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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Zhang, Shuo (Northeastern University); Kuhn, Peter J. (University of California, Santa Barbara) |
| Abstract: | We audit the job recommender algorithms used by four Chinese job boards by creating fictitious applicant profiles that differ only in their gender. Jobs recommended uniquely to the male and female profiles in a pair differ modestly in their observed characteristics, with female jobs advertising lower wages, requesting less experience, and coming from smaller firms. Much larger differences are observed in these ads' language, however, with women's jobs containing 0.58 standard deviations more stereotypically female content than men's. Using our experimental design, we can conclude that these gender gaps are generated primarily by content-based matching algorithms that use the worker's declared gender as a direct input. Action-based processes like item-based collaborative filtering and recruiters' reactions to workers' resumes contribute little to these gaps. |
| Keywords: | recommender system, algorithm, gender, job platform |
| JEL: | C93 J71 J16 O33 M50 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17245 |
| By: | Haoran He; David Neumark; Qian Weng |
| Abstract: | A recent approach to testing for customer statistical discrimination involves studying price gaps between sellers from different gender, race, or ethnic groups and how they evolve as buyers obtain more information about seller quality. We consider a similar setting, testing for statistical discrimination against female doctors in an online health care market. But we show that this kind of analysis does not provide evidence on statistical discrimination in this setting because doctors have a choice about how strongly to signal gender. We develop a new approach to identifying statistical discrimination using doctors’ choices about signaling their gender. We find evidence of statistical discrimination against female doctors in male-dominated fields, and against male doctors in female-dominated fields. In particular, female doctors mask gender more strongly initially in male-dominated fields, and male doctors do the same in female-dominated fields. But in both female- and male-dominated fields the gender gap in signaling decreases with number of customer reviews of doctors. More generally, our evidence indicates how, in some markets, sellers may be able to reduce statistical discrimination by masking their group membership. |
| JEL: | I11 J16 J40 J70 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32929 |
| By: | Zanoni, Wladimir; Duryea, Suzanne; Paredes, Jorge |
| Abstract: | In this study, we investigate the extent and mechanisms of gender-based discrimination in urban Ecuador's hiring practices, a critical issue for understanding persistent gender disparities and informing policy. Using an artifactual field experiment with 392 recruiters evaluating observationally equivalent male and female job candidates, we uncover a significant preference for female candidates. Our results show that women were preferred by a margin of 15%, despite equivalent productivity assessments between genders. This suggests that hiring decisions are influenced by factors beyond assessed productivity differentials. We hypothesize that social norms advocating for gender equality significantly drive these preferences, and demonstrate that the preference for women aligns with the observed trend of narrowing the employment gender gap in survey data. |
| Keywords: | Gender discrimination;Occupational Segregation;labor market;Stereotyping |
| JEL: | J16 J71 C93 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13705 |
| By: | Xhafa, Edlira; Serrano, Melisa R. |
| Abstract: | The expansion of informal employment has been associated with increased exploitation and decent work deficits, leading to widespread poverty and growing inequalities. In response, a variety of forms of collective representation and action by and with informal workers have emerged demanding better and more stable incomes, job stability, better working conditions, access to social protection and protection from discrimination and harassment. In many cases, these workers are joining existing unions or forming new ones to press for their demands within the existing institutions of collective bargaining. In some other cases, the forms of worker representation bear many similarities to the early days of the labour movement as do their demands, which often go beyond immediate workplace needs and are framed in broader, more political terms. In particular, some groups of informal workers are pushing for a transformation of collective bargaining, both in terms of involving more actors and broadening the bargaining agenda. Contrary to the perception that unions have been lax in responding to the new challenges posed by the rise of informal employment, the literature suggests a process of union transformation that may be more advanced than it is generally acknowledged in academic debates. Rather than rendering unions obsolete, the diversity of forms of collective representation and action by workers in informal employment is reshaping unions, potentially strengthening them, or pushing them to rediscover their historical social movement identity. The research suggests that the future of worker representation is a bricolage of more inclusive forms of organisation, underpinned by more grassroots mobilisation and action, with the effect of revitalising the labour movement. |
| Keywords: | workers informal employment |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:gluwps:302299 |
