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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Henry S. Farber; Chris M. Herbst; Dan Silverman; Till von Wachter |
| Abstract: | We use a resume audit study to better understand the role of employment and unemployment histories in affecting callbacks to job applications. We focus on how the effect of career history varies by age, partly in an attempt to reconcile disparate findings in prior studies. While we cannot reconcile earlier findings on the effect of unemployment duration, the findings solidify an emerging consensus on the role of age and employment on callback. First, among applicants across a broad age range, we find that applicants with 52 weeks of unemployment have a lower callback rate than do applicants with shorter unemployment spells. However, regardless of an applicant's age, there is no relationship between spell length and callback among applicants with shorter spells. Second, we find a hump-shaped relationship between age and callback, with both younger and older applicants having a lower probability of callback relative to prime-aged applicants. Finally, we find that those applicants who are employed at the time of application have a lower callback rate than do unemployed applicants, regardless of whether the interim job is of lower or comparable quality relative to the applied-for job. This may reflect a perception among employers that it is harder or more expensive to attract an applicant who is currently employed. |
| JEL: | J60 J62 J64 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24605&r=lab |
| By: | Bargain, Olivier (University of Bordeaux); Doorley, Karina (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin); Van Kerm, Philippe (LISER (CEPS/INSTEAD)) |
| Abstract: | Women are disproportionately in low paid work compared to men so, in the absence of rationing effects on their employment, they should benefit the most from minimum wage policies. This study examines the change in the gender wage gap around the introduction of minimum wages in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Using survey data for the two countries, we develop a decomposition of the change in the gender differences in wage distributions around the date of introduction of minimum wages. We separate out 'price' effects attributed to minimum wages from 'employment composition' effects. A significant reduction of the gender gap at low wages is observed after the introduction of the minimum wage in Ireland while there is hardly any change in the UK. Counterfactual simulations show that the difference between countries may be attributed to gender differences in non-compliance with the minimum wage legislation in the UK. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, minimum wage, distribution regression |
| JEL: | C14 I2 J16 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11502&r=lab |
| By: | Dewit, Gerda (National University of Ireland, Maynooth); Görg, Holger (Kiel Institute for the World Economy); Temouri, Yama (Aston University) |
| Abstract: | We examine the determinants of the decision to relocate activities abroad for firms located in OECD countries. We argue that particular firm-specific features play a crucial role for the link between employment protection and relocation. Stricter employment protection laws over time in the current production location discourage firms' relocation abroad. While larger, more productive firms and firms with higher labour intensities have, ceteris paribus, higher propensities to relocate, they also face higher exit barriers if the country from which they consider relocating has strict employment protection laws. Our predictions are supported empirically, using firm level panel data for 28 OECD countries over the period 1997-2007. |
| Keywords: | employment protection, relocation, multinational enterprises |
| JEL: | F23 L23 J88 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11500&r=lab |
| By: | Lionel Nesta (Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques); Stefano Schiavo (Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the impact of import competition on rent-sharing between firms and employees. First, by applying recent advances in the estimation of price-costs margins to a large panel of French manufacturing firms for the period 1993–2007,we are able to classify each firm into labor- and product-market regimes based on the presence/absence of market power. Second, we concentrate on firms that operate in an efficient bargaining framework to study the effect of import penetration on workers’ bargaining power. We find that French imports from other OECD countries have a negative effect on bargaining power, whereas the impact of imports from low wage countries is more muted. By providing firm-level evidence on the relationship between international trade and rent sharing, the paper sheds new light on the effect of trade liberalization on the labor market. |
| Keywords: | Firm heterogeneity; Import competition; Mark-up; Wage bargaining |
| JEL: | F14 F16 J50 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/2d13t3kn6v8mop0no1md4bjn1i&r=lab |
| By: | Simonetta Longhi (University of Reading); Alita Nandi (University of Essex); Mark Bryan (University of Sheffield); Sara Connolly (University of East Anglia); Cigdem Gedikli (University of Hertfordshire) |
| Abstract: | Many studies have shown that there is a general tendency for men’s subjective wellbeing to be more badly affected by unemployment when compared to women, although the extent varies across countries. The existing literature notes the gender differences and offers possible explanations, but does not formally compare competing hypotheses. We analyse whether gender differences in life satisfaction associated with the experience of unemployment can be attributed to degrees of specialisation in the labour market, differences in the types of work undertaken by men and women, differences in personality traits, work identity or gender norms. We find that it is not all, but some, women who suffer less than men when experiencing a transition into unemployment. The experience of unemployment for women is differentiated by pay, work identity and, most powerfully, gender attitudes. |
