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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Gabriella Conti (University College London, CEPR, CESIFO, HCEO, and IZA.); Rita Ginja (University of Bergen); Petra Person (Stanford University, NBER, and Research Institute of Industrial Economics); Barton Willage (University of Delaware, Department of Economics and NBER) |
| Abstract: | The motherhood penalty is well-documented, but what happens at the other end of the reproductive spectrum? Menopause Ñ a transition often marked by debilitating physical and psychological symptoms Ñ also entails substantial costs. Using population-wide Norwegian and Swedish data and quasi-experimental methods, we show that a menopause diagnosis leads to lasting drops in earnings and employment, alongside greater reliance on social transfers. Increasing access to menopause-related health care can help offset these losses. Our findings reveal the hidden economic toll of menopause and the potential gains from better support policies. |
| Keywords: | Menopause, Menopausal Hormone Therapy, Norway, Sweden, quasi-experimental variation, social transfers, low socioeconomic status. |
| JEL: | H72 I00 I30 J21 |
| Date: | 2026–01–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:770 |
| By: | Bhalotra. Sonia (University of Warwick); Daysal, N. Meltem (University of Copenhagen); Freget, Louis (Paris-Dauphine PSL); Hirani, Jonas Cuzulan (VIVE); Majumdar, Priyama (University of Warwick); Trandafir, Mircea (Rockwool Foundation); Wust, Miriam (University of Copenhagen); Zohar, Tom (CEMFI) |
| Abstract: | Using Danish administrative data linked to two independent, validated postpartum depression screenings, we study how postpartum mental health shocks shape women’s labor market trajectories. Event-study estimates show no pre-birth differences in trends between depressed and non-depressed mothers, but persistent employment gaps that widen immediately after birth. Health-care utilization patterns indicate that these differences reflect acute mental health shocks rather than pre-existing trends. The penalties are concentrated among less educated mothers and those in less family-friendly jobs. Our results highlight postpartum depression as a meaningful and unequal contributor to the motherhood penalty. |
| Keywords: | Postpartum depression ; motherhood penalty ; labor market inequality JEL codes: I12 ; J13 ; J16 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1595 |
| By: | Kroft, Kory; Norwich, Isaac; Notowidigdo, Matthew J.; Tino, Stephen |
| Abstract: | Many temporary foreign worker programs issue "closed" visas that effectively tie workers to a single employer, restricting worker mobility and weakening bargaining power. We study the labor market return to temporary foreign workers (TFWs) gaining permanent residency (PR), which loosens this mobility restriction. Using administrative data linking matched employer-employee data in Canada to temporary and permanent visa records from 2004-2014 along with an eventstudy design, we find that gaining PR leads to a sharp, immediate, and persistent increase in the job switching rate of 21.7 percentage points and an increase in earnings of 5.7 percent three years after PR. Workers also sort into high-wage firms after gaining PR, and the increase in the firm pay premium is roughly 56 percent of the total earnings gain. We find larger earnings gains for job switchers across industries, low-skilled workers, and workers from low-income countries. To guide and interpret our reduced-form results, we develop a search-and-matching model featuring heterogeneous workers and firms. Permanent residents and native-born workers search for jobs in the same labor market and engage in on-the-job search, while TFWs search separately within a segmented labor market and do not receive outside wage offers. We calibrate the model to match our reduced-form results, and we use it to simulate the long-run effects of PR and consider two counterfactual policies: (1) increasing the cost to firms of posting a TFW vacancy and (2) allowing TFWs to switch employers freely under "open" visas. We evaluate how these policies affect output, wages, profits, and overall social welfare. |
| JEL: | J61 J31 J64 J42 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:clefwp:335026 |
| By: | Morien El Haj; Eline Moens; Elsy Verhofstadt; Luc Van Ootegem; Stijn Baert (-) |
