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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Claudia Olivetti; M. Daniele Paserman; Laura Salisbury; E. Anna Weber |
| Abstract: | We present new findings about the relationship between marriage and socioeconomic background in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Imputing socioeconomic status of family of origin from first names, we document a socioeconomic gradient for women in the probability of marriage and the socioeconomic status of husbands. This socioeconomic gradient becomes steeper over time. We investigate the degree to which it can be explained by occupational income divergence across geographic regions. Regional divergence explains about one half of the socioeconomic divergence in the probability of marriage, and almost all of the increase in marital sorting. Differences in urbanization rates and the share of foreign-born across states drive most of these differences, while other factors (the scholarization rate, the sex ratio and the share in manufacturing) play a smaller role. |
| JEL: | J12 J62 N31 N32 N91 N92 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28033&r=all |
| By: | Andreas Lichter; Amelie Schiprowski |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how the potential duration of unemployment benefits affects early job search behavior and re-employment outcomes. We exploit an unexpected reform of the German unemployment insurance (UI) scheme in 2008, which increased the potential benefit duration from 12 to 15 months for benefit recipients of age 50 to 54. Based on detailed survey data and a difference-in-differences design, we estimate that one additional month of potential benefits reduces early job applications by around 10%. Using social security data, we further find that the extension of benefits increases the average nonemployment duration of individuals entering UI after the reform. Among individuals who got treated at later stages of their unemployment spell, the increased UI coverage does not appear to come at the cost of longer nonemployment. A cautious back-of-the-envelope calculation reveals substantial job finding returns to early search effort. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment Insurance, Job Search, Re-Employment Outcomes, Natural Experiment |
| JEL: | D83 I38 J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2020_164v2&r=all |
| By: | Meekes, Jordy (University of Melbourne); Hassink, Wolter (Utrecht University); Kalb, Guyonne (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research) |
| Abstract: | We examine whether the COVID-19 crisis affects women and men differently in terms of employment, working hours and hourly wages outcomes, and whether the effects are demand or supply driven. COVID-19 impacts are studied using administrative data on all Dutch employees up to 30 June 2020, focussing on the national lockdown and the emergency childcare for essential workers in the Netherlands. First, we find that the impact of COVID-19 is much larger for non-essential workers than for essential workers. Although, on average, women and men are equally affected, female non-essential workers are more affected than male non-essential workers. Second, partnered individuals with young children are equally affected by the crisis as others, irrespective of gender and spousal employment. Third, single-parent essential workers experience relatively large negative labour supply effects, suggesting emergency childcare was not sufficient for this group. However, overall, labour demand effects appear more important than labour supply effects. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, gender, employment, hours worked, lockdown, essential workers |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J20 J64 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13843&r=all |
| By: | Lochner, Benjamin; Merkl, Christian; Stüber, Heiko; Gürtzgen, Nicole |
| Abstract: | Using the German IAB Job Vacancy Survey, we look into the black box of recruiting intensity and hiring practices from the employers' perspective. Our paper evaluates three important channels for hiring -namely vacancy posting, the selectivity of hiring (labor selection), and the number of search channels- through the lens of an undirected search model. Vacancy posting and labor selection show a U-shape over the employment growth distribution. The number of search channels is also upward sloping for growing establishments, but relatively flat for shrinking establishments. We argue that growing establishments react to positive establishment-specific productivity shocks by using all three channels more actively. Furthermore, we connect the fact that shrinking establishments post more vacancies and are less selective than those with a constant workforce to churn triggered by employment-to-employment transitions. In line with our theoretical framework, all three hiring margins are procyclical over the business cycle. |
| Keywords: | recruiting intensity,vacancies,labor selection,administrative data,survey data |
| JEL: | E24 J63 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc20:224559&r=all |
