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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Alain Cohn; Michel André Maréchal; Frédéric Schneider; Roberto A. Weber |
| Abstract: | We study whether employment history can provide information about a worker’s noncognitive skills—in particular about “work attitude,” or the ability to work well and cooperatively with others. Our hypothesis is that, holding all else equal, a worker’s frequent job changes can indicate poorer work attitude, and that this information is transmitted in labor markets through employment histories. We provide support for this hypothesis across three studies that employ complementary lab, field, and survey experiments. First, using a laboratory labor market in which the only valuable characteristic of workers is their reliability in complying with an employer’s effort requests, we demonstrate that prior employment information allows employers to screen for such reliability and allows high-reliability workers to obtain better employment outcomes. Second, we conduct a field experiment in which we vary the frequency of job changes in fictitious job applicants’ resumes. Those applicants with fewer job changes receive more callbacks from prospective employers. A third survey experiment with human resource professionals confirms that the resume manipulations in the field study create different perceptions of work attitude and that these account for the callback differences. Our work highlights the potential importance of job history as a signal of worker characteristics, and points to a cost for workers of frequent job changes. |
| Keywords: | Employability; work attitude; job mobility |
| JEL: | C90 C93 J01 E24 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:210&r=lab |
| By: | Anna Wieber; Elke Holst |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to verify results of the innovative study on gender identity for the USA by Bertrand et al. (2015) for Germany. They found that women who would earn more than their husbands distort their labor market outcome in order not to violate traditional gender identity norms. Using data from the German Socio-economic Panel Study we also find that the distribution of the share of income earned by the wife exhibits a sharp drop to the right of the half, where the wife’s income exceeds the husband’s income. The results of the fixed effects regression confirm that gender identity has an impact on the labor supply of full time working women, but only in Western Germany. We also show that gender identity affects the supply of housework but in contrast to the US where women increase their contribution to non-market work when they actually have a higher income than their husbands, we find for Germany that women only barely reduce their weekly hours of non-market work once their income exceeds that of their husbands. |
| Keywords: | gender roles, gender gap, female labor supply, non-market work, SOEP |
| JEL: | D10 J12 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp804&r=lab |
| By: | Janet Currie; Hannes Schwandt |
| 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: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1387&r=lab |
| By: | Elsayed A.E.A.; Grip A. de; Fouarge D.; Montizaan R.M. (GSBE) |
| Abstract: | Using data from a stated preferences experiment in the Netherlands, we find that replacing full-time pension schemes with schemes that offer gradual retirement opportunities induce workers to retire one year later on average. Total life-time labour supply, however, decreases with 3.4 months because the positive effect of delayed retirement on labour supply is cancelled out by the reduction in working hours before full retirement. The impact of gradual retirement schemes is, however, heterogeneous across groups of workers. Workers with non-routine job tasks retire at a later age when they can gradually retire. Financial incentives, either in terms of changing pension income or the price of leisure, also affect the expected retirement age, but the impact of these financial incentives does not differ with the possibility of gradual retirement. Finally, we find that gradual retirement is not a preferred option among workers as the large majority still prefers full retirement. This especially holds for workers with a lower wage and those with higher life expectancy. |
| Keywords: | Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-labor Market Discrimination; Retirement; Retirement Policies; |
| JEL: | J14 J26 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2015030&r=lab |
| By: | Tito Boeri; Juan Francisco Jimeno |
| Abstract: | Unemployment in Europe is not only "too high", it is also too different across countries that belong to a monetary union. In this paper we i) document this increasing heterogeneity, ii) try to explain it and iii) draw from our diagnosis indications as to the appropriate set of policies to reduce unemployment and labour market disparities. Our analysis suggests that the divergence in labour market outcomes across Europe is the by-product of interactions between, on the one hand, shocks of varying size and nature, and, on the other hand, country-specific labour market institutions. We argue that EU policy coordination and conditionality during the Great Recession and the euro area debt crisis did not properly take into account these interactions. We also propose a change in the European policy approach for fighting unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Okuns Law, institutions, financial shocks |
| JEL: | J3 J5 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1384&r=lab |
