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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Monira Essa Aloud; Sara Al-Rashood; Ina Ganguli; Basit Zafar |
| Abstract: | How important are social constraints and information gaps in explaining the low rates of female labor force participation (FLFP) in conservative societies that are undergoing social change? To answer this question, we conducted a field experiment embedded in a survey of female university students at a large public university in Saudi Arabia. We randomly provided one subset of individuals with information on the labor market and aspirations of their female peers (T1), while another subset was provided with this information along with a prime that made the role of parents and family more salient (T2). We find that expectations of working among those in the Control group are quite high, yet students underestimate the expected labor force attachment of their female peers. We show that information matters: relative to the Control group, expectations about own labor force participation are significantly higher in the T1 group. We find little evidence that dissemination of information is counteracted by local gender norms: impacts for the T2 group are significant and often larger than those for T1 group. However, T2 leads to higher expectations of working in Education - a sector that is socially more acceptable for women. |
| JEL: | D80 D83 J10 J20 Z10 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26693&r=all |
| By: | Christine Lewis; Patrice Ollivaud |
| Abstract: | Swiss society is ageing. At the same time, life expectancy is increasing. With most workers retiring around age 65, time in retirement is growing and the ratio of retirees to employees is set to soar. These developments bring a range of opportunities but will likely weigh on growth in GDP per capita and increase public spending. They may also widen existing inequalities. This paper highlights three key policy challenges to preserve high living standards in coming decades. First, the pension system ensures good retirement incomes despite a lack of reforms. However, reforms are urgently needed as the system is under increasing pressure. Second, a range of disincentives and barriers in the labour market and tax system contribute to early retirement and involuntary retirement. Boosting employability at older ages and broadening older workers’ options would dampen the economic impact of ageing. Third, the Swiss health system delivers good outcomes but at a higher cost than other countries, and ageing will only exacerbate the associated pressures. Cost containment and improved co-ordination are vital. Adjusting the financing of long-term care could improve access and the overall quality of long-term care. |
| Keywords: | healthcare, labour market, long-term care, long-term projections, pension system, population ageing, Switzerland |
| JEL: | J26 J11 I18 |
| Date: | 2020–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1600-en&r=all |
| By: | Schwandt, Hannes; Wachter, Till von (University of California, Los Angeles) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses several large cross-sectional data sources and a new approach to estimate midlife effects of entering the labor market in a recession on mortality by cause and various measures of socioeconomic status. We find that cohorts coming of age during the deep recession of the early 1980s suffer increases in mortality that appear in their late 30s and further strengthen through age 50. We show these mortality impacts are driven by disease-related causes such as heart disease, lung cancer, and liver disease, as well as drug overdoses. At the same time, unlucky middle-aged labor market entrants earn less and work more while receiving less welfare support. They are also less likely to be married, more likely to be divorced, and experience higher rates of childlessness. Our findings demonstrate that temporary disadvantages in the labor market during young adulthood can have substantial impacts on lifetime outcomes, can affect life and death in middle age, and go beyond the transitory initial career effects typically studied. |
| Keywords: | labor market entry conditions, long-term effects, mortality |
| JEL: | E32 I10 J10 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12908&r=all |
| By: | Parag A. Pathak (MIT); Alex Rees-Jones (Cornell University); Tayfun Sönmez (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | In response to increasing demand for high-skilled labor, the U.S. Congress legis- lated in 2005 that the H-1B visa program create 20,000 additional slots for advanced degree applicants on top of 65,000 slots open to all. Since then, the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS) has implemented this policy through visa alloca- tion rules that comply with this legislation. Following a directive in the April 2017 Buy American and Hire American Executive Order by President Trump, USCIS tweaked its H-1B visa allocation rule in 2019, in an explicit effort to increase the share of higher-skill beneficiaries, bypassing the need for Congressional approval to increase the number of advanced degree slots. The USCIS estimated that the rule change, engineered solely for this objective, would increase the number of higher- skill beneficiaries by more than 5,000 at the expense of lower-skill beneficiaries. In this paper, we characterize all visa allocation rules that comply with the legislation. Despite specifying rigid caps, we show that the legislation still allows for rules that can change the number of high-skill awards by as many as 14,000 in an average year. Of all rules that comply with the legislation, the 2019 rule adopted by the Trump ad- ministration produces the best possible outcome for higher-skill applicants and the worst possible outcome for lower-skill applicants. We also discover that each of the two previous and much less known changes to the H-1B visa allocation rule resulted in more substantial changes to the share of higher-skill beneficiaries than the 2019 reform. The distributional effects of these earlier reforms in 2006 and 2008, how- ever, were motivated by logistical considerations, potentially without understanding of their importance for the rate of higher-skill awards. |
