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on Labor Markets - Supply, Demand, and Wages |
| By: | Ihsaan Bassier; Arindrajit Dube; Suresh Naidu |
| Abstract: | We provide new estimates of the separations elasticity, a proximate determinant of the labor supply facing a firm with respect to hourly wage, using matched Oregon employer-employee data. Existing estimates using individual wage variation may be biased by mismeasured wages and use of wage variation unrelated to firm choices. We estimate the impact of the firm component of wage variation on separations using both firm fixed effects estimated from a wage equation as well as a matched IV event study around employment transitions between firms. Separations are a declining function of firm wage policies: we find that the implied firm-level labor supply elasticities generated are around 4, consistent with recent experimental and quasi-experimental evidence, and that they are approximately 3 to 4 times larger that those using individual wages. Further, we find lower separations elasticities for low wage workers, high turnover sectors, and periods of economic downturn but with little heterogeneity by urban status or labor market concentration. We conclude that monopsonistic competition is pervasive, and largely independent of forces driving classical monopsony. |
| JEL: | J2 J3 J31 J42 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27755&r=all |
| By: | Tomas Havranek (Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic); Zuzana Irsova (Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic); Lubica Laslopova (Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic); Olesia Zeynalova (Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | A key parameter in the analysis of wage inequality is the elasticity of substitution between skilled and unskilled labor. We question the common view that the elasticity exceeds 1. Two biases, publication and attenuation, conspire to pull the mean elasticity reported in the lit- erature to 1.9. After correcting for the biases, the literature is consistent with the elasticity in the US of 0.6–0.9. Our analysis relies on 729 estimates of the elasticity collected from 76 studies as well as 37 controls that reflect the context in which the estimates were obtained. We use recently developed nonlinear techniques to correct for publication bias and employ Bayesian and frequentist model averaging to address model uncertainty. Our results sug- gest that, first, insignificant estimates of the elasticity are underreported. Second, because researchers typically estimate the elasticity’s inverse, measurement error exaggerates the elasticity, and we show the exaggeration is substantial. Third, elasticities are systematically larger for developed countries, translog estimation, and methods that ignore endogeneity. |
| Keywords: | elasticity of substitution, skill premium, meta-analysis, model uncertainty, publication bias |
| JEL: | J23 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2020_29&r=all |
| By: | Marcén, Miriam; Morales, Marina |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether the intensity of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) during the COVID-19 pandemic has differentially impacted the public sector labor market outcomes. This extends the analysis of the already documented negative economic consequences from COVID-19 and their dissimilarities with a typical economic crisis. To capture the intensity of the NPIs, we build a novel index (COVINDEX) using daily information on NPIs merged with state level data on out of home mobility (Google data) to show that among individuals living in a typical state, the NPIs enforcement during the COVID-19 reduces the likelihood of being employed (at work) by 5% with respect to the pre-COVID period and the hours worked by 1.3% using data on labor market outcomes from the monthly Current Population Survey and difference-in-difference models. This is a sizable amount representing the sector with the higher job security during the pandemic. Public sector workers in a typical state are 4 percentage points more likely to be at work than salaried workers in the private sector and 7 percentage points more likely than self-employed workers (the worst so far). Our results are robust to endogeneity of the NPIs measures and present empirical evidence of heterogeneity in the response to the NPIs with those in the local employment being the hardest hit. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19,coronavirus,public sector,remote work,essential worker,employment,hours worked |
| JEL: | D1 J15 J16 J2 J23 J45 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:637&r=all |
| By: | Duman, Anil |