| Keywords: | gender attitudes, life satisfaction, unemployment, wellbeing |
| JEL: | I31 J16 J64 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2018007&r=lab |
| By: | Shoichi Sasaki (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the effects of inequalities in male educational wages and gender–such as the gender wage gap and barriers for labor force participation of female workers–on the labor market. It considers the effects of social infrastructure or public goods on marital segregation in Japan, South Korea, Republic of China, and Taiwan. The theoretical hypothesis that Fernández et al. (2005) build is empirically analyzed using individual data from East Asian Social Survey. The estimation results suggest that wage and gender inequalities in the labor market, such as skill wage premiums for men and full-time rates for married women, significantly affect marital segregation. These results show that policies to decrease inequality in the parental generation can decrease future inequality. |
| Keywords: | Wage premium, skilled workers, gender gap, marital segregation, assortative mating, hypogamy |
| JEL: | J11 J12 J16 J24 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koe:wpaper:1822&r=lab |
| By: | Brändle, Tobias (Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW)); Goerke, Laszlo (IAAEU, University of Trier) |
| Abstract: | A large number of articles have analysed 'the one constant' in the economic effects of trade unions, namely that collective bargaining reduces employment growth by two to four percentage points per year. Evidence is, however, mostly related to Anglo-Saxon countries. We investigate whether a different institutional setting might lead to a different outcome, making the constant a variable entity. Using linked-employer-employee data for Germany, we find a negative correlation between being covered by a sector-wide bargaining agreement or firm-level contract and employment growth of about one percentage point per annum. However, the correlation between employment growth and collective bargaining is not robust to the use of panel methods. We conclude that the results of the literature using cross-section data might be driven by selection. |
| Keywords: | collective bargaining, employment growth, job flows, trade unions |
| JEL: | J23 J52 J53 J63 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11518&r=lab |
| By: | Aaron Flaaen; Matthew D. Shapiro; Isaac Sorkin |
| Abstract: | Prior literature has established that displaced workers suffer persistent earnings losses by following workers in administrative data after mass layoffs. This literature assumes that these are involuntary separations owing to economic distress. This paper examines this assumption 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. |
| Keywords: | Earnings losses ; Job loss ; Unemployment |
| JEL: | J63 J65 J26 J00 |
| Date: | 2018–05–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2018-29&r=lab |
| By: | Dieterle, Steven G. (University of Edinburgh); Bartalotti, Otávio (Iowa State University); Brummet, Quentin (NORC at the University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | We document two potential biases in recent analyses of UI benefit extensions using boundary-based identification: from using county-level aggregates and from across-border policy spillovers. To examine the first bias, we use a regression discontinuity (RD) approach that accounts for measurement error in county-level aggregates. Our results suggest much smaller effects than previous studies, casting doubt on the applicability of border-based designs. We then document substantial spillover effects of UI benefit duration in the form of across-border work patterns that are consistent with increased tightness in high benefit states, providing evidence against a dominant vacancy reduction response to UI extensions. |
| Keywords: | unemployment insurance, great recession, geographic regression discontinuity, policy spillover |
| JEL: | J61 J65 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11496&r=lab |
| By: | David M. Arseneau; Brendan Epstein |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a model in which mismatch employment arises in a constrained efficient equilibrium. In the decentralized economy, however, mismatch gives rise to a congestion externality whereby heterogeneous job seekers fail to internalize how their individual actions affect the labor market outcomes of competitors in a common unemployment pool. We provide an analytic characterization of this distortion, assess the distributional nature of the associated welfare effects, and relate it to the relative productivity of low- and high-skilled workers competing for similar jobs. |
| Keywords: | Competitive search equilibrium ; Crowding in/out ; Labor market frictions ; Skill-mismatch |
| JEL: | E24 J31 J64 |
| Date: | 2018–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2018-37&r=lab |
| By: | Henry S. Farber; Daniel Herbst; Ilyana Kuziemko; Suresh Naidu |
| Abstract: | It is well-documented that, since at least the early twentieth century, U.S. income inequality has varied inversely with union density. But moving beyond this aggregate relationship has proven difficult, in part because of the absence of micro-level data on union membership prior to 1973. We develop a new source of micro-data on union membership, opinion polls primarily from Gallup (N ≈ 980, 000), to look at the effects of unions on inequality from 1936 to the present. First, we present a new time series of household union membership from this period. Second, we use these data to show that, throughout this period, union density is inversely correlated with the relative skill of union members. When density was at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, union members were relatively less-skilled, whereas today and in the pre-World War II period, union members are equally skilled as non-members. Third, we estimate union household income premiums over this same period, finding that despite large changes in union density and selection, the premium holds steady, at roughly 15–20 log points, over the past eighty years. Finally, we present a number of direct results that, across a variety of identifying assumptions, suggest unions have had a significant, equalizing effect on the income distribution over our long sample period. |