| Keywords: | H1B, Immigration Policy, Reserve Design |
| JEL: | C78 D47 |
| Date: | 2020–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:bocoec:993&r=all |
| By: | Angelo Lorenti (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Christian Dudel (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Jo Mhairi Hale (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Mikko Myrskylä (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | The ability to work at older ages depends on health and education. Both accumulate starting very early in life. We assess how childhood disadvantages combine with education to affect working and health trajectories. Applying multistate period life tables to data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) for the period 2008-2014, we estimate how the residual life expectancy at age 50 is distributed in number of years of work and disability, by number of childhood disadvantages, gender, and race/ethnicity. Our findings indicate that number of childhood disadvantages is negatively associated with work and positively with disability, irrespective of gender and race/ethnicity. Childhood disadvantages intersect with low education resulting in shorter lives, and redistributing life years from work to disability. Among the highly educated, health and work differences between groups of childhood disadvantage are small. Combining multistate models and inverse probability weighting, we show that the return of high education is greater among the most disadvantaged. |
| Keywords: | USA, disability, early childhood, education, ethnicity, length of working life, Markov chains |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2020-006&r=all |
| By: | Brenøe, Anne Ardila (University of Zurich); Canaan, Serena (American University of Beirut); Harmon, Nikolaj (University of Copenhagen); Royer, Heather (University of California, Santa Barbara) |
| Abstract: | Most of the existing evidence on the effectiveness of family leave policies comes from studies focusing on their impacts on affected families – that is, mothers, fathers, and their children – without a clear understanding of the costs and effects on firms and coworkers. We use data from Denmark to evaluate the effect on firms and coworkers when a worker gives birth and goes on leave. Using a dynamic difference-in-differences design, we compare small firms in which a female employee is about to give birth to an observationally equivalent sample of small firms with female employees who are not close to giving birth. Identification rests on a parallel trends assumption, which we substantiate through a set of natural validity checks. When an employee gives birth she goes on leave from her firm for 9.5 months on average. Firms respond by increasing their labor inputs along several margins such that the net effect on total work hours is close to zero. Firms' total wage bill increases in response to leave take up, but this is driven entirely by wages paid to workers on leave for which firms receive reimbursement. There are no measurable effects on firm output, profitability or survival. Finally, coworkers of the woman going on leave see temporary increases in their hours, earnings, and likelihood of being employed but experience no significant changes in well-being at work as proxied by sick days. Overall, our results suggest that employees going on parental leave impose negligible costs on their firm and coworkers. |
| Keywords: | family leave, birth, firms, labor |
| JEL: | H00 J2 J13 |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12870&r=all |
| By: | Blien, Uwe (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg); Dauth, Wolfgang (University of Würzburg); Roth, Duncan (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses how differences in the degree of occupational routine-intensity affect the costs of job loss. We use worker-level data on mass layoffs in Germany between 1980 and 2010 and provide causal evidence that workers who used to be employed in more routine-intensive occupations suffer larger and more persistent earnings losses after the mass layoff. Furthermore, we are able to show that, at least initially, earnings losses are primarily due to a reduction in the number of days in employment, suggesting that routine-intensive workers face considerable frictions in the adjustment to job loss. Conditional on finding a new job, routine-intensive workers are more likely to change their occupations but end up systematically in the lower end of their new occupation's wage distribution. |
| Keywords: | routine-replacing technological change, routine-intensity, labour market biographies, mass layoffs, Germany, difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | J24 J63 O33 |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12851&r=all |
| By: | Kuhn, Andreas (Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training); Wolter, Stefan C. (University of Bern) |
| Abstract: | We empirically test the hypothesis that adolescents' occupational aspirations are more gender-stereotypical if they live in regions where the societal norm towards gender equality is weaker. For our analysis, we combine rich survey data describing a sample of 1,434 Swiss adolescents in 8th grade with municipal voting results dealing with gender equality and policy. We find that occupational aspirations are strongly gender-segregated and that adolescents living in municipalities with a stronger norm towards gender equality are significantly less likely to aspire for a gender-stereotypical occupation, even after controlling for individual-level controls. At the same time, gender norms have virtually no power in explaining the gender stereotypicity of individual occupational aspirations - challenging the widespread conception that societal gender norms are one of the most important determinants of occupational gender segregation. Moreover, a more detailed analysis shows that the association may mainly reflect the intergenerational transmission of occupations from parents to their children and/or regional differences in the prevailing occupational structure. |