| By: | Rishabh Tyagi (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | We assess how employment uncertainty due to experiencing plant closure relates to childbearing among women and men in Norway. We use plant (workplace) closure as an indicator of employment uncertainty to infer a causal effect of experiencing employment uncertainty on fertility outcomes. We use population-level register data for 1999-2014 and event history analysis with logit models of first and second births separately. Our results show that for men, first-birth probabilities remained almost the same within three years of experiencing plant closure, while for women, first- and second-birth probabilities decreased a year before the plant closure, possibly due to anticipation effects, but first-birth probabilities increased by three percentage points in the year of the closure, possibly due to declining opportunity costs. Similarly, for women experiencing plant closure, second-birth probabilities increased by two percentage points in the year of closure compared to the year before closure. The fertility response to experiencing plant closure remained the same for men before (1999-2008) and after the economic crisis (2009-2014). For women, first-birth probabilities increased 1.2 percentage points within three years of the closure, though this increase declined slightly to 0.8 percentage points after the recession period. We conclude that in a setting with high social security levels, experiencing plant closure does not affect men's fertility outcomes (first or second birth), while it increases women’s probabilities of having children within three years of the closure. We find no significant differences in the number of children at age 49 between those who did and did not experience plant closure. Therefore, we conclude that plant closure had a slightly positive tempo effect on women’s fertility in the years around the closure, but did not have a significant quantum effect on women's fertility. This could be because the scarring (negative long-term) effects of experiencing plant closure on fertility dissipated after a few years due to Norway’s generous welfare benefits, and because fertility readjusted after the shock. Thus, workers experiencing plant closure in Norway might have seen it as an opportunity to realise their childbearing ideals over the shorter term and at younger ages. |
| Keywords: | Norway, economic demography, fertility |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2024-026 |
| By: | Hirao, Tomotaka (Setsunan University) |
| Abstract: | Although the existence and negative effects of education-job mismatch in the labor market are widely known and accepted, literature on this topic in the Japanese labor market is lacking owing to unique labor market specifics and data limitations, despite the importance of the issue. This study examines the effects of horizontal education-job mismatch on organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and future career vision among employees from a medium-sized company in Japan using longitudinal personnel microdata and employee satisfaction survey data. The empirical results of this study show that horizontal education-job mismatch in a medium-sized Japanese company has a negative impact on employees’ psychological adjustment, even after controlling for individual-specific effects. The findings suggest that horizontal education-job mismatch has the potential for substantial economic, organizational, and individual costs, which is consistent with previous research in various global contexts. |
| Date: | 2024–09–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:gczeh |
| By: | Dustmann, Christian (University College London); Landersø, Rasmus (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit); Andersen, Lars Højsgaard (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of a large welfare benefit reduction on the children in the affected families. The welfare cut targeted adult refugees who received residency in Denmark, and it reduced their disposable income by 30 percent on average over the first five years. We show that children exposed to the welfare cut during preschool and school-age obtained lower GPAs, experienced reduced well-being and overall education levels, and suffered lower employment and earnings as adults. Children in their teens at exposure faced large increases in conviction probabilities for violent and property crimes. |
| Keywords: | crime, welfare state, social assistance, education, inequality |
| JEL: | I24 I30 J10 K14 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17244 |
| By: | Ori Heffetz; Guy Lichtinger; Daniel B. Reeves |
| Abstract: | National surveys are crucial for estimating key economic aggregates, including the unemployment rate, labor force participation, and household expenditures. The accuracy of these indicators is increasingly under scrutiny due to declining response rates and the consequent risk of nonresponse bias. How can we assess nonresponse bias in these key economic aggregates? Using two Israeli national surveys, we propose a novel approach. First, using often-available paradata such as number of contact attempts and nonresponse reason, we create respondent and nonrespondent subcategories. Second, using rarely-available merged administrative records, we identify, for each nonrespondent subcategory, which respondent subcategory appears to resemble it most. We find that nonrespondents are a heterogeneous group: some—e.g., those temporarily unavailable—share administrative-record demographic and outcome profiles with harder-to-reach respondents, while others—e.g., refusals and withdrawals—are more similar in the administrative data to easier-to-reach respondents. Third, assuming that these resemblances would extend to survey outcomes, we impute (always-available) survey-based aggregates to nonrespondents within each paradata-based subcategory. We demonstrate that our method can help assess nonresponse bias in surveys lacking matched administrative records, using the U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey as an example. |
| JEL: | C18 C83 J60 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32935 |
| By: | Lisa A. Gennetian; Christina M. Gibson-Davis; William Darity |