| By: | Rannveig Kaldager Hart (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates how the association between union dissolution and childlessness depends on life course context. Data on union histories and fertility are taken from the Norwegian GGS. To observe union histories up to age 45, I include men and women born 1927-1962, giving a study sample of 3862 men and 3956 women. To grasp the life course context of union dissolutions, I group union histories similar in timing, occurrence and ordering of events together using sequence analysis. Union histories involving at least one dissolution are sorted into two groups: In the first group, a short first union is followed by quick repartnering, and the second union is still intact at age 45 for the majority. In this group, childlessness is low. In the second group, individuals spend more time as single before and after unions, and dissolving more than one union is common. This group displays high levels of childlessness. The association between a complex union history and childlessness is substantially and significantly stronger among men than among women. Among women, union histories involving a dissolution is more strongly linked to childlessness for the highly educated. |
| Keywords: | Childlessness; Union dissolution; Partnership dynamics; Sequence Analysis |
| JEL: | J12 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:823&r=lab |
| By: | Adamopoulou, Effrosyni; Kaya, Ezgi (Cardiff Business School) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on young adults living with their parents in the U.S. and studies the role of peers. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) we analyze the influence of high school friends on the nest-leaving decision of young adults. We achieve identification by exploiting the differences in the timing of leaving the parental home among peers, the individual-specific nature of the peer groups that are based on friendship nominations, and by including school (net-work) and grade (cohort) fixed effects. Our results indicate that there are statistically significant peer effects on the decision of young adults to leave parental home. This is true even after we control for labor and housing market conditions and for a comprehensive list of individual and family-of-origin characteristics that are usually unobserved by the econometrician. We discuss various mechanisms and we confirm the robustness of our results through a placebo exercise. Our findings reconcile with the increasing trend of young adults living with their parents that has been observed in the US during the last 50 years. |
| Keywords: | peer effects; friends; living arrangements; leaving parental home |
| JEL: | D10 J12 J60 Z13 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdf:wpaper:2015/12&r=lab |
| By: | Hans Bloemen (VU University Amsterdam); Stefan Hochguertel (VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands); Jochem Zweerink (Utrecht University, the Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effect of job loss on mortality for older male workers with strong labor force attachment. Using Dutch administrative data, we find that job loss due to sudden firm closure increased the probability to die within five years by a sizable 0.60 percentage points. Importantly, this effect is estimated using a model that controls for firm-level worker characteristics, such as firm-level average mortality rates for mortality during the four years prior to the year of observation. On the mechanism driving the effect of job loss on mortality, we provide evidence for an effect running through stress and changes in life style. |
| Keywords: | job loss; mortality; treatment effect |
| JEL: | C21 I10 J63 |
| Date: | 2015–11–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20150127&r=lab |
| By: | Daniele Checchi; Simona Cicognani; Nevena Kulic |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the role of the gender composition of selection committees and networks in promoting women in research activities. We exploit a novel data set on recruitment processes in a leading Italian research centre that mainly operates in hard science. Unlike previous studies that focus on qualifications for professorships (De Paola and Scoppa, 2015; Zinovyeva and Bagues, 2011; Bagues et al., 2014), this article examines entry-level research positions, where gender imbalance usually starts. We find some evidence of discrimination against women at non-tenured entry levels, which is attenuated (or even reversed) by the presence of a woman on the selecting committee. However, the most important predictor for recruitment seems to be previous connections with the research centre, which also serves as an important mechanism for women to enter the research profession. There are further differences in the results depending on the characteristics of the committees. While higher quality commissions tend to choose more productive candidates and their decisions are not influenced by gender and/or pre-existing ties with the institution, in all the remaining cases prior acquaintance with the candidate reveals as the most important factor of success. Analysis of the post-competition productivity of female and male candidates shows that applicants with prior ties are significantly more productive, suggesting a positive signalling by prior ties of candidates’ research quality. This is, however, different for men and women, as women exhibit lower productivity and more stable time patterns when compared to men, irrespective of whether or not they are hired with prior connections. |
| Keywords: | gender quotas, discrimination, research recruitment, connections |
| JEL: | J16 J71 J45 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fbk:wpaper:2015-12&r=lab |
| By: | Tang, John P. |
| Abstract: | Economic development leads to improved health over time due to increased access to medical treatment, sanitation, and income, but in the short run the relationship may be negative given disease exposure from market integration. Using a panel dataset of vital statistics for late nineteenth century Japan, I find mortality rates increased during the country's early industrialization period and that railroad access accounts for over five percent of average mortality. Estimates from a triple-differences framework indicate that communicable disease mortality accounts for 91 percent of the additional incidence, which suggests that improved transport may have operated as a vector for transmission. |
