nep-lma New Economics Papers
on Labor Markets - Supply, Demand, and Wages
Issue of 2017‒01‒22
ten papers chosen by
Joseph Marchand
University of Alberta

  1. Global talent flows By Pekkala Kerr, Sari; Kerr, William; Özden, Çağlar; Parsons, Christopher
  2. Job retention among older workers in Central and Eastern Europe By Piotr Lewandowski; Wojciech Hardy; Aneta Kielczewska
  3. Retirement and Cognitive Functioning: International Evidence By Raquel Fonseca; Arie Kapteyn; Gema Zamarro
  4. Working Time Regulation, Unequal Lifetimes and Fairness By Marie-Louise Leroux; Grégory Ponthiere
  5. Retirement Behavior in the U.S. and Europe By Jochem de Bresser; Raquel Fonseca; Pierre-Carl Michaud
  6. Optimal social security claiming behavior under lump sum incentives: Theory and evidence By Maurer, Raimond; Mitchell, Olivia S.; Rogalla, Ralph; Schimetschek, Tatjana
  7. Skills and entrepreneurship: Are return migrants 'Jacks-of-all-trades'? By Mahé, Clothilde
  8. Austerity and gender wage inequality in EU countries By Perugini, Cristiano; Žarković Rakić, Jelena; Vladisavljević, Marko
  9. EU 4.0 - The debate on digitalisation and the labour market in Europe By Grass, Karen; Weber, Enzo
  10. Micro Moments Database for Cross-Country Analysis of ICT, Innovation, and Economic Outcomes By Eric Bartelsman; Eva Hagsten; Michael Polder

  1. By: Pekkala Kerr, Sari; Kerr, William; Özden, Çağlar; Parsons, Christopher
    Abstract: The global distribution of talent is highly skewed and the resources available to countries to develop and utilize their best and brightest vary substantially. The migration of skilled workers across countries tilts the deck even further. Using newly available data, we first review the landscape of global talent mobility, which is both asymmetric and rising in importance. We next consider the determinants of global talent flows at the individual and firm levels and sketch some important implications. Third, we review the national gatekeepers for skilled migration and broad differences in approaches used to select migrants for admission. Looking forward, the capacity of people, firms, and countries to successfully navigate this tangled web of global talent will be critical to their success.
    JEL: F15 F22 J15 J31 J44 L14 L26 O31 O32 O33
    Date: 2017–01–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bof:bofrdp:2017_002&r=lma
  2. By: Piotr Lewandowski; Wojciech Hardy; Aneta Kielczewska
    Abstract: We study job retention among older workers in Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, using EU-LFS data for the 1998-2013 period. We find that, on average, about 30% of workers aged 55-59 were in the same job over five years. Job retention rates were higher among men than among women. Between 2003 and 2013, retention rates increased for both men and women in Poland and for men in Czechia, fluctuated for both men and women in Slovakia, and decreased noticeably for both men and women in Hungary. We estimate bivariate probit models of job retention and non-retirement among 60-64-year-olds. Workers with tertiary education, in high-skilled jobs, in the education and health sectors, and who were living with a working partner were more likely to remain in their job over a five-year period. Changes in retention rates over time were driven more by changes in overall conditions than by changes in job-related and personal characteristics.
    Keywords: job retention, retirement, transition to retirement, pension system, bivariate probit
    JEL: J21 J26 J63
    Date: 2016–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ibt:wpaper:wp112016&r=lma
  3. By: Raquel Fonseca; Arie Kapteyn; Gema Zamarro
    Abstract: We survey the recent literature on the effects of retirement on cognitive functioning at older ages around the world. We describe results from studies using similar data, definitions and methods to capture causal effects. The studies yield widely varying results. Most papers find that being retired leads to a decline of cognition. However, the size and significance of the estimated effects vary dramatically depending on methods. We replicate several of these results using the same data sets. We discuss the factors that are likely causing the differences observed, and find that results are sensitive to the inclusion of “country effects”, suggesting a key role for unobserved differences across countries that affect both retirement ages and cognitive decline.
