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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Akbulut-Yuksel, Mevlude (Dalhousie University); Aydemir, Abdurrahman B. (Sabanci University); Kirdar, Murat Güray (Koc University); Turan, Belgi (TOBB University of Economy and Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the horizontal transmission of gender norms using the forced migration of ethnic Turks from Bulgaria to Türkiye after the fall of the Iron Curtain as a natural experiment. Despite shared linguistic and religious ties, migrant women held more progressive gender norms and stronger labor market attachment than native Turkish women. Their arrival increased labor market participation among native women, particularly in male-dominated manufacturing, while men’s outcomes remained unchanged. Additionally, native women’s fertility declined, and middle school attainment rose, aligning with refugee women’s patterns. Exposure to progressive norms reshaped native women's roles in work and family life. |
| Keywords: | culture, horizontal transmission, social learning, migration |
| JEL: | J16 J15 J13 N45 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17871 |
| By: | Mara Buhmann; Laura Pohlan; Duncan Roth |
| Abstract: | This paper exploits that the Covid-19 pandemic came as an unexpected shock that temporarily reduced the ratio of vacancies to seekers. We use this unique setting to understand the importance of job opportunities for the impact of unemployment on workers’ careers. Compared to individuals who became unemployed under more benign conditions, we find greater and lasting adverse effects on earnings. We provide evidence that lower job opportunities lead unemployed individuals to take up jobs that are further down the occupation-specific wage distribution. Finally, we substantiate the importance of job prospects by using exogenous variation in the pandemic’s effect on occupations. |
| Keywords: | economic shocks, Covid-19 pandemic, unemployment, worker careers, occupations. |
| JEL: | J23 J62 J64 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11858 |
| By: | Kunze, Astrid (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Scharfenkamp, Katrin (Dept. of Sports Science, Bielefeld University) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the interplay of co-determination law and board gender quotas using novel board-director panel data for Norway. We present descriptive evidence suggesting that boards with employee representatives on boards of directors were more gender diverse before the gender quota. Difference-in-differences estimation results reveal that the differential effect of employee representation on gender diversity is negative after implementing the quota. Boards with employee representatives have recruited fewer women during the phase-in period and the flexible quota tended to be ineffective. We interpret the effect through employee representation as a potential mediating factor of board gender quotas on gender diversity. |
| Keywords: | Employee representation; boards of directors; gender; leadership affirmative action; public policy; shareholder directors; firm size |
| JEL: | G34 J16 J51 J53 J78 M54 |
| Date: | 2025–05–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2025_012 |
| By: | Andrea Foschi; Christopher House; Christian Proebsting; Linda Tesar |
| Abstract: | We examine the responsiveness of labor participation, unemployment and labor migration to exogenous variations in labor demand. Our empirical approach considers four instruments for regional labor demand commonly used in the literature. Empirically, we find that labor migration is a significant margin of adjustment for all our instruments. Following an increase in regional labor demand, the initial increase in employment is accounted for mainly through a reduction in unemployment. Over time however, net labor in-migration becomes the dominant factor contributing to increased regional employment. After 5 years, roughly 60 percent of the increase in employment is explained by the change in population. Responses of labor migration are strongest for individuals aged 20-35. Based on historical data back to the 1950s, we find no evidence of a decline in the elasticity of migration to changes in employment. |
| JEL: | E24 E32 F66 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33755 |
| By: | Lara Lebedinski; Bernd Liedl; Vegard Skirbekk; Nadia Steiber; Rudolf Winter-Ebmer |
| Abstract: | The relationship between parenthood and gendered labor market outcomes has been extensively studied, with the ‘child penalty'—defined as the effect of having children on mothers' labor earnings relative to their partners'—documented in many countries. While prior research has explored institutional and normative drivers of this gap, the role of religious affiliation remains understudied, particularly at the population level. Religious beliefs shape both fertility decisions and labor market behavior and hence are potentially an important factor shaping heterogeneity in the size of the child penalty. Using comprehensive Austrian register data, this study provides novel evidence on the intersection of religious affiliation and the child penalty. Our results indicate that religious affiliation acts as a moderator of child penalties. Women with a religious affiliation, particularly those belonging to the Catholic majority, experience substantially larger earnings losses following childbirth compared to their secular peers. A decade after the birth of the first child, the woman’s share of the couple’s joint labor income declines by around 25 percentage points among couples where both partners are Catholic, compared to 18 percentage points among religiously unaffiliated couples. These findings underscore the importance of cultural factors in shaping the economic consequences of motherhood. |
