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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Marco Caliendo (University of Potsdam, IZA Bonn, DIW Berlin, IAB Nuremberg); Steffen Künn (Maastricht University and ROA, IZA Bonn); Robert Mahlstedt (University of Copenhagen, IZA Bonn, DFI) |
| Abstract: | Subsidizing the geographical mobility of unemployed workers may improve welfare by relaxing their financial constraints and allowing them to find jobs in more prosperous regions. We exploit regional variation in the promotion of mobility programs along administrative borders of German employment agency districts to investigate the causal effect of offering such financial incentives on the job search behavior and labor market integration of unemployed workers. We show that promoting mobility – as intended – causes job seekers to increase their search radius, apply for and accept distant jobs. At the same time, local job search is reduced with adverse consequences for reemployment and earnings. These unintended negative effects are provoked by spatial search frictions. Overall, the unconditional provision of mobility programs harms the welfare of unemployed job seekers. |
| Keywords: | Job Search, Active Labor Market Policy, Labor Market Mobility, Unintended Consequence, Search Frictions |
| JEL: | J61 J68 D04 C21 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pot:cepadp:42&r= |
| By: | Samuel Bazzi (UC San Diego, NBER, and CEPR); Lisa Cameron (Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, the University of Melbourne); Simone Schaner (University of Southern California, NBER); Firman Witoelar (Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | Job seekers often face substantial information frictions related to potential job quality. This is especially true in international labor markets, where intermediaries match prospective migrants with employers abroad. We conducted a randomised trial in Indonesia to explore how information about intermediary quality shapes migration choices and outcomes. Information reduces the migration rate, lowering use of low-quality intermediaries. However, workers who migrate receive better pre-departure preparation and have higher-quality job experiences abroad, despite no change in occupation or destination. Information does not change intentions to migrate or beliefs about the return to migration or intermediary quality. Nor does selection explain the improved outcomes for workers who choose to migrate with the information. Together, our findings are consistent with an increase in the option value of search: with better ability to differentiate offer quality, workers become choosier and ultimately have better migration experiences. This offers a new perspective on the importance of information and matching frictions in global labor markets. |
| Keywords: | International Migration, Information, Middlemen, Quality Disclosure, Search |
| JEL: | F22 O15 D83 L15 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2021n30&r= |
| By: | Marta Silva; José Garcia-Louzão |
| Abstract: | The use of social contacts in the labor market is widespread. This paper investigates the impact of personal connections on hiring probabilities and re-employment outcomes of displaced workers in Portugal. We rely on rich matched employer-employee data to define personal connections that arise from interactions at the workplace. Our empirical strategy exploits firm closures to select workers who are exogenously forced to search for a new job and leverages variation across displaced workers with direct connections to prospective employers. The hiring analysis indicates that displaced workers with a direct link to a firm through a former coworker are roughly three times more likely to be hired compared to workers displaced from the same closing event who lack such a tie. However, we find that the effect varies according to the type of connection as well as firms’ similarity. Finally, we show that successful displaced workers with a connection in the hiring firm have higher entry-level wages and enjoy greater job security although these advantages disappear over time. |
| JEL: | J23 J63 L14 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ptu:wpaper:w202121&r= |
| By: | Christian Grund; Katja Rebecca Tilkes |
| Abstract: | Evidence shows that working time mismatch, i.e. the difference between actual and desired working hours, is negatively related to employees’ job satisfaction. Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we examine the potential moderating effect of working time autonomy on this relation and we also consider the corresponding role of gender. First, individual fixed effects panel estimations reaffirm both the negative link of working hours mismatch and the positive relation of working time autonomy to employees’ job satisfaction. Second, our results show a positive moderating relation of working time autonomy on the link between mismatch and job satisfaction. Third, our analyses hint at gender-specific differences: particularly women seem to benefit from the moderation role of working time autonomy. |
| Keywords: | working time mismatch; working hours discrepancies; job satisfaction; over-employment; Socio-Economic Panel; working time autonomy |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1149&r= |
| By: | Mark Wooden (Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, the University of Melbourne); Trong-Anh Trinh (Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, the University of Melbourne); Irma Mooi-Reci (School of Social and Political Sciences, the University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | Many studies have reported evidence of negative associations between fixed-term contract employment and fertility. With few exceptions, these studies assume that employment status is exogenous and thus results are likely biased. Furthermore, previous research has mostly not considered whether the effects of employment status on fertility might vary with other worker characteristics. We draw on 19 years of data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey to investigate the association between contingent forms of employment (including both fixed-term and casual employment) and first births, and how that association varies with selected worker characteristics. The issue of endogeneity is addressed through the use of instrumental variables estimation. Our main finding is that both fixed-term contracts and casual employment are associated with a significantly lower probability of first births among men. We also find that these negative fertility effects vary with workers’ education, occupational status, country of origin, age, and relationship status. The results for women suggest fixed-term contracts are actually associated with more births. However, in this case one of the instruments fails to satisfy the exclusion restriction, suggesting endogeneity remains a concern when analyzing female fertility outcomes and hence this finding should be given little weight. |
