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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Caliendo, Marco (University of Potsdam); Künn, Steffen (Maastricht University); Uhlendorff, Arne (CREST) |
| Abstract: | In some countries including Germany unemployed workers can increase their income by working a few hours per week. The intention is to keep unemployed job seekers attached to the labour market and to increase their job-finding probabilities. To analyze the unemployment dynamics of job seekers with and without marginal employment, we consider an inflow sample into unemployment and estimate multivariate duration models. While we do not find any significant impact on the job finding probability in a model with homogeneous effects, models allowing for time-varying coefficients indicate a decreased job finding probability of marginal employment at the beginning of the unemployment spell and an increased job finding probability for the long-term unemployed. Our results suggest that job seekers with marginal employment find more stable post-unemployment jobs, and we find some evidence that the relationship between marginal employment and wages and employment stability varies with respect to skill levels, sector and labor market tightness. |
| Keywords: | marginal employment, mini-job, unemployment duration, job search, employment stability, multivariate duration models |
| JEL: | J64 C41 C33 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10177&r=lab |
| By: | Webb, Matthew D. (Carleton University); Warman, Casey (Dalhousie University); Sweetman, Arthur (McMaster University) |
| Abstract: | Canada's Youth Hires program was a targeted employment subsidy that rebated employment insurance premiums to employers with net increases in insurable earnings for youth aged 18-24. Using a difference-in-differences approach, in each of two datasets statistically and economically significant employment impacts are observed. Most of the evidence suggests that the 2-2.4 weeks of increased employment resulted from an aggregate reduction in those not in the labour force, with at most a modest change in the unemployment rate. Many estimated effects are larger for males than females. Notably, strong evidence of displacement (substitution away from slightly older non-subsidized workers) is not observed. However, there may be a small reduction in full-time schooling for the targeted group. |
| Keywords: | youth unemployment, displacement, unemployment insurance, unemployment, targeted tax policy |
| JEL: | J23 J65 J68 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10182&r=lab |
| By: | Stephan Kampelmann; François Rycx |
| Abstract: | This paper is one of the first to use employer-employee data on wages and labor productivity to measure discrimination against immigrants. We build on an identification strategy proposed by Bartolucci (2014) and address firm fixed effects and endogeneity issues through a diff GMM-IV estimator. Our models also test for gender-based discrimination. Empirical results for Belgium suggest significant wage discrimination against women and (to a lesser extent) against immigrants. We find no evidence for double discrimination against female immigrants. Institutional factors such as firm-level collective bargaining and smaller firm sizes are found to attenuate wage discrimination against foreigners, but not against women. |
| Keywords: | wages; productivity; discrimination; workers' origin; gender; inked employer-employee panel data |
| JEL: | J15 J16 J24 J31 J70 |
| Date: | 2016–08–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/235209&r=lab |
| By: | Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina (San Diego State University); Furtado, Delia (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | For the first time since the inception of the H-1B visa, yearly caps became binding in 2004, making it harder for most foreign-born students to secure employment in the United States. However, since the year 2000, institutions of higher education and related non-profit research institutes had been exempt from the cap. We explore how immigrant employment choices were impacted by the binding visa cap, exploiting the fact that citizens of five countries (Canada, Mexico, Chile, Singapore and Australia) had access to alternate work visas. Our estimates suggest that international students from H-1B dependent countries became more likely to work in academic institutions if they graduated after 2004 than immigrants from the five countries with substitute work visas. Within academia, foreign-born graduates affected by the visa cap became more likely to work in a job unrelated to their field of study, while no such change occurred in the private sector –a finding consistent with the notion of workers "settling for academia." We conclude with an analysis of workforce compositional changes in the academic versus private sectors as a result of the binding visa caps. |
| Keywords: | H-1B visas, foreign-born workers, academic market, United States |
| JEL: | F22 J61 J68 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10166&r=lab |
| By: | Bryan S. Graham |
| Abstract: | Residential segregation by race and income are enduring features of urban America. Understanding the effects of residential segregation on educational attainment, labor market outcomes, criminal activity and other outcomes has been a leading project of the social sciences for over half a century. This paper describes techniques for measuring the effects of neighborhood of residence on long run life outcomes. |
| JEL: | C23 J01 J1 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22575&r=lab |
| By: | Johannes F. Schmieder; Till von Wachter |
| Abstract: | The Great Recession has renewed interest in Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs around the world. At the same time, there have been important advances in both theory and measurement of UI. In this paper, we first use the theory to present a unified treatment of the welfare effects of UI benefit levels and durations and derive convenient expressions of the disincentive effect of UI. We then discuss recent estimates of the effect of UI benefit levels and durations on labor supply based, to a large extent, on high-quality research designs and administrative data. We relate these estimates directly to the sufficient statistics identified by the model. We also discuss several active and open areas of research on UI. These include the effect of UI on aggregate labor market outcomes, the effect of UI on job outcomes, the long-term effects of UI, the effects of UI under non-standard behavioral assumptions, and the interactions of UI with other programs. While our review of the new experimental estimates confirms the range of negative labor supply effects of the previous literature, we show based on the model that these estimates are imperfect proxies for the actual disincentive effects. We also isolate several important areas in need for additional research, including estimates of the social value of UI as well as the effects of UI in less-developed countries. |
