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on Labor Markets - Supply, Demand, and Wages |
| By: | James Harrigan; Ariell Reshef; Farid Toubal |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of firm level choices of ICT, R&D, exporting and importing on the evolution of productivity and its bias towards skilled occupations. We use a novel measure of the propensity of a firm to engage in technology investment and adoption: its employment of workers with STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills and experience who we call “techies”. We develop a methodology for estimating firm level productivity that allows us to measure both Hicks-neutral and skill-augmenting technology differences, and apply this to administrative data on French firms in the entire private sector from 2009 to 2013. We find that techies and importing of intermediate inputs raise skill-biased productivity, while imports also raise Hicks-neutral productivity. We also find that higher firm-level skill biased productivity raises low-skill employment even as it raises the ratio of skilled to unskilled workers. This is because of the cost-reducing effect of higher productivity. The techie and trade effects are large, and can account for much of the aggregate increase in skilled employment from 2009 to 2013. |
| JEL: | D2 D24 F1 F16 J2 J23 J24 O52 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25295&r=lma |
| By: | Huffman, David B. (University of Pittsburgh); Bognanno, Michael L. (Temple University) |
| Abstract: | A previous literature cautions that paying workers for performance might crowd out non-monetary motives to work hard. Empirical evidence from the field, however, has been based on between-subjects designs that are best suited for detecting crowding out due to low-powered incentives. High-powered incentives in the workplace tend to increase output, but it is unknown whether this masks crowding out. This paper uses a within-subject experimental design and finds evidence that crowding out also extends to high-powered incentives, in a real work setting with paid workers. There is individual heterogeneity, however, with a minority of workers report crowding in of motivation. Thus, the impact of performance pay might depend on the mix of worker types. |
| Keywords: | intrinsic motivation, incentives, non-cognitive skills, experiment |
| JEL: | D03 J22 J33 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11920&r=lma |
| By: | Schwandt, Hannes; Wachter, Till von (University of California, Los Angeles) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the differential persistent effects of initial economic conditions for labor market entrants in the United States from 1976 to 2015 by education, gender, and race using labor force survey data. We find persistent earnings and wage reductions especially for less advantaged entrants that increases in government support only partly offset. We confirm the results are unaffected by selective migration and labor market entry by also using a double-weighted average unemployment rate at labor market entry for each birth cohort and state-of-birth cell based on average state migration rates and average cohort education rates from Census data. |
| Keywords: | job market entry, recessions, unemployment, long-term effects |
| JEL: | J2 J3 J6 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11926&r=lma |
| By: | Jiang, Xuan |
| Abstract: | Women are underrepresented in both STEM college majors and STEM jobs. Even with a STEM college degree, women are significantly less likely to work in a STEM occupation than their male counterparts. This paper investigates whether men and women possess different ability distributions and examines how much the gender gap in major choice and job choice can be explained by gender differences in ability sorting. I use Purdue University's administrative data that contain every Purdue student's academic records linked to information on their first job. I apply an extended Roy model of unobserved heterogeneity allowing for endogenous choice with two sequential optimizing decisions: the choice between a STEM and non-STEM major and the choice between a STEM and non-STEM job. I find that abilities are significantly weaker determinants of major choice for women than for men. High-ability women give up $13,000{$20,000 in annual salary by choosing non-STEM majors. Those non-STEM high-ability women make up only 5.6% of the female sample, but their total gains|had they made the same decision as men|explain about 9.4% of the gender wage gap. Furthermore, the fact that female STEM graduates are less likely to stay in STEM is unrelated to the differences in ability sorting. Instead, women's home region may be important in women's job decisions; female STEM graduates who return to their home state are more likely to opt out of STEM. |
| Keywords: | Gender Differences in STEM, Choice of College Major, Choice of Job, Ability Sorting |
| JEL: | I20 I23 J16 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2018–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:89650&r=lma |
| By: | Arindrajit Dube |
| Abstract: | There is robust evidence that higher minimum wages increase family incomes at the bottom of the distribution. The long run (3 or more years) minimum wage elasticity of the non-elderly poverty rate with respect to the minimum wage ranges between -0.220 and -0.459 across alternative specifications. The long run minimum wage elasticities for the 10th and 15th unconditional quantiles of family income range between 0.152 and 0.430 depending on specification. A reduction in public assistance partly offsets these income gains, which are on average 66% as large when using an expanded income definition including tax credits and non-cash transfers. |