| JEL: | J51 N32 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24587&r=lab |
| By: | Pierre Azoulay; J. Michael Wahlen; Ezra W. Zuckerman Sivan |
| Abstract: | Using citations as a measure of valuation and death as a shock that affects efforts to "sell" scientific work but not the quality of the work itself, we estimate the importance of "reputational entrepreneurship" on the valuation of life scientists' research. Insofar as reputational entrepreneurship is impactful, it is unclear whether the most effective reputational entrepreneurs are those selling their own work ("salesman") or those promoting the work of others (the "sales force"). While the salesman has more incentive to promote her work, the sales force is larger and may be seen as more credible. We find that by commemorating the death of a scientist, the sales force boosts the valuation of the deceased's work relative to what the salesman could have done had she remained alive. This suggests that while science seeks to divorce the researcher's identity from their work, scientists' identities nonetheless play an important role in determining scientific valuations. |
| JEL: | I23 O31 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24591&r=lab |
| By: | Martin Abel (Middlebury College); Rulof Burger (Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University); Eliana Carranza (World Bank); Patrizio Piraino (University of Cape Town) |
| Abstract: | We test the effects of plan-making on job search and employment. In a field experiment with unemployed youths, participants who complete a detailed job search plan increase the number of job applications submitted (15%) but not the time spent searching, consistent with intention-behavior gaps observed at baseline. Job seekers in the plan-making group diversify their search strategy and use more formal search channels. This greater search efficiency and effectiveness translate into more job offers (30%) and employment (26%). Weekly reminders and peer-support sub-treatments do not improve the impacts of plan-making, suggesting that limited attention and accountability are unlikely mechanisms. |
| Keywords: | Action Plan; Job Search; Active Labor Market Policy |
| JEL: | J64 J68 C93 D91 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers304&r=lab |
| By: | Alan Duncan (Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, Curtin University); Mark N Harris (School of Economics and Finance, Curtin University); Astghik Mavisakalyan (Bankwest Curtin Economic Centre, Curtin University); Toan Nguyen (Bankwest Curtin Economic Centre, Curtin University) |
| Abstract: | This paper compares immigration flows in response to changes in labour market conditions to provide an assessment of Australia’s selective immigration policies. We find employer sponsored immigration varied in line with changes in regional wages, with immigrants being drawn to states with greater wage grown. In contrast, evidence does not support this trend for points-based immigrants. We account for the endogeneity bias by exploiting differences in the impact of exogenous commodity price fluctuations on regional wages. A complimentary analysis of a points-based immigration policy reform in 2012 further highlights the role of employers in alleviating the apparent misallocation of points-based immigrants. |
| Keywords: | skilled immigration, location choice, immigration policy |
| JEL: | J21 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ozl:bcecwp:wp1802&r=lab |
| By: | Fackler, Daniel; Fuchs, Michaela; Hölscher, Lisa; Schnabel, Claus |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes whether startups offer job opportunities to workers potentially facing labor market problems. It compares the hiring patterns of startups and incumbents in the period 2003 to 2014 using administrative linked employer-employee data for Germany that allow to take the complete employment biographies of newly hired workers into account. The results indicate that young plants are more likely than incumbents to hire older and foreign applicants as well as workers who have instable employment biographies, come from unemployment or outside the labor force, or were affected by a plant closure. However, an analysis of entry wages reveals that disadvantageous worker characteristics come along with higher wage penalties in startups than in incumbents. Therefore, even if startups provide employment opportunities for certain groups of disadvantaged workers, the quality of these jobs in terms of initial remuneration seems to be low. |
| Keywords: | startups,young firms,employment,wages,linked employer-employee data |
| JEL: | J31 J63 L26 M51 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwqwdp:092018&r=lab |
| By: | Andreas Kuhn (Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training); Stefan C. Wolter (University of Bern, Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education, CESifo & IZA) |
| Abstract: | We test the hypothesis that adolescents' occupational aspirations are more gender-stereo-typical if they live in regions where the norm towards gender equality is weaker. For our empirical analysis, we combine rich survey data describing a sample of 1,434 Swiss adolescents in 8th grade with communal voting results dealing with gender equality and policy. We use the voting results to measure spatial variation in the local norm towards (more) gender equality. We find that adolescents living in localities with a stronger norm towards gender equality are significantly and substantively less likely to aspire for a gender-stereotypical occupation. This correlation may reflect different underlying mechanisms, however, and a more detailed analysis in fact reveals that the association between gender norms and occupational aspirations mainly reflects the intergenerational transmission of occupations from parents to their children. |
| Keywords: | occupational choice, occupational segregation, gender gap, gender norms, preferences, socialization, intergenerational transmission |