| JEL: | H21 H53 J64 J65 J68 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22564&r=lab |
| By: | Mitchell Hoffman; Elizabeth Lyons |
| Abstract: | Paying higher salaries is often believed to enhance worker effort, leading workers to work harder to avoid getting fired. However, workers may also respond to higher salaries by focusing on tasks that most directly affect getting fired (as opposed to those that contribute most to productivity). We explore these issues by analyzing the relationship between the level of compensation and time use for US state legislators. Using data on time use and legislator salaries, we show that higher salary is associated with legislators spending more time on fundraising. In contrast, higher salary is also associated with less time spent on legislative activities and has no clear relation to time spent on constituent services. Subgroup analysis broadly supports our interpretation of the data. |
| JEL: | D72 H70 M52 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22571&r=lab |
| By: | Foged, Mette (University of Copenhagen) |
| Abstract: | A unitarian model of family migration in which families may discount wives' private gains is used to derive testable predictions regarding the type of couples that select into migrating. The empirical tests show that gender neutral family migration cannot be rejected against the alternative of husband centered migration. Couples are more likely to migrate if household earnings potential is disproportionally due to one partner, and families react equally strongly to a male and a female relative advantage in educational earnings potential. These results are driven by households with a strong relative advantage to one of the partners while results are less clear for small dissimilarities within the couple, suggesting that gender identity norms may play a role when the opportunity costs of adhering to them are small. |
| Keywords: | international migration, family migration, gender identity norms, selection |
| JEL: | F22 D19 J16 J61 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10180&r=lab |
| By: | Fortin, Bernard (Université Laval); Ragued, Safa (Laval University) |
| Abstract: | Data from the Youth in Transition Survey reveal that almost 40% of Canadian youth who left post-secondary education in 1999 had returned two years later. This paper investigates the extent to which schooling discontinuities affect post-graduation starting real wages and whether the latter are differently influenced by the reasons behind these discontinuities. We analyse this issue using data from the 2007 National Graduate Survey. We take covariates endogeneity into account using Lewbel's (2012) generated instrument approach. The source of identification is a heteroscedastic covariance restriction of the error terms that is a feature of many models of endogeneity. To allow for individual heterogeneity in the causal effect of various reasons for schooling interruption, we also provide results from two-stage quantile regressions using Lewbel's generated instruments. Conditional on the levels of schooling and experience, we find a positive effect on wages of temporary schooling interruption for men who had held a full-time job during their out-of-school spell(s). Both men and women witness a wage decrease if their interruption is associated with health issues. Women also bear a wage penalty if their interruption is due to a part-time job, to lack of money, or is caused by reasons other than health, work, and money. |
| Keywords: | schooling interruption, wages, temporary attrition, delayed graduation, Lewbel IV, two-stage quantile regression, Box-Cox |
| JEL: | C21 C26 C31 I21 I23 I26 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10158&r=lab |
| By: | Attila Lindner (University College London, CERS-HAS, IZA, IFS); Balazs Reizer (PhD student at the Central European University) |
| Abstract: | In November 2005, the Hungarian government frontloaded the unemployment benefit path, while kept constant the total benefit amount that could be collected over the unemployment spell. We estimate the effect of this reform on non-employment duration using an interrupted time series design. We find that non-employment duration fell by 1.5 weeks after November 2005, while reemployment wages and the duration of new jobs remained the same. We show that the decrease in non-employment duration was large enough to make the benefit reform revenue neutral. Our welfare evaluation for this reform is positive: frontloading increased job finding, it made some of the unemployed better off, and did not cost anything to the taxpayers. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, declining unemployment benefits, welfare analysis |
| JEL: | H20 J64 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:discpr:1627&r=lab |
| By: | Fernando Rios-Avila; Gustavo Canavire-Bacarreza |
| Abstract: | Although one would expect the unemployed to be the population most likely affected by immigration, most of the studies have concentrated on investigating the effects immigration has on the employed population. Little is known of the effects of immigration on labor market transitions out of unemployment. Using the basic monthly Current Population Survey from 2001 and 2013 we match data for individuals who were interviewed in two consecutive months and identify workers who transition out of unemployment. We employ a multinomial model to examine the effects of immigration on the transition out of unemployment, using state-level immigration statistics. The results suggest that immigration does not affect the probabilities of native-born workers finding a job. Instead, we find that immigration is associated with smaller probabilities of remaining unemployed, but it is also associated with higher probabilities of workers leaving the labor force. This effect impacts mostly young and less educated people. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; Unemployment Duration; Labor Force Transition |
| JEL: | J1 J6 |
| Date: | 2016–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000122:015013&r=lab |
