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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Sascha O. Becker; Ana Fernandes; Nurlan Lalayev; Doris Weichselbaumer; Ana Margarida Fernandes |
| Abstract: | We study gender differences in employers' responses to commuting distance using data from a large-scale correspondence test in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. A 10 km increase in driving distance reduces women’s probability of receiving an interview invitation by 1.8 percentage points, around 9 percent of the mean female invitation rate, while commuting distance has no corresponding effect for men. The gender difference is statistically significant and robust to alternative distance measures and thresholds, firms’ rural or urban location, and local labor-market tightness. The female distance penalty does not vary detectably with applicants' reported marital status or the presence of children, providing no support for screening based on these observed indicators of household responsibilities. |
| Keywords: | gender discrimination, commuting, labor market, field experiment, Germany, Switzerland, Austria |
| JEL: | C93 J16 J61 J71 R41 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12989 |
| By: | Hidehiko Ichimura (Department of Economics, The University of Arizona and Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo); Yasuyuki Sawada (Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo); Yutaro Takayasu (Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study, Hitotsubashi University); Mari Tanaka (Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo and Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University) |
| Abstract: | When societies transition from hereditary to meritocratic systems, to what extent does educational expansion broaden access to elite positions and change inherited patterns of occupational sorting? We study Japan after the Meiji Restoration, which abolished samurai hereditary privileges in public-sector positions and modernized education. Exploiting cohort-specific discontinuities in access to secondary schooling created by the expansion of public secondary schools, we find that greater access increased elite attainment among both samurai and commoner families, but most additional elites entered sectors historically associated with their family background. Many had non-elite fathers, indicating greater upward intergenerational mobility into elite status. |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:fseres:2026cf1280 |
| By: | Lundborg, Petter (Lund University); Nieto Castro, Adrian (Lund University) |
| Abstract: | We examine how early exposure to STEM professionals in the local neighborhood shapes children's long run educational and labor market outcomes. To identify causal effects, we use Swedish register data and several sources of variation in exposure to STEM qualified neighbors measured at the 100 by 100 meter grid. Exposure during compulsory education raises children's math performance, and evidence points to social ties as the main channel. It also increases the presence of boys and girls in science programs in high school and university, but mainly boys are more likely to complete a STEM bachelor degree. This gender gap persists into adulthood: STEM employment and earnings rise predominantly for boys. The results show that high skill professionals can serve as community based informal role models and that neighbors can shape long run educational and labor market trajectories. |
| Keywords: | STEM, science, neighbors, role model, human capital, labor trajectory |
| JEL: | I2 J2 J3 O3 |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18889 |
| By: | Ran Abramitzky; Leah Platt Boustan; Ahmet Gulek; Jens Hainmueller |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of H-1B immigration on U.S. industries that employ H-1B workers and their trading partners. Using a novel cross-industry design and the 1999–2003 expansion of the H-1B visa cap for identification, we find that H-1B exposure raised incomes for natives and pre-existing immigrants, with gains concentrated in non-STEM occupations. Income gains propagate forward through supply chains to downstream industries but not backward to upstream industries, consistent with a productivity shock rather than a labor supply shock. We find no direct effect on patenting, suggesting that productivity gains arise from better task execution rather than patentable invention. |
| JEL: | J60 J68 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35560 |
| By: | Murathanoglu, Emir (Department of Economics, Oberlin College) |
| Abstract: | I study how typhoons affect international labor migration from Philippine municipalities using administrative data on the universe of new migrant contracts. Typhoons increase out-migration for up to three years, but simultaneously shift migrants toward lower-paying occupations and destinations. Average migrant cohort wages fall by 0.27– 0.41% for each 1% typhoon-induced increase in migration. This fall is not explained by observable selection, as typhoon-induced migrants have higher educational attainment. These patterns are consistent with a simple migration search model, where worsening origin conditions incentivize potential migrants to search and leave for lower-paying overseas contracts. Despite this downgrading, back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest 16–19% of the increase in remittances following typhoons can be attributed to new labor migration. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Labor migration, Natural disasters, Philippines |
| JEL: | F22 O15 J61 Q54 J64 |