| Abstract: | In tight labour markets, where employers compete not only on wages but also on amenities such as job family friendliness, employer-provided childcare arrangements serve as a powerful tool to attract and retain working parents. Yet little causal evidence exists on how employees evaluate such benefits. Therefore, this study uses a scenario experiment among working parents of young children to examine how job attractiveness is shaped by variations in employer-provided childcare arrangements – in terms of location, opening hours, and price – along with the possibility of teleworking. Our results show that all forms of employer-provided childcare increase job attractiveness, with childcare facilities operating on schedules explicitly aligned with employees’ working hours having the strongest effects. Working parents are willing to forego a 20% wage increase in a new job to obtain this latter amenity. They expect such amenity to improve their job satisfaction, performance, stress management, and work–family balance. Our results imply that the policy offers mutual gains for both employees and employers. |
| Keywords: | Childcare, Telework, Job attractiveness, Willingness to pay, Factorial survey experiment |
| JEL: | C91 J13 J16 J24 J81 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:26/1132 |
| By: | Onur Altındağ; Jane Greve; Yulya Truskinovsky |
| Abstract: | We use population-wide administrative data from Denmark and an event-study design spanning nearly two decades to examine the impact of having a parent with dementia on adult children’s labor market, physical health, and mental health outcomes. We find no meaningful effects on labor supply, earnings, or physical health care use. In contrast, mental health care use increases substantially, driven by daughters, beginning five years before a parent’s dementia-related death, peaking around the time of death, and converging to the counterfactual trend over seven years. Results suggest that robust long-term care policy can largely insulate adult children economically from parental dementia, but mental health spillovers persist, spurring nearly a decade of elevated use. |
| JEL: | D13 I12 J14 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34635 |
| By: | Pedrazzi Julián; Berniell Inés; Marchionni Mariana |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how temporary spikes in caregiving demands affect women’s labor market outcomes in developing countries. We focus on the school break period in Colombia, which intensifies unpaid care responsibilities that fall disproportionately on women. Using high-frequency household survey data from 2008 to 2019, we show that women’s labor force participation drops by 2 percentage points during school breaks, a decline equivalent to one-third of the drop observed during the COVID-19 crisis. This effect is entirely concentrated among informal workers and is especially pronounced for mothers of young children and married women. These findings underscore how even short-term caregiving shocks can significantly disrupt women’s attachment to the labor market in settings where flexibility is prevalent but closely tied to job precarity. |
| JEL: | J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aep:anales:4826 |
| By: | Riley K. Acton; Camila Morales; Kalena Cortes; Julia A. Turner; Lois Miller |
| Abstract: | We provide the first descriptive analysis of the economic value of Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) degrees by examining graduates’ early-career earnings, the costs of completing these programs, and the alignment between field of study and subsequent employment. Using administrative data and controlling for institution and field, we find that CCB graduates earn $4, 000 to $9, 000 more annually than Associate’s (AA) degree holders one year after graduation but experience average earnings penalties of roughly $2, 000 relative to traditional Bachelor’s (BA) recipients. These averages mask substantial heterogeneity: penalties are largest in Computer and Information Technology and Engineering Technology, whereas CCB graduates in Nursing, other Healthcare fields, Business, and Criminal Justice exhibit minimal or no penalties. To contextualize these returns, we analyze tuition and fee structures across CCB-granting institutions and identify two dominant pricing models—constant and escalating. Total CCB program costs fall between those of AA and BA degrees, with escalating structures increasing upper-division prices by about 40 percent. Finally, we examine field-to-industry match patterns and find that CCB graduates in fields with well-defined occupational pathways, such as Health Professions and Education, are highly concentrated in aligned industries, while graduates in more diffuse fields, such as Computer Science, are more broadly dispersed. |
| JEL: | I21 I23 I24 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34684 |
| By: | Aimee Chin; Kalena Cortes; Camila Morales |