| By: | Gilbert CETTE (Banque de France (France) and Université d'Aix-Marseille); Jimmy LOPEZ (LEDI, Université de Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (France) and Banque de France (France)); Jacques MAIRESSE (CREST ENSAE (France); UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University (Netherlands); EHESS (France); NBER (USA)); Giuseppe NICOLETTI (Economics Department, OECD (France)) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates empirically how managerial practices have affected macroeconomic adjustment during the Great Recession after the 2008 economic crisis. We start by constructing a country*industry balanced panel data over the 2007-2015 period for eighteen industries in ten OECD countries, and complementing it by two indicators: an indicator of management quality at the country level based on the managerial practices categorical scores at firm level from Bloom et al. (2012); and an indicator at the industry level for the shocks stemming from the 2008 economic crisis. We then rely on the local projection method pioneered by Jordà (2005) to estimate the direct impacts of country management quality indicators and industry economic shocks as well as their joint impacts, on five variables of interest: value-added, employment, labor productivity, wage per employee and labor share during the Great Recession. We find that, in countries where management quality is higher, production and employment are more resilient during the Great Recession, with less production losses and employment damages, no effects on productivity, wage moderation and a slight increase in the labor shares. It appears, moreover, that this resilience is increasing with the size of industry shocks. |
| Keywords: | Economic adjustment, Employment, Wage, Management quality, Great Recession, Local projection cross-country analysis, Dynamic modelling. |
| JEL: | E24 M11 M54 |
| Date: | 2020–11–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2020-26&r=all |
| By: | Ginja, Rita (University of Bergen); Karimi, Arizo (Uppsala University); Xiao, Pengpeng (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | Search frictions make worker turnover costly to firms. A three-month parental leave expansion in Sweden provides exogenous variation that we use to quantify firms' adjustment costs upon worker absence and exit. The reform increased women's leave duration and likelihood of separating from pre-birth employers. Firms with greater exposure to the reform hired additional workers and increased incumbent hours, incurring additional wage costs. These adjustment costs varied by firms' availability of internal and external substitutes. Economy-wide analyses show that a higher reform exposure is correlated with fewer hires and lower starting wages of young women compared to men and older women. |
| Keywords: | parental leave, firm-specific human capital, statistical discrimination |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J21 J22 J31 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13833&r=all |
| By: | Jacques MAIRESSE (CREST ENSAE (France); UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University (Netherlands); EHESS (France); NBER (USA)); Michele PEZZONI (GREDEG, CNRS, Université Côte d’Azur (France); OST, HCERES, (France); ICRIOS, Bocconi University (Italy)); Fabiana VISENTIN (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University (Netherlands)) |
| Abstract: | In this study, we investigate what are the factors of the promotion of female and male scientists at the French Institute of Physics (INP) at CNRS, one of the largest European public research organizations. We construct a long panel of INP physicists combining various data sources on their research activities and career. Using event history analysis, we find that female and male physicists have the same rate of promotion from junior to senior positions when controlling for research productivity and a variety of other promotion factors. Our results also suggest that promotion factors such as family characteristics, mentoring, professional network, research responsibilities have different impacts on female and male researchers. |
| Keywords: | Gender disparity, Promotion, Research productivity, Family characteristics, Research Responsibilities, Mentoring activities, Panel Data, Event history analysis. |
| JEL: | I23 J16 |
| Date: | 2020–11–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2020-25&r=all |
| By: | Mavlikeeva, Maria; Asanov, Igor |
| Abstract: | Despite evidence of the gender wage gap in favor of men, aggregate findings from correspondence studies show that women are more likely than men to be invited for a job interview (Gornall and Strebulaev, 2018). We hypothesize that the predominance of women among recruiters may explain this somewhat puzzling finding; recruiters may favor applicants of their own gender. We use the data from a large-scale correspondence study in Russia to test this hypothesis. As expected, we find that female applicants are more likely to receive callbacks for interview. We also see that in our sample the majority of contact persons responsible for the recruitment process are female. More importantly, we find that if recruiter and applicant are of the same gender, then the likelihood that the applicant will be invited for an interview increases. These findings taken together point out the gender favoritism at the hiring stage in the labor market. |
| JEL: | J01 J7 C93 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc20:224647&r=all |
| By: | Mitkova, Mariya |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a search and matching model with hierarchical firms, human capital accumulation, internal promotions and on-the-job search. At the time of their market entry firms maximize present value of profits with respect to their promotion rule. Workers who are eligible for promotion but cannot be promoted because the senior position in the firm is taken start searching on-the-job. The decentralized equilibrium is then compared to the socially optimal one. The welfare analysis is conducted in two steps: in the first one fixed firm entry is assumed, while in the second firm entry is determined by a free-entry condition. Under fixed firm entry, the social planner can induce aprrox. 5% welfare gain by imposing earlier promotion timing compared to the one firms choose in the decentralized equilibrium. The inefficiency of the decentralized equilibrium is caused by strategic complementarity in firms' promotion choices. If a firm delays internal promotions it creates a negative externality on all other firms by reducing the pool of potential candidates to the high productivity senior jobs. However, due to strategic complementarity the competitors respond by also increasing their promotion requirement. Imposing a free-entry condition further reveals that in the decentralized equilibrium firm entry is biased downwards which exacerbates the allocative inefficiency in the economy. |
