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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Lochner, Benjamin; Merkl, Christian |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how gender-specific application behaviour, firms' hiring practices, and flexibility demands relate to the gender earnings gap, using linked data from the German Job Vacancy Survey and administrative records. Women are less likely than men to apply to high-wage firms with high flexibility requirements, although their hiring chances are similar when they do. We show that compensating differentials for firms' flexibility demands help explain the residual gender earnings gap. Among women, mothers experience the largest earnings penalties relative to men in jobs with high flexibility requirements. |
| Keywords: | Job Search, Application Behaviour, Gender Earnings Gap |
| JEL: | E24 J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1600 |
| By: | Rebecca Jack (University of Nebraska-Lincoln); Daniel Tannenbaum (University of Nebraska-Lincoln); Brenden Timpe (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) |
| Abstract: | We document the dynamics of career paths around parenthood, capturing worker advancement within firms and across firms with differing pay rates. Using a new linkage between administrative data on U.S. workers’ fertility and labor market histories, we show that the parental earnings gap is partly explained by mothers transitioning to lower-paying firms. Firm downgrading is driven by parents who take an extended absence from the labor force. Mothers who move to lower-paying firms see improved job amenities but less generous fringe benefits. The firm’s contribution to the parental earnings gap rises over time and reaches one-third by the child’s 11th birthday. |
| Keywords: | Parental earnings gap, employer-employee, fertility, lower-paying firms, reallocation |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J22 J31 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:25-412 |
| By: | Martínez, Claudia; Smith, Raimundo; Perticará, Marcela |
| Abstract: | This study employs an event study methodology to analyze the overall impact of childbirth, as well as the birth of a child with a disability, on the labor market outcomes of mothers and fathers. We use an annual panel of Chilean labor outcomes based on administrative data from pension and unemployment insurance, as well as data from the National Disability Registry in Chile. The findings reveal a significant gender gap associated with childbirth, which more than doubles in the presence of childhood disability: four years after childbirth, the gender gap in employment increases from 15% to 36% when the child has a disability. Specifically, childhood disability leads to parental specialization, creating an intra-gender gap. Mothers of children with disabilities experience poorer labor market outcomes than mothers of children without disabilities; four years after childbirth, these mothers are 15% less likely to be employed than other mothers. Conversely, fathers of children with disabilities tend to have higher labor market engagement than fathers of children without disabilities. These findings underscore the importance of caregiving policies, both in general and specifically for families of children with disabilities. |
| JEL: | I14 J13 J16 J22 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13993 |
| By: | Giovanna d’Adda; Jessica Gagete Miranda; Giovanni Righetto |
| Abstract: | We study how the influence of social networks on individual labor market outcomes varies across occupations, specifically between manual and cognitive jobs. Using data from over fourteen million Brazilian workers and exploiting exogenous job termination due to mass layoffs, we confirm that social networks reduce unemployment duration and increase wages in the new job, but show that these effects are heterogeneous depending on workers’ occupations at the time of displacement. Manual workers benefit more from networks in terms of job reentry but less in terms of wages compared to workers performing cognitive tasks. We argue that these different patterns are due to the fact that networks reduce the likelihood that manual workers find new jobs in the same occupation, given that occupational change is associated with reductions in wages. |
| Keywords: | Social networks, Labor Market Outcomes, Mass-Layoff, Brazil |
| JEL: | J01 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fbk:wpaper:2025-02 |
| By: | Chiswick, Barry R.; Robinson, RaeAnn H. |
| Abstract: | This paper is concerned with analyzing the occupational attainment of American Jewish men compared to other free men in the mid-19th century to help fill a gap in the literature on Jewish achievement. It does this by using the full count (100 percent) microdata file from the 1850 Census of Population, the first census to ask the occupation of free men. Independent lists of surnames are used to identify men with a higher probability of being Jewish. These men were more likely than others to be managers, salesmen, and craft workers, and were less likely to be farmers and laborers. The Jewish men have a higher occupational income score on average. In the multiple regression analysis, it is found that among Jewish and other free men occupational income scores increase with age (up to about age 43 for all men), literacy, being married, having fewer children, being native born, living in the South, and living in an urban area. Even after controlling for these variables that impact the occupational income score, Jews have a significantly higher score, which is the equivalent of about the size of the positive effect of being married. Similar patterns are found using the Duncan Socioeconomic Index. This higher occupational status is consistent with patterns found elsewhere for American Jews for the 18th century and throughout the 20th century. |
