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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Edoardo Bella (Boston College); Garrett Anstreicher (University of Iowa); Joanna Venator (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | We leverage the national rollout of FIRST robotics teams across high schools and document that attending a high school with a robotics club substantially increases the likelihood that a student will go on to major in computer science or engineering in college. These effects vary significantly by gender: while these programs increase the likelihood that male students go on to major in engineering/computer science (+3.1 pp), effects for female students are substantially smaller and are at times negative, with worse effects for teams with lower gender ratios. We confirm these findings in restricted- use Census survey data and find that positive impacts extend past college, with robotics teams increasing the likelihood that men work in STEM-related occupations. These results suggest that exposure to STEM-related high school extracurricular activities may increase interest in engineering and computer science but can also widen existing gender gaps in take-up of these fields. |
| Keywords: | College Major Choice, Robotics, High School Curricula, Occupation Choice |
| JEL: | I23 J24 J16 |
| Date: | 2026–06–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:bocoec:1112 |
| By: | Goller, Daniel (University of Bern); Brox, Enzo (University of Bern); Wolter, Stefan (University of Bern) |
| Abstract: | Why do people sort into poorly fitting occupations? This paper shows that imperfect self-knowledge about skills is an important source of skill mismatch at labor market entry. We use unique data from standardized professional aptitude tests linked to administrative records on educational trajectories and early labor market outcomes in Switzerland. The data allow us to observe objective skills and subjective skill beliefs for many productivity-relevant skills in a high-stakes setting. We document large differences among individuals in how well their beliefs align with their skills. Imperfect self-knowledge predicts misaligned occupational aspirations, higher realized skill mismatch, and a higher probability of dropout. Guided by a Roy-style model of occupational choice with imperfect self-knowledge, we interpret these findings as evidence that distorted self-assessments at the school-to-work transition contribute to the misallocation of talent. |
| Keywords: | information frictions, occupational choice, skill mismatch, self-knowledge |
| JEL: | D83 J24 J41 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18730 |
| By: | Paul M. Gorny; Petra Nieken; Martin Trenkle |
| Abstract: | Recruitment signals shape applicant pools. Across three studies, we examine whether genderfair (vs. generic masculine) German job titles affect application behavior and job seekers' beliefs about organizational culture. In a large-scale pre-registered field experiment, gender-fair titles increase female applications and clicks in Business & Management where priors are flexible by about 50 %. There is no average effect in categories with less flexible priors consistent with a signaling model. Eye-tracking evidence shows effects reflect belief updating, not visual salience, and an online study supports gender-fair language as a credible equality signal. We find no male backlash. |
| Keywords: | gender, labor, signaling, recruitment, bias, discrimination, gender-fair language |
| JEL: | C93 J16 J20 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12721 |
| By: | Di Nola, Alessandro (University of Birmingham); Wang, Haomin (Cardiff University) |
| Abstract: | Women are more likely than men to work in low-hours jobs, which are associated with lower hourly wages and are disproportionately impacted by minimum wage policies. To quantify the gendered effects, we build and estimate an equilibrium search model that incorporates demographic and firm productivity heterogeneity, as well as jobs differing in both wages and hours requirements. The model replicates observed gender gaps in employment, hours worked, and wages, as well as the positive relationship between hours and hourly wages. We implement the minimum wage in our model with a penalty to address non-compliance. Using this framework, we find that Germany's initial €8.5 minimum wage reallocates women toward higher-hours jobs, reducing non-employment. Firm adjustments, however, dampen this effect by raising wages for low-hours jobs, making them relatively more attractive. Enhanced enforcement of the minimum wage amplifies the upward reallocation for women. Finally, we examine the effects of higher minimum wages, finding that increases up to €14 reduce both the gender wage and hours-worked gaps. At €11, 44.8% of the reduction in the gender income gap is attributable to changes in hours worked. |
| Keywords: | Minimum wage; gender gaps; equilibrium job posting; hours requirement |
| JEL: | J08 J31 J16 E24 E64 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdf:wpaper:2026/8 |
| By: | Thimo De Schouwer; Sebastiaan Maes; Tom Potoms |
| Abstract: | Earnings premiums for long hours vary across occupations, shaping gender sorting and inequality. The leading explanation emphasizes firm-side production technologies, yet hours and wages are equilibrium outcomes reflecting worker preferences and market structure. We build a directed search-and-matching model that allows us to decompose the premium. Premiums compensate for the disutility of long hours and bargaining power; productivity explains little in Tech, where premiums approach 20%. This disutility is highest among women, who sort away from long-hours jobs; these amenity differences account for 22% of the gender earnings gap. In counterfactuals, general-equilibrium responses through market tightness substantially change policy impacts. |