| JEL: | I32 I38 J2 J38 J58 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25240&r=lma |
| By: | Reynaud, Emmanuel. |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the United Nations Global Policy Model (GPM) to assess how increasing minimum wages might impact the South African economy by increasing the share of income going to workers (the ‘labour share’) – in contrast to the share that accrues to capital through profits and property income. We simulate the implementation of a national minimum wage through increasing labour compensation in a manner which sees real-wage growth ‘catching up’ to and then outstripping labour-productivity growth in the period 2015–2025; we refer to this as increasing ‘relative’ real wages. The results indicate that higher ‘relative’ real wage growth rebalances national income: the labour share increases since relative wages rise (by definition) and employment is roughly maintained (endogenous response). A rising labour share has in turn a positive effect overall on the South African economy in the model: consumption expenditure rises as national income shifts towards wage earners as a whole, who have a higher propensity to consume than profit earners. However, there are moderate or small negative effects as investment as a share of GDP falls marginally, as the profit rate falls (though the absolute level of investment is higher as GDP rises), employment declines marginally, and there is slight weakening of the current account. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:995005693502676&r=lma |
| By: | Shawn Ni (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Michael Podgursky (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Xiqian Wang (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia) |
| Abstract: | We analyze late-career teacher turnover induced by pension incentives. Using longitudinal data with performance measures for Tennessee public school teachers, we find higher quality teachers are less likely to retire conditional on age and experience. To quantify the effects of pension incentives, we estimate a structural model for retirement and find that high quality teachers have a lower disutility for teaching relative to retirement. We use the structural estimates to simulate the effect of changes in retirement incentives. Enhancements to traditional plans accelerate teacher retirement, whereas targeted retention bonuses delay retirement and retain high quality teachers at relatively modest cost. |
| Keywords: | Teacher Pensions, Teacher Quality, Teacher Retirement |
| JEL: | I21 J26 J38 |
| Date: | 2018–11–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:1815&r=lma |
| By: | Henderson, Daniel J. (University of Alabama); Souto, Anne-Charlotte (University of Alabama) |
| Abstract: | In this article we overview nonparametric (spline and kernel) regression methods and illustrate how they may be used in labor economic applications. We focus our attention on issues commonly found in the labor literature such as how to account for endogeneity via instrumental variables in a nonparametric setting. We showcase these methods via data from the Current Population Survey. |
| Keywords: | endogeneity, kernel, labor, nonparametic, regression, spline |
| JEL: | C14 C26 I24 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11914&r=lma |
| By: | Francesca Marchetta; David E. Sahn; Luca Tiberti |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of rainfall variability and cyclones on schooling and work among a cohort of teens and young adults in Madagascar. We estimate a bivariate probit model using a panel survey conducted in 2004 and 2011 in this poor island nation, which is frequently affected by extreme weather events. Our results show that negative rainfall deviations and cyclones reduce the probability of attending school and encourage young men and, to a greater extent, women to enter the work force, and they reduce their French and math test scores. Less wealthy households are most likely to experience this school- to-work transition in the face of rainfall shocks. The finding is consistent with poorer households having less savings and more limited access to credit and insurance, which reduces their ability to cope with rainfall shortages. We also find that there are both contemporaneous and lagged effects of the weather shocks, and that they are of a similar magnitude. Our findings are robust to the use of a linear probability model, as well as a wide range of definitions of rainfall variations. |
| Keywords: | climate shocks, employment, schooling, Africa |
| JEL: | Q54 J43 I25 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:pmmacr:2018-08&r=lma |
| By: | Kehrig, Matthias; Vincent, Nicolas |
| Abstract: | The aggregate labor share in U.S. manufacturing declined from 62 percentage points (ppt) in 1967 to 41 ppt in 2012. The labor share of the typical U.S. manufacturing establishment, in contrast, rose by over 3 ppt during the same period. Using micro-level data, we document a number of striking facts: (1) there has been a dramatic reallocation of value added to "hyper- productive" (HP) low-labor share establishments, with much more limited reallocation of inputs; (2) HP establishments have only temporarily lower labor shares that rebound after five to eight years to the level of their peers; (3) selection into HP status has become increasingly correlated with past size; (4) low labor shares are driven by high revenue total factor productivity (TFPR), not low wages; (5) employment has become less responsive to positive TFPR shocks over time; and (6) HP establishments enjoy a product price premium relative to their peers that causes their high (revenue) productivity, pointing to a significant role for demand-side forces. Counterfactual exercises indicate that selection along size is the primary driver of the fall in the aggregate labor share, with a smaller role for the decline in responsiveness. |