    Keywords: cognition, retirement, aging, country fixed effects
    JEL: C26 I14 J14 J26
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:criacr:1610&r=lma
  4. By: Marie-Louise Leroux; Grégory Ponthiere
    Abstract: We examine the redistributive impact of working time regulations in an economy with unequal lifetimes. We show that when hourly wages are kept constant, uniform working time reductions can reduce inequalities in lifetime well-being between short-lived and long-lived persons with respect to the laissez-faire, but they make the short-lived worse off. When total labour earnings are kept constant instead, uniform working time reductions make the short-lived better off, but they raise inequalities. We provide an argument for age-dependent working time regulation, which involves hours worked that increase with age and can make the short-lived better off while reducing inequalities in lifetime well-being.
    Keywords: Working time regulations, longevity, inequalities, labor supply, premature deaths
    JEL: J10 J18 J22
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:criacr:1611&r=lma
  5. By: Jochem de Bresser; Raquel Fonseca; Pierre-Carl Michaud
    Abstract: We develop a retirement model featuring various labor market exit routes: unemployment, disability, private and public pensions. The model allows for saving and uncertainty along several dimensions, including health and mortality. Individuals’ preferences are estimated on data from the U.S. and Europe using institutional variation across countries. We analyze the roles of preferences and institutions in explaining international heterogeneity in retirement behavior. Preliminary estimates suggest that a single set of preferences for individuals from the U.S., the Netherlands and Spain does not fit the data well. Were Europeans to have the same preferences as Americans, they would save less than they actually do. Furthermore, the Dutch and Spanish would work more hours than is observed in the data.
    Keywords: Retirement; saving; institutions; structural estimation
    JEL: D91 J14 J26 H31
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:criacr:1609&r=lma
  6. By: Maurer, Raimond; Mitchell, Olivia S.; Rogalla, Ralph; Schimetschek, Tatjana
    Abstract: People who delay claiming Social Security receive higher lifelong benefits upon retirement. We survey individuals on their willingness to delay claiming later, if they could receive a lump sum in lieu of a higher annuity payment. Using a moment-matching approach, we calibrate a lifecycle model tracking observed claiming patterns under current rules and predict optimal claiming outcomes under the lump sum approach. Our model correctly predicts that early claimers under current rules would delay claiming most when offered actuarially fair lump sums, and for lump sums worth 87% as much, claiming ages would still be higher than at present.
    Keywords: annuity,delayed retirement,lifetime income,pension,early retirement,social security
    JEL: G11 G22 H55 J26 J32
    Date: 2017
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:safewp:164&r=lma
  7. By: Mahé, Clothilde (UNU-MERIT)
    Abstract: This paper examines whether and how return migrants may be more likely to be entrepreneurs. With reference to Lazear's Jack-of-all-trades hypothesis, we posit that return migrants may be more likely to choose self-employment as a result of the diverse work experience they gain as migrants. Using the 2012 Egyptian Labour Market Panel Survey, seemingly unrelated regression model estimates show that return migration increases the propensity to be self-employed, controlling for the possession of savings. This is found to be due to a Jack-of-all-trades effect, whereby migration helps accumulating more occupations and jobs. Sector-specific rather than multi-sector experience may also benefit entrepreneurship, as it was found that the more industries an emigrant worked in, the less the probability of self-employment upon return. Self-employed might thus need a generalist, balanced mix of occupational skills, within a relatively narrow set of industries. These findings hold for non-agricultural activities.