| Keywords: | Child penalty, gender earnings gap, religion |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:econwp:2025-07 |
| By: | Gozde Corekcioglu; Marco Francesconi; Astrid Kunze |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the firm’s response to parental leave induced worker absence. Combining a 20-week maternal leave expansion in Norway and detailed matched employer-employee data between 1983 and 2013, we identify the causal impact of absence on outcomes using a shift-share design. Employers with greater exposure to absence hire more women aged 40 or less and face more employment turnover. These adjustments do not affect profits, but lead to greater investments and sales and to a lower value added and a lower wage bill. One important channel behind such changes is a significant growth of young female part-time employment. |
| Keywords: | workforce composition, firm-level gender employment dynamics, corporate outcomes, part-time employment, employer-employee matched data, shift-share research design. |
| JEL: | L23 L25 J16 J21 J23 J81 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11868 |
| By: | Hema Shah; Lisa A. Gennetian; Katherine Magnuson; Hirokazu Yoshikawa; Laura R. Stilwell; Kimberly Noble; Greg Duncan |
| Abstract: | Household time and money allocations in response to income support programs vary across diverse family circumstances and preferences, yet such heterogeneous responses are not well understood. Using data from a large-scale, multisite, U.S.-based randomized controlled study, we examine heterogeneity in the effects of a monthly unconditional cash transfer on monetary and time investments in children. This study offers a novel opportunity to examine heterogeneous effects of a cash transfer by race and ethnicity, where receipt is independent of eligibility based on other demographic characteristics. The effects of the cash transfer on net household income, earnings, and household expenditures were similar for families irrespective of race or ethnicity, even given initial differences in family structure, government benefit receipt, and employment. However, effects on monetary and time investments in children differed. Latino families’ child-focused expenditures increased, equivalent to nearly one-third of the cash transfer, with no effect on maternal employment or time spent with children. Among Black families, maternal work hours decreased and time spent with children on early learning activities increased, with no effect on child-focused expenditures. Marginal propensities to consume child-specific goods from different income sources also varied: Estimates showed a higher marginal propensity to consume child-specific goods from government income than from maternal income among Latino families, and the opposite among Black families. Latino families’ responses to the unconditional cash transfer and to government income are consistent with the notion that signals regarding intended use of income influence spending decisions. |
| JEL: | H31 I18 I30 I31 I38 J13 J15 J18 J22 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33737 |
| By: | Eric A. Hanushek; Simon Janssen; Jacob D. Light; Lisa Simon |
| Abstract: | We analyze the full distribution of displaced workers’ earnings losses using a new method that combines matching and synthetic control group approaches at the individual level. We find that the distribution of earnings losses is highly skewed. Average losses, as estimated by conventional event studies, are driven by a small number of workers who suffer catastrophic losses, while most recover quickly. Observable worker characteristics explain only a small fraction of the variance in earnings losses. Instead, we find substantial heterogeneity in earnings losses even among workers displaced by the same firm who have identical observed characteristics such as education, age, and gender. Workers with minimal earnings losses adjust quickly by switching industries, occupations, and especially regions, while comparable workers with catastrophic losses adjust slowly, even though they are forced to make comparable numbers of switches in the long run. |
| Keywords: | displacement losses, synthetic control groups, distributions of treatment effects. |
| JEL: | J24 J64 O30 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11865 |
| By: | Niklas Potrafke; Luisa Dörr; Klaus Gründler; Tuuli Tähtinen; Luisa Dörr |
| Abstract: | Does electing female politicians increase women’s political representation? Using a difference-in-differences design on a comprehensive cross-national dataset, we find that the first election of a female incumbent systematically increases the share of women in government. To address selection concerns, we apply the synthetic control method to a unique case of exogenous government change: the appointment of Germany’s first female state prime minister in 1993 — without a state election. Our findings provide causal evidence that her entry led to a lasting rise in women’s political representation, highlighting how even one influential woman can help others ascend to high political office. |
| Keywords: | political leaders, gender gap in politics, political participation, political representation, gender composition. |
| JEL: | J16 D72 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11851 |
| By: | Sajayan, Gayatri |