| Keywords: | Australia; Contingent employment; Employment instability; Fertility; Instrumental variables |
| JEL: | J13 J21 J41 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2021n24&r= |
| By: | Mara Barschkett; C. Katharina Spiess; Elena Ziege |
| Abstract: | Grandparents act as the third largest caregiver after parental care and daycare in Germany, as in many Western societies. Adopting a double-generation perspective, we investigate the causal impact of this care mode on children’s health, socio-emotional behavior, and school outcomes, as well as parental well-being. Based on representative German panel data sets, and exploiting arguably exogenous variations in geographical distance to grandparents, we analyze age-specific effects, taking into account counterfactual care modes. Our results suggest null or negative effects on children’s outcomes: If children three years and older are in full-time daycare or school and, in addition, cared for by grandparents, they have more health and socio-emotional problems, in particular conduct problems. In contrast, our results point to positive effects on parental satisfaction with the childcare situation and leisure. The effects for mothers correspond to an increase of 11 percent in satisfaction with the childcare situation and 14 percent in satisfaction with leisure, compared to the mean, although the results differ by child age. While the increase in paternal satisfaction with the childcare situation is, at 21 percent, even higher, we do not find an effect on paternal satisfaction with leisure. |
| Keywords: | grandparental childcare, socio-emotional outcomes, cognitive outcomes, parental well-being, instrumental variable |
| JEL: | D1 I21 I31 J13 J14 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1152&r= |
| By: | Sandner, Malte (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Wiynck, Frederik (IAB) |
| Abstract: | "Despite long-term interest whether welfare benefits motivate fertility, evidence from research has not been consistent. This paper contributes new evidence to this debate by investigating the fertility effect of a German welfare reform. The reform decreased the household income of families on welfare by 18 percent in the first year after the birth of a baby. Using exclusive German social security data on over 460,000 affected women, our analysis finds the reform leads to a fertility reduction of 6.8 percent. This result implies that for mothers on welfare, fertility has an income elasticity of 0.38, which is much smaller than that of general populations reported in the literature. Our findings suggest that welfare recipients’ fertility reacts less strongly to financial incentives than the fertility of overall populations." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Stichprobe der Integrierten Grundsicherungsbiografien (SIG) ; IAB-Open-Access-Publikation |
| JEL: | I38 J13 C54 |
| Date: | 2022–01–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202201&r= |
| By: | Lee, Jun Yeong (Iowa State University); Winters, John V. (Iowa State University) |
| Abstract: | Immigrant entrepreneurs are critical to regional and national economies. Immigrants in the USA have higher self-employment rates than natives, and immigrants have made outsized contributions as founders of numerous highly successful firms. However, we document that immigrant self-employment rates vary considerably across areas of the USA. Our main measure is the percentage of immigrant workers in an area who are self-employed; i.e., the self- employment rate for the foreign-born. Areas with colder winter temperatures have especially low self-employment rates among their immigrant populations compared to other areas of the USA. This relationship holds for numerous sub-samples of immigrants and is not driven by any particular group. The relationship persists after controlling for numerous individual and local area characteristics. Immigrant entrepreneurs appear to be especially forward-looking and responsive to warmer January temperature as a locational amenity. The results have important implications about the location choices of immigrant entrepreneurs. |
| Keywords: | self-employment, entrepreneurship, immigrants, amenities, temperature |
| JEL: | J61 L26 R23 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14941&r= |
| By: | Jeff Borland (Department of Economics, the University of Melbourne); Jennifer Hunt (Rutgers University | NBER) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the JobKeeper lump-sum wage subsidy introduced by the Australian government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, paying particular attention to the role of temporary layoffs in saving jobs. Although temporary layoffs were widely used, we find that recalls of workers on temporary layoff played only a small role in the early recovery. Of approximately 300,000 temporarily laid off, only about 100,000 were recalled in the initial months of recovery. In this time total employment grew by 440,000, reversing one-half of losses from the first months of the pandemic. This suggests either that temporary layoffs were very long, or that many workers on temporary layoffs were never recalled. |
| Keywords: | Wage subsidy, temporary layoffs, JobKeeper |
| JEL: | J08 J20 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2021n26&r= |
| By: | Wojtaszek, Carl J. (United States Military Academy); Kofoed, Michael S. (U.S. Military Academy, West Point) |
| Abstract: | The permanent income hypothesis states that agents perfectly smooth consumption given a large, anticipated shock to income. Testing these implications is difficult given the endogenous nature of income and payment timing. We leverage exogenous variation in military bonus size and timing matched with donations from a large workplace charitable drive where soldiers contribute via payroll deductions during a fixed open enrollment period. Our findings suggest that soldiers are 5 to 10 percent more likely to contribute if they receive their bonus during the open enrollment period. We show that soldiers smooth donations more with age and increased bonus experience. |