| Keywords: | occupational choice, occupational segregation, gender norms, preferences, intergenerational transmission, regional occupational structure |
| JEL: | J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12861&r=all |
| By: | Klasen, Stephan; Minasyan, Anna |
| Abstract: | Gender-based board quotas do not always lead to higher share of women in top management positions. We study the consequences of an affirmative action policy that stipulates gender- and race-based targets in top management positions, beyond boards. We focus on the representation of intersectional group identities, such as race and gender, at the top. We find sizable increase in the likelihood of Black women employment in top positions in the post-policy period relative to Black men, White women and White men in South Africa. We extend our analysis and estimate policy spillovers for years of schooling, earnings gaps and self-employment. |
| Keywords: | affirmative action,top,employment,race,gender,South Africa |
| JEL: | H41 J18 J21 J71 K31 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:467&r=all |
| By: | Thomas Breda (Paris School of Economics); Alex Bryson (University College London, National Institute of Social and Economic Research and Institute for the Study of Labor); John Forth (Cass Business School, NIESR, IZA) |
| Abstract: | Using panel data for nearly all service providers in a single industry sector, we examine productivity responses to changes in competition in the United States. The sector offers workplace employee representation through trade union branches which compete with one another for union members whose subscriptions they depend on to cover costs. As such, they have an interest in maximising productivity. Ours is the first study to measure service industry productivity using both price and quantity metrics. Consistent with manufacturing studies, we find market entrants have lower prices and higher Total Factor Productivity (TFP) than incumbents. Increased competition from new entrants leads incumbents to reduce the price of union membership; exit rates then rise among incumbents with the lowest prices who are constrained in adjusting their prices downwards. Those with higher TFP have higher survival probabilities. However, increased competition does not induce incumbents to raise their TFP. These findings are consistent with a market in which incumbents learn about market conditions but face high switching costs limiting their ability to invest in the new techniques that underpin the higher TFP of new entrants. |
| Keywords: | competition; productivity; TFP; trade unions; survival |
| JEL: | J5 L1 L2 L3 |
| Date: | 2019–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1910&r=all |
| By: | Sudha Narayanan (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research); Karthikeya Naraparaju (Indian Institute of Management Indore); Nicolas Gerber (Zentrum fur Entwicklungs Forschung (ZEF) Bonn) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether participation in workfare and food grain subsidy programs in India impacts health and nutritional status of women and children in participating households, using short-term morbidity and body mass index (BMI) as indicators. Using the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS), a nationally representative panel data survey conducted in 2005 and 2012, we estimate average treatment effects for participants using a semi-parametric differences-in-differences and a regression-based DID using a sample matched on the propensity scores. We find that participation in these programs lowers morbidity for women by upto 28. We also find evidence, though statistically weaker, that participation increases women's BMI, at least in states implementing those programs well. For children, we find generally positive impacts of household participation in these programs on their BMI, however there is no robust evidence of any impact on their morbidity. Our results suggest that social protection programs can operate synergistically and deliver positive impacts on children and women's nutrition or health, even though this is not their main objective. At the same time, the effects are heterogeneous, confirming that benefits of programs are mediated by intrahousehold dynamics. |
| Keywords: | social protection, employment guarantee, food subsidy, morbidity, BMI, India |
| JEL: | I1 I18 I38 J08 |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2019-041&r=all |
| By: | Marco Battaglini; Jorgen M. Harris; Eleonora Patacchini |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of hearing cases alongside female judicial colleagues on the probability that a federal judge hires a female law clerk. Federal judges are assigned to cases and to judicial panels at random and have few limitations on their choices of law clerks: these two features make the federal court system a unique environment in which to study the effect of professional interactions and beliefs in organizations. We constructed a unique dataset by aggregating federal case records from 2007-2017 to collect information on federal judicial panels, and by merging this data with judicial hiring information from the Judicial Yellow Book, a directory of federal judges and clerks. We find that a one standard deviation increase in the fraction of co-panelists who are female increases a judge’s likelihood of hiring a female clerk by 4 percentage points. This finding suggests that increases in the diversity of the upper rungs of a profession can shift attitudes in a way that creates opportunities at the entry level of a profession. |
| JEL: | J16 J71 J82 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26726&r=all |
| By: | Raven Molloy; Christopher Smith; Abigail K. Wozniak |
