|
on Labour Economics |
| By: | Bächli, Mirjam; Teodora Tsankova |
| Abstract: | We investigate how the introduction of free movement of workers affects enrolment of natives in tertiary education. In a difference-in-differences framework, we exploit a policy change that led to a significant increase in the share of cross-border commuters in local employment in border regions of Switzerland. Our results show a rise in enrolment at Universities of Applied Sciences in affected relative to non-affected regions in the post-reform period but no change in enrolment at traditional universities. Furthermore, we find that enrolment increases in non-STEM fields that build skills less transferable across national borders. This allows for complementarities with foreign workers who are more likely to hold occupations requiring STEM training. Individuals with a labor market oriented education such as vocationally trained respond to the increase in labor market competition because they have employment opportunities and access to tertiary education through Universities of Applied Sciences. |
| Keywords: | Cross-border commuting, demand for tertiary education, study field choice, labor market conditions |
| JEL: | F22 I26 J24 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:econwp:2020:19&r=all |
| By: | Beam, Emily A. (University of Vermont) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how individuals select into job search in terms of their individual qualifications and perceptions and measures how recruiting additional applicants with a modest job-search subsidy affects selection. I use experimental evidence to examine individuals' decisions to attend and participate in a job fair. Thirteen percent of invited but unsubsidized respondents attend the job fair, and they are positively selected from the overall distribution of respondents. While the subsidy attracts those who are less qualified and less confident in their ability to find work abroad, the least qualified do not search intensively. Although the subsidy does not lead to any additional offers, it induces individuals with a high degree of uncertainty about their likelihood of job-finding to apply with recruitment agencies. These results demonstrate the importance of imperfect information about the returns to search and highlight how reducing search costs can increase search effort among those most uncertain about their prospects. |
| Keywords: | recruitment, job search, perceived returns, migration, field experiment |
| JEL: | O15 J64 D83 C93 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13793&r=all |
| By: | Belloc, Filippo (University of Siena); Burdin, Gabriel (Leeds University Business School); Landini, Fabio (University of Parma) |
| Abstract: | The interplay between labour institutions and the adoption of automation technologies remains poorly understood. Specifically, there is little evidence on how the nature of industrial relations shapes technological choices at the workplace level. Using a large sample of more than 20000 European establishments located in 28 countries, this paper documents conditional correlations between the presence of employee representation (ER) and the use of automation technologies. We find that ER is positively associated with robot usage. The presence of ER also correlates with the utilization of software-based artificial intelligence tools for data analytics. We extensively dig into the mechanisms through which ER may foster the use of robots by exploiting rich information on the de facto role played by ER bodies in relation to well-defined decision areas of management. Greater automation in establishments with ER does not seem to result from more adversarial employment relationships (as measured by past strike activity) or constraints on labour flexibility imposed by the interference of employee representatives with dismissal procedures. Interestingly, the positive effect of ER on robot usage is driven by workplaces operating in relatively centralized wage-setting environments, where one would expected a more limited influence of ER on wages. While our findings are exploratory and do not have a causal interpretation, they are suggestive that ER influences certain workplace practices, such as skill development, job redesign and working time management, that may be complementary to new automation technologies. |
| Keywords: | automation, robots, artificial intelligence, unions, employee representation, labor market institutions, European Company Survey |
| JEL: | J50 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13799&r=all |
| By: | Meekes, Jordy (University of Melbourne); Hassink, Wolter (Utrecht University) |
| Abstract: | We study whether women and men cope with job loss differently. We use 2006-2017 Dutch administrative monthly microdata and a quasi-experimental design involving job displacement because of firm bankruptcy. We find that displaced women are more likely than displaced men to take up a flexible job with limited working hours and short commutes. However, displaced women experience longer unemployment durations and comparable hourly wage losses. Displaced expectant mothers experience relatively high losses in employment and working hours. Our findings suggest that the costs of job flexibility for displaced female workers come through longer unemployment instead of higher losses in wages. |
| Keywords: | job loss, gender, job flexibility, working hours, commute, household, pregnancy |
| JEL: | J16 J22 J31 J32 J6 R2 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13779&r=all |
| By: | Vladimir Hlasny (UN ESCWA); Shireen AlAzzawi (Santa Clara University) |