| Abstract: | U.S. laws make it illegal for employers to knowingly hire undocumented migrants. This legal constraint affects which firms will employ unauthorized workers and what jobs undocumented migrants can expect to get. As a result, unauthorized migrants are more likely to end up in jobs that have a lower risk of detection of immigration status and are less desirable. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, which began in August 2012, gave temporary legal authorization to work in the U.S. to a subset of undocumented migrants – those who arrived in the U.S. as children meeting certain other eligibility criteria. In this paper, we use a difference-in-differences strategy to estimate the effect of DACA on the occupational outcomes of young adults who arrived in the U.S. as children. Applying this strategy to individual-level data from the American Community Survey, we find that DACA eligibility decreases the likelihood that noncitizen childhood immigrants hold traditional immigrant jobs or jobs with a high risk of injury, and increases the likelihood of holding a government job or jobs that require occupational licensing. On the whole, DACA eligibility shifts noncitizen childhood immigrants to occupations that are higher-paying and employ more educated workers. These findings are consistent with legal barriers constraining undocumented childhood migrants from taking the jobs they are interested in and have the skills for. These workers are shunted to jobs they find less desirable and there are societal losses from the misallocation of talent. |
| JEL: | J08 J18 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34685 |
| By: | Elena Bassoli (ETH Zurich; Ca’ Foscari University of Venice); Ylenia Brilli (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice; CHILD-Collegio Carlo Alberto) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes how a reform increasing statutory retirement age from 60 to 64 affected women's incentives for early retirement. In Italy, women can anticipate retirement at 57 (with 35 contribution years), but subject to an annuity penalization. Using Italian administrative data, we compare women eligible for the early retirement scheme before and after the reform, finding a small effect on women's retirement age, but a substantial negative effect on annuity. Effects are stronger for women with low labor market attachment or working full-time, suggesting that reconciliation of paid and unpaid works is an important driver of early retirement choices. |
| Keywords: | statutory retirement; early retirement; women’s labor market attachment; social security wealth |
| JEL: | J16 J20 J22 J26 H55 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2025:30 |
| By: | Louise Devos; Kristen du Bois; Stijn Baert; Louis Lippens (-) |
| Abstract: | Hiring discrimination against candidates from ethnocultural minority groups is a persistent concern in contemporary labour markets. This study examines how professional recruiters evaluate fictitious job applicants with profiles that systematically vary in signals that form ethnocultural identity rather than isolated minority markers. Using a preregistered factorial survey experiment true to recruiters’ organisational context, we assess how greater perceived distance from the ethnocultural majority is associated with hiring intentions. Structural equation modelling shows that lower perceived ethnocultural alignment is strongly and negatively associated with the likelihood of a candidate being considered for a job interview. This bias is also reflected in the extent to which recruiters identify with a candidate, as well as in taste-based expectations and competence assessments related to communication, efficiency, and leadership. Methodologically, we reinforce the credibility of the experimental findings by explicitly addressing socially desirable responses using three complementary approaches. First, we used a validated scale that captures socially desirable response tendencies, excluding respondents with a strong tendency to such responding. Second, we implemented the nominative technique, reducing the normative pressure to report personal views. Third, we employed the Bayesian truth serum, weighting responses based on their informativeness and honesty. Across all specifications, perceived alignment with the ethnocultural majority emerges as a robust and consistent correlate of hiring intentions. |
| Keywords: | factorial survey experiment, social desirability, identity, hiring, discrimination |
| JEL: | C83 J61 J71 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:26/1131 |
| By: | Larissa Fuchs; Matthias Heinz; Pia Pinger; Max Thon |
| Abstract: | We conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a leading technology firm to study how highlighting flexibility and career advancement in job advertisements causally affects the applicant pool. Highlighting career advancement increases the number of applications from men for entry-level positions and attracts additional applicants with strong qualifications and a good fit, which in turn leads to more interview invitations. By contrast, highlighting flexibility increases applications from both women and men at the entry level but provides limited evidence of attracting higher-quality or better-fit applicants. A complementary survey experiment among STEM students shows how job advertisements shape beliefs about the firm’s job characteristics and work environment. Overall, our results show that the amenities firms choose to highlight can powerfully influence both the size and characteristics of their applicant pool. |
