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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Frimmel, Wolfgang; Halla, Martin; Schmidpeter, Bernhard; Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf |
| Abstract: | The labor supply effects of becoming a grandmother are not well established in the empirical literature. We estimate the effect of becoming a grandmother on the labor supply decision of older workers. Under the assumption that grandmothers cannot predict the exact date of conception of their grandchild, we identify the effect of the first grandchild on employment (extensive margin). Our Timing-of-Events approach shows that having a first grandchild increases the probability of leaving prematurely the labor market. This effect is stronger when informal childcare is more valuable to the mother. To estimate the effect of an additional grandchild (intensive margin), we assume that the incidence of a twin birth among the third generation is not correlated with unobserved determinants of the grandmother's labor supply (first generation). Our respective 2SLS estimation shows a significant effect of further grandchildren. Our results highlight the important influence of the extended family on the decisions of older workers and point to mediating effects of different institutional settings. |
| Keywords: | Female labor supply; grandchildren; instrumental variables; timing of events |
| JEL: | J13 J14 J22 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12487&r=lab |
| By: | Johnson, Janna (University of Minnesota); Kleiner, Morris M. (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis) |
| Abstract: | Occupational licensure, one of the most significant labor market regulations in the United States, may restrict the interstate movement of workers. We analyze the interstate migration of 22 licensed occupations. Using an empirical strategy that controls for unobservable characteristics that drive long-distance moves, we find that the between-state migration rate for individuals in occupations with state-specific licensing exam requirements is 36 percent lower relative to members of other occupations. Members of licensed occupations with national licensing exams show no evidence of limited interstate migration. The size of this effect varies across occupations and appears to be tied to the state specificity of licensing requirements. We also provide evidence that the adoption of reciprocity agreements, which lower re-licensure costs, increases the interstate migration rate of lawyers. Based on our results, we estimate that the rise in occupational licensing can explain part of the documented decline in interstate migration and job transitions in the United States. |
| Keywords: | Occupational licensing; Labor market regulation; Interstate migration |
| JEL: | J01 J1 J44 K0 L38 |
| Date: | 2017–12–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmsr:561&r=lab |
| By: | Aaron B. Flaaen; Matthew D. Shapiro; Isaac Sorkin |
| Abstract: | Displaced workers suffer persistent earnings losses. This stark finding has been established by following workers in administrative data after mass layoffs under the presumption that these are involuntary separations owing to economic distress. This paper examines this presumption by matching survey data on worker-supplied reasons for separations with administrative data. Workers exhibit substantially different earnings dynamics in mass layoffs depending on the reason for separation. Using a new methodology to account for the increased separation rates across all survey responses during a mass layoff, the paper finds earnings loss estimates that are surprisingly close to those using only administrative data. |
| JEL: | J0 J26 J63 J65 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24077&r=lab |
| By: | Urban Sila |
| Abstract: | Iceland has high living standards, low poverty, high inclusiveness and one of the most sustainable pension systems. It is the most highly unionised country in the OECD and, in the past, successful social pacts have protected the lowest paid workers during crises, and on occasion helped fight inflation. Nevertheless, Iceland experiences recurrent bursts of social tensions and labour unrest that often result in large wage awards, particularly in times of economic boom. Iceland is prone to accentuated economic cycles, and the pro-cyclical nature of collective bargaining aggravates these harmful dynamics. Social partners often have disagreements over what has been agreed in the past and they can have differing views on the state of the economy. Trust among the social partners has been undermined and wage co-ordination is low. There is a large number of unions, many of them very small, and wage demands are often not consistent with macroeconomic stability. Labour unrest frequently originates in the public sector as wages lag behind the private sector. Fostering trust and increasing wage co-ordination would make collective bargaining more effective and help sustain the benefits of the system for future generations. A technical committee should be established to provide reliable and impartial information to wage negotiators. Wage negotiations could start with “wage guidelines” issued by the major labour and employer confederations. State mediator should have greater powers in order to improve wage co-ordination and support the “wage guidelines”. This working paper relates to the 2017 OECD Economic Survey of Iceland (http://www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/economi c-survey-iceland.htm). |
| Keywords: | competitiveness, dispute resolution, mediation, trade unions, wage negotiations |
| JEL: | J21 J24 J31 J51 J52 J53 |
| Date: | 2017–11–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1439-en&r=lab |
| By: | Jon Kristian Pareliussen |
| Abstract: | Assuming that immigrants select destinations according to absolute returns to their observable and unobservable human capital, I present a human capital model of migration accounting for taxes, transfers and limited portability of skills. The model predicts both segmented sorting of migrants to countries with a compressed income distribution, with negative sorting increasing with lower portability and positive sorting increasing with portability. Sorting to countries with greater income dispersion increases unambiguously with host-country relevant skills. Migrants to countries with compressed incomes will hence be more likely to be either out of work or overqualified and low-paid compared to natives with similar observable skills, and compared to migrants to countries with greater income dispersion. Regressions results on data for 16 OECD countries from the OECD Survey of Adult Skills are in line with the model. Controlling for observable skills and characteristics, including a literacy test score, immigrants from countries that are less wealthy or further away in geographical and cultural distance are significantly more likely to be either out of work or overqualified and low-paid in high-benefit countries. Wage compression, generous transfers and high taxes, typical traits of the so-called “Nordic” or “Flexicurity” model, may therefore contribute to making immigrant integration more challenging. |
