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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Balgova, Maria (Bank of England); Illing, Hannah (University of Bonn) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the differential impact of job displacement on migrants and natives. Using administrative data for Germany from 1997–2016, we identify mass layoffs and estimate the trajectory of earnings and employment of observationally similar migrants and natives displaced from the same establishment. Despite similar pre-layoff careers, migrants lose an additional 9% of their earnings in the first five years after displacement. This gap arises from both lower re-employment probabilities and post-layoff wages and is not driven by selective return migration. Key mechanisms include sorting into lower-quality firms and depending on lower-quality coworker networks during job search. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; job displacement; job search |
| JEL: | J62 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2024–12–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boe:boeewp:1099 |
| By: | John Bonney; Luigi Pistaferri; Alessandra Voena |
| Abstract: | Using multiple administrative data sources from Norway, we examine how firm performance changes after entrepreneurs become parents. Female-owned businesses experience a substantial decline in profits, steadily decreasing to 30% below baseline ten years post-childbirth. In contrast, male-owned businesses show no decline, often growing in revenues and costs after childbirth. The profit decline for female-owned firms is most pronounced among highly capable entrepreneurs, women who are majority owners, and those with working spouses. Entrepreneurial effort is key to performance, and our findings suggest that time demands from childbirth and childcare are a significant determinant of the decline in firm profits. |
| JEL: | J13 J16 L25 L26 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33448 |
| By: | Da Costa, Carlos; Maestri, Lucas; Santos, Cezar |
| Abstract: | When searching for employment, workers consider non-wage job characteristics, such as effort requirements or amenities. We study an environment where unemployed workers search for jobs of different quality in a labor market characterized by directed search. In equilibrium, firms are more likely to post vacancies for low-quality jobs, as these are more profitable. Hence, high-quality jobs are hard to come across. The non-observability of these employment contracts influences the optimal unemployment insurance (UI) program, leading to distortionary taxation. Calibrating the model to the U.S. economy, we find that non-observability of employment contracts results in faster declining UI benefits, steeper taxes upon re-employment, distortionary taxation, and a 10.5% costlier program than an observable contract scenario providing equal welfare. |
| JEL: | H21 J64 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13974 |
| By: | Martin Hackmann; Jörg Heining; Roman Klimke; Maria Polyakova; Holger Seibert; Maria A. Polyakova |
| Abstract: | We leverage decades of administrative data and quasi-experimental variation in the introduction of universal long-term care (LTC) insurance in Germany in 1995 to examine whether health insurance expansions can stimulate local economies. We find that the LTC insurance rollout led not only to sizeable growth of the target LTC sector, but also to an aggregate fall in unemployment and an increase in the labor force participation. Quantitatively, a 10 percentage point increase in the share of insured LTC patients led to 4 more nursing home workers per 1, 000 individuals age 65 and older (12% increase). Wages did not rise in the LTC sector or other sectors of the economy. The quality of newly hired nursing home workers declined, but this had no negative effect on old-age life expectancy. Overall, the insurance expansion brought lower-skilled workers into new jobs rather than reallocating workers away from other productive sectors. Our marginal value of public funds (MVPF) analysis suggests that the reform paid for itself when taking the positive fiscal externalities in the labor market into account. To understand which market primitives underpin our findings and to inform the external validity of our results, we develop and estimate a general model of labor markets with product-market subsidies in the presence of wedges, such as income taxes. Our model simulations show that the aggregate welfare effects of insurance expansions are theoretically ambiguous and depend centrally on the magnitude of frictions in input markets. |
| Keywords: | health insurance expansion, long-term care, aggregate economic impact, labor market effects, stimulus, moral hazard, welfare analysis |
| JEL: | D58 H51 I13 I31 I38 J14 J23 J64 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11665 |
