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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Jirjahn, Uwe (University of Trier); Rienzo, Cinzia (University of Brighton) |
| Abstract: | Previous studies on working from home (WFH) and employee well-being have produced conflicting results. We hypothesize that giving workers a choice over whether to use WFH plays a crucial role in the consequences for well-being. This has a series of testable implications for empirical work. Using panel data from the UK, our fixed effects estimates show that not only the actual use, but also the pure availability of WFH is linked with improved job-related and overall mental health. Not controlling for the pure availability of WFH implies that the positive influence of the actual use of WFH is underestimated. However, we find a positive link between the use of WFH and overall mental health only for the years before and after the pandemic. The link was negative during the COVID-19 crisis where WFH was largely enforced. Moreover, gender moderates the influence of WFH on mental health. For women, both the actual use and the pure availability of WFH are positively associated job-related and overall mental health. For men, we find a more mixed pattern where either only the pure availability or only the actual use has an influence on mental health. Men are more likely to over- or underrate the consequences of WFH than women. |
| Keywords: | pandemic, COVID-19, freedom of choice, remote work, mental well-being, gender |
| JEL: | I10 I31 J16 J22 M50 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18187 |
| By: | Rakesh Banerjee (University of Exeter Business School); Tushar Bharati (Economics Programme, University of Western Australia); Adnan Fakir (University of Sussex Business School); Yiwei Qian (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics) |
| Abstract: | We conducted an experiment on a major international online freelancing platform to examine how increased flexibility in daily work hours affects female participation. We post identical job advertisements (for 320 jobs) covering a wide range of tasks (80 distinct tasks) that differ only in flexibility and the wage offered. Comparing the numbers of applicants for these jobs, we find that, while both men and women prefer flexibility, the elasticity of response for women is twice that for men. Flexible jobs attracted 24% more women and 12% more men than inflexible ones. Importantly, these increases did not compromise the quality of the applications. In contrast, there is suggestive evidence that flexible jobs attracted higher-quality female candidates. Our findings have significant implications for understanding gender disparities in labor market outcomes and for shaping equity-focused policies of organizations. |
| Keywords: | workplace flexibility, online freelancing jobs, female labor force participation |
| JEL: | J22 O14 J16 L86 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:25-09 |
| By: | Lillebø, Otto Sevaldson (Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research, and Education); Markussen, Simen (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Røed, Knut (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | We provide a full reexamination of the effects of a maternity leave extension implemented in Norway in 1977. Previous research reporting large favorable long-term effects on mothers' health and on offspring's educational and labor market outcomes relied on an incorrect description of the reform and an invalid identification strategy. In the present paper, we show that the previously reported results are misleading. Building on an accurate description of the reform and its implementation, we document that it had no noticeable long-term effects on mothers' health or on offspring's education and labor market outcomes. |
| Keywords: | maternity leave, family policies, replication |
| JEL: | C52 J13 J18 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18193 |
| By: | Arenas-Arroyo, Esther (Vienna University of Economics and Business) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of the home sewing machine on women’s work and intergenerational mobility—an innovation that enabled women to generate income from within the household. Marketed directly to women as a tool for both domestic use and paid work, it provides a unique setting to examine how household technologies reshaped labor markets and intergenerational outcomes. Exploiting the expansion of sewing machine sales agents, which generated geographic and temporal variation in access, I show that access to sewing machines increased demand for dressmakers, raised women’s employment in this occupation, and reduced reliance on child labor. In the long run, children exposed in early life attained higher literacy, formed smaller families, and experienced greater intergenerational mobility. These findings highlight the household as a crucial site of technological change, showing how domestic innovations could expand women’s opportunities and generate lasting gains across generations. |
| Keywords: | child labor, home production, women’s work, children |
| JEL: | J16 N31 J22 J24 J13 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18197 |
| By: | Catherine C. Eckel (Texas A&M University); Lata Gangadharan (Monash University); Philip J. Grossman (Monash University); Miranda Lambert (Texas A&M University); Nina Xue (WU Vienna University of Economics and Business,) |