| Abstract: | We examine the role of cross-border return migration in the intertemporal and intergenerational transmission of status across seven surveys from Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia. We use transition matrices and instrumental variable regressions to link prime-age men’s present outcomes to those in prior years and to their fathers’ outcomes. Earnings in prior years are inferred using job-type and occupation-group cell means. We find that return migrants land higher-earning jobs and are more inter-generationally mobile. However, they outperform non-migrants not only currently but even in past years. Controlling for mitigating factors, the role of migration disappears, suggesting that individual-level effects and demographics are responsible. |
| Keywords: | Return migration, intergenerational socioeconomic mobility, MENA |
| JEL: | F22 O15 R23 J61 J62 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2020-562&r=all |
| By: | Wookun Kim (Southern Methodist University) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effects of pro-natalist cash transfers (baby bonus) on birth outcomes. I exploit rich spatial and temporal variation in these cash transfers and administrative data on the universe of birth and death registry records in South Korea. I find that the pro-natalist cash transfers increased the number of children ever born by women. The total fertility rate in 2015 would have been 3% lower without the cash transfers. The elasticities of birth rates with respect to cash transfers vary widely across birth order and mother’s age. These financial incentives encouraged working mothers to have second and third children. I observe a decrease in gestational age among these working mothers, which in turn led to an overall reduction in birth weight. There is no evidence of changes in early life mortality, but the cash transfers shifted the male-skewed sex ratio towards its natural level. |
| Keywords: | cash transfer, fertility, neonatal health, missing women, son preference. |
| JEL: | H40 H75 J13 J16 J18 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:2011&r=all |
| By: | Michael Landesmann (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Sandra M. Leitner (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the employment experiences of the recent wave of Middle Eastern refugees (from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran) in the Austrian job market. The emphasis in this research was to investigate whether refugees experienced an initial (sharp) downgrade in their occupational status when they accepted their first employment, compared with the occupation they had in their home country, and then whether (and to what extent) such a downgrade had been followed by an upgrade in the jobs they currently hold. This U-shaped pattern of occupational trajectories is familiar in the migration literature, and it is here tested using data from two survey waves of recent refugees in the Austrian labour market. The paper also analyses, in its second part, subjective assessments of refugees as to whether they feel that they are ‘over-’ or ‘under-’ qualified (regarding their previous educational attainment levels and work experiences) for the jobs in which they are currently employed. In both exercises, we report results regarding the heterogeneity across groups of refugees by age, gender, the specific occupations they held in their home country, their educational attainment levels, their country of origin, and whether they obtained refugee status as first-time asylum applicants or through family reunion. We also refer, in the section on ‘job-skills’ (mis)match, to further factors such as the refugees’ (mental) health state and the degree of their social integration with the host population. |
| Keywords: | Refugees, occupational trajectories, job-skills mismatch, Austria, refugees from Middle East, migrants’ job-market integration |
| JEL: | J15 J24 J61 J62 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:wpaper:188&r=all |
| By: | Mikkel Hermansen |
| Abstract: | Occupational licensing and non-competition agreements are two important types of labour market regulation in the United States, both covering around one fifth of all workers. While some regulation is needed to protect safety and ensure quality of services, it also creates entry barriers and reduces competition with important costs for job mobility, earnings and productivity growth. Employment opportunities for low-skilled workers and disadvantaged groups tend to be particularly affected by these barriers. The States are mainly responsible for labour market regulation and the variation across States is similar to the variation in the European Union. Harmonising requirements and scaling back occupational licensing as well as restricting the use of non-competition covenants could help to circumvent the secular decline in dynamism. However, attempts to reform often face stiff opposition from associations of professionals. The federal government has limited influence, but can in some cases help by shifting the burden from workers to meet regulatory requirements onto States and employers to show that high and differing regulatory standards are needed. |
| Keywords: | entry restrictions, job mobility, labour market regulation, non-competition agreements, Occupational licensing |
| JEL: | E24 J41 J44 J61 J62 K20 K31 L51 |
| Date: | 2020–10–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1627-en&r=all |