| Abstract: | We offer a child-centric framework for reparations with considerations for policy and implications for child descendants of enslaved African Americans. We apply economic theory of human capital integrated with the theories of bioecological developmental systems to illustrate the multilayered aspects of harm from the legacy of slavery and racism. Our curation of estimates shows that relative to white peers, black children bear more than double the risk in outcomes unfavorable to educational and economic prosperity from birth through young adulthood. We also find that enduring racial wealth differences are larger among households with children than without children, with the child household racial wealth gap in 2019 remaining comparable to that seen 60 years ago. Simulations suggest that a wealth transfer of $130, 000 per child during early childhood reduces the black-white gap in high school graduation by 13 percentage points and increases college attendance by 26 percentage points. A review of existing U.S. reparations initiatives shows that few include direct financial transfers or other forms of investments specifically for black families or children. Based on a contemporary survey, we find that black parents with young children express support for reparations in the form of direct cash payments as well as other forms of financial assistance. |
| JEL: | H31 H5 I30 J15 J18 K38 Z1 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32931 |
| By: | Alexandra Tsvetkova |
| Abstract: | To mark the 40th anniversary of the OECD Local Employment and Economic Development (LEED) Programme, this paper examines determinants and consequences of employment resilience, or lack of, in European NUTS3/TL3/TL3 regions over the last 40 years. Descriptive evidence shows that the least resilient regions (those with the largest percentage drop in employment during a recession) slip to persistently lower post-recession employment-to-population ratio trajectories. On the other hand, regions with higher productivity pre-recession lost proportionally fewer jobs during a recession and were more likely to recover to the pre-recession employment levels (except for the recession induced by the COVID-19 pandemic). Overall, the findings point to the ability of productivity to serve as a shield against negative employment impacts of economic crises. |
| JEL: | J01 O18 R11 |
| Date: | 2024–09–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:cfeaaa:2024/08-en |
| By: | Minsu Ko; Cynthia Yin |
| Abstract: | With administrative data, we test whether institutional ownership with a social preference is related to employee-level gender equality. We show that the gender pay gap, which is an unexplained part of the lower wages of female employees, does not have a significant relation with socially responsible investments. Next, we show that female directorship strengthens the relation between socially responsible investments and the gender pay gap. When there are female directors, socially responsible investments have a robust correlation with a lower gender pay gap. This is because female directorship alleviates information asymmetry in gender equality. |
| Keywords: | gender, socially responsible investment, board of directors |
| JEL: | J16 G34 F29 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:24-44 |
| By: | Lamare, J. Ryan; Benton, Richard A.; Tabarani, Patricia Michel |
| Abstract: | The authors investigate how race and political partisanship affected variations in workplace and non-workplace mobility at three COVID-19 phases—lockdown (2020), reopening (2021), and endemic COVID (2022). They theorize that structural racism compelled relatively greater workplace mobility rates in Black communities during lockdown, and reduced Black workplace mobility during reopening and endemic COVID. By contrast, they posit elite-level anti-science skepticism and its amplification resulted in Trump-voting communities experiencing relatively higher workplace and non-workplace mobility rates than non-Trump-voting areas throughout the pandemic. Regressions primarily using county-level Google Mobility Reports data support the hypotheses, conditioning on state-level fixed effects and county-level urbanity, COVID job-type sorting, demographics, and socioeconomics. The county-level results are complemented by outcomes from novel individual-level COVID lockdown survey data, helping connect the proposed individual-level mechanisms to the county-level findings. The authors conclude that work mobility during COVID was racialized and politicized, offering empirical insights into how systematic disadvantages can lead to increased and unequal precarity during periods of acute economic or social crisis. |
| Keywords: | COVID; economic inequality; political polarization; race and ethnicity; work mobility |
| JEL: | J50 J1 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:125302 |
| By: | Elena Korchmina (University of Bologna); Mikołaj Malinowski (Groningen University) |
| Abstract: | We measure pre- and post-tax income inequality in Moscow Province in 1811. We collect new data on incomes for 7, 399 asset-holding households, including all registered aristocrats and merchants. We estimate the average incomes of 21 additional social groups using financial records from government and private businesses. Combining this data, we construct a social table and measure top-tier income concentration, Gini coefficient, and the Extraction Ratio. Our findings reveal that serfdom resulted in high inequality and extraction levels as well as low social mobility in spite of low levels of enforcement by the state. We compare our results with those for 1904 and find that, in spite despite emancipation, inequality remained high during the 19th century. Those findings are emblematic of deep historical roots and the persistence of high inequality levels in Russia. |
| Keywords: | Russian Empire, Wealth, Income, Inequality, Pre-Industrial World |
| JEL: | N00 N13 N33 J16 D63 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0266 |