| Keywords: | firm size distribution; Labor Share; productivity; Relative Prices |
| JEL: | E2 L1 L2 L6 O4 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13333&r=lma |
| By: | Maria D. Fitzpatrick |
| Abstract: | For many people, working after beginning retirement benefit collection is a way to enhance financial security by increasing income. Existing research has shown that retirees are sensitive to the Social Security earnings test, which restricts the amount of earnings some beneficiaries can receive. However, little is known about the effects of other types of policies on post-retirement employment. Instead of restricting earnings, many public pension plans restrict the number of hours beneficiaries can work. I use return-to-work rules limiting the number of hours of employment in a state’s public pension plan and administrative data on employment and retirement to determine the rules’ effects on retirement decisions and post-retirement labor supply. I find that the increases in the maximum number of hours of post-retirement employment lead to no change in retirement benefit collection and to increases in part-time work among retirees. As such, these policies appear to be binding on the labor supply decisions of some employees. Policymakers should take this into account when designing policies aimed at extending work-lives or improving the health of pension systems. |
| JEL: | H55 J26 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25299&r=lma |
| By: | Willem Devriendt; Freddy Heylen (-) |
| Abstract: | Demographic change forces governments in all OECD countries to reform the public pension system. Increased sensitivity to rising inequality in society has made the challenge for policy makers only greater. In this paper we evaluate alternative reform scenarios. We employ an overlapping generations model for an open economy with endogenous hours worked, human and physical capital, output, and welfare. Within each generation we distinguish individuals with high, medium or low ability to build human capital. Frequently adopted reforms in many countries such as an increase of the normal retirement age or a reduction in the pension benefit replacement rate can guarantee the financial sustainability of the system, but they fail when the objective is also to improve macroeconomic performance and aggregate welfare without raising intergenerational or intragenerational welfare inequality. Our results prefer a reform which combines an increase of the retirement age with an intelligent design of the linkage between the pension benefit and earlier labour earnings. First, this design conditions pension benefits on past individual labour income, with a high weight on labour income earned when older and a low weight on labour income earned when young. Second, to avoid rising welfare inequality this linkage is complemented by a strong rise in the benefit replacement rate for low ability individuals (and a reduction for high ability individuals). |
| Keywords: | demographic change, population ageing, pension reform, retirement age, heterogeneous abilities, inequality, overlapping generations |
| JEL: | E6 H55 J22 J26 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:18/948&r=lma |
| By: | Jain, Tarun (Indian School of Business); Mukhopadhyay, Abhiroop (Indian Statistical Institute); Prakash, Nishith (University of Connecticut); Rakesh, Raghav (Michigan State University) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the association between studying science at the higher secondary stage and labor market earnings using nationally representative data on high school subject choices and adult outcomes for urban males in India. Results show that those who studied science in high school have 22% greater earnings than those who studied business and humanities, even after controlling for several measures of ability. These higher earnings among science students are further enhanced if the students also have some fluency in English. Moreover, greater earnings are observed among individuals with social and parental support for translating science skills into higher earnings. Science education is also associated with more years of education, likelihood of completing a professional degree, and among low ability students, working in public sector positions. |
| Keywords: | high-school majors, labor markets, science, STEM, India |
| JEL: | I23 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11908&r=lma |
| By: | Illenin O. Kondo; Logan T. Lewis; Andrea Stella |
| Abstract: | This paper revisits the empirical evidence on the nature of firm and establishment size distributions in the United States using the Longitudinal Business Database (LBD), a confidential Census Bureau panel of all non-farm private firms and establishments with at least one employee. We establish five stylized facts that are relevant for the extent of granularity and the nature of growth in the U.S. economy: (1) with an estimated shape parameter significantly below 1, the best-fitting Pareto distribution substantially differs from Zipf's law for both firms and establishments; (2) a lognormal distribution fits both establishment and firm size distributions better than the commonly-used Pareto distribution, even far in the upper tail; (3) a convolution of lognormal and Pareto distributions fits both size distributions better than lognormal alone while also providing a better fit for the employment share distribution; (4) the estimated parameters are different across manufa cturing and services sectors, but the distribution fit ranking remains unchanged in the sectoral subsamples. Finally, using the Census of Manufactures (CM), we find that (5) the distribution of establishment-level total factor productivity---a common theoretical primitive for size---is also better described by lognormal than Pareto. We show that correctly characterizing the firm size distribution has first order implications for the effect of firm-level idiosyncratic shocks on aggregate activity. |