| Keywords: | promotions,on-the-job search,human capital,efficiency |
| JEL: | D21 D61 D63 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc20:224589&r=all |
| By: | Wild, Frederik; Stadelmann, David |
| Abstract: | This article investigates women's returns to schooling by exploiting Burundi's free primary education policy (FPE) of 2005 as a natural experiment. Credibly exogenous variation in education is identified through a fuzzy regression discontinuity design (RDD). Our results show that while educational attainment was positively influenced by Burundi's FPE for women situated at all wealth levels, the relevant downstream effects of schooling - measured by fertility, literacy and employment - reveal heterogeneous treatment effects by wealth. Poorer women profit in terms of higher literacy, employment as well as reduced fertility through policy induced education, while there are almost no effects of additional education for non-poor women. Our findings help in evaluating the generalisability of the nexus between women's education and fertility as well as associated factors. |
| Keywords: | Female Education,Fertility,Sub-Saharan Africa,Regression Discontinuity Design |
| JEL: | I25 I26 J13 O55 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc20:224607&r=all |
| By: | Gang, Ira N. (Rutgers University); Natarajan, Rajesh Raj (Sikkim University); Sen, Kunal (University of Manchester) |
| Abstract: | How does informal economic activity respond to increased financial inclusion? Does it become more entrepreneurial? Does access to new financing options change the gender configuration of informal economic activity and, if so, in what ways and what directions? We take advantage of nationwide data collected in 2010/11 and 2015/16 by India's National Sample Survey Office on unorganized (informal) enterprises. This period was one of rapid expansion of banking availability aimed particularly at the unbanked, under-banked, and women. We find strong empirical evidence supporting the crucial role of financial access in promoting entrepreneurship among informal sector firms in India. Our results are robust to alternative specifications and alternative measures of financial constraints using an approach combining propensity score matching and difference-in-differences. However, we do not find conclusive evidence that increased financial inclusion leads to a higher likelihood of women becoming entrepreneurs than men in the informal sector. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, financial constraints, gender, informal sector, difference-in-differences, India |
| JEL: | O12 G28 L26 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13854&r=all |
| By: | Koumenta, Maria; Pagliero, Mario; Rostam-Afschar, Davud |
| Abstract: | We use a unique survey of the EU labor force to investigate the relationship between occupational licensing and the gender wage gap. We find that the gender wage gap is canceled for licensed self-employed workers. However, this closure of the gender wage gap is not mirrored by significant changes in the gender gap inhours worked. Our results are robust using decomposition methods, quantile regressions, different datasets, and selection correction. |
| Keywords: | Licensing,Gender gap,Wages,Female Labour Supply,Quantile regression,Selection |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J44 J71 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hohdps:132020&r=all |
| By: | Artz, Benjamin; Heywood, John S. |
| Abstract: | This chapter focuses on the lessons learned from four decades of studying the relationship between unions and job satisfaction. We discuss the original paradox that started the literature and trace the on-going debate over results that differ by sample and by estimation technique. We emphasize the cross-national evidence suggesting that the paradox of dissatisfied union members may be largely associated with Anglophone countries. Within Anglophone countries we explore exactly what is typically being measured and how unionization may influence both job characteristics and perceptions of given job characteristics. We explore differences in the influence of union membership on job satisfaction and on broader life satisfaction. We also review the literature on alternative forms of employee representation. We conclude by summarizing and suggesting avenues for future research. |
| Keywords: | Job Satisfaction,Unions,Voice,Alternative Representation |
| JEL: | J31 J32 J51 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:705&r=all |
| By: | Arun Advani; Felix Koenig; Lorenzo Pessina; Andy Summers |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study the contribution of migrants to the rise in UK top incomes. Using administrative data on the universe of UK taxpayers we show migrants are over-represented at the top of the income distribution, with migrants twice as prevalent in the top 0.1% as anywhere in the bottom 97%. These high incomes are predominantly from labour, rather than capital, and migrants are concentrated in only a handful of industries, predominantly finance. Almost all (85%) of the growth in the UK top 1% income share over the past 20 years can be attributed to migration. |
| JEL: | H20 J30 J60 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8665&r=all |
| By: | Caliendo, Marco (University of Potsdam); Mahlstedt, Robert (University of Copenhagen); van den Berg, Gerard J. (University of Bristol); Vikström, Johan (IFAU) |