| By: | Fredriksson, Per G.; Gupta, Satyendra Kumar |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes that ancestral use of irrigation reduces contemporary female labor force participation and female property rights. We test this hypothesis using an exogenous measure of irrigation and data from the Afrobarometer, cross-country data, the European Social Survey, the American Community Survey, and the India Demographic and Household Survey. Our hypothesis receives considerable empirical support. We find negative associations between ancestral irrigation and actual female labor force participation, and attitudes to such participation, in contemporary African and Indian populations, 2nd generation European immigrants, 1.5 and 2nd generation US immigrants, and in cross-country data. Moreover, ancestral irrigation is negatively associated with attitudes to female property rights in Africa and with measures of such rights across countries. Our estimates are robust to a host of control variables and alternative specifications. We propose multiple potential partial mechanisms. First, in pre-modern societies the men captured technologies complementary to irrigation, raising their relative productivity. Fertility increased. This caused lower female participation in agriculture and subsistence activities, and the women worked closer to home. Next, due to the common pool nature of irrigation water, historically irrigation has involved more frequent warfare. This raised the social status of men and restricted women's movement. These two mechanisms have produced cultural preferences against female participation in the formal labor market. Finally, irrigation produced both autocracy and a culture of collectivism. These are both associated with weaker female property rights. |
| Keywords: | Irrigation,agriculture,culture,gender,norms,labor force participation,property rights |
| JEL: | J16 J21 N50 O10 P14 Q15 Z13 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:681&r=all |
| By: | Duchini, Emma (University of Warwick); Van Effenterre, Clémentine (University of Toronto) |
| Abstract: | We provide causal evidence that children's school schedules contribute to the persistence of the gender pay gap between parents. Historically, French children have had no school on Wednesdays. In 2013, a reform reallocated some classes to Wednesday mornings. Exploiting variations in the application of this reform over time and across the age of the youngest child, we show that mothers are more likely to adopt a regular Monday-Friday full-time working schedule after the reform, while fathers' labor supply is unchanged. Consequently, the reform decreased the monthly gender pay gap by 6 percent, generating fiscal revenues that substantially outweigh its costs. |
| Keywords: | school schedule, gender inequality, female labor supply, child penalty |
| JEL: | H52 J13 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13791&r=all |
| By: | Antonio Di Paolo (AQR-IREA, University of Barcelona); Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell (Barcelona GSE, IZA, and MOVE) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we provide novel evidence on the effect of local unemployment rate on life satisfaction. We investigate how changes in unemployment rate in local administrative areas affect subjective well-being in Germany, allowing for the presence of spatial spillovers and considering the role played by regional borders. The results indicate that higher unemployment in the own local area of residence has a negative effect on satisfaction. Similarly, individuals’ happiness negatively correlates with the unemployment rate in contiguous local areas, but only if these areas are located in the same Federal State as the one where the individual lives. These results are robust to a variety of specifications, definitions, sample restrictions and estimation methods. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that these negative effects of local unemployment rate are larger for individuals with stronger ties to the job market and less secure jobs. This points to worries about own job situation as the main driver of individuals’ dislike for living in areas with high unemployment rate and tight labour markets. Consistently with this, the same asymmetric effect of local unemployment rate of surrounding areas is replicated when life satisfaction is replaced with a proxy for perceived job security as outcome variable. |
| Keywords: | Life satisfaction, Local unemployment, Spatial spillovers, Neighbouring areas, Regional borders. JEL classification: I31, J64, J28, R23. |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aqr:wpaper:202006&r=all |
| By: | Gorny, Paul M.; Woodard, Ritchie C. |
| Abstract: | We analyse the correlation between job satisfaction and automatability - the degree to which an occupation can be or is at risk of being replaced by computerised equipment. Using multiple survey datasets matched with various measures of automatability from the literature, we find that there is a negative and statistically significant correlation that is robust to controlling for worker and job characteristics. Depending on the dataset, a one standard deviation increase in automatability leads to a drop in job satisfaction of about 0.73% to 1.85% for the average worker. Unlike other studies, we provide evidence that it is not the fear of losing the job that mainly drives this result, but the fact that monotonicity and low perceived meaning of the job drive both automatability as well as low job satisfaction. |
| Keywords: | Job Satisfaction, Automation, Monotonous Tasks |
| JEL: | J01 J28 J81 O33 |
| Date: | 2020–10–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:103424&r=all |
| By: | McNally, Sandra (University of Surrey) |