| Keywords: | Firm size distribution ; Granularity ; Lognormal ; Pareto ; TFP distribution ; Zipf's law |
| JEL: | L11 E24 |
| Date: | 2018–11–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2018-75&r=lma |
| By: | Michael Landesmann (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Sandra M. Leitner (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw) |
| Abstract: | Do High-Skilled Third-Country (i.e. Non-EU) Migrants Contribute to Productivity Growth? In order to foster innovation and enhance economic development and growth, attracting skilled professionals from abroad has become an important policy goal in many economies, initiating a global race for talent. This paper looks at the private company sector in a group of 13 old EU Member States and examines the role of high-skilled third-country (HS-TC) migrants for innovation – as captured by real labour productivity and total factor productivity (TFP) growth – between 2004 and 2015. It utilises four different indicators of HS-TC migration and defines high skills in terms of either educational attainment (ISCED classification) or the skills required in an occupation (ISCO classification) which helps identify the presence of a jobs-skills mismatch for HS-TC migrants. Taking into account the endogenous nature of HS-TC migration, we find some selective evidence of a negative causal link between the share of HS‑TC migrants, on the one hand, and labour productivity and TFP growth, on the other. Furthermore, differences in the results for the ISCED- and ISCO-based skills measures point to a non-negligible jobs‑skills mismatch in terms of an over-representation of HS-TC migrants in lower productivity occupations. We also find that HS-TC migrants are relatively less productive than HS EU migrants. Results for selected individual industries are more mixed, with some industries even benefiting in productivity terms from a higher share of HS-TC migrant workers. |
| Keywords: | high-skilled third-country migrants, innovation, EU, real labour productivity growth, total factor productivity growth |
| JEL: | O15 F22 D24 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:wpaper:158&r=lma |
| By: | Michele Rainato (Sapienza Università di Roma); Francesco Vona (Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques) |
| Abstract: | We study the mechanisms of intergenerational inequality among Italian lawyers over the period 1994- 2014 using a longitudinal dataset that combines administrative and survey data. We first estimate a 17.5% earnings premium for a law family background within the group of lawyers, so conditional on entering the profession. We then exploit the 2003-2006 liberalization process, which asymmetrically affected the two main transmission mechanisms: skill transfer and nepotism. We find that liberalization squeezed the law background return by at least 3/5, thus revealing a high incidence of nepotism. The bulk of the reduction occurred for the youngest lawyers and the top earners. KEY |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational inequalitiy; Social mobility; Nepotism; Specific skills; Regulations; Regulation; Top occupations |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J44 I2 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6dffcvpj8t96bpc00heumik4e0&r=lma |
| By: | Ashley Ward (OECD); María Belén Zinni (OECD); Pascal Marianna (OECD) |
| Abstract: | Cross-country differences in the measurement of labour input contribute to observed productivity gaps across countries. In most countries, labour force surveys (LFS) form a primary source of information for employment related statistics, such as persons employed, employees and hours worked. However, because the coverage of LFS does not fully align with the coverage of activities used to estimate GDP, additional adjustments relying on complementary sources, such as administrative or business statistics, are often applied to bridge conceptual differences, and in many countries, the use of these sources is often preferred to LFS data. Evidence from the 2018 OECD/Eurostat national accounts labour input survey shows that the adjustments made to align measures of labour input with the corresponding measures of production according to the domestic concept, vary considerably across countries, with many countries making no adjustments, in particular, for the measurement of hours worked. This paper demonstrates that countries making no adjustments to average hours worked measures extracted from the original source, such as self-reported hours actually worked in the LFS, appear to systematically over-estimate labour input and, so, under-estimate labour productivity levels. To illustrate the size of this bias, for this group of countries, the paper adopts a simplified component method that introduces a series of explicit adjustments on working time using information available in LFS and complementary sources. The results point to a reduction in relative productivity gaps of around 10 percentage points in many countries compared to current estimates. Although future releases of OECD productivity (levels) statistics will incorporate these changes, it is important to stress that these estimates will only be used as a stop-gap while countries making no, or minimal adjustments, work to leverage all available data sources to produce average hours worked estimates that align with the national accounts domestic concept and that address self-reporting bias; which is the paper’s principal recommendation for those countries that currently make no or only partial adjustments. Indeed, many EU member states, coordinated by Eurostat, are already moving in this direction, with ESA 2010 derogations set to expire by 2020. |