| Date: | 2026–08–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cxv:wpaper:2607 |
| By: | Lea-Karla Matic; Johanna Luise Reuter |
| Abstract: | Part-time work is a policy margin through which governments seek to reconcile employment and family responsibilities, yet its broader effects remain poorly understood. We estimate the effects of Austria’s 2004 introduction of a legal right to parental part-time work for mothers in firms with more than 20 employees. Using administrative data and a triple-differencein-differences design, we find large, persistent increases in part-time employment but only modest, short-lived gains in labor market attachment. Adjustment instead occurs through greater retention with the pre-birth employer and higher subsequent fertility, alongside persistent earnings losses and adverse short-run effects on maternal mental health. |
| Keywords: | Parental part-time, part-time trap, greedy jobs, child penalty |
| JEL: | D1 D63 J13 I10 J12 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:econwp:2026-06 |
| By: | Yang, C.; Guo, N.; Zhang, W |
| Abstract: | Are entrepreneurs born or made? We study how genetic endowments shape entrepreneurship, intergenerational mobility, and wealth concentration by combining polygenic scores with a structural overlapping-generations model. Combining data from Understanding Society and the National Child Development Study, we show that genetic endowments related to educational attainment and risk tolerance predict entrepreneurial selection and entrepreneurial earnings. We develop and estimate a model in which genetic endowments affect pre-market skill formation, preferences, and occupation- specific returns, while parents influence children through genetic transmission, time investments, and cash transfers. We find that genetic heterogeneity accounts for a substantial share of intergenerational persistence (roughly 20–35 percent across earnings, consumption, and income ranks) and plays an important role in the formation of entrepreneurial dynasties. At the individual level, genetic endowments explain a modest but economically meaningful share of lifetime income variation, with effects that are twice as large among entrepreneurs as among wage workers. In counterfactual policy experiments, we compare financing wealth through credit expansion with financing talent through venture-capital intermediation. Holding fixed the amount of capital supplied, financing talent generates greater intergenerational mobility and higher aggregate output than financing wealth, but at the cost of higher inequality. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, Genetics, Intergenerational Mobility, Wealth Distribution |
| JEL: | D31 L26 J24 J62 E24 |
| Date: | 2026–08–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:2668 |
| By: | Daniela Del Boca (University of Turin and Collegio Carlo Alberto); Luca Favero (University of St. Andrews); Chiara Pronzato (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | Many advanced economies face persistently low fertility alongside rapid population ageing, raising concerns about economic sustainability and demographic balance. Addressing these challenges requires both sustained labor market participation among the working-age population and conditions that support childbearing. These objectives place women, and particularly mothers, at the center of the demographic debate, as motherhood remains a key turning point in employment trajectories and family formation. Using experimental evidence from an intervention targeting mothers who curtailed employment due to childcare responsibilities, the paper finds that improving work–family reconciliation can support mothers’ labor market reintegration, promote investments in existing children, and, under conditions of greater stability, strengthen fertility desires. |
| Keywords: | work, motherhood, family-friendly policies, desired fertility |
| JEL: | J13 J18 J21 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2026-006 |
| By: | David J. Deming; Katrine V. Løken; Alexander Willén; Yaling Xu |
| Abstract: | Why do we have so many meetings? Few workplace features are so scorned, yet seemingly so necessary. This paper provides the first large-scale economic evidence on workplace meetings using an original survey of more than 9, 000 workers linked to matched employer–employee administrative data from Norway. We show that meetings are both common and costly, consuming an average of 12 percent of work hours and 14 percent of firm wage bills. Planning, problem solving, information sharing, and project coordination account for the majority of meeting activity. High-paying and high-revenue firms devote more resources to meetings despite facing a substantially higher opportunity cost of employee time. Meeting frequency and intensity are positively related to worker wage growth. Workers in meeting-intensive firms report greater on-the-job learning, and interactions with more senior colleagues are associated with stronger wage growth, suggesting that knowledge transmission within firms is an important mechanism. Meetings are the broccoli of work – widely disliked, but probably good for us anyway. |
| JEL: | J24 M5 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35706 |
| By: | Yang, Li; Zhao, Zhejin |