| Abstract: | Motivated by the stereotype that women are more cooperative and less competitive, we investigate how the institutional environment impacts the gender leadership gap. An experiment tests leaders’ impact on earnings under competitive (“winner take all”) versus cooperative (equal earnings distribution) incentive schemes. All leaders enhance efficiency similarly, but a gender gap emerges in the competitive context where women receive lower evaluations for identical advice. This bias disappears in the cooperative context where female leaders are evaluated 50% higher, suggesting that congruence between the environment and gender stereotypes has important policy implications. Men are more willing to lead, regardless of context. |
| Keywords: | gender, leadership, institutional environment, performance evaluation, lab ex- periment |
| JEL: | C92 D91 J16 J71 M14 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mos:moswps:2025-13 |
| By: | Badalyan, Sona (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany ; CERGE-EI) |
| Abstract: | "This paper exploits a unique norm-shifting setting - a German pension reform that equalized retirement ages across genders - to examine how old-age employment propagates through workplace networks. The reform raised women’s earliest claiming age from 60 to 63 for cohorts born in 1952 onward. Using the universe of workgroups from social security records, I compare women whose peers were just above or below the reform cutoff. I find that women are more likely to remain employed at older ages when their peers do, with stronger effects in the regions of former West Germany, with its traditional gender norms. Gender-neutral pension reforms thus amplify their impact through peer influence, fostering regional convergence in late-career employment patterns." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | IAB-Open-Access-Publikation |
| JEL: | D85 H55 J14 J16 J22 J26 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025–10–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202513 |
| By: | Kawata, Keisuke (University of Tokyo); Komura, Mizuki (Kwansei Gakuin University) |
| Abstract: | This study explores the marriage matching of only-child individuals and the related outcomes. Specifically, we analyze two aspects: First, we investigate the marriage patterns of only children, examining whether people choose mates in a positive or negative assortative manner regarding only-child status. We find that, along with being more likely to remain single, only children are more likely to marry another only child. Second, we measure the matching premium or penalty using the difference in partners’ socioeconomic status, measured by years of schooling, between only-child and non–only-child individuals. Our estimates show that among women who marry an only-child husband, only children are penalized, as their partners’ educational attainment is 0.63 years lower. Finally, we discuss the potential sources of this penalty along with our empirical findings. |
| Keywords: | gender, only children, marriage matching, machine learning |
| JEL: | J11 J12 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18198 |
| By: | Bacher, Etienne (Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)); Beine, Michel (University of Luxembourg); Rapoport, Hillel (Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of anti-immigration attitudes on immigration plans to Europe. We propose a new instrument for attitudes toward immigration, namely, the number of country nationals killed in terrorist attacks taking place outside of Europe. Our first-stage results confirm that such terrorist attacks increase negative attitudes to immigration in the origin country of the victims. Our second-stage results then show that this higher hostility toward migrants decreases the attractiveness of the country for prospective immigrants. |
| Keywords: | anti-immigration attitudes, terrorism, immigration, Europe |
| JEL: | C1 F2 J1 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18192 |
| By: | Joan Monràs |
| Abstract: | Immigrants are not just workers, they are also consumers. Yet most of the literature studying immigration has focused on the former. This paper uses detailed Spanish consumption survey data to characterize how immigrant consumption differs from that of natives. Immigrants are much more likely to rent than native households, even when controlling for many observable characteristics. Decompositions of the differences in consumption patterns between immigrants and natives show that most of the differences cannot be accounted for standard socio-economic characteristics like income, household size, and geography. Variation from the amnesty program implemented in Spain in 2005 suggests that a small part of the differences in housing tenure status depend on the fact that many immigrants lack work permits, and potentially, formal access to mortgage credit. |
| Keywords: | housing markets , assimilation , amnesty , Immigrant consumption |
| JEL: | J61 D12 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1921 |