| Keywords: | Jews, Occupational Status, Occupational Income Score, Duncan Socioeconomic Index, 1850 Census of Population |
| JEL: | N31 J62 J15 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1602 |
| By: | Bloom, Nicholas (Stanford University); Dahl, Gordon B. (University of California, San Diego); Rooth, Dan-Olof (Swedish Institute for Social Research) |
| Abstract: | There has been a dramatic rise in disability employment in the US since the pandemic, a pattern mirrored in other countries as well. A similar increase is not found for any other major gender, race, age or education demographic. At the same time, work from home has risen four-fold. This paper asks whether the two are causally related. Analyzing CPS and ACS microdata, we find the increase in disability employment is concentrated in occupations with high levels of working from home. Controlling for compositional changes and labor market tightness, we estimate that a 1 percentage point increase in work from home increases full-time employment by 1.1% for individuals with a physical disability. A back of the envelope calculation reveals that the post pandemic increase in working from home explains 80% of the rise in full-time employment. Wage data suggests that WFH increased the supply of workers with a disability, likely by reducing commuting costs and enabling better control of working conditions. |
| Keywords: | disability employment; remote work |
| JEL: | J14 J20 |
| Date: | 2025–04–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofile:2025_005 |
| By: | Jeremias Nieminen; Sanni Kiviholma; Ohto Kanninen; Hannu Karhunen |
| Abstract: | Labor market testing (LMT) requires firms to demonstrate there are no local work-ers available before hiring an immigrant. We examine the effect of removing LMT requirements for non-EU workers in Finland utilizing regional and temporal vari-ation in occupations exempted from LMT. We combine individual and firm-level administrative data with hand-collected information on local changes in labor market testing rules and apply a staggered difference-in-differences research design. We find that removing the LMT requirement increases the inflow of non-EU workers to treated occupation-region cells. This is mainly driven by non-EU individuals already in Finland. Five years post-treatment, the negative earnings effect is 2 % at the occupation-region level and 4% for incumbent workers at the individual level, more pronounced in low-wage and service-oriented occupations and among older workers. In low-paying occupations, the earnings effect is largely attributable to decreased working hours and to a suppressed wage drift for stayers. However, we also observe a positive employment effect at the individual level for workers in the upper segment of the wage distribution. At the firm level, LMT removal increases the number of non-EU employees while having no effect on profitability. |
| Keywords: | labor market testing, immigration, labor supply, wages, shortage list |
| JEL: | J20 J38 J61 J68 |
| Date: | 2025–01–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pst:wpaper:352 |
| By: | Yashodhan Ghorpade; Muhammad Saad Imtiaz |
| Abstract: | We examine the relationship between violent conflict and the willingness of potential migrants to accept lower skilled work (occupational downgrading). We develop a theoretical model of migration decisions, which we test using an innovative survey module administered to highskilled youth in Myanmar. Consistent with the predictions of the model, we show that insecurity induced by conflict reduces the additional wage premium that individuals would typically demand for taking on lower-skilled work, indicating greater amenability to occupational downgrading. These effects are particularly pronounced for disadvantaged groups, such as women, ethnic minorities, and those with weaker labor market networks or English language skills. The results are driven by respondents from areas under territorial contestation, and those interviewed after the sudden activation of a conscription law during the survey. This further confirms how security considerations may override the preference for skill-appropriate job matching, suggesting that conflict may worsen labor market outcomes and reduce potential gains from migration, especially for disadvantaged groups. |
| Keywords: | compensating differentials, conflict, migration, myanmar, occupational downgrading |
| JEL: | F22 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:427 |
| By: | Andrén, Daniela; Andrén, Thomas; Kahanec, Martin |