| Abstract: | Using Hong Kong census data from 1976 to 2021, this paper provides the first comprehensive analysis of absolute intergenerational mobility (AIM) in a transitioning Asian economy. We introduce two innovations: decomposing AIM by factor income (labor component vs. capital component) and a Mincer-based counterfactual framework isolating education, birthplace, and other sociodemographic factors. AIM declined sharply from 85% for the 1976 cohort to 49% for the 2001 cohort, driven primarily by slower income growth rather than rising inequality, which is similar to France or Sweden, but lagging Western economies by one to two decades. Labor component mobility drove the entire decline (75% to 49%), while capital component mobility remained low and stable (17-20%). Education expansion temporarily boosted AIM by up to 18 percentage points for the 1991 cohort, coinciding with Hong Kong's post-1989 tertiary enrollment surge. Instrumental variable estimates using the 1978 compulsory education reform are consistent with the OLS-based estimates and support their validity. Our replicable framework offers insights for transitioning economies facing similar structural shifts. |
| Keywords: | Absolute intergenerational mobility, education expansion, labor component vs capital component, Hong Kong |
| JEL: | D31 J62 O15 O53 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:343112 |
| By: | Shuaizhang Feng; Lars Lefgren; Jieyi Liu; Brennan Platt; Xiaoyu Xia |
| Abstract: | We study age discrimination in a labor market with a job ladder, where worker productivity is revealed over time. Using data from a large Chinese recruitment platform that links job postings, applications, and employer responses, we document sharp declines in applications and callbacks at posted age cutoffs. Discrimination operates in both directions: older applicants are disadvantaged in entry-level jobs, while younger applicants are less likely to be hired into managerial roles. A model of statistical discrimination with imperfect signal screening explains these patterns. Consistent with the model, older applicants to entry-level jobs are negatively selected relative to their peers. |
| JEL: | J71 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35709 |
| By: | Valentin Kecht (University of Bonn); Georg Schneider (University of Bonn) |
| Abstract: | Firms can discipline workers through the threat of termination, but the value of continued employment depends on job opportunities in the external labor market. We study how bankers’ outside options affect risky lending. Using granular employment histories and predetermined coworker links, we construct a time-varying bank-level measure of outside options from hiring at connected financial institutions. A standard-deviation improvement in outside options raises non-investment-grade lending growth by 1.6 to 3.0 percentage points and shifts loans toward borrowers with greater ex-ante and realized risk without detectable compensating loan spreads. Measures of bank and systemic risk also increase. Among individually matched bankers, outside options increase borrower risk and weaken the separation penalty following poor loan performance. The risk response is concentrated among younger bankers, who are more mobile. Financial advisors exhibit a similar pattern of increased misconduct followed by weaker employment penalties under improved outside options. The evidence indicates that workplace discipline is dependent on external labor market conditions, transmitting labor market fluctuations into credit risk. |
| Keywords: | Financial Stability, Risk, Labor Markets, Outside Options |
| JEL: | G21 G24 J62 D82 G01 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:429 |
| By: | Michael Dalton; Lisa B. Kahn; Andreas I. Mueller |
| Abstract: | We ask whether online job postings capture U.S. job vacancies, matching near-universal Burning Glass (BG) postings to the representative Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). BG converged toward JOLTS over 2007–2022, and its representativeness varies across establishment characteristics. We reweight BG to align postings with JOLTS openings along observables, and assess impacts on prior BG findings. Because large establishments account for most openings and are well represented, the level and cyclicality of skill demand survive our adjustment. But BG overstates labor market concentration (the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index) nearly threefold, because small and mid-sized establishments post less online. |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J23 J42 J63 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35697 |
| By: | Christina Felfe; Lukas Kagerbauer; Max Müller; Christoph Sajons; Judith Saurer; Thomas Zwick |
| Abstract: | Do refugees face systematic disadvantages in the apprenticeship market and what measures can mitigate them? We address these questions using a combination of discrete choice experiments and information treatments involving 800 firms in Ger many. Our findings show that refugees are much less likely to be accepted for ap prenticeships than their native counterparts, unless they are substantially better qualified in terms of formal education. However, this gap can be significantly re duced through two key mechanisms: signaling soft skills such as discipline, moti vation, and reliability, and implementing public policy programs that enhance job specific language proficiency and job readiness. |
| Keywords: | Labor shortages, Vocational training, Refugees, Soft skills, Integration policies |
| JEL: | J15 J24 J61 J68 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_778 |
| By: | Mahreen Khan; Iman Sen |