| Keywords: | long hours, earnings premium, search and matching, directed search |
| JEL: | C78 E24 J16 J31 J32 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12779 |
| By: | Jeremias Klaeui |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether directing job search toward tight labor markets improves re-employment. Such targeting is theoretically attractive as it reduces aggregate congestion. I link Swiss unemployment records to clickstream search data to measure which markets jobseekers target. To address selection, I exploit quasi-random assignment to caseworkers differing in their tendency to redirect clients toward tight markets. Moving from the 10th to the 90th percentile raises six-month job-finding by 2.7%. The channels are heterogeneous: jobseekers who become unemployed in slack markets gain from mobility, consistent with prior findings from policies that encourage broader search. The new insight is that jobseekers who become unemployed in tight markets benefit from a narrower focus on this initial market. Effects are orthogonal to other caseworker behaviors and do not come at the expense of job quality. My findings suggest that market tightness offers a simple basis for targeted search advice. |
| Keywords: | job search, labor market tightness, labor supply, matching. |
| JEL: | J64 J68 J62 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12744 |
| By: | Gülümser, Dogan (Rockwool foundation Berlin) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies hiring and wage setting in new jobs. Using Swedish matched employer-employee data covering 1.7 million new hires, I show that entrants into occupations new to the firm have more labor market experience and are more likely to be hired from other employers. Conditional on entrant characteristics, new jobs have a 3 percent entry-wage premium and exhibit lower turnover than old jobs. The premium declines as firms accumulate occupation-specific employment experience, consistent with hiring uncertainty that resolves as the firm gains experience in the occupation. The new job wage premium is a previously undocumented source of wage dispersion among similar workers. |
| Keywords: | Hiring uncertainty; information frictions; wage setting; match quality |
| JEL: | D83 J23 J31 J63 |
| Date: | 2026–07–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2026_014 |
| By: | Sutirtha Bagchi (Department of Economics, Villanova School of Business, Villanova University) |
| Abstract: | Public-sector unions shape how state and local governments staff and size their workforces, yet clean shocks to union power are rare. The 2018 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in Janus v. AFSCME provided one, eliminating mandatory agency fees in the 21 states that had previously permitted them. I use a difference-in-differences design comparing affected states with right-to-work states and draw on two complementary datasets: three waves of the Census of Governments (CoG) and a balanced 2011–2025 annual panel that combines the CoG with the Annual Survey of Public Employment and Payroll. I find that Janus reduced part-time employment by 6.2 to 8.4 percent while leaving full-time employment unchanged, thereby raising the full-time share of the workforce by 1.13 to 1.75 percentage points. A simple model rationalizes this pattern: because union power sustained the part-time periphery, weakening it shifts the adjustment onto the least-protected positions rather than the full-time core. Per-worker earnings are unchanged for full-time and part-time workers alike, in both datasets. I additionally confirm the earnings null using individual-level CPS and state-level QCEW data. |
| Keywords: | Public-sector unions; Union membership; Collective bargaining; Agency fees; Janus; Freeriding |
| JEL: | J45 H75 K31 J51 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vil:papers:66 |
| By: | Adema, Joop |
| Abstract: | Agersnap, Jensen and Kleven (2020) study the effect of changes in welfare benefit levels on immigration in Denmark, reporting a large migration elasticity of 1.3. However, their approach reports an illdefined net migration elasticity, conflates migration with migrant residents turning 30, and is sensitive to origin-country shocks. All of these exaggerate the size of the welfare magnet effect. Using an alternative approach that addresses these concerns, I find substantially lower migration elasticities: at most 0.28 for arrivals and 0.14 for stocks. Moreover, I find that lower benefits do not increase the average skill level of migrants. |
| JEL: | F22 H53 I38 J15 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:302 |
| By: | Kevin André Pineda-Hernández; François Rycx; Thomas Senterre; Mélanie Volral |