| JEL: | J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0151&r=lab |
| By: | Magda, Iga (Warsaw School of Economics); Keister, Roma (Institute for Structural Research (IBS)) |
| Abstract: | The aim of our paper is to analyse the relationship between working time flexibility and parental time devoted to children. Using data from a large panel survey of Polish households carried out in 2013 and 2014 (Determinants of Educational Decisions Household Panel Survey, UDE) we investigate whether and how various dimensions of working time flexibility affect the amount of time parents spend with their children reading, playing or teaching them new things. We account for employment status of parents, their socio-economic status and social and cultural norms they share. Our results show that employment status of parents and their working time arrangements are not statistically significant for the amount of parental 'quality time' devoted to children. We show that these are parental human and cultural capital and their values that are primary factors determining the amount of parental time investments. |
| Keywords: | working time flexibility, parental time investments, child care, 'quality time with children' |
| JEL: | J13 J22 J81 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11507&r=lab |
| By: | Christopoulou, Rebekka; Monastiriotis, Vassilis |
| Abstract: | It is generally understood that the Greek economy has long been characterised by a range of structural and institutional inefficiencies – which, arguably, are at least partly responsible for the crisis that engulfed the country since 2009. In turn, the crisis has also led to a significant adjustment of the Greek economy, both behaviourally (e.g., with regard to labour supply) and institutionally (e.g., with regard to labour market regulations). In this paper we ask whether this adjustment has helped resolve some of the inefficiencies that characterised the Greek economy in the past. We focus on the particular case of sectoral wage premia and examine (a) whether these did indeed reflect economic inefficiency in the past and (b) whether they have declined systematically since the crisis. Sectoral wage premia are generally linked to unobserved worker heterogeneity and compensating differentials (in a competitive framework) or to market distortions, such as monopsony power or information asymmetries (in an imperfect markets framework). Our results show that sectoral premia in Greece are only weakly linked to unobserved worker heterogeneity, but strongly linked to non-competitive factors reflecting market inefficiency. Looking at three such factors – the availability of rents (as measured by sectoral profitability), the potential for rents (measured via a proxy for intra-sectoral competition) and workers’ ability to extract such rents (measured by the share of public sector jobs) – we find that the crisis altered the relative contribution of such factors but did not lead to a decline in sectoral premia on the whole. Indeed, wage premia appear to have increased in the least competitive sectors while the overall disparity of wages across sectors increased. We conclude that market inefficiencies, as manifested by the presence of unaccounted-for sectoral wage differentials, intensified despite all policy efforts in the opposite direction. |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88133&r=lab |
| By: | Addison, John T. (University of South Carolina); Teixeira, Paulino (University of Coimbra) |
| Abstract: | A shortfall in employee voice attendant upon union decline has long been forewarned. Data from the third European Company Survey is used to establish perceived shortfalls in employee involvement based on the responses of employee representatives in establishments where formal workplace employee representation is practiced. Among the main findings is that the desire for greater involvement in decision making is smaller where representation is via a works council-type apparatus rather than through the agency of a union body. Similar, albeit more pronounced marginal effects are associated with information provision, most notably where employee representatives are (a) 'satisfactorily' informed on a variety of establishment issues or (b) are asked to give their opinions/involved in joint decisions in the event of some major human resource decision. The latter results are robust to subsets of the data based on variations in trust between the parties and the perceived quality of the industrial relations climate, where there is an overwhelming desire for more participation in those circumstances in which management is adjudged uncooperative and untrustworthy. On net, it remains the case that a shortfall in employee participation is observed across all types of establishments in the sample and, by extension, it would appear to those without any workplace representation at all. |
| Keywords: | formal workplace employee representation, works councils, union agencies, information/consultation/participation deficits, union density, country heterogeneity, industrial relations quality |
| JEL: | J53 J58 J83 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11506&r=lab |
| By: | Islam, Asadul; Pakrashi, Debayan; Wang, Liang Choon; Zenou, Yves |
| Abstract: | In order to determine the relative size of taste-based and statistical discrimination, we develop a simple model to distinguish these two theories. We then test the model's predictions of caste-based discrimination by conducting a field experiment that elicits patients' rankings of physicians of different castes and years of experience in the healthcare market in India. We also run a survey and conduct lab-in-the-field experiments to measure patients' attitudes towards different caste groups. We find that 47 to 80 percent of patients statistically discriminate physicians. The overwhelming size of statistical discrimination has important implications for the use of Affirmative Action policies in India. |
| Keywords: | caste; discrimination; field experiment; health |
| JEL: | I15 J15 O12 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12955&r=lab |