| Abstract: | When economic crises destabilize labor markets, they offer unique opportunities to explore welfare dynamics and the interplay between partnership formation and social assistance. Using data from Sweden's 1990s economic crisis, characterized by high unemployment, expanding budget deficit, and a large inflow of war refugees from the former Yugoslavia, we examine state dependence in social assistance, which refers to the increased likelihood that households will receive benefits in the future if they have previously received them. Because Swedish social assistance eligibility depends on household-level resources and that partnership formation may correlate with unobserved factors, we focus on individuals who were single in 1990, prior to the recession, tracking their social assistance receipt and household composition over the subsequent decade. This approach allows us to compare individuals who remain single throughout the decade with those who form partnerships, assessing how gender, country of birth, and partnership choices affect state dependence in social assistance. Using a dynamic discrete choice model that addresses both unobserved heterogeneity and initial conditions, we found differences in structural state dependence both between and within the samples of Swedish-born (SB) and foreign-born (FB) individuals. Among singles, SB women exhibit lower structural state dependence than SB men, whereas FB women display slightly higher structural state dependence than FB men but lower than SB men. For FB individuals, the structural state dependence decreases when they partner with a SB individual but increases when they partner with another FB individual, suggesting that partnering with an SB individual may reduce the structural impact of prior welfare dependency, while partnering with an FB individual may reinforce it. |
| Keywords: | welfare persistence, social assistance, structural state dependence, unobserved heterogeneity, dynamic discrete choice model, GHK simulator |
| JEL: | I30 I38 J18 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1581 |
| By: | Leila Bengali; Mary C. Daly; Evgeniya A. Duzhak; Cindy Zhao |
| Abstract: | The fraction of men working in the United States has declined consistently since the 1950s. This has contributed to slower labor force growth and resulted in considerable gaps between labor force participation in the U.S. and its industrialized peers. In this paper we examine the drivers of this trend, focusing specifically on prime-age men (aged 25–54). We compare non-participation rates across four generations – the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials – and decompose generational gaps into “push” and “pull” factors that are intended to be descriptive, rather than causal, by design. We define pull factors as those that draw men out of the labor force such as schooling or caretaking. Push factors are those that limit labor market opportunities, such as skills mismatch or disability. Our findings suggest that both pull and push factors are important with the most notable being skills mismatch, caretaking responsibilities, and prolonged continuing education. |
| Keywords: | labor force participation; cohort; analysis; prime-age workers; male workers |
| JEL: | J11 J16 J21 J82 |
| Date: | 2025–04–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:99872 |
| By: | Goßner, Laura (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Jaschke, Philipp (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Kosyakova, Yuliya (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | "This paper analyzes the role of health for refugees’ integration into host societies' labor markets. We exploit the quasi-random dispersal policies of refugees across regions in Germany to analyze the causal effect of health on employment. Based on regional and temporal heterogeneity in a policy adoption that provided earlier access to health care services through electronic health cards (eHCs), combined with the regional availability of health care services and pre-migration health status, we construct instrumental variables (IVs) providing plausibly exogenous variation in refugees’ post-arrival health status. Our results reveal that favorable physical health (PCS) improves males’ employment probability. Concurrently, favorable mental health (MCS) increases females’ employment rates, although this effect must be scrutinized due to weak instruments. Regarding potential mechanisms, we provide evidence that better health increases language course participation and German language proficiency for female refugees." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | IAB-Open-Access-Publikation ; IAB-BAMF-SOEP-Befragung von Geflüchteten |
| JEL: | I10 I18 J64 C26 |
| Date: | 2025–04–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202505 |
| By: | Ha Trong Nguyen; Zajac, Tomasz; Tomaszewski, Wojtek; Mitrou, Francis |