| By: | Fernández-Huertas Moraga, Jesús (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | International migrants choose their country of residence to maximize their utility. As a result, their choices are informative about the relative attractiveness of countries. This paper explains why Spain became the fourth most attractive country in the world for international migrants in the period 2015-2024, what I define as the Second Spanish Immigration Boom of the century. First, an accounting decomposition shows how, contrary to other destinations, Spanish-specific factors, correlated with economic conditions and general migration policies, have a larger weight in explaining immigration to Spain than origin-specific factors. Second, the causal relevance of bilateral visa policies is also shown, particularly in the context of Latin American immigrants, by using origins that are required a visa to enter Spain as a control for visa-free access countries in a generalized differences-in-differences setting. Finally, the effects of the Boom on immigrant selection are also analyzed, finding that the Second Boom was different from the first because educational selection improved. |
| Keywords: | gravity model, international migration, selection |
| JEL: | F22 J11 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18185 |
| By: | Höne, Sarah; Rehm, Miriam |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether workers' bargaining power, which extends beyond union membership to collective wage agreements in Germany, affects the level and distribution of wages at the regional level. We conduct fixed-effect regression analysis and a DFL decomposition on SOEP data from 2014 to 2021 and find, first, that both collective wage agreements and union membership statistically and economically significantly raise wage levels at the national level. Second, and importantly, this effect is regionally heterogeneous: Collective wage agreements continue to be linked to higher wages at the regional level, whereas the relationship is weakened or disappears altogether for union membership. Third, collective wage agreements go along with lower overall wage inequality, while union membership compresses wage inequality mainly at the lower end of the distribution. |
| Keywords: | trade unions, collective bargaining, union membership, income, income distribution |
| JEL: | D31 J51 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifsowp:329630 |
| By: | Paglialunga, Elena; Resce, Giuliano; Zanoni, Angela |
| Abstract: | This paper predicts regional unemployment in the European Union by applying machine learning techniques to a dataset covering 198 NUTS-2 regions, 2000 to 2019. Tree-based models substantially outperform traditional regression approaches for this task, while accommodating reinforcement effects and spatial spillovers as determinants of regional labor market outcomes. Inflation—particularly energy-related—emerges as a critical predictor, highlighting vulnerabilities to energy shocks and green transition policies. Environmental policy stringency and eco-innovation capacity also prove significant. Our findings demonstrate the potential of machine learning to support proactive, place-sensitive interventions, aiming to predict and mitigate the uneven socioeconomic impacts of structural change across regions. |
| Keywords: | Regional unemployment; Inflation; Environmental policy; Spatial spillovers; Machine learning. |
| JEL: | E24 J64 Q52 R23 |
| Date: | 2025–10–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mol:ecsdps:esdp25101 |
| By: | Gabriel Chaves Bosch (Queen Mary University of London); Cem Özgüzel (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, Paris School of Economics et IZA) |
| Abstract: | Does the presence of migrants influence innovation at the local level? This paper answers this question using novel data containing fine-grained information on the migrant population and geo-coded data on patent locations for a large set of 19 OECD countries over the 1990-2014 period. We find that a one percentage point increase in the local migrant share increases patent applications by 2.5%. This effect is driven by more urbanised and economically developed localities, where innovation levels are already higher to begin with. However, this impact becomes insignificant when aggregating observations at larger geographical levels, suggesting that the effect of migration on innovation is concentrated in space and features high rates of spatial decay |
| Keywords: | Migration; Innovation; Patents; OECD countries; local |
| JEL: | O31 J61 R11 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:25021 |
| By: | Florian Englmaier (LMU Munich); Jose E. Galdon-Sanchez (Universidad Publica de Navarra); Ricard Gil (IESE Business School); Michael Kaiser (E.CA Economics); Helene Strandt (LMU Munich) |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically examines how management practices affect firm productivity over the business cycle. Using plant-level high-dimensional human resource policies survey data collected in Spain in 2006, we employ unsupervised machine learning to describe clusters of management practices (“management styles”). We establish a positive correlation between a management style associated with structured management and performance prior to the 2008 financial crisis. Interestingly, this correlation turns negative during the financial crisis and positive again in the economic recovery post-2013. Our evidence suggests firms with more structured management are more likely to have practices fostering culture and intangible investments such that they focus in long-run profitability, prioritizing innovation over cost reduction, while having higher adjustment costs in the short-run through higher share of fixed assets and lower employee turnover. |