| Keywords: | employment, hours worked, labour input, labour productivity, mismeasurement |
| JEL: | E1 E24 E26 |
| Date: | 2018–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stdaaa:2018/12-en&r=lma |
| By: | Takashi Oshio; Akiko S. Oishi; Satoshi Shimizutani |
| Abstract: | We examine how the change in the trend of the elderly’s employment rates has been associated with changes in incentives of social security and its related programs in Japan since the 1980s. We compute the tax force to retire early, using the institutional parameters and synthetic earnings profiles, and juxtapose the tax force measures and the elderly employment rates during 1980 and 2016. Our results suggest that a reduction in the tax force to retire early due to a series of social security reforms has been associated with the recent recovery of the employment rates for men aged 60 years and over as well as the increasing upward trend in the employment rates for women aged 55-64 years. |
| JEL: | J14 J26 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25243&r=lma |
| By: | Görg, Holger; Hornok, Cecília; Montagna, Catia; Onwordi, George E. |
| Abstract: | How do labour market policies influence employment's responsiveness to output fluctuations (employment-output elasticity)? We revisit this question on a panel of OECD countries, which also incorporates the period of the Great Recession. We distinguish between passive and active labour market policies and allow for their interactions, i.e. the policy mix, to play a role. We find that the effects of any single policy change are shaped by the broader existing policy-mix within which it takes place. Finally, we evaluate the effect of a move to 'flexicurity' on the employment-output elasticity in each country. |
| Keywords: | employment-output elasticity,labour market policy,welfare state,flexicurity |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J21 J65 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:2117&r=lma |
| By: | Dur, Robert (Erasmus University Rotterdam); van Lent, Max (Leiden University) |
| Abstract: | It has been claimed that many workers in modern economies think that their job is socially useless, i.e. that it makes no or a negative contribution to society. However, the evidence so far is mainly anecdotal. We use a representative dataset comprising 100,000 workers from 47 countries at four points in time. We find that approximately 8% of workers perceive their job as socially useless, while another 17% are doubtful about the usefulness of their job. There are sizeable differences between countries, sectors, occupations, and age groups, but no trend over time. A vast majority of workers cares about holding a socially useful job and we find that they suffer when they consider their job useless. We also explore possible causes of socially useless jobs, including bad management, strict job protection legislation, harmful economic activities, labor hoarding, and division of labor. |
| Keywords: | sin industries, job protection legislation, management quality, job search, job satisfaction, work motivation, labor hoarding, division of labor |
| JEL: | J2 J3 J4 J8 M5 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11927&r=lma |
| By: | Bargain, Olivier (University of Bordeaux); Etienne, Audrey (Aix-Marseille University); Melly, Blaise (Brown University) |
| Abstract: | With the increase in national debts, pay freezes are imposed for several years in the public sector of some countries, at the risk of decreasing the quality of public services. Since public wage setting policies should account for relevant comparisons with the private sector, we provide novel evidence on the public sector wage gap throughout the wage distribution in France, taking a long-term perspective. We exploit a long administrative panel dataset (1988-2013) and suggest methodological innovations. We estimate the public sector premia/penalties on the unconditional wage distribution while accounting for quantile-specific fixed effects and a jackknife correction for the potential incidental parameter bias. We find that the public wage gap is broadly negative in France, with larger penalties at the top, which contribute to a compression of the wage distribution by the public sector. We show that this compression effect is partly concealed by the incidental parameter bias. Time changes in the wage gap over 25 years are consistently explained by a mix of political and business cycles. The unobserved skill gap between sectors reveals the extent of positive selection into public jobs. It tends to decline in the 1990s, a period characterized by the growth of public employment and a move towards less selective recruitment schemes. More critically, it totally disappears among top earners in the recent period, suggesting the detrimental effect of nominal wage freeze and the absence of performance-based remuneration among public sector executives. |
| Keywords: | public wage gap, unconditional quantile regression, fixed effects, incidental parameter bias, jackknife |
| JEL: | J31 C14 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11924&r=lma |