| Abstract: | Soft skills are widely believed to matter for labor market success, but two questions remain central to their use in active labor-market policy: are they malleable beyond childhood, and can training in these skills improve employment outcomes? To address these, we evaluate CareerX, a one-month soft-skills and career-readiness program for university students in Bangladesh. Across 15 cohorts, 1, 794 applicants were randomly assigned to an offer of training or a control group. One to two months after, training improves employment and paid employment by 7.3% and 6.7% in the treatment group. One year later, the estimated effect is similar in magnitude but less precisely estimated. An index of self-reported soft skills is 0.10 SD higher shortly after the program and remains higher, by 0.13 SD, one year later with larger gains in intrapersonal than interpersonal skills. Other measures such as CV quality, professional references and job-search planning and effort do not change detectably, a pattern consistent with improvements in soft skills contributing to the observed employment effects. The program is delivered at low marginal cost through group sessions and hybrid instruction at approximately USD 117 per additional attendee employed. Our results indicate that soft skills remain malleable at the point of labor market entry and that short programs can shift early employment outcomes at a cost well below comparable interventions. |
| Keywords: | youth employment, labor market entry, soft skills, RCT |
| JEL: | J24 M53 O15 I26 J08 C93 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2026-05 |
| By: | Andrea Weber; David Card; Wolfgang Dauth; Wolfgang Frimmel; Julia Schmieder; Rudolf Winter-Ebmer |
| Abstract: | How big are the gains to international migration? How do they vary across mi- grants? We study these questions using linked administrative data for Austria and Germany, focusing on migrants who were steadily employed 2-4 years be- fore their move and using their previous co-workers as a comparison group for a difference-in-differences design. We combine data from the origin and desti- nation countries for 5 years after the move, allowing us to assess the gains for those who remain in the destination and those who return. On average, mi- grants from Austria to Germany experience an immediate and persistent rise of around 13% in their daily wage relative to their matched co-workers, while migrants from Germany to Austria gain about 4%. The higher returns for Aus- trians are mainly driven by higher average wages in Germany, rather than by differential selection of migrants. Consistent with a dynamic learning model, the returns to migration are largest for migrants who remain in the destination country, smaller for those who return after 1-4 years, and zero or even slightly negative for those who return in less than a year. They are also larger for mi- grants who follow established cross-border networks between workplaces. To help interpret our findings we conduct a parallel analysis of domestic migrants who move to a larger city (Vienna or one of the 5 largest cities in Germany). “Big city†movers experience gains in wages of about 5% for Austrians and 10% for Germans. Again the gains are largest for those who remain in the des- tination city, with smaller effects for those who move on. |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:econwp:2026-07 |
| By: | Dupuy, Arnaud (University of Luxembourg); Raux, Morgan (Aix-Marseille School of Economics); Signorelli, Sara (CREST) |
| Abstract: | Technological change requires workers to reallocate across occupations, but it may also reshape how easily they can do so by changing occupational skill requirements. We exploit digitalization during the 2010s to study this mechanism. We measure occupational accessibility by comparing occupational skill requirements in job-posting data. Combining these measures with French matched employer–employee data, we find that occupations becoming more similar in their digital skill profiles experience greater worker mobility. Counterfactual simulations based on a structural two-sided matching model indicate that changes in occupational accessibility generate worker reallocation amounting to 21 percent of that generated by observed labor-demand shifts. |
| Keywords: | occupation mobility, technological change, matching |
| JEL: | J23 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18881 |
| By: | Hanika, Sebastian; Focacci, Chiara Natalie |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how occupational restructuring within local labour markets shapes the employment opportunities of older workers. Using longitudinal Swedish register data covering workers across 69 functional local labour markets between 2017 and 2023, we show that greater occupational restructuring is associated with greater occupational narrowing among older workers. This relationship is moderated by local labour market characteristics. Thicker and more dynamic labour markets, with greater occupational diversity and job churning, provide broader opportunities for occupational adjustment. The findings highlight the importance of regional opportunity structures for old-age employment in ageing economies. |
| Date: | 2026–09–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:ws57n_v1 |
| By: | Michael Rubens; Bernardo S. Silveira |
| Abstract: | In monopsony models, wage markdowns induce deadweight loss and are therefore inefficient. Yet markdowns also arise in models with backloaded efficiency pay, where they are designed to induce effort among early-career workers and are thus efficient. To reconcile—and empirically distinguish—these two mechanisms, we build a dynamic model incorporating labor market power and endogenous effort. Estimating a team production model on novel data on U.S. public accounting firms, we find evidence of both: markdowns for junior workers and markups for senior ones reflect incentive-providing backloading, while monopsony power induces a ‘lifetime’ wage markdown of 15%. |
| JEL: | J42 L84 M52 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35474 |