing and skill transferability to those of the destination country. We also expand on Chiswick and Miller’s work by doing regressions for both males and females and by comparing to Chinese immigrants, a representative group from a less developed country. We find that the negative assimilation hypothesis does not hold for the Canadian labour market. Specifically, the assimilation rate is close to zero for U.K. immigrants and strictly positive for U.S. immigrants (although lower than that of a comparison group of Chinese immigrants). The assimilation rates are also higher for females than for males. |
| Keywords: | Immigrants, Negative Assimilation, Canada, Skill Transferability |
| JEL: | J15 J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ott:wpaper:1504e&r=all |
| By: | François Cochard (CRESE EA3190, Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté); Hélène Couprie (Université de Cergy-Pontoise, THEMA); Astrid Hopfensitz (Toulouse School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Female specialization on household work and male specialization on labor-market work is a widely observed phenomenon across time and countries. Gender differences regarding characteristics (preferences, productivity) and context (wage rates, social norms) are generally recognized to explain this fact. We experimentally investigate work division by true co-habiting couples participating in a newly developed specialization task. Efficiency in this task comes at the cost of inequality, giving higher earnings to the “advantaged” player. We compare behavior when men (or women) are in the advantaged position, which correspond to the traditional (or power) couple case where he (or she) earns more. We show that women do not contribute more than men to the household public good whatever the situation. This result allows us to rule-out some of the standard explanations of the work division puzzle. |
| Keywords: | Experiment on couples, Time allocation, Work division |
| JEL: | D13 C99 J16 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crb:wpaper:2015-08&r=all |
| By: | Mankart, Jochen; Oikonomou, Rigas |
| Abstract: | We develop a theoretical model with labor market frictions, incomplete financial markets and with households which have two members. Households face unemployment risks but their members adjust their labor supplies to insure against unemployment. We use the model to explain the cyclical properties of aggregate employment and participation. As in the US data, the model predicts that the participation rate (the fraction of individuals that want jobs) is not strongly correlated with aggregate economic activity. This property is in sharp contrast to the strongly procyclical participation predicted by both neoclassical models and models with search frictions, when we assume bachelor households or households with infinitely many members (complete markets). In the two member household model and in the data, primary earners are always in the labor force, secondary earners have a mildly countercyclical participation rate and a mildly procyclical employment rate. Their behavior insures the household against unemployment risks. |
| Keywords: | Heterogeneous Agents,Family Self Insurance,Labor Market Search,Aggregate Fluctuations |
| JEL: | E24 E25 E32 J10 J64 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdps:262015&r=all |
| By: | McGuinness, Seamus; Kelly, Elish; Pham Thi Thu, Phuong; Ha Thi Thu, Thuy |
| Abstract: | Using data from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey, this paper examines the returns to education in Vietnam in 2002 and 2010, and how these returns changed over time. Given the economic growth that took place during this time period, the relative demand for labour is also assessed in order to identify if skill-biased technical change played a role in explaining the returns to education in Vietnam at a time of exceptional economic growth. The male and female education returns displayed a linear pattern in both 2002 and 2010, with earnings rising with increased levels of education. Relative to males with no qualifications, the returns to those with a vocational training qualification or below fell between 2002 and 2010, while the economic returns to a college education and above increased. Similar results were observed for females. In relation to relative labour demand, the results indicated that the demand for all levels of education (apart from males with a high school qualification) relative to those with no qualifications grew between 2002 and 2010. However, there was particularly strong growth in the demand for those with a vocational training qualification and above, especially an advanced degree qualification. Findings from the paper show that high levels of economic growth in Vietnam between 2002 and 2010 have facilitated increasing returns to education and demand for high skilled labour. In addition, there appears to be shortages for some types of skilled labour. |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp506&r=all |
| By: | Etienne Lehmann (CRED (TEPP) University Panthéon Assas, Paris 2); Paola L. Montero Ledezma (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)); Bruno Van der Linden (FNRS and UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)) |
| Abstract: | This article examines unemployment disparities and efficiency in a densely populated economy with two job centers and workers distributed between them. We introduce commuting costs and search-matching frictions to deal with the spatial mismatch between workers and firms. In a decentralized economy job-seekers do not internalize a composition externality they impose on all the unemployed. With symmetric job centers, a change in the distribution of the workforce can lead to asymmetric equilibrium outcomes. We calibrate the model for Los Angeles and Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Areas. Simulations suggest that changes in the workforce distribution have non-negligible effects on unemployment rates, wages, and net output, but cannot be the unique explanation of a substantial mismatch problem. |
| Keywords: | Spatial mismatch, commuting, urban unemployment, externality |
| JEL: | J64 R13 R23 |
| Date: | 2015–08–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2015016&r=all |