| Abstract: | We confront two seemingly-contradictory observations about the US labor market: the rate at which workers change employers has declined since the 1980s, yet there is a commonly expressed view that long-term employment relationships are more difficult to attain. We reconcile these observations by examining how the distribution of employment tenure has changed in aggregate and for various demographic groups. We show that the fraction of workers with short tenure (less than a year) has been falling since the 1980s, consistent with the decline in job changing. Meanwhile, the fraction of workers with long tenure (20 years or more) has been rising modestly owing to an increase in long tenure for women and the ageing of the population. Long tenure has declined markedly among older men; this trend may have spurred popular perceptions that long-term employment is less common than in the past. The decline in long-tenure for men appears due to an increase in mid-career separations that reduce the likelihood of reaching long-tenure, rather than an increase in late-career separations. Nevertheless, survey evidence indicates that these changes in employment relationships are not associated with heightened concerns about job insecurity or decreases in job satisfaction as reported by workers. The decline in short-tenure is widespread, associated with fewer workers cycling among briefly-held jobs, and coincides with an increase in perceived job security among short tenure workers. |
| JEL: | J11 J60 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26694&r=all |
| By: | Purna Banerjee (Madras School of Economics); C. Veeramani (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research) |
| Abstract: | Increased participation of women in productive employment is a prerequisite for achieving gender equality and other sustainable development goals. Yet, female labour force participation in India, a country home to about 17 of the world's women, is abysmally low. Against this background, using plant level data, we obtain gender-wise estimates of job dynamics - job creation, destruction and reallocation - across 32 Indian states and Union Territories and 58 formal manufacturing industries for 1998-99 to 2014-15. This paper departs from earlier studies by focusing on measures of job dynamics, as opposed to static net employment measures, and on the demand side determinants of employment outcomes. We analyse whether industry-level changes in export competitiveness, mediated through exchange rate fluctuations, explain the variation in job dynamics for each gender group. We also examine whether this relationship is conditional on state level variation in labour market conditions. Our estimates suggest that, even as net job creation rate is quite low, the labour market has experienced significant labour turnover for both gender groups, particularly in states with relatively flexible labour laws. Dynamic panel data regression analysis provides evidence for an asymmetric impact of exchange rate in that while depreciation (appreciation) is found to increase (reduce) gross job creation rates, exchange rate changes do not exert any effect on gross job destruction rates. Improvement in export competitiveness positively influences gross and net job creation in states with flexible labour market but not in states with rigid labour markets. The results indicate that when faced with labour market rigidities female workers face greater job reallocation compared to male workers. Our results remain unchanged even if we control for the use of contractual workers that provide some de facto labour market flexibility to producers. |
| Keywords: | Gross job flows, real exchange rate, competitiveness, gender |
| JEL: | F16 F41 J16 |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2019-035&r=all |
| By: | Naoki Aizawa; Chao Fu |
| Abstract: | We study regulations on the health insurance system for working-age U.S. households, consisting of employer-sponsored health insurance (ESHI), individual health insurance exchange (HIX), and Medicaid. We develop and estimate an equilibrium model with rich heterogeneity across local markets, households, and firms, which highlights the inter-relationship between various components of the health insurance system as well as their relationship with the labor market. We estimate the model exploiting variations across states and policy environments before and after the Affordable Care Act. In counterfactual experiments, we consider policies to cross subsidize between ESHI and HIX, which include pure risk pooling between the two markets as a special case. We find such policies would benefit most households, improve average household welfare, and decrease government expenditure. Furthermore, the welfare gains are larger if the cross subsidization is interacted with Medicaid expansion. |
| JEL: | I11 J01 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26713&r=all |
| By: | Christos Pierros |
| Abstract: | This paper extends the empirical stock-flow consistent (SFC) literature through the introduction of distributional features and labor market institutions in a Godley-type empirical SFC model. In particular, labor market institutions, such as the minimum wage and the collective bargaining coverage rate, are considered as determinants of the wage share and, in turn, of the distribution of national income. Thereby, the model is able to examine both the medium-term stability conditions of the economy via the evolution of the sectoral financial balances and the implications of functional income distribution on the growth prospects of the economy at hand. The model is then applied to the Greek economy. The empirical results indicate that the Greek economy has a significant structural competitiveness deficit, while the institutional regime is likely debt-led. The policies implemented in the context of the economic adjustment programs were highly inappropriate, triggering private sector insolvency. A minimum wage increase is projected to have a positive impact on output growth and employment. However, policies that would enhance the productive sector's structural competitiveness are required in order to ensure the growth prospects of the Greek economy. |
| Keywords: | Stock-Flow Consistent; Labor Market Institutions; Internal Devaluation; Functional Income Distribution; Greece |
| JEL: | E25 F47 J08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_949&r=all |