| Abstract: | Until the passing of the 19th Amendment in 1919, voting rights for women in the US were not mandatory. Accordingly, many states refused women this privilege. However, the West appeared to be an exception, with all but one state in this region having granted female suffrage before federal enforcement. This paper seeks to understand the role of regional trends in female labour force participation in women’s enfranchisement, with a focus on the impact of occupational dispersion between 1880 - 1910. By exploring an avenue outside of religion and gender imbalances, an original contribution to existing literature on the success of Western women’s suffrage is provided. I utilise census data and governmental marital status statistics to conduct graphical analysis using cartography and complementary log-logistic regression analysis. The key finding of the paper is that women in Western states tended to be engaged in a narrow range of jobs – a consistent pattern found over the period of study. This helped them form a collective voice to fight for emancipation by facilitating mobilisation and more effective suffrage strategies. Hence, although the impact of women’s occupational dispersion is not found to be statistically significant, the relationship between the two variables is nevertheless historically meaningful. |
| JEL: | N31 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127205 |
| By: | Immervoll, Herwig (OECD, Paris); Antía, Florencia (Universidad de la República, Uruguay); Knotz, Carlo (Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences); Rossel, Cecilia (Universidad de la República, Uruguay) |
| Abstract: | Cash benefit programmes have increasingly emphasised conditionality and “demanding” forms of activation in recent decades. Behavioural requirements are now a key element in reforms of unemployment benefits (UB) and related out-of-work benefits in high-income OECD countries, and they are the defining feature of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs in many emerging economies, notably in Latin America (LA). In existing research, developments in the two regions have been studied separately from each other, limiting our understanding of commonalities and differences as inputs into policy debates and theory development. We address this gap using three comparative and longitudinal databases on benefit conditionality rules and policy trajectories in Europe, North America, Australasia, and LA. Behavioural requirements varied markedly across regions. They were initially less stringent for LA’s CCTs than for UB programmes in OECD countries, but the gap has narrowed as requirements in LA’s CCT programmes became more demanding. The strictness of requirements was more volatile in LA than in other regions. Although strictness initially varied strongly across LA, the region recently saw faster convergence than high-income OECD countries. |
| Keywords: | welfare conditionality, OECD, Latin America, comparative analysis, activation, unemployment benefits, CCT |
| JEL: | I38 J08 J68 J65 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17869 |
| By: | Si, Yafei; Chen, Gang; Zhou, Zhongliang; Yip, Winnie; Chen, Xi |
| Abstract: | Despite growing evidence of gender disparities in healthcare utilization and health outcomes, there is a lack of understanding of what may drive such differences. We present novel evidence on the impact of physician-patient gender match on healthcare quality using the standardized patients (SPs) method in an experiment. The experiment collected interactions between standardized patients and physicians in a primary care setting in China during 2017-2018. We find that, compared with female physicians treating female SPs, female physicians treating male SPs resulted in a 23.4 percentage-point increase in correct diagnosis and a 19.0 percentage-point increase in correct drug prescriptions. Despite these substantial gains in healthcare quality, there was no significant increase in medical costs or time investment. The gains in healthcare quality were partly attributed to better physician-patient communications, but not the presence of more clinical information. More importantly, female physicians treating male SPs prescribed more unnecessary tests but fewer unnecessary drugs to balance their time commitment and costs. The results suggest the potential role of cultural gender norms and physician defensive behavior when female physicians treat male SPs. Our findings imply that improving patient centeredness may lead to significant gains in the quality of healthcare with modest costs, while reducing gender differences in care quality. |
| Keywords: | gender disparities, healthcare quality, standardized patient, experiment, China |
| JEL: | I11 I12 I14 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1607 |
| By: | Thaline do Prado; Marcelo Santos; Bernardus Van Doornik |
| Abstract: | We study the impacts of enforcing compliance with labor regulations on firm dynamics by combining firm-level administrative records and labor inspection data on formal Brazilian establishments committing “unregistered employee” infractions. We first provide suggestive evidence that inspected firms employing informal workers are more likely to exit following a labor inspection, compared to firms never penalized for such infractions. Next, we apply a difference-in-differences framework using firms not yet penalized for “unregistered employee” infractions as the control group to estimate the effect of labor inspections on firm-level outcomes. We find that formal employment and formal labor hiring experience a positive spike in the year of the inspection, indicating the formalization of unregistered employees. However, formal employment declines steadily over time, dropping nearly 60% by the fourth year after inspection. Among firms with active bank relationships, revenue falls sharply by about 24% over the same period. We also observe a persistent reduction in the outstanding loan amount and significant rise in the non-performing loan ratio. The average formal wage drops by about 1% in the year of inspection, but returns to pre-inspection levels in later years. Our findings are consistent with firms reducing their overall labor usage due to higher labor costs, which arise from increased compliance with labor regulations following a labor inspection. |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcb:wpaper:622 |
| By: | Jonas Jessen; Robin Jessen; Ewa Gałecka-Burdziak; Marek Góra; Jochen Kluve |