| By: | Celikaksoy, Aycan (SOFI, Stockholm University); Wadensjö, Eskil (Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | More unaccompanied refugee children arrive to and get a residence permit in Sweden than in any other country in Europe. The number of children who arrives is increasing fast. The Swedish experiences are therefore of great interest also for other countries. In this paper we study the labour market situation in terms of employment and income for those who have arrived as unaccompanied minors and have been registered in Sweden. We compare them with those who also arrived as minors from the same countries but who have arrived together with their parents. After controlling for demographic and migration related variables we find that young adults who arrived as unaccompanied refugee children are more likely to be employed than those children who arrived accompanied from the same countries. Another result is that labour market participation is much lower for females than for males. We also compare the labour market situation of these children with that for those who were born in Sweden and are of the same age. |
| Keywords: | unaccompanied minors, refugee children, migration, employment, income |
| JEL: | J13 J15 J21 J31 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9306&r=all |
| By: | Currie, Janet (Princeton University); Schwandt, Hannes (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | Scholars have been examining the relationship between fertility and unemployment for more than a century. Most studies find that fertility falls with unemployment in the short run, but it is not known whether these negative effects persist since women may simply postpone child bearing to better economics times. Using over 140 million U.S. birth records for the period 1975 to 2010, we analyze both the short and long-run effects of unemployment on fertility. We follow fixed cohorts of U.S. born women defined by their own state and year of birth, and relate their fertility to the unemployment rate experienced by each cohort at different ages. We focus on conceptions that result in a live birth. We find that women in their early 20s are most affected by high unemployment rates in the short-run and that the negative effects on fertility grow over time. A one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate experienced between the ages of 20 and 24 reduces the short-run fertility of women in this age range by 6 conceptions per 1,000 women. When we follow these women to age 40, we find that a one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate experienced at 20 to 24 leads to an overall loss of 14.2 conceptions. This long-run effect is driven largely by women who remain childless and thus do not have either first births or higher order births. |
| Keywords: | fertility, unemployment |
| JEL: | J6 J11 J12 J13 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9299&r=all |
| By: | T. Dohmen; H. Lehmann; N. Pignatti |
| Abstract: | We use the panel data of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and of the Ukrainian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (ULMS) to investigate whether risk attitudes have primary (exogenous) determinants that are valid in different stages of economic development and in a different structural context, comparing a mature capitalist economy and a transition economy. We then analyze the stability of the risk measures over time. Between 2007 and 2012 we have the Great Recession, which had a mild impact in the German labor market while it had a more profound impact on the Ukrainian labor market. This enables us to investigate whether and how the crisis impacted on the risk attitudes in the two countries. By focusing on self-employment we also investigate whether the reduced willingness to take risks as a consequence of the Great Recession affects labor market dynamics and outcomes. |
| JEL: | J64 J65 P50 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp1025&r=all |
| By: | Christian Schoder |
| Abstract: | A Dynamic Stochastic Labor-Market Disequilibrium (DSLMD) model is proposed for Keynesian business cycle analysis. It shares the type of micro-foundation known from neoclassical Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) models but characterizes economic mechanisms consistent with Traditional Post-Keynesian (TPK) models. Wage inflation is perceived as a non-market-clearing policy variable which may be subject to a collective Nash bargaining process with the state of the labor market affecting the relative bargaining power. The core insights are twofold: First, apart from assumptions regarding expectation formation, the DSGE-type of microfoundation is, to a considerable extent, consistent with the behavioral hypotheses underlying TPK models. Second, the economy characterized by the DSLMD model is post-Keynesian rather than neoclassical. |
| Keywords: | Dynamic stochastic labor-market disequilibrium, dynamic stochastic general equilibrium, post-Keynesian economics, micro-foundations |
| JEL: | B41 E12 J52 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imk:wpaper:157-2015&r=all |
| By: | Hull, Marie C. (University of North Carolina, Greensboro) |
| Abstract: | Past research has shown that Hispanic students make test score gains relative to whites as they age through school; however, this finding stands in contrast to the experience of blacks, who show little change in their relative position over the same time frame. Distinguishing Hispanic students by immigrant generation, I find that the children of immigrants (first- and second-generation Hispanics) drive the improvement in Hispanic test scores. Later-generation Hispanics consistently perform slightly below whites, perhaps due to negative selection into ethnic identification. Thus, previous estimates vastly understate the progress of first- and second-generation Hispanic immigrants. From a negative gap in 3rd grade, these students surpass socioeconomically similar whites in math and reading by middle school and end 8th grade as much as a quarter of a standard deviation ahead. Assimilation alone cannot explain this progress; a potential explanation is that immigrant parents create a home environment that fosters achievement. |