| By: | Frederik Almar; Benjamin Friedrich; Ana Reynoso; Bastian Schulz; Rune Vejlin |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how family and firm investments interact to explain gender gaps in career achievement. Using Danish administrative data, we first document novel evidence of this interaction through a “spousal effect” on firm-side career investments. This effect is accounted for by family labor supply choices that shape worker characteristics, which then influence firms’ training and promotion decisions. Our main theoretical contribution is to develop a quantitative life cycle model that captures these family-firm interactions through household formation, families’ joint career and fertility choices, and firms’ managerial training and promotion decisions. We then use the estimated model to show that the interaction between families and firms in the joint equilibrium of labor and marriage markets is important when evaluating firm-side and family-side policy interventions. We find that gender-equal parental leave and a managerial quota can both improve gender equality, but leave implies costly skill depreciation, whereas the quota raises aggregate welfare, in part through adjustments in marital sorting towards families that invest in women. |
| Keywords: | gender inequality, career investments, firm training, management promotions, marriage market matching |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11659 |
| By: | Dominique Meurs; Pierre Pora |
| Abstract: | This study uses French survey data on immigrants to explore whether the child penalty is driven by traditional gender attitudes. The dataset includes individual perceptions of gender inequality and women's bodily autonomy, alongside fertility histories and labor market trajectories for immigrants living in France during 2019–2020. While women holding more traditional views are less likely to participate in the labor force overall, the child penalty does not appear to be larger for this group. Interestingly, the child penalty accounts for a significantly greater share of the gender gap in labor force participation among those with more egalitarian views. Comparative analyses across immigrants’ upbringing environments and countries of origin further support a causal interpretation of the absence of a relationship between traditional gender attitudes and the child penalty. |
| Keywords: | Gender, Child penalty, Immigrants, Attitudes, Values |
| JEL: | J15 J16 J24 D63 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2025-10 |
| By: | Mooij, Joke |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the economic and societal impact of women in the Dutch financial sector during the period 1898-1940 by examining a dozen organisations in banking, insurance as well as brokerage, and by examining a dozen pioneering women with senior positions in finance. During this period, a growing number of well- educated women gained access to a broader range of economic activities and jobs. The organisations and the pioneering women contributed to a public recognition of women as finance professionals and as autonomous clients. Having more women in finance also enabled other women to better manage their finances, meet their credit demand, and insure against occasional loss of income. These developments contributed to female participation and economic growth. |
| Keywords: | Financial Sector, Gender, Entrepreneurship, Europe |
| JEL: | G21 G22 G24 J16 L26 N23 N24 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ibfpps:311084 |
| By: | Jonas Jessen; Robin Jessen; Andrew C. Johnston; Ewa Gałecka-Burdziak |
| Abstract: | We exploit policy discontinuities in Poland's unemployment insurance to examine the causal effect of changes to both benefit durations and levels. Using a regression discontinuity approach, we uncover three findings: (1) Higher benefit levels distort employment more than benefit extensions. (2) Benefit durations and levels interact: Longer durations substantially increase the distortionary effect of more generous payments. (3) Higher payments increase the transition of employed workers into unemployment. We develop a model of optimal unemployment insurance that accounts for moral hazard among both employed and unemployed workers. Notably, for level increases, distortionary costs are larger among the employed than unemployed. |
| JEL: | H0 H53 J65 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33450 |
| By: | Elacqua, Gregory; Pérez-Nuñez, Graciela; Cubillos, Pedro P.; Iglesias Velasco, Juliana |
| Abstract: | In Colombia, women represent 65% of the teacher workforce but only 34% of school principals, reflecting a significant gender gap in leadership. This study examines two centralized principal selection processes implemented by Colombias National Civil Service Commission: the 2016 nationwide process and the 2018 process targeting disadvantaged PDET regions (Development Programs with a Territorial Focus). Both processes evaluated candidates through standardized tests, minimum requirements, and assessments of education and experience, determining eligibility for leadership vacancies. Our descriptive analysis shows how selection criteria influence gender representation. In 2016, standardized testing dominated, resulting in 45% of applicants being women but only 20% qualifying, with an overall eligible-to-vacancy ratio of just 0.7%. In contrast, the 2018 PDET process prioritized context-specific competencies and practical experience, yielding 35% female eligibility despite women comprising only 38% of applicants (likely due to challenging conditions in PDET regions). Moreover, eligible candidates of both genders outnumbered vacancies by 4.5 times. These findings underscore the critical role of selection design in shaping gender representation in school leadership. However, structural barriers, such as inadequate childcare and rigid work schedules, persist as obstacles to womens participation. |