| Keywords: | management practices; culture; unsupervised machine learning; productivity; great recession; |
| JEL: | M12 D22 C38 |
| Date: | 2025–10–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:548 |
| By: | Fernandez, William |
| Abstract: | In the developed world, efforts are underway to extend working lives. However, discussions often overlook the potential implications of retirement for individual well-being. While the relationship between retirement and life satisfaction has been extensively studied, the effects of spousal retirement remain underexplored, particularly from a gender and timing perspective. This paper examines the impact of retirement on self-reported life satisfaction among couples in Germany. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), I employ standard fixed-effects (FE) models and fixed-effects individual slopes (FEIS) to estimate the causal effects of personal and partner retirement on life satisfaction. The findings show that retirement substantially increases life satisfaction, a result that remains robust across methodologies and specifications. For partner retireïment, accounting for heterogeneous trends by health status reveals an overall positive effect, driven by men. Moreover, women appear to be worse off when their husbands retire while they remain in the workforce, whereas the opposite holds for men. To my knowledge, this is the first study to examine the impact of both personal and spousal retirement on life satisfaction using the SOEP. The results provide robust evidence that partner retirement affects life satisfaction, highlighting the importance of understanding retirement as a life course event with intra-household spillover effects that extend beyond the retiring individual. |
| Date: | 2025–10–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:mk4tx_v1 |
| By: | Takuya Hasebe (Sophia Institute for Human Security and Faculty of Liberal Arts, Sophia University, JAPAN); Yuma Noritomo (Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, U.S.A. and Junior Research Fellow, Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University, JAPAN); Bilesha Weeraratne (Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, SRI LANKA) |
| Abstract: | International migration offers significant economic opportunities for developing countries, but it can also separate parents from their children, potentially harming child development. This paper examines the effects of restricting mothers' international migration on left-behind children, leveraging a Sri Lankan unique policy that restricted mothers with children under age five from migrating abroad for employment. Using a difference-in-differences approach, the results reveal the following: First, the policy reduces international migration, increasing mothers' presence at home. Second, policy exposure leads to better healthcare outcomes, including a significant reduction in inpatient stays, particularly treatment for illnesses. This improvement appears to result from increased childcare and monitoring by mothers. Although the policy decreases remittances from abroad, this reduction is offset by an increase in domestic remittances. Furthermore, we find evidence of positive spillovers on non-targeted children with younger, policy-targeted siblings, as indicated by reduced grade retention. These findings highlight the trade-offs between a mother's presence and the economic opportunities associated with international migration in shaping human capital development. |
| Keywords: | Human capital; Health; Education; Remittance; Sri Lanka |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2025-25 |
| By: | Hernán Bejarano (CIDE/Chapman University); Matías Busso (IDB); Juan Francisco Santos (IDB) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies trust, reciprocity, and bargaining using a large-scale online experiment in six Latin American countries. Participants were randomly assigned to play trust and ultimatum games under conditions that either disclosed or withheld the gender of their counterpart. On average, gender disclosure did not affect behavior. However, disaggregated results show systematic differences. Men displayed higher levels of trust and reciprocity, particularly when interacting with women, and offered larger shares to women in bargaining. Women, by contrast, reciprocated more when paired with men. These findings show how gendered interactions can influence economic behavior, even when counterpart information is conveyed minimally. |
| Keywords: | Trust; Reciprocity; Bargaining; Gender; Latin America |
| JEL: | C92 D91 J16 O54 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aoz:wpaper:375 |