| Keywords: | human capital, achievement gap, Hispanic immigrants |
| JEL: | J24 I24 J15 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9307&r=all |
| By: | Chad Sparber (Colgate University) |
| Abstract: | For-profit firms are limited in their ability to hire new, foreign-born, highly-educated workers after quotas on H-1B work permits are met each year, though they are able to hire existing H-1B workers. Universities and other non-profit research institutions do not face the same restrictions. Using difference in- difference methodology, this paper estimates the marginal value of an accepted H-1B job offer — in the form of wages — at for-profit firms after quotas have been met. Lower-bound estimates suggest a 1% wage premium with the largest differences occurring in the first month after meeting the quota. At least some of these effects are attributable to wage increases within narrowly-defined groups of workers during years in which available H-1B permits are quickly exhausted. These results provide indirect evidence that H-1B workers are imperfectly substitutable with other labor sources. |
| Keywords: | Skilled Workers, H-1B Work Permit, Immigration, Difference-in-Difference |
| JEL: | J61 F22 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1510&r=all |
| By: | David Card; Laura Giuliano |
| Abstract: | Low income and minority students are under-represented in gifted education programs. One explanation for this pattern is that the usual process for identifying gifted students, through parent and teacher referrals, systematically misses many potentially qualified disadvantaged students. We use the experiences in a large urban school district following the introduction of a universal screening program for second grade students to study this hypothesis. With no change in the standards for gifted eligibility the screening program led to large increases in the fractions of economically disadvantaged students and minorities placed in gifted programs. Comparisons of the newly identified gifted students with those who would have been placed in the absence of screening show that blacks and Hispanics, free/reduced price lunch participants, English language learners, and girls are all systematically "under-referred" in the traditional parent/teacher referral system. |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21519&r=all |
| By: | Huang, Wei (Harvard University); Lei, Xiaoyan (Peking University); Sun, Ang (Renmin University of China) |
| Abstract: | The rise in education of women relative to men is an emerging worldwide phenomenon in recent decades. This paper investigates the impact of the birth control policies on teenage girls' education attainment. The estimates suggest that the policies explain 30 percent of the education increase for women born in 1945-1980 and 50 percent of the gender gap narrowing in China. Further analysis provides some suggestive evidence for potential mechanisms, including the policy-induced expectations for labor and marriage market and subjective attitudes on children and gender-equality. These findings highlight the role of fertility policies in women's empowerment of last century. |
| Keywords: | One-Child Policy, education of girls, expectation |
| JEL: | D84 I20 J13 J16 J18 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9301&r=all |
| By: | Freyens, Benoit Pierre (University of Canberra); Gong, Xiaodong (NATSEM, University of Canberra) |
| Abstract: | The paper analyses the arbitration of dismissal disputes by Australian labour courts over a 15 years' time span characterized by two major legal reforms to unfair dismissal statutes. We isolate two channels by which we think the social values of the Federal government affected the decisions of the courts: (i) through changes to established rules (the legal standards guiding decisions) and (ii) through labour court appointments (changing the composition of decision-makers). We study these two questions by analysing the probability of plaintiffs' victory in Australian labour court, using a panel of 81 judges and 2,223 decisions. We test for and subsequently exploit the randomized matching of labour court judges with unfair dismissal cases. We also test for and address the Priest-Klein selection effect, which is known to potentially invalidate analysis of trial cases. Using several model specifications we find significant effects from both channels: statutory reforms and judges' work background have strong and significant effects on case outcomes. |
| Keywords: | unfair dismissal laws, judicial backgrounds, case outcomes |
| JEL: | J52 K31 K41 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9295&r=all |
| By: | Fairlie, Robert W. (University of California, Santa Cruz) |
| Abstract: | Boys are doing worse in school than are girls, which has been dubbed "the Boy Crisis". An analysis of the latest data on educational outcomes among boys and girls reveals extensive disparities in grades, reading and writing test scores, and other measurable educational outcomes, and these disparities exist across family resources and race. Focusing on disadvantaged schoolchildren, I then examine whether time investments made by boys and girls related to computer use contribute to the gender gap in academic achievement. Data from several sources indicate that boys are less likely to use computers for schoolwork and are more likely to use computers for playing games, but are less likely to use computers for social networking and email than are girls. Using data from a large field experiment randomly providing free personal computers to schoolchildren for home use, I also test whether these differential patterns of computer use displace homework time and ultimately translate into worse educational outcomes among boys. No evidence is found indicating that personal computers crowd out homework time and effort for disadvantaged boys relative to girls. Home computers also do not have negative effects on educational outcomes such as grades, test scores, courses completed, and tardies for disadvantaged boys relative to girls. |
| Keywords: | technology, computers, ICT, education, gender, field experiment, poverty |
| JEL: | C93 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9302&r=all |