| Keywords: | hiring, field experiments, job advertisements, gender |
| JEL: | M51 M52 D22 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_683v2 |
| By: | Sam J. Manning; Tomás Aguirre |
| Abstract: | We construct an occupation-level adaptive capacity index that measures a set of worker characteristics relevant for navigating job transitions if displaced, covering 356 occupations that represent 95.9% of the U.S. workforce. We find that AI exposure and adaptive capacity are positively correlated: many occupations highly exposed to AI contain workers with relatively strong means to manage a job transition. Of the 37.1 million workers in the top quartile of AI exposure, 26.5 million are in occupations that also have above-median adaptive capacity, leaving them comparatively well-equipped to handle job transitions if displacement occurs. At the same time, 6.1 million workers (4.2% of the workforce in our sample) work in occupations that are both highly exposed and where workers have low expected adaptive capacity. These workers are concentrated in clerical and administrative roles. Importantly, AI exposure reflects potential changes to work tasks, not inevitable displacement; only some of the changes brought on by AI will result in job loss. By distinguishing between highly exposed workers with relatively strong means to adjust and those with limited adaptive capacity, our analysis shows that exposure measures alone can obscure both areas of resilience to technological change and concentrated pockets of elevated vulnerability if displacement were to occur. |
| JEL: | J01 J20 J21 J24 J29 J63 O33 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34705 |
| By: | Steffen Altmann (University of Würzburg, University of Copenhagen); Robert Mahlstedt (University of Copenhagen); Malte Jacob Rattenborg (University of Copenhagen); Alexander Sebald (Copenhagen Business School); Sonja Settele (University of Cologne, ECONtribute, Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Economics & CEBI); Johannes Wohlfart (University of Cologne, ECONtribute, Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Economics & CEBI) |
| Abstract: | In a field experiment with 9, 000 Danish job seekers, we study how unemployed workers’ wage expectations affect job search and re-employment. In our survey, we generate exogenous variation in respondents’ wage expectations by informing a random half of them about re-employment wages of comparable workers. The intervention increases job-finding as measured in administrative data for both initially optimistic and initially pessimistic respondents, but through different channels: initial optimists lower their reservation wages and intensify search, while pessimists raise reservation wages and redirect applications toward local vacancies. Consistent with spatial search frictions, narrowing the geographic scope accelerates job finding among pessimists. |
| Keywords: | Expectations, job search |
| JEL: | D83 D84 J64 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:386 |
| By: | Silke Anger; Bernhard Christoph; Agata Galkiewicz; Shushanik Margaryan; Malte Sandner; Thomas Siedler |
| Abstract: | Tutoring programs for low-performing students, delivered in-person or online, effectively enhance school performance, yet their medium- and longer-term impacts on labor market outcomes remain less understood. To address this gap, we conduct a randomized controlled trial with 839 secondary school students in Germany to examine the effects of an online tutoring program for low-performing students on academic performance and school-to-work transitions. The online tutoring program had a non significant intention to-treat effect of 0.06 standard deviations on math grades six months after program start. However, among students who had not received other tutoring services prior to the intervention, the program significantly improved math grades by 0.14 standard deviations. Moreover, students in non-academic school tracks experienced smoother school-to-work transitions, with vocational training take-up 18 months later being 5 percentage points higher—an effect that was even larger (12 percentage points) among those without prior tutoring. Overall, the results indicate that tutoring can generate lasting benefits for low-performing students that extend beyond school performance. |
| Keywords: | online tutoring, randomized controlled trial, disadvantaged youth, school grades, school-to-work transition |
| JEL: | C93 I20 I24 |
| Date: | 2025–12–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdp:dpaper:0084 |
| By: | Sarah Fleche; Eva Moreno Galbis; Ariell Reshef; Claudia Senik |