| Abstract: | This study employs 2011 Census data linked to population-based administrative datasets to explore disparities in educational attainment and earnings trajectories among Australian-born children of diverse parental migration backgrounds from mid-adolescence to early adulthood. Non-English Speaking Background (NESB) second-generation immigrants exhibit superior academic outcomes, primarily driven by children of parents from select Asian countries. These individuals are more likely to complete higher education, particularly bachelor's and master's degrees, and specialise in fields such as management and commerce, health, natural and physical sciences, and engineering. Children of NESB immigrant parents initially earn less than their peers with Australian-born parents at ages 21-22. However, this gap closes by ages 23-24 and reverses by ages 26-27, with children of NESB fathers out-earning their counterparts by ages 28-29. Conversely, children of English-Speaking Background (ESB) immigrant parents, who exhibit weaker academic performance, also experience lower earnings compared to peers with Australian-born parents. This disparity emerges by ages 22-23 and widens throughout the study period, peaking at ages 28-29. The findings underscore the academic and economic advantages of NESB second-generation immigrants, contrasting with the challenges faced by ESB migrant counterparts, and highlight the importance of considering parental migration backgrounds in understanding post-school outcomes of Australian-born children of immigrant parents. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Intergenerational Correlation, Education, Income, Census, Administrative data, Australia |
| JEL: | I24 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1576 |
| By: | Coskun Dalgic, Sena (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, IAB, CEPR); Gartner, Hermann (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Taskin, Ahmet Ali (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | "We use the removal of public bank guarantees in Germany as a quasi-natural experiment to estimate the gender bargaining power gap. Using comprehensive wage data from the universe of banking employees, combined with bank-level financial information, we find that women have approximately two-thirds of the bargaining power of men. Our model-based analysis suggests that this gender bargaining gap alone accounts for 13 to 25 percent of the observed gender wage gap in the sector. These findings highlight an important driver of gender inequality: Changes in firm profitability can reduce the gender wage gap, even without improvements in structural gender equality. This effect has significant implications for high-rent, high-inequality industries such as finance, where rent-sharing mechanisms favor male employees." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | IAB-Open-Access-Publikation |
| JEL: | G21 G28 J16 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2025–04–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202506 |
| By: | Takuya Obara (Faculty of Commerce, Chuo University); Yoshitomo Ogawa (School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University) |
| Abstract: | This study examines optimal nonlinear income taxation on non-cooperative couples that under-provide a household public good. In this study, the income tax has the role of improving the under-provision of the household public good in addition to equity consideration and revenue collection. The optimal marginal tax rate is characterized by the well-known Mirrleesian ABC term and new Pigouvian term. The Pigouvian term can be further decomposed by the two parts. The first reflects the effects of improving the under-provision of the household public good, while the second relates to the expansion of the income tax flexibility. The Pigouvian term results in the marginal tax rate on the top earner being positive. Using US wage data, our quantitative analysis shows that the existence of non-cooperative behavior raises the optimal marginal tax rates at any income level. This result suggests that the optimal marginal tax rates derived in previous studies, which disregard noncooperative behavior, may have been lowly estimated. |
| Keywords: | Optimal Nonlinear Income Taxation, Non-Cooperative Behavior, Household Public Good |
| JEL: | H21 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kgu:wpaper:291 |
| By: | Julen ESTEBAN-PRETEL; Junichi FUJIMOTO |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we use the Japanese Labour Force Survey and Labour Force Survey Special Survey microdata for 1984–2012 to analyze stable and unstable employment in Japan since the 1980s for different worker groups. In particular, we use two different concepts used in Japan to categorize employees by job security-one based on how the job is called at the workplace and the other based on the length of the contract-to explore the evolution of stable employment for workers disaggregated by age, gender, education, and marital status. We find that while the proportion of stable employment varies substantially by age, gender, education, and marital status, it declined widely across worker groups since the 1980s. In particular, males and females in their 20s who only have high school or less education or who have never married saw the greatest declines in stable employment. Our analysis suggests a complex interaction between the trend toward less job security and the shift away from marriage witnessed in Japan since the 1980s. |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:25025 |
| By: | Andrew Mountford; Jonathan Wadsworth |