| Abstract: | The share of women achieving tertiary education has increased rapidly over time and now exceeds that of men in most OECD countries. However, women are severely under-represented in maths- intensive science fields, which are generally referred to as STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths). The under-representation of women in these subject areas has received a great deal of attention. This is because these fields are seen to be especially important for productivity and economic growth and are associated with occupations that have higher earnings. Subject of degree is an important part of the explanation for the gender wage gap. The aim of this paper is to review evidence on explanations for the STEM gap in tertiary education. This starts with statistics about background context and evidence on how well-prepared male and female students may be for studying STEM at a later stage. I then discuss what the literature has to say about the role of personal attributes: namely confidence, self-efficacy and competitiveness and the role of preferences and expectations. I go on to discuss features of the educational context thought to be important for influencing attributes and preferences (or mediating their effects): peers; teachers; role models; and curriculum. I then briefly discuss broader cultural influences. I use the literature reviewed to discuss policy implications. |
| Keywords: | STEM, gender gap, tertiary education |
| JEL: | I20 J16 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izapps:pp165&r=all |
| By: | Aizer, Anna (Brown University); Devereux, Paul J. (University College Dublin); Salvanes, Kjell G. (Norwegian School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Women who give birth as teens have worse subsequent educational and labor market outcomes than women who have first births at older ages. However, previous research has attributed much of these effects to selection rather than a causal effect of teen childbearing. Despite this, there are still reasons to believe that children of teen mothers may do worse as their mothers may be less mature, have fewer financial resources when the child is young, and may partner with fathers of lower quality. Using Norwegian register data, we compare outcomes of children of sisters who have first births at different ages. Our evidence suggests that the causal effect of being a child of a teen mother is much smaller than that implied by the cross-sectional differences but that there are probably still significant long-term, adverse consequences, especially for children born to the youngest teen mothers. Unlike previous research, we have information on fathers and find that negative selection of fathers of children born to teen mothers plays an important role in producing inferior child outcomes. These effects are particularly large for mothers from higher socio- economic groups. Our data also enable us to examine the effect of age at first birth across a range of maternal ages. Importantly, while we find that child outcomes are worst for those born to teen mothers, outcomes improve with mothers' age at first birth until mothers are in their mid-20s and then flatten out. |
| Keywords: | teen childbearing, child outcomes, human capital |
| JEL: | J12 J13 I31 I32 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13781&r=all |
| By: | Vincenzo Atella (Università di Roma Tor Vergata and CHP Stanford University); Edoardo Di Porto (Università di Napoli Federico II, INPS and CSEF); Joanna Kopinska (Università di Roma La Sapienza , CEIS Tor Vergata, Università di Roma Tor Vergata); Maarten Lindeboom (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Centre for Health Economics, Monash University; Tinbergen Institute; IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effects of in-utero exposure to stress on lifelong labor market outcomes. We exploit a unique natural experiment that involved randomly placed Nazi raids on municipalities in Italy during WWII. We use administrative data on the universe of private sector workers in Italy and link this data to unique historical data with detailed information about war casualties and Nazi raids across space (Municipality) and time. We find that prenatal stress exposure leads to lower wage earnings when workers start their career, and that this effect persists until retirement. The earnings penalty is in large part due to the type of job that people hold and interruptions in their working career due to unemployment. We further show that workers exposed to in-utero stress face larger earnings reductions after job loss due to mass layoffs. This earnings loss deepens their relative disadvantage over time. |
| Keywords: | Early-life; Stress; Life-long earnings; Mass Layoff; Dynamic Complementarities. |
| JEL: | I1 O1 |
| Date: | 2020–10–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:584&r=all |
| By: | P. PORA (Insee - Crest) |
| Abstract: | I leverage the staggered expansion of subsidized childcare institutions across municipalities, induced by asuccession of national plans, to investigate the effect of collective childcare on parents' labor outcomes and childcare choices in France between 2007 and 2015. These plans did not lead to any substantial change neither in the labor outcomes of parents nor in the take-up of paid parental leave. Instead, these collective childcare expansions crowded out more costly formal childcare solutions, such as childminders or at-home childcare. These crowding-out effects highlight a downside of family policy strategies that foster the coexistence of multiple childcare arrangements. |
| Keywords: | Labor supply, childcare, event-study, parental leave. |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J18 J22 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nse:doctra:g2020-05&r=all |
| By: | Ackah, Charles Godfred; Görg, Holger; Hanley, Aoife; Hornok, Cecília |