| Abstract: | Labor market policy tools such as training and sanctions are commonly used to help bring workers back to work. By analogy to medical treatments, the individual exposure to these tools may have side effects. We study effects on health using individual-level population registers on labor market events outcomes, drug prescriptions and sickness absence, comparing outcomes before and after exposure to training and sanctions. We find that training improves cardiovascular and mental health and lowers sickness absence. The results suggest that this is not due to improved employment prospects but rather to instantaneous features of participation such as, perhaps, the adoption of a more rigorous daily routine. Unemployment benefits sanctions cause a short-run deterioration of mental health, possibly due higher stress levels, but this tapers out quickly. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, health, sickness, prescriptions, mental health, drugs, training, depression, cardiovascular disease, sanctions |
| JEL: | J68 I12 I18 H51 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13846&r=all |
| By: | Arni, Patrick; Liu, Xingfei |
| Abstract: | Standard program evaluations implicitly assume that individuals are perfectly informed about the considered policy change and the related institutional rules. This seems not very plausible in many contexts, as diverse examples show. However, evidence on how incomplete information affects the size of measured treatment effects is broadly missing. We exploit a unique set of natural experiments to assess the importance of incomplete information in shaping policy effects. We compare different large-scale quasi-experiments on changing potential benefit duration (PBD) in unemployment insurance (UI). Thereby, we confront the benchmark case, in which individuals are fully informed about their different PBD levels, with cases in which job seekers experience a change of their benefit eligibility without being initially informed. However, in any of the considered cases they face exactly the same size of treatment: an increase or decrease of the PBD by 200 days. We identify the treatment effects around the threshold of age 25 where PBD rules change in the considered Swiss UI system. We find substantial differences in the treatment effects across cases with different information conditions on benefit levels. The differences can be rationalized by a model in which individuals invest different amounts of effort to acquire the necessary information. Quantifications of the impact of incomplete information on the PBD effects demonstrate the policy relevance of this usually ignored issue. |
| Keywords: | asymmetric treatment effects,natural experiment,incomplete information,job search,policy evaluation,unemployment insurance |
| JEL: | J64 J68 H41 D03 D83 D84 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc20:224629&r=all |
| By: | Bassanini, Andrea (OECD); Caroli, Eve (Université Paris-Dauphine); Ferreira, Bruno Chaves; Rebérioux, Antoine (University Paris Ouest-Nanterre) |
| Abstract: | We study the reactions to job destructions on Twitter. We use information on large-scale job-destruction and job-creation events announced in the United Kingdom over the period 2013-2018. We match it with data collected on Twitter regarding the number and sentiments of the tweets posted around the time of the announcement and involving the company name. We show that job-destruction announcements immediately elicit numerous and strongly negative reactions. On the day of the announcement, the number of tweets and first-level replies sharply increases as does the negativity of the sentiments of the posted tweets. These reactions are systematically more important than reactions to job creations. We also show that they trigger significant losses in the market value of the downsizing firms. Our findings suggest that job destructions generate reputational costs for firms to the extent that they induce a strong negative buzz involving the company name. |
| Keywords: | job destructions, job creations, adjustment costs, social media, sentiment analysis, cumulative abnormal returns |
| JEL: | G14 J63 L82 M21 M51 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13840&r=all |
| By: | Gutiérrez, Diana; Martin, Guillermina; Ñopo, Hugo (Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo (GRADE)) |
| Abstract: | The coronavirus pandemic has spread throughout the world and Latin America has not been exempt from its health, economic and social impacts. The economic shutdown, as a result of a combination of stringent measures (self-quarantines, mandatory lockdowns, limited capacity in shops, factories and offices, border closures, etc.), is having a profound economic and social impact. In the labor market it has shocked both supply and demand. Within households, it has resulted in an increase in the unpaid workload, burdening women disproportionately, further reducing the time they can allocate to productive activities. The crisis’s impacts and depth are felt differently by they can widen existing gender gaps. In this paper, the authors explore the impacts of the crisis on employment in sixteen countries in the region. In addition, they analize gender impacts through four lenses: young people, people living in poverty, people living in rural areas and heads of the family. Researchers present a set of policy option aimed at integrating the gender approach into the entire pandemic world. Emphasizing the need for cross-sectional solutions, the authors propose policies in three main areas: the home, work and the spaces between work and home. This will enable socio-economic recovery policies to not only soften short-term impacts, but also further equal opportunities for women and men in the medium and long terms. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, Trabajo, Empleo de las mujeres, Mujeres, Work, Women's employment, Women, Perú, Peru |
| JEL: | J16 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gad:doctra:dt111&r=all |