| By: | Kieron Barclay (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Martin Hällsten; Mikko Myrskylä (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Previous research on birth order has consistently shown that later-borns have lower educational attainment than first-borns, however it is not known whether there are birth order patterns in college major. Given empirical evidence that parents disproportionately invest in first born children, there are likely to be birth order patterns attributable to differences in both opportunities and preferences, related to ability, human capital specialization through parent-child transfers of knowledge, and personality. Birth order patterns in college major specialization may shed light on these explanatory mechanisms, and may also account for long-term birth order differences in educational and labour market outcomes. Furthermore, given that within-family differences in resource access are small compared to between-family differences, the explanatory potential of these mechanisms has the potential to say much more about inequality production mechanisms in society at large. Using Swedish population register data and sibling fixed effects we find large birth order differences in university applications. First-borns are more likely to apply to, and graduate from, medicine and engineering programs at university, while later-borns are more likely to study journalism and business programs, and to attend art school. We also find that these birth order patterns are stronger in high SES families. These results indicate that early life experiences and parental investment shapes sibling differences in ability, preferences, and ambitions even within the shared environment of the family. |
| Keywords: | Sweden, birth order |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2016-008&r=lab |
| By: | Driouchi, Ahmed; Harkat, Tahar |
| Abstract: | Abstract This research focuses on the analysis of the determinants of general and vocational educational choices in Arab economies with comparisons to other regions of the world. The selected framework considers educational choices as influenced by macroeconomic and education variables. The empirical investigation is based on regression analysis as inspired by the above model. Time series analysis is also used for Arab countries. The results indicate that education in the groups of countries analyzed is generally driven by unemployment, economic growth, and the schooling results. Arab countries do show that vocational educational accounts for the schooling performance, only. Comparisons with other groups indicate that Arab countries need to strengthen the links between general and professional education as this allows for a more balanced educational and employment systems, not accounting only for the performance of general education. |
| Keywords: | Keywords: Vocational education, Arab world, Comparisons |
| JEL: | I25 J68 M51 |
| Date: | 2016–08–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:73455&r=lab |
| By: | Adermon, Adrian; Lindahl, Mikael; Waldenström, Daniel |
| Abstract: | This study estimates intergenerational correlations in mid-life wealth across three generations, and a young fourth generation, and examines how much of the parent-child association that can be explained by inheritances. Using a Swedish data set we find parent-child rank correlations of 0.3-0.4 and grandparents-grandchild rank correlations of 0.1-0.2. Conditional on parents' wealth, grandparents' wealth is weakly positively associated with grandchild's wealth and the parent-child correlation is basically unchanged if we control for grandparents' wealth. Bequests and gifts strikingly account for at least 50 per cent of the parent-child wealth correlation while earnings and education are only able to explain 25 per cent. |
| Keywords: | Income mobility; inequality; Inheritance |
| JEL: | D31 J62 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11456&r=lab |
| By: | Bloom, David E. (Harvard University); Luca, Dara Lee (Mathematica Policy Research) |
| Abstract: | Population ageing is the 21st century's dominant demographic phenomenon. Declining fertility, increasing longevity, and the progression of large-sized cohorts to the older ages are causing elder shares to rise throughout the world. The phenomenon of population ageing, which is unprecedented in human history, brings with it sweeping changes in population needs and capacities, with potentially significant implications for employment, savings, consumption, economic growth, asset values, and fiscal balance. This chapter provides a broad overview of the global demography of aging. It reviews patterns, trends, and projections involving various indicators of population aging and their demographic antecedents and sequelae. The chapter also reviews theories economists use to explain the behavioral changes driving the most prominent demographic shifts. Finally, it discusses the changing nature of aging, the future of longevity, and associated policy implications, highlighting some key research issues that require further examination. |
| Keywords: | population aging, economic demography, longevity |
| JEL: | J11 J14 N30 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10163&r=lab |
| By: | Marika Cabral; Mark R. Cullen |
| Abstract: | The welfare associated with public insurance is often difficult to quantify. Relative to private insurance, a fundamental difficulty is that public insurance is typically compulsory, so the demand for coverage is unobserved and thus cannot be used to analyze welfare. However, in many public insurance settings, individuals can purchase private insurance to supplement their public coverage. In this paper, we outline an approach to use data and variation from private complementary insurance to quantify welfare associated with several counterfactuals related to compulsory public insurance. Using administrative data from one large firm on employee long-term disability insurance, we then apply this approach empirically to quantify the value of disability insurance among this population. We use premium variation among the employer-provided disability policies to quantify the surplus that would be generated by increasing the replacement rate of disability insurance for our sample population---a counterfactual that is within the set of insurance contracts observed in this setting. In addition, we estimate a lower bound on the surplus generated by public disability insurance in this context. Our findings suggest that public disability insurance generates substantial surplus for this population, and there may be gains to increasing the generosity of coverage in this context. |
| JEL: | H0 H53 I38 J68 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22583&r=lab |