| Abstract: | Although a growing number of studies highlight the moderating role of educational attainment on the wage differential between immigrants and natives, the influence of the field of study remains largely unexplored. We aim to fill this gap by drawing on detailed, matched employer-employee data on workers holding a master’s degree in Belgium for the period 1999-2016. After controlling for a wide range of covariates, our regression analyses show that the wage gap between immigrant and native workers with degrees in higher-paying fields (i.e. STEM and LEM) narrows considerably over two generations, but remains significant. By contrast, among workers with degrees in lower-paying fields (i.e. Other Social Sciences, Education, Services, Arts and Humanities) the wage gap between immigrants and natives disappears within two generations. Furthermore, our wage decompositions reveal that immigrant graduates are somewhat more likely to hold degrees in higher-paying fields than natives, which results in a small positive quantity effect. However, they also show that wage returns associated with fields of study are significantly lower for immigrants than for natives. This leads to a negative price effect, which, in percentage points, is halved over two generations. Altogether, the combined price and quantity effects – with the former far outweighing the latter – account for between 28 and 37% of the overall pay gap between natives and first- and second-generation immigrants, respectively. Sensitivity tests using a more detailed classification of fields of study further refine our results. |
| Keywords: | Immigrant-native wage gap; first- and second-generation immigrants; field of study; matched employer-employee data |
| JEL: | I23 I24 I25 I26 J31 |
| Date: | 2026–06–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/408813 |
| By: | Riley K. Acton; Camila Morales; Julia A. Turner; Lois Miller; Kalena Cortes |
| Abstract: | Community colleges are more financially, academically, and geographically accessible than four-year institutions. Yet despite most community college students intending to earn a bachelor’s degree, few successfully transfer and complete one. Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) programs have emerged as an alternative pathway, allowing community colleges to confer bachelor’s degrees directly. However, little is known about how employers value these credentials in the labor market. To address this question, we conduct the first resume audit study of CCB degrees, submitting fictitious applications to real job vacancies while experimentally varying applicants’ educational credentials, degree-granting institutions, and demographic signals. In this pilot study, we focus on the early childhood education (ECE) labor market, a rapidly growing CCB field characterized by labor shortages and increasing educational requirements. We find that employers view CCB degrees similarly to both traditional bachelor’s and associate degrees, with statistically indistinguishable interview-request rates across degree types. A text analysis of employer callback messages reveals little evidence that employers communicate differently with CCB applicants, while a net-price simulation suggests that sticker-price comparisons substantially overstate the affordability advantage of CCB programs. Together, these findings provide new evidence on the labor market value and affordability of CCB degrees and inform an ongoing large-scale audit study across additional fields and labor markets. |
| JEL: | I21 I23 I24 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35404 |
| By: | Bussolo, Maurizio; Peragine, Vito; Reutzel, Fabian |
| Abstract: | More than two decades of sustained economic growth in South Asia brought significant reductions in poverty, yet inclusive social progress has remained elusive. Using a pseudo-panel approach with a large-scale harmonized dataset of 20 million observations across seven South Asian countries, this paper traces the evolution of inequality of opportunity across cohorts born between 1950s and 1990s for three out-comes: education, labor markets, and consumption. The findings show substantial improvements in educational opportunities and unchanging high levels of inequality of opportunity in consumption. Three mechanisms explain this divergence. First, educational expansion focused on basic schooling for the 1950s to 1980s cohorts—a skill level with limited labor market returns. Second, despite narrowing gender gaps in educational attainment, female labor force participation remains stubbornly low across cohorts. Third, even among equally educated individuals, circumstances continue to predict labor outcomes, suggesting persistent structural barriers to labor market access and fair rewards. |
| Date: | 2026–05–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11395 |
| By: | Buser, Thomas (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | A large literature in behavioral and labor economics documents gender differences in personality traits and preferences, as well as their explanatory power for gender gaps in occupational choice and career success. These studies usually focus on a single trait or personality classification, such as competitiveness, risk preferences, or the Big Five personality inventory. In this paper, I instead ask how much of gender differences in occupational sorting can be statistically explained by a comprehensive range of trait and preference measures jointly. I combine detailed personality and preference indicators elicited in a representative Dutch survey panel and link them to career outcomes for which large gender gaps are observed: the underrepresentation of women in management and math-intensive occupations, and the underrepresentation of men in teaching and caring occupations and the public sector. Correcting for measurement error, differences in preferences and personality can statistically explain a large part – typically half or more – of gender differences in occupational sorting. Traits with a "dark" side – such as willingness to play dirty, externalizing behavior or psychopathy – capture a surprisingly large share of these gaps. |
| Keywords: | gender, occupational segregation, personality, economic preferences, competitiveness |
| JEL: | J16 J24 D91 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18721 |