| Abstract: | Should immigration be regarded as an exogenous shock? If so, what is its effect on native wages? Might any effect differ across different sectors of the economy? In this paper we answer these questions by applying macroeconomic time series methods to UK labour market variables from 2001-2019 for 35 different sectors. The paper uses a VAR approach to model, for the first time, immigration, native wages and hours worked, as responding to demand, supply and immigration shocks at both aggregate and sectoral levels. The labour market is thereby subject to multiple shocks at any one time, with individual shocks reinforcing or offsetting each other. We find that the share of migrant labour is 'Granger caused' by other labour market variables which suggests that immigration is, in part, endogenously determined by aggregate demand and supply. However, it also retains a component which has a negative association between immigration and native wages. This component, which may be thought of as a 'migration shock', accounts for most of the change in migration share over the sample period and plays a significant negative role in the determination of native wage growth, particularly in unskilled sectors such as retail and hospitality. However other contemporaneous shocks have offsetting positive associations between immigration and native wages within the same sector. These effects also differ substantially across sectors. |
| Keywords: | immigration, wages, demand, supply, VAR, sectoral heterogeneity |
| Date: | 2025–04–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2089 |
| By: | Wu, Fengyu; Wang, Julia Shu-Huah; You, Jing; Teitler, Julien |
| Abstract: | This study examines the health impacts of a large-scale internal migration reform in China. Using nationally representative data from the China Labor-Force Dynamics Survey (2012-2018) and a unique dataset on city-level policy intensity and adoption timing, we employ a triple-difference approach to estimate the effects of migration policies on migrants' perceived physical and emotional health. We find that more lenient policies significantly improve migrants' health relative to natives. Integration policies yield health benefits approximately 3-4 times greater than selection policies. The most effective policy tools enhancing all health outcomes are integration policies granting migrants access to public services and education and selection policies targeting high-skilled migrants. Health improvements are driven by reduced overtime work, greater social capital, and stronger integration with natives. Analysis of treatment effect heterogeneity indicates that selection policies offer more consistent health benefits across various durations of residence, while integration policies primarily benefit long-term migrants. |
| Keywords: | Health, Migration Policies, Internal Migration, Hukou Reform, China |
| JEL: | I18 J61 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1598 |
| By: | Lange, Martin; McNamara, Sarah; Schmidt, Philipp |
| Abstract: | The labor market integration of asylum seekers remains a contested issue. Using the EU-Labor-Force-Survey, we characterize the state of asylum seekers' labor market integration in Europe, and provide representative statistics on several dimensions of integration. We compare asylum seekers to natives and economic migrants and find that asylum seekers struggle to integrate across European states, exhibiting employment rates of 10 percentage points lower than that of natives, on average, as well as a notable gap in job-quality. Analyzing self-reported barriers to employment, we document that asylum seekers' lower employment rates and job-quality are likely the result of institutional hurdles. |
| Keywords: | asylum seekers, refugees, labor market integration |
| JEL: | F22 K37 J11 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:312581 |
| By: | Sasaki, Hiroaki; Sonoda, Ryunosuke |
| Abstract: | This study investigates how the income redistribution policy affects economic growth, employment, income distribution, income inequality, and asset inequality in the context of "secular stagnation." The income redistribution policy is defined as one that imposes capital taxation on capitalists and redistributes it to workers. For this purpose, we construct a Kaleckian model in which, in addition to capitalists, workers own capital stock through savings. Depending on the relative size of workers' and capitalists' saving rates, we obtain the Pasinetti equilibrium, in which both classes coexist, and the dual equilibrium, in which only workers own capital stock, whereas capitalists do not. In the Pasinetti equilibrium, raising the tax rate for capitalists drives an increase in workers' assets and income shares. Simultaneously, economic growth and employment rates increase when the short-run equilibrium is wage-led growth whereas they decrease when the short-run equilibrium is profit-led growth. Hence, the income redistribution policy is effective in reducing inequality and promoting economic growth and employment when the short-run equilibrium is wage-led. |
| Keywords: | workers' saving, income equality, income redistribution policy, growth, employment |
| JEL: | E11 E12 E64 J53 |
| Date: | 2025–03–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:124081 |