| Keywords: | Educational leadership;school management;Recruitment Process;Diversity in leadership |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J71 J16 M51 O15 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13985 |
| By: | Halla, Martin; Schmidpeter, Bernhard |
| Abstract: | Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide and a critical public health concern. We examine the hypothesis of suicide contagion within in the workplace, investigating whether exposure to a coworker's suicide increases an individual's suicide risk. Using high-quality administrative data from Austria and an event study approach, we compare approximately 150, 000 workers exposed to a coworker's suicide with a matched group exposed to a "placebo suicide". We find a significant increase in suicide risk for exposed individuals, with a cumulative treatment effect of 0.04 percentage points (33.3 percent) over a 20-year post-event period. Exposed individuals who also die by suicide are more likely to use the same method as their deceased coworker, strongly suggesting a causal link. Two placebo tests bolster this interpretation: workers who left the firm before the suicide and those exposed to a coworker's fatal car accident do not show an elevated suicide risk. |
| Keywords: | Suicide; workplace; contagion hypothesis; Werther-effect; mental health |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus005:71848313 |
| By: | Klaus Desmet; Fernando Parro |
| Abstract: | We examine the recent literature that studies the spatial distribution of economic activity across both space and time. We discuss the methodological advances enabling the incorporation of dynamic forces of economic activity—such as endogenous innovation, forward-looking location choices, capital and asset accumulation, idea diffusion, and stochastic fundamentals—into frameworks with many heterogeneous locations and a rich economic geography. These frameworks remain tractable for quantitative evaluations. We also discuss the wide range of empirical questions explored in recent work through the lens of these frameworks, including the global and local economic impacts of climate change, the dynamic effects of trade and migration policy, labor market adjustments to import competition, the spatial consequences of structural change, the dynamic effects of place-based policies, and the long-run spatial effects of large-scale infrastructure projects. |
| JEL: | F10 F16 F22 O11 O18 O33 R11 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33443 |
| By: | Maczulskij, Terhi |
| Abstract: | Abstract This study examines whether non-native workers contribute to firms’ export growth, using matched data spanning nearly three decades and covering the entire workforce and all manufacturing firms. The estimation strategy relies on the timing of a firm’s first non-native hire, constructing counterfactuals from otherwise similar firms that hire non-native workers a few years later. The results indicate that nonnative employment is associated with increased total exports, greater trade with workers’ home countries, and a higher number of exported products. These findings remain robust when addressing potential endogeneity concerns, such as the simultaneity of hiring decisions and broader export growth strategies. |
| Keywords: | Firm-level, Hiring, Immigrant, Trade |
| JEL: | F14 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2025–02–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:wpaper:126 |
| By: | Benjamin Cornejo Costas; Nicola Cortinovis; Andrea Morrison; |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between migrant inventors, informal institutions and the development of green technologies in European regions. We argue that migrant inventors act as an unlocking mechanism that transfers external knowledge to host regions, and that informal institutions (i.e. social capital, migrant acceptance) mediate this effect. The work is based on an original dataset of migrant inventors covering 271 NUTS2 regions in the 27 EU countries, the UK, Switzerland, and Norway. The analysis shows that migrant inventors help their host regions to diversify into green technologies. The regions with the highest levels of both measures of social capital show a higher propensity of migrant inventors to act knowledge brokers. Conversely, regions with lower levels of migrant acceptance and social capital do not seem to contribute to this effect. |
| Keywords: | lock-in, international migration, green innovation, social capital, acceptance, regional diversification, EU regions |
| JEL: | F22 J61 O30 R12 Q55 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2503 |