| Abstract: | We explore the export performance of Africa's underperforming female entrepreneurs, using the Ghanaian ISSER-IGC panel, a comprehensive dataset of manufacturing firms for 2011-2015. Uniquely, the data provides information about the severity of key business constraints, across both male and female entrepreneurs. We find that females are less likely to export (and optimize their exporting) than their male peers. Although reduced access to finance seriously constrains the exports of female entrepreneurs, this limitation does not explain their relative inability to leverage value from exports. Consistent with related work, we find that certain social and cultural constraints, in particular constraints linked to bribes and security concerns, are more deeply felt by female entrepreneurs. This may hint at the exclusion of Africa's females (voluntarily or involuntarily) from male-dominated networks or business practices. |
| Keywords: | female entrepreneurship,business constraints,productivity,exporting,Africa,Ghana |
| JEL: | D22 F14 J16 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:kcgwps:22&r=all |
| By: | Mark Colas; Dominik Sachs |
| Abstract: | Low-skilled immigrants indirectly affect public finances through their effect on native wages & labor supply. We operationalize this general-equilibrium effect in the workhorse labor market model with heterogeneous workers and intensive and extensive labor supply margins. We derive a closed-form expression for this effect in terms of estimable statistics. We extend the analysis to various alternative specifications of the labor market and production that have been emphasized in the immigration literature. Empirical quantifications for the U.S. reveal that the indirect fiscal benefit of one low-skilled immigrant lies between $770 and $2,100 annually. The indirect fiscal benefit may outweigh the negative direct fiscal effect that has previously been documented. This challenges the perception of low-skilled immigration as a fiscal burden. |
| Keywords: | immigration, fiscal impact, general equilibrium |
| JEL: | H20 J31 J62 J68 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8604&r=all |
| By: | Frimmel, Wolfgang (University of Linz); Halla, Martin (University of Linz); Paetzold, Jörg (University of Salzburg); Schmieder, Julia (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the impact of parental health on adult children's labor market outcomes. We focus on health shocks which increase care dependency abruptly. Our estimation strategy exploits the variation in the timing of shocks across treated families. Empirical results based on Austrian administrative data show a significant negative impact on labor market activities of children. This effect is more pronounced for daughters and for children who live close to their parents. Further analyses suggest informal caregiving as the most likely mechanism. The effect is muted after a liberalization of the formal care market, which sharply increased the supply of foreign care workers. |
| Keywords: | informal care, formal care, aging, health, labor supply, labor migration |
| JEL: | J14 J22 I11 I18 R23 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13774&r=all |
| By: | Kyung nok Chun; Zachary Schaller; Stergios Skaperdas |
| Abstract: | Strikes, just as other types of conflict, used to be difficult to explain from an economic perspective. Initially, it was thought that they were a result of mistakes or irrationality. Then, during the 1980s an explosion of research brought asymmetric information to prominence as a significant cause of strikes. After reviewing such long-standing potential explanations, we go over some more recent ones. When a strike changes the future strategic positions of unions relative to firms compared to a bargain, then a strike can ensue; significantly, the more important the future is considered to be (i.e., the higher is the discount factor), the more likely a strike is. In a new model we show how solidarity based on identification with the union can lead to strikes. Additionally, power asymmetries, reputation-building, and internal union politics can account for strikes within a rational-choice, economic perspective. |
| Keywords: | unions, strikes, dispute resolution, bargaining |
| JEL: | J52 J53 C78 D74 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8620&r=all |
| By: | Cameron, Lisa A. (University of Melbourne); Seager, Jennifer (George Washington University); Shah, Manisha (University of California, Los Angeles) |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of criminalizing sex work, exploiting an event in which local officials unexpectedly criminalized sex work in one district in East Java, Indonesia, but not in neighboring districts. We collect data from female sex workers and their clients before and after the change. We find that criminalization increases sexually transmitted infections among female sex workers by 58 percent, measured by biological tests. This is driven by decreased condom access and use. We also find evidence that criminalization decreases earnings among women who left sex work due to criminalization, and decreases their ability to meet their children’s school expenses while increasing the likelihood that children begin working to supplement household income. While criminalization has the potential to improve population STI outcomes if the market shrinks permanently, we show that five years post-criminalization the market has rebounded and the probability of STI transmission within the general population is likely to have increased. |
| Keywords: | sex work, criminalization, sexually-transmitted infections, Indonesia |
| JEL: | I18 K42 J16 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13784&r=all |