| Abstract: | We quantify micro and macro effects of changes in the potential benefit duration (PBD) in unemployment insurance. In Poland, the PBD is 12 months for the newly unemployed if the previous year's county unemployment rate is more than 150% of the national average, and 6 months otherwise. We exploit this cut-off using regression discontinuity estimates on registry data containing the universe of unemployed from 2005 to 2019. For those whose PBD is directly affected by the policy rule, benefit recipients younger than 50, a PBD increase from 6 to 12 months leads to 13 percent higher unemployment. A decomposition analysis reveals that 12 months after an increase in the PBD, only half of the increase in unemployment is due to the effect on search effort (the micro effect) while the other half is due to increased inflows into unemployment. The total effect on unemployment, which includes equilibrium effects, is entirely explained by the increase in unemployment of workers directly affected by the policy change. We find no evidence of spill-overs on two distinct groups of unemployed whose PBD is unchanged and no effect on measures of labour market tightness. |
| Keywords: | unemployment benefits, extended benefits, spell duration, separation rate, regression discontinuity. |
| JEL: | H55 J20 J65 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11849 |
| By: | Francesca Barigozzi; Pietro Biroli; Chiara Monfardini; Natalia Montinari; Elena Pisanelli; Sveva Vitellozzi |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces a novel, scalable methodology to measure individual perceptions of gaps in mental load - the cognitive and emotional burden associated with organizing household and childcare tasks - within heterosexual couples. Using original data from the TIMES Observatory in Italy, the study combines time-use diaries with new survey indicators to quantify cognitive labor, emotional fatigue, and the spillover of mental load into the workplace. Results reveal systematic gender asymmetries: women are significantly more likely than men to bear organizational responsibility for domestic tasks, report lower satisfaction with this division, and experience higher emotional fatigue. These burdens are underestimated by their partners. The effects are particularly pronounced among college-educated and employed women, who also report greater spillovers of family responsibilities than men during paid work hours. The perceived responsibility for managing family activities is more strongly associated with within-couple gaps in time use than with the absolute time spent on their execution, underscoring the relational and conflictual nature of mental load. |
| JEL: | J16 J22 D91 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp1203 |
| By: | Askenazy, Philippe (CNRS); Di Nallo, Ugo (INSEE); Ramajo, Ismaël (DARES, French Ministry of Labour); Thiounn, Conrad (DARES, French Ministry of Labour) |
| Abstract: | Teleworking has been widely adopted in France since the Covid-19 crisis. This study traces its evolution from 2019 to late 2024, using worker and employer surveys, firm agreements, and administrative sources. After peaking during lockdowns, telework stabilized at 23% of the private workforce, mainly among managers, with no recent signs of decline. Textual analysis of agreements shows a dominant hybrid model of two days per week, confirmed by the Labour Force Survey, with most workers satisfied. Telework correlates with firm characteristics (more common in large firms), job composition (managers influence non-managers), housing (larger homes, longer commutes), and individual or household traits (men telework less, partner's telework increases likelihood), highlighting key telework dynamics. These correlations hold under different specifications, including firm fixed-effects models. |
| Keywords: | gender, firm agreements, telework, family, housing |
| JEL: | L23 J52 J81 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17874 |
| By: | Gershoni, Naomi (Ben Gurion University); Gihleb, Rania (University of Pittsburgh); Kott, Assaf (Ben Gurion University); Mansour, Hani (University of Colorado Denver); Shanan, Yannay (Bar-Ilan University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how access to informal insurance shapes family responses to reductions in social welfare benefits, and how these adjustments affect children's development. In 2003, Israel reformed its child allowance program, significantly reducing unconditional cash benefits for large families. Using a sharp date-of-birth cutoff introduced by the reform, we show that Jewish families substituted for the loss in government benefits by enrolling their school-aged children in ultra-Orthodox religious schools. These schools provide valuable services unavailable in mainstream public schools but focus primarily on religious studies over secular subjects. In the long run, this shift resulted in lower educational attainment among Jewish students and steered them toward a more religious lifestyle. The safety net provided by religious schools prevented Jewish parents from having to reduce their completed fertility or to increase their labor supply. In contrast, Arab families—who lacked access to comparable informal insurance—responded by reducing completed fertility and increasing paternal employment. Consequently, we find little evidence that the decline in transfers negatively affected the education or labor outcomes of Arab children. |
| Keywords: | fertility, child allowance, cash transfers, religion, labor supply |
| JEL: | Z12 J13 J22 H41 I38 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17873 |
| By: | Agnolin, Paolo (Bocconi University); Anelli, Massimo (Bocconi University); Colantone, Italo (Bocconi University); Stanig, Piero (Bocconi University) |