| Abstract: | We study how the widespread diffusion of ICT affects wages, working conditions, and job satisfaction. We frame our empirical investigation with a model in which ICT can improve both wages and working conditions by increasing firms' output. Using French matched employer-employee data and an instrumental variable approach that is motivated by the model, we find that ICT diffusion in 2013-2019 has been beneficial to workers, who experienced both higher wages and better working conditions, particularly through greater flexibility, physical comfort, and safety. In contrast, ICT use has also increased psychological stress and work intensity. These effects vary across workers, firms, occupations and sectors, depending on their characteristics. Despite overall improvements in wages and working conditions, we estimate only modest positive effects of ICT use on job satisfaction. We discuss potential explanations for this finding. |
| Keywords: | ICT diffusion, Wages, Working conditions, Job satisfaction |
| Date: | 2026–01–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2143 |
| By: | Jarkko Harju (Tampere University & Finnish Centre of Tax Systems Research (FIT)); Toni Juuti (Labour Institute for Economic Research & Tampere University & FIT); Tuomas Matikka (VATT Institute for Economic Research & FIT) |
| Abstract: | Using full-population data from Finland, we show that individuals at the top of the income distribution are significantly more likely to start new incorporated businesses. High-income earners also establish more successful and productive businesses than others. In contrast, parental income is not linked with selection into new entrepreneurship or firm-level outcomes. We find that income gains from entrepreneurship are rather similar across individual and parental characteristics, and that entrepreneurship is associated with upward income mobility regardless of initial income levels. Overall, our findings suggest that entrepreneurship can serve as an upward economic ladder for individuals from diverse backgrounds. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, income mobility, productivity |
| JEL: | L26 J24 J3 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fit:wpaper:41 |
| By: | Andrea Albanese; Lorenzo Cappellari (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Marco Ovidi (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) |
| Abstract: | We study how worker-specific ability to generate earnings evolves over the life cycle. We measure the dynamics of earning ability by extending the canonical AKM model of wage determination to allow worker effects to vary as individuals age. Age-dependent estimates of earning ability unveil heterogeneous career trajectories, with high ability workers sorting into higher-paying employers early in their careers and moving to different firms to a lesser extent thereafter. We show that earning ability significantly decreases after job loss, suggesting that it is at least partly match-specific. This result is particularly pronounced for high-ability workers, who, conversely, are the ones experiencing the lowest penalties in employer pay after job loss. |
| Keywords: | Earning ability, AKM model, ageing. |
| JEL: | J31 J21 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie1:def148 |
| By: | Philip Oreopoulos; Oliver Keyes-Krysakowski; Deepak Agarwal |
| Abstract: | Computer-assisted learning (CAL) platforms frequently underperform at scale not because the technology is ineffective, but because schools face substantial implementation frictions: teachers and administrators must overcome initial technical hurdles, reorganize instructional routines, manage competing scheduling pressures, and do so while uncertain about the technology’s effectiveness—conditions that often lead to low and unproductive student engagement. This study explores whether strengthening implementation structure can raise both the quantity and quality of CAL usage in 83 residential government middle schools in Uttar Pradesh, India and, in turn, learning gains. All schools had access to Khan Academy, but randomly selected treatment schools received on-the-ground lab-in-charges whose sole responsibility was to ensure high-fidelity implementation by securing reliable connectivity, simplifying student rostering, protecting weekly practice time, supervising in-class use, coordinating content with teachers, and monitoring progress. The intervention increased platform usage from 7.2 to 47.4 minutes per week. Mathematics achievement rose by almost half a standard deviation over 31 weeks, with gains broad-based across achievement levels and question difficulty. These results show that the central constraint on effective and scalable CAL is not technology or content, but the presence of organizational structures that ensure sustained, productive instructional use. |
| JEL: | I2 I25 I3 O2 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34683 |