| JEL: | J15 J18 J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2017–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1435-en&r=lab |
| By: | Arlene Garces-Ozanne (Department of Economics, University of Otago, New Zealand); Avatar Singh (Department of Economics, University of Otago, New Zealand) |
| Abstract: | This article posits that the mechanisation of agriculture and security risks have significant negative effects on India’s female labour force participation rate. Despite remarkable economic progress in India, aggregate female labour force participation rate still show a declining trend since the late 1970s and traditional explanations such as decreasing fertility rates, rising wages and education levels could not completely explain this trend in female labour force participation. Using time-series data from 1980, we find evidence that the share of agriculture to the GDP, the mechanisation of agriculture, and security risks are the key determinants of female labour force participation. |
| JEL: | J01 J20 J21 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:otg:wpaper:1712&r=lab |
| By: | Arvind Ashta |
| Abstract: | Could work-sharing solves the problems of unemployment, inequality and global warming, and yet produce a happier world? This literature review takes a multidisciplinary view of the problem. We find that theoretically work-sharing can do all these things, but the existing evidence of its performance is debatable and there are hesitations from industry to implement it. We recommend a global initiative, riding on the sustainable development wave, with an appealing narrative to create a just distribution in today's world. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment; worktime; sharing; work reduction; inequality; happiness |
| JEL: | E24 J21 J64 J81 M55 |
| Date: | 2017–12–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/261958&r=lab |
| By: | Rebien, Martina (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Stops, Michael (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Zaharieva, Anna |
| Abstract: | "This study explores the relationship between firms' characteristics and their recruitment strategies. We propose a model based on a search and matching framework with two search channels: a formal channel which is costly for firms and a costless informal channel, i.e. referrals. There is a continuum of heterogeneous vacancies in our model where every firm with an open vacancy chooses an optimal search effort in order to attract job candidates. This search effort depends on the productivity of the firm and, contrary to the previous literature, workers send simultaneous applications to open vacancies. We assess the model predictions by using the IAB Job Vacancy Survey, a representative survey among human resource managers in Germany reporting information about their most recent recruitment case. Based on the finding that firm size and productivity are positively correlated we show that: (1) Larger firms invest more effort into formal search activities; (2) Firms invest more formal search effort in labour markets for more educated workers; (3) The positive relationship between firm's size and formal search intensity can also be observed for firms that don't use referrals; (4) Firms that use referrals as a search channel invest less effort into formal search compared to firms that don't use referrals; (5) Larger firms are less likely to hire an applicant by referral than smaller firms, and (6) More intensive search effort leads to a larger number of applications." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Personalbeschaffung, Personalauswahl, offene Stellen, Stellenbesetzung, Mitarbeiter, informelle Kommunikation, Unternehmensgröße, Suchverfahren, Qualifikationsanforderungen, qualifikationsspezifische Faktoren, IAB-Stellenerhebung |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2017–11–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201733&r=lab |
| By: | Aysıt Tansel (Department of Economics, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) Bonn, Germany; Economic Research Forum (ERF) Cairo, Egypt); Halil İbrahim Keskin (Department of Econometrics, Cukurova University, Saricam, Adana, Turkey) |
| Abstract: | The strong relationship between various health indicators and education is widely documented. However, the studies that investigate the nature of causality between these variables became available only recently and provide evidence mostly from developed countries. We add to this literature by studying the causal effect of education on days hospitalized and days out of work for health reasons. We consider two educational reforms. One is the educational expansion of the early 1960s and the other is the 1997 increase in compulsory level of schooling from five to eight years. However, due to the possibility of weak instruments we do not further pursue this avenue. We focus on individuals in two cohorts namely, 1945-1965 which is an older cohort and 1980-1980 which is a younger cohort. We estimate Tobit models as well as Double Hurdle models. The results suggest that an increase in years of education causes to reduce the number of days hospitalized for both men and women unambiguously and the number of days out of work only for men while an increase in education increases the number of days out of work for a randomly selected women. |
| Keywords: | Education, Days hospitalized, Days out of work, Education reform, Tobit model, Double Hurdle model, Gender, Turkey. |
| JEL: | I15 J16 J18 C34 C36 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:met:wpaper:1715&r=lab |
| By: | Balázs Égert |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates and quantifies the impact of structural reforms on per capita income for a large set of OECD and non-OECD countries. The findings suggest that the quality of institutions matters to a large extent for economic outcomes. More competition-friendly regulations, as measured by the OECDs’ Product Market Regulation (PMR) indicator improve economic outcomes. Lower barriers to foreign trade and investment help MFP. Lower barriers to entry and less pervasive state control of businesses boost the capital stock and the employment rate. No robust link between labour market regulation and MFP and capital deepening could be established. But looser labour market regulation is found to go hand in hand with higher employment rates. The paper shows that countries at different level of economic development face different policy impacts. Furthermore, PMR effects depend on the level of labour market regulations. |
| Keywords: | developing countries, emerging market economies, employment, institutions, investment, labour markets, multi-factor productivity, OECD, per capita impact, product markets, regulation, simulation, structural reforms |
| JEL: | D24 E17 E22 E24 J08 |
| Date: | 2017–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1442-en&r=lab |