    Keywords: International migration, Return migration, Entrepreneurship, Human capital, North Africa, Egypt
    JEL: F22 J24 L26 O12 O15
    Date: 2016–12–16
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2016071&r=lma
  8. By: Perugini, Cristiano; Žarković Rakić, Jelena; Vladisavljević, Marko
    Abstract: The great recession, and the countercyclical responses by European governments that followed, triggered an extensive wave of fiscal adjustments. The implementation of these austerity measures, although underpinned by a widespread consensus, underwent severe criticism. While their effects on output and employment have been extensively investigated, their impacts on wage inequality have received relatively less attention. In this paper we focus on the consequences of austerity measures on gender wage inequalities. After having described the literature-based conceptual framework of our analysis, we provide empirical evidence on the effects of austerity measures on: (i) the adjusted gender wage gap; and (ii) the patterns of gender horizontal segregation. The analysis covers the group of EU-28 countries in the years from 2010 to 2013. Results show that austerity measures (both tax-based and expenditure-based) impacted significantly on various sides of gender wage inequality, putting at risk the relatively little progress achieved in Europe so far.
    Keywords: austerity, gender wage inequality, gender segregation, EU-28
    JEL: E62 J16 J31 O52
    Date: 2016–12–23
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:76306&r=lma
  9. By: Grass, Karen; Weber, Enzo (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany])
    Abstract: "In the recent years an intensive discussion in politics, research, business and societyon the influence of digitalisation on the working world has evolved. This developmentis expected to exert profound effects on the use of human labour. However, judgements widely diverge. The comprehensive debates on "industry 4.0" and "labour 4.0" in Germany are concerned with influences of digitalisation on the economy and the labour market, substitutability of jobs as well as conditions, qualificationsand regulations for a new world of employment. Thereby, the discussions are characterised by large uncertainty regarding the future development and thus often focusmore on exploration rather than on confronting firmly established positions. This inparticular makes it valuable to feed additional information into the national debates. In this, it is worth looking into other countries: Which is the stance of digitalisation, how is the influence on the working world evaluated? Which political positions and measures are discussed? Which programmes and projects were established, are results already conceivable? The underlying report gives an overview for several European countries and for the level of the European Union. Regarding digitalisation, it considers the areas of economic developments, tasks and competences as well as working conditions and changes of the world of employment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) Additional Information Deutschsprachige Ausgabe
    Keywords: technischer Wandel - Auswirkungen, Digitale Arbeitswelt, Diskurs - internationaler Vergleich, menschliche Arbeit, Beschäftigungseffekte, Substitutionseffekte, Wirtschaftsentwicklung, Arbeitsbedingungen, politische Einstellungen, Qualifikationsanforderungen, EDV-Anwendung, EDV-Kenntnisse, informationstechnische Bildung, Wirtschaftspolitik, Bildungspolitik, Innovationspolitik, Europäische Union, Finnland, Frankreich, Großbritannien, Italien, Niederlande, Österreich, Polen, Spanien, Bundesrepublik Deutschland
    JEL: J20 O33
    Date: 2017–01–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201639_en&r=lma
  10. By: Eric Bartelsman (VU University Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute, The Netherlands and IZA Bonn); Eva Hagsten (University of Iceland, Iceland); Michael Polder (Statistics Netherlands, The Netherlands)
    Abstract: This paper provides technical documentation to a database built up from firm-level sources titled Micro moments database(MMD) that is made available for researchers through Eurostat. The MMD is an internationally harmonized research database of statistical moments collected from linked longitudinal firm-level data in a large selection of EU national statistical offices. The underlying sources for the database are business registers, firm-level surveys on production, usage of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and innovative activities, as well as recorded information on trade and worker education, all linked at the firm level. The unit of observation in the MMD represents groups of firms within industries and allows research that bridges micro and macro analysis. The paper delineates the type of research questions that uniquely can be addressed with the MMD, and the advantages and disadvantages of using MMD for questions where alternative datasets are available. The paper next presents the methodology underlying construction of the MMD and provides documentation of the rich set of features. Finally, the paper provides descriptive statistics that highlight the unique character of the data and reviews some of the cross-country analytical work already conducted using the MMD.
    Keywords: Innovation, ICT, Productivity, Intangible Investment, linked firm-level datasets
    JEL: D2 E2 F1 J2 L2 O3
    Date: 2017–01–13
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20170003&r=lma

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