| By: | Boll, Christina; Lagemann, Andreas |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the employment and childcare use behaviour of migrant and non-migrant mothers in Germany. We use the waves 2007-2015 of the German Socio-Economic Panel study (SOEP), including the migrant samples M1 and M2, to identify significant associations between migration background and employment probability, working hours, and childcare usage probability under control of human capital, household, milieu, and macro factors. We correct for self-selection in employment and potential endogeneity of childcare use. We do not find an additional contribution of a migrant background to mothers' use of childcare. However, among self-immigrated mothers with a youngest child aged 3 to 5, roots in Southeastern Europe are associated with lower childcare use. Further, a direct (indirect) migrant background, compared with no migrant background, is associated with a 6.3 % (5.9 %) lower probability of employment for mothers of youngest children under 3 years of age with otherwise identical maternal characteristics. For mothers of youngest children aged 3-5, the figure is 8.0 % (6.7 %). Mothers of youngest children under 3 years (aged 3-5 years) with roots in Arab and other Muslim countries have a 7.1 % (21.1 %) lower probability of employment. In addition, the likelihood of gained employment increases with the length of stay in Germany. There are no significant associations of the migration background with the (conditional) weekly working hours of mothers. In summary, it can be seen that, in addition to economic motives, cultural factors and basic orientations and values also shape mothers' everyday practices, as expressed in their employment behaviour and the use of state-subsidized childcare for their children. |
| Keywords: | maternal employment,hours of work,childcare,migration background,milieu,IV techniques,2SLS,bivariate probit |
| JEL: | J22 J13 J61 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwirp:187&r=lma |
| By: | Aina Gallego; Thomas Kurer; Nikolas Schöll |
| Abstract: | New digital technologies are transforming workplaces, with unequal economic consequences depending on workers’ skill set. Does digitalization also cause divergence in political preferences? Using an innovative empirical approach combining individuallevel panel data from the United Kingdom with a time-varying industry-level measure of digitalization, we first show that digitalization was economically beneficial for a majority of the labor force between 1997-2015. High-skilled workers did particularly well, they are the winners of digitalization. We then demonstrate that positive economic trajectories are mirrored in political preferences: Among high-skilled workers, exposure to digitalization increased voter turnout, support for the Conservatives, and support for the incumbent. An instrumental variable analysis, placebo tests and multiple robustness checks support our causal interpretation. The findings complement the dominant narrative of the "revenge of the left-behind": While digitalization undoubtedly eliminates some jobs and does produce losers, there is a large and often neglected group of winners of digitalization who positively react to economic modernization by supporting the status quo. |
| Keywords: | political economy, digitalization, labor markets, Voters |
| JEL: | P16 D72 O33 J31 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1063&r=lma |
| By: | Dutcher, E. Glenn; Rodet, Cortney S. |
| Abstract: | Creative teams drive the idea-economy, yet the determinants of a team's ability to create new ideas are not universally agreed upon. Group-level diversity has gained the most traction as an explanation, where a team's performance is usually attributed to diversity over observed characteristics such as race, gender, or functional expertise. Most agree that these characteristics are not especially important, but rather serve as an indicator of diversity in experiences, which is the actual mechanism that improves team ability. We formalize and test if experientially diverse groups produce more ideas. Because group assignment to projects in the field is rarely exogenous, and experiential diversity is not measured in observational data, we use a laboratory experiment to test our proposal. We find that experientially diverse teams create more ideas and also find no additional effect for gender, racial, socioeconomic, or personality diversity. Our general finding for why diversity may be important indicates that if a correlation exists between characteristic diversity and experiential diversity, the characteristically diverse team will have a higher ability. This generalization can be used to unify divergent results from prior studies and can help explain how dissimilar corporate diversity policies could be equally successful. |
| Keywords: | Diversity, Creativity, Group Production, Experimental Economics |
| JEL: | C90 C92 J24 M50 O30 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2018–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:89982&r=lma |
| By: | Anna Demianova (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses indicators which describe the employment of disabled people in Russia and the position of this group in the Russian labour market. Special attention is given to disabled workers skills in the sphere of information and communication technologies. The analysis is based on data from the Rosstat population surveys and administrative data. The analysis shows that the information on the disabled people employment is limited due to an underrepresentation of the disabled in the data from population surveys and the methodological approaches used in administrative data. Available statistics demonstrate that the disabled are in a weak position in the Russian labour market: low employment rates, high unemployment rates, widespread employment in the informal sector, and the concentration of employment in low-skilled occupations. Furthermore, disabled people of working age in Russia possess markedly weaker digital skills than non-disabled, which further worsens their position in the labour market |
| Keywords: | Disability statistics, Employment of persons with disabilities, Digital skills, Russian Labour force survey, Russia. |
| JEL: | J21 J24 I14 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:91sti2018&r=lma |