| By: | Diego De la Fuente Stevens (University of Sussex) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the long-term and intergenerational impacts of Mexico’s 1993 reform extending compulsory schooling from six to nine years. Exploiting the age-based discontinuity in exposure, the study implements a regression discontinuity and instrumental-variable strategy to estimate the causal effect of education. The reform increased schooling on average, with disproportionately large gains among Indigenous and rural populations. These educational improvements translated into lasting shifts in fertility, child mortality, employment, and internal migration. Intergenerationally, parental schooling gains raised secondary and upper-secondary enrolment among children. By following a single reform across demographic, labour-market, and intergenerational domains, the paper provides a life-course perspective on how expanded schooling reshapes life trajectories. The results highlight the role of compulsory schooling in reducing structural inequalities and demonstrate that, in the context of a large middle-income country, such reforms can generate sustained and intergenerational benefits beyond immediate educational attainment. |
| Keywords: | Education policy, Compulsory schooling, Educational attainment, Intergenerational mobility, Fertility, Labour Markets, Migration |
| JEL: | I25 I26 J24 J62 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susewp:0525 |
| By: | Parsons, Sam; Platt, Lucinda |
| Abstract: | Across the world, disabled working-age adults face substantial labour market disadvantage, though with variation by age. For example, in the UK, the disability employment gap remains greater among those who are older. To investigate whether this means that more recent cohorts face less disadvantage or instead captures a greater impact of disability at older ages, we compare two British cohorts born in 1958 and 1989/90 identified with special educational needs or disability (SEND) in childhood. SEND functions as a classification bounded by the institutional context, which recognises particular conditions and forms of impairment as salient within the school context for a given time and system. By using a measure of disability prior to labour market entry we can compare employment gaps in youth across the two cohorts independently of subsequent labour market impacts on disability onset. We find that by age 25, those from both birth cohorts, particularly women, face substantial economic disadvantage. The gaps are, however, smaller for the younger cohort. While they increase in mid-life for the older cohort they show some convergence by age 50. Qualifications and social background explain less of the gap for the older cohort and for women from the younger one. |
| Keywords: | disability; SEN; employment; disadvantage; eductional attainment; cohort change |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2025–10–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:129547 |
| By: | Michael Navarrete |
| Abstract: | The United States experienced an unprecedented increase in unemployment insurance (UI) claims beginning in March 2020. State UI-benefit systems were strained beyond their administrative capacity to process the dual challenge of an unprecedented increase in claims and changes to UI benefits. In states that used an antiquated programming language, COBOL, to process claims, potential claimants experienced a larger increase in administrative difficulties, resulting in longer delays in benefit disbursement. States that used an antiquated UI-benefit system experienced a 2.8 percentage point decline in total credit and debit card consumption relative to card consumption in states with more modern UI benefit systems. Furthermore, states that used these antiquated systems experienced at least a 2.1 percentage point increase in the share of claims that were delayed by more than 70 days. |
| Keywords: | unemployment insurance; administrative burdens; automatic stabilizers |
| JEL: | E24 J65 E21 I38 |
| Date: | 2025–10–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedawp:101969 |
| By: | Gorman, C. Allen; Tucker, Sarah C.; Patel, Tamanna K.; Himmler, Joseph R.; Contreras, Tanya F. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we present an integrative review of the research literature on the challenges and opportunities surrounding the employment of formerly incarcerated individuals (FIIs). Our primary aim is to integrate 25 years of multidisciplinary evidence into vocational behavior scholarship, offering an employment life-cycle framework that identifies research gaps and practical implications for employers. Grounded in a multidisciplinary approach, we synthesize research across various domains, including criminal justice, psychology, sociology, law, economics, and management, to provide a holistic understanding of the systemic barriers that hinder FIIs' reintegration into the workforce. We introduce an integrative framework that examines the employment life cycle of FIIs, encompassing recruitment, selection, onboarding, development, and retention. We also highlight the critical role of social stigmatization, lack of access to vocational training, and the systemic disconnection between correctional institutions and labor market demands. Furthermore, our review emphasizes the importance of employer engagement and policy interventions in fostering inclusive hiring practices that support the successful reintegration of FIIs. We conclude with a call for future research and practical recommendations focusing on individual, organizational, and systemic factors that influence successful FII employment, highlighting the necessity of tailored vocational programs, social network support, and supportive workplace practices. |
| Keywords: | employment; eormerly incarcerated; re-entry; reintegration; second chance hiring |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:129640 |