| Keywords: | disease contagion, market integration, mortality Kuznets curve, railroad transport |
| JEL: | J11 N75 O14 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:rcesrs:dp15-10&r=lab |
| By: | Larsen, Nicholas (Eastern Washington University); Chiswick, Barry R. (George Washington University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of missionary activity on English language proficiency and labor market earnings of all immigrants to the United States by using the pooled files of the American Community Survey (2005-09). We consider the colonial heritage of the origin country to determine if it is a missionary effect or an effect of colonial rule. Our results suggest immigrants from countries with a high concentration of Protestant missionaries tend to exhibit higher levels of English proficiency and earnings compared to Catholic missionaries. Furthermore, a higher proficiency in English enhances earnings. One of the important implications of the findings in this paper is that a "missionary variable" often used in other studies is too aggregate and may mask important findings because of strikingly different effects of Protestant and Catholic activities. |
| Keywords: | immigrants, Protestant, Catholic, missionaries, earnings, schooling, English language, proficiency, American Community Survey |
| JEL: | F22 J61 J31 J24 Z12 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9500&r=lab |
| By: | Malte Sandner |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the results of a randomized study of a home visiting program implemented in Germany for low-income, first-time mothers. A major goal of the program is to improve the participants’ economic self-sufficiency and family planning. I use administrative data from the German social security system and detailed telephone surveys to examine the effects of the intervention on maternal employment, welfare benefits, and household composition. The study reveals that the intervention unintentionally decreased maternal employment and increased subsequent births. These results contradict those of previous studies from the United States, where home visiting programs successfully increased employment and decreased fertility. Analyzing the reason for the different results, suggests that the program interacts with low employment incentives and generous welfare state arrangements for disadvantaged mothers with young children inGermany. |
| Keywords: | Early Childhood Intervention, Randomized Experiment, Fertility |
| JEL: | J13 J12 I21 H52 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp799&r=lab |
| By: | Reshad Ahsan (School of Economics, University of Melbourne); Arpita Chatterjee (School of Economics, UNSW Business School, UNSW) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we make two novel contributions to the literature on trade and inequality. First, we show that the same mechanism that causes greater cross-sectional inequality, higher relative demand for skill, also facilitates intergenerational occupational mobility. In particular, we develop a stylized model that shows that the innovation induced by international trade causes an increase in the employment share of high-skill occupations. In turn, this allows an increasing number of sons to enter better occupations than their father. We then exploit spatial variation in exposure to trade liberalization in urban India to test our model’s prediction. Our empirical results confirm that sons that live in urban districts with a greater exposure to trade liberalization have a higher probability of being in a better occupation than their father. Further, as predicted by our model, we find that this positive impact of trade liberalization on intergenerational mobility is stronger in relatively technologically advanced districts. In a second contribution, we show that increased investment in education alone need not facilitate intergenerational occupational mobility. Instead, it only does so in urban districts where there has been a sufficient increase in the employment share of high-skill occupations. |
| Keywords: | Trade and Labor Markets, Intergenerational Mobility |
| JEL: | F14 F16 J62 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swe:wpaper:2015-23&r=lab |
| By: | Belot, Michele (University of Edinburgh); Kircher, Philipp (University of Edinburgh); Muller, Paul (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | Helping job seekers to identify suitable jobs is a key challenge for policy makers. We develop and evaluate experimentally a novel tool that provides tailored advice at low cost and thereby redesigns the process through which job seekers search for jobs. We invited 300 job seekers to our computer facilities for 12 consecutive weekly sessions. They searched for real jobs using our web interface. After 3 weeks, we introduced a manipulation of the interface for half of the sample:instead of relying on their own search criteria, we displayed relevant other occupations to them and the jobs that were available in these occupations. These suggestions were based on background information and readily available labor market data. We recorded search behavior on our site but also surveyed participants every week on their other search activities, applications and job interviews. We find that these suggestions broaden the set of jobs considered by the average participant. More importantly, we find that they are invited to significantly more job interviews. These effects are predominantly driven by job seekers who searched relatively narrowly initially and who have been unemployed for a few months.<p> |
| Keywords: | Online job search; occupational broadness; search design. |
| JEL: | C93 D83 J62 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0637&r=lab |