| Keywords: | charitable giving, altruism, income shocks, permanent income hypothesis |
| JEL: | D9 D64 H31 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14955&r= |
| By: | Matteo Lanzafame (Asian Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides estimates of the impact of demographic change on labor productivity growth, relying on annual data over 1961-2018 for a panel f 90 advanced and emerging economies. We find that increases in both the young and old population shares have significantly negative effects on labor productivity growth, working via various channels – including physical and human capital accumulation. Splitting the analysis for advanced and emerging economies shows that population ageing has a greater effect on emerging economies than on advanced economies. Extending the benchmark model to include a proxy for the robotization of production, we find evidence indicating that automation reduces the negative effects unfavorable demographic change – in particular, population aging-on labor productivity. |
| Keywords: | Demographic Change, Labor Productivity, Robots |
| JEL: | C33 J11 O40 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2021.30&r= |
| By: | Davoine, Thomas (University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland and Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS), Vienna, Austria) |
| Abstract: | Higher fertility slowly increases the workers-to-retirees ratio over the long run, which can ease the pension financing challenge brought about by population aging. It may or may not increase production per capita. Existing simulation studies all find a positive impact on public finances over the long run. They however differ on the impact on output per capita. Whether differences are due to model designs or country characteristics is unknown. Using the same macroeconomic model for a sample of 14 European countries, I find that the long-run pension deficits are reduced 27% on average, if one woman out of five had one more child in her lifetime. Variations across countries are small. On the other hand, I find that output per capita increases in all countries from my sample, with one exception. Differences in population structures, age-productivity profiles and pension systems can explain the exception. Fertility-promoting policies will always ease the public finance challenge due to population aging, but may worsen output per capita if pension payments are too loosely connected to earnings histories or if age-productivity profiles are very steep. |
| Keywords: | ertility, population aging, pensions, productivity profiles, computable general equilibrium |
| JEL: | C68 H55 J11 J13 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ihs:ihswps:38&r= |
| By: | Jonas Jessen; C. Katharina Spiess; Sevrin Waights |
| Abstract: | We examine the relationship between parenting activities and center-based care using time diary and survey data for mothers in Germany. While mothers using center-based care spend significantly less time in the presence of their child, we find that differences in the time spent on specific activities such as reading, talking, and playing with the child are relatively small or zero. The pattern of results is more pronounced for lower education mothers. The lack of large decreases in activities are explained by two factors: (i) that center care replaces time that parents spend with the child but are doing other things such as housework or leisure (a small direct effect), and (ii) that evenings become relatively more activity-rich (a compensating indirect effect). For the intensive margin (full-day vs. half-day) we find more additional reductions in parenting activities, but these are com pensated for by lower education mothers during non-center hours. Our findings represent novel evidence that activities in the home environment are a complement to center-based care, highlighting a credible additional mechanism for child development effects of center-based care. |
| Keywords: | Child care, Child development, Time use, Parenting investments, Oster method |
| JEL: | D13 I21 J13 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1155&r= |
| By: | Bandiera, Oriana (London School of Economics); Parekh, Nidhi (J-PAL Africa); Petrongolo, Barbara (University of Oxford); Rao, Michelle (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Gender differences in self-confidence could explain women's under representation in high-income occupations and glass-ceiling effects. We draw lessons from the economic literature via a survey of experts and a Bayesian hierarchical model that aggregates experimental findings over the last twenty years. The experts' survey indicates beliefs that men are overconfident and women under-confident. Yet, the literature reveals that both men and women are typically overconfident. Moreover, the model cannot reject the hypothesis that gender differences in self-confidence are equal to zero. In addition, the estimated pooling factor is low, implying that each study contains little information over a common phenomenon. The discordance can be reconciled if the experts overestimate the pooling factor or have priors that are biased and precise. |
| Keywords: | gender gaps, over-confidence, Bayesian meta-analysis |
| JEL: | C91 J16 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14950&r= |
| By: | Koray Aktas; Valeria Gattai; Piergiovanna Natale |
| Abstract: | We show that board gender quota laws reduce the propensity of French firms to undertake outward foreign direct investment. For this, we use Orbis data for the period 2007–2015 and a difference-in-difference approach. The exogenous increase in the share of women directors decreases the share of foreign subsidiaries by 7 percentage points when the share of women directors is at its highest. The share of foreign subsidiaries is affected by the decrease in the probability of having a foreign subsidiary, which indicates disinvestment. Accordingly, the estimated effects on the number and cost of employees are negative, with no impact on firm performance. |
| Keywords: | Board diversity, Gender quota, Outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), Europe, Women directors. |
| JEL: | G30 F23 J16 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mib:wpaper:485&r= |