| Abstract: | Labor unions play a crucial role in liberal democracies by influencing labor market and political dynamics, organizing workers’ demands and linking them to parties. However, their importance has progressively diminished in the last decades. We suggest that technological change—and industrial robotization in particular—has contributed to weakening the role of unions. We produce novel granular data on union density at the sub-national and industry level for 15 countries of western Europe over 2002-2018. Employing these data, we estimate the impact of industrial robot adoption on unionization rates. We find that regions more exposed to automation experience a decrease in union density. The decline in unionization occurs via a compositional effect, i.e., a reallocation of employment away from traditionally unionized industries towards less unionized ones. On the other hand, there is no clear evidence of a systematic reduction in union density within industries more exposed to automation. |
| Keywords: | robots, automation, labor unions, Europe, regions |
| JEL: | J5 J2 O3 P0 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17864 |
| By: | Francesco Chiocchio; Jeremy Greenwood; Nezih Guner; Karen A. Kopecky |
| Abstract: | At the onset of COVID-19, U.S. labor-force participation dropped by about 3 percentage points and remained below pre-pandemic levels three years later. Recovery varied across states, with slower rebounds in those more affected by the pre-pandemic opioid crisis, as measured by age-adjusted opioid overdose death rates. An event study shows that a one-standard-deviation increase in pre-COVID opioid death rates corresponds to a 0.9 percentage point decline in post-COVID labor participation. The result is not driven by differences in overall health between states. The effect of prior opioid exposure had a more significant impact on individuals without a college degree. The slow recovery in states with more opioid exposure was characterized by an increase in individuals who are not in the labor force due to disability. |
| Keywords: | labor-force participation; health; opioids; COVID-19 |
| JEL: | I12 I14 J11 J12 J21 |
| Date: | 2025–05–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwq:99976 |
| By: | Daniel Stockemer; Gabriela Galassi; Engi Abou-El-Kheir |
| Abstract: | In recent years, significant efforts have been made to attract more women into academia and to support their careers, with the goal of increasing their representation. Using novel data for economics and political science, collected through web-scraping the corresponding departments of the top 50 universities worldwide, we document three key findings: (i) female scholars, on average, publish less and receive fewer citations than their male counterparts; (ii) this gap is smaller at junior ranks in both disciplines; and (iii) the gap decreases in departments with a higher proportion of female scholars, particularly in political science, where female faculty representation is generally higher compared to economics. Gaps do not differ significantly by field in economics, where a substantial proportion of women are concentrated in microeconomic subfields. Overall, our results underscore a persistent publication and citation gap between men and women in both disciplines, primarily driven by full professors, while suggesting that this gap diminishes in departments with greater sex balance among faculty. |
| Keywords: | Labour markets |
| JEL: | J16 I23 A14 J71 J44 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocawp:25-13 |
| By: | Manasi Deshpande; Greg Kaplan; Tobias Leigh-Wood |
| Abstract: | Many developed countries have enacted reforms to reduce enrollment in disability benefits (DI). We evaluate the effects of a DI crackdown in Australia on the most comprehensive set of outcomes available to date, including earnings, government benefits, family income, and health care utilization. Using a 2014 reform to Australia’s Disability Support Pension, we find that, on average, DI removal has a net zero effect on household income but leads to an increase in prescriptions for strong mental health drugs. However, average effects mask heterogeneity by family structure. For removed recipients living with family, family members increase their earnings by enough to offset the lost DI income, with minimal increase in mental health prescriptions. In contrast, removed recipients living alone do not increase their own earnings or have family support, but their use of strong mental health drugs increases dramatically. We develop a welfare analysis that considers multiple margins of behavioral adjustment. We find that behavioral adjustments offset more than half of the private welfare loss for recipients living with family but very little for those living alone. Government savings exceed household willingness to pay for DI for those living with family, but not for those living alone. |
| JEL: | I30 J14 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33745 |
| By: | Muñoz, Ercio |
| Abstract: | I provide estimates of intergenerational mobility (IGM) in education at a disaggregated geographic level for Chile, a country with high school-level stratification by socioeconomic status and a decentralized administration of public schools. I document wide variation across communes. Relative mobility is correlated to the number of doctors, the number of students per teacher, and earnings inequality. Using a LASSO, I find that the share of students enrolled in public schools, the number of students per teacher, population density, and municipal budget are the strongest predictors of IGM. I also document within-country variability in how parental education is associated with other children's outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Socioeconomic mobility;Geography;Intergenerational mobility in Education;Education |
| JEL: | D63 I24 J62 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:14086 |