| Abstract: | Many empirical studies found wage gaps between formal and informal sector workers even after controlling for a number of individual and firm level characteristics. While there is limited amount of research considering the same question in the Turkish labor market, wage gap between formal and informal employees generally do not take unobserved characteristics into account. In our paper, we carry this analysis for Turkey and estimate the wage gap between formal and informal sector workers utilizing panel data from Survey of Income and Living Conditions (SILC) for the period of 2014 and 2017. Mincer wage equations across quantiles are estimated considering observable and unobservable characteristics with a fixed effect model, and for sensitivity tests we regard the possibility of nonlinearity in covariate effects and estimate a variant of matching models. Our results show that informal wage penalty is persistent even after unobserved heterogeneity is taken into account, however, the penalty is not statistically significant at the upper end of the wage distribution. Moreover, we show that there are important differences between informal workers who have permanent contracts versus informal workers that have relatively more irregular work arrangements. Not only the latter is subject to earnings reductions, but they also have slightly lower probability of moving out of informal employment. We also demonstrate that the mobility of lower and upper tier informal workers is affected by different variables. |
| Keywords: | wage gap,quantile regression,informal sector,panel data,Turkey |
| JEL: | J31 C31 O17 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:655&r=all |
| By: | Gürtzgen, Nicole; Hiesinger, Karolin |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the causal effects of weaker dismissal protection on the incidence of long-term sickness (> six weeks). We exploit a German policy change, which shifted the threshold exempting small establishments from dismissal protection from five to ten workers. Using administrative data, we find a significantly negative reform effect on transitions into long-term sickness in the second year after a worker has entered an establishment. This response is due to a behavioural, rather than a compositional effect and is particularly pronounced among medium-skilled males. Our results further indicate that the reform did not alter the probability of involuntary unemployment after sickness. |
| Keywords: | dismissal protection,long-term sickness,involuntary unemployment,difference-in-differences,administrative data,small establishments |
| JEL: | D02 I12 J28 J38 J88 J63 K31 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:20040&r=all |
| By: | Louis-Philippe Beland (Department of Economics, Carleton University); Oluwatobi Fakorede (Department of Economics, Carleton University); Derek Mikola (Department of Economics, Carleton University) |
| Abstract: | Canadian employers are largely small businesses. Their relevance for job creation and labour demand is integral for policymakers concerned with adverse labour market outcomes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the Canadian Labour Force Survey (LFS) we document how the self-employed, which we interpret as small business owners, and employees of small businesses are being affected by COVID-19. We find large decreases in the number of small business owners, the number of employed, and in hours worked, from February to July 2020. We also find large labour market impact on small business employees. Our research confirms increasing employment, hours worked, and small business ownership as provinces began reopening their economies in May to July 2020. Still, these improvements are often below pre-March 2020 trends with some demographic groups, such as female and immigrant small business owners, having considerably worse outcomes than their respective counterparts. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, Self-employed workers, Entrepreneurship, Employment |
| JEL: | L26 J21 J24 I18 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:car:carecp:20-16&r=all |
| By: | Bicakova, Alena (CERGE-EI); Cortes, Matias (York University, Canada); Mazza, Jacopo (European Commission, Joint Research Centre) |
| Abstract: | We find robust evidence that cohorts of male graduates who start college during worse economic times earn higher average wages than those who start during better times. This gap is not explained by differences in selection into employment, in economic conditions at the time of college graduation, or in field of study choices. Graduates who enroll in bad times are not more positively selected based on their high-school outcomes, but they achieve higher college grades, sort into higher-paying occupations, and earn higher wages conditional on their grades. We find similar but less robust patterns for female graduates. Our results suggest that individuals who enroll during economic downturns exert more effort during their studies. |
| Keywords: | business cycle, higher education, cohort effects |
| JEL: | I23 J24 J31 E32 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13561&r=all |
| By: | Alexandr Kopytov; Nikolai Roussanov; Mathieu Taschereau-Dumouchel |
| Abstract: | The real price of recreation goods and services has fallen dramatically over the last century. At the same time, hours per worker have also been on a steady decline. As recreation goods make leisure time more enjoyable, we investigate if the fall in their price has contributed to the decline in work hours. Using aggregate data from OECD countries, as well as disaggregated data from the United States, we provide evidence that the two are strongly related. To identify the effect of recreation prices on hours worked, we use variation in the bundle of recreational goods across demographic groups to instrument for the changing price of leisure faced by these groups over time. We then construct a macroeconomic model with general preferences that allows for trending relative prices and work hours along a balanced growth path. We estimate the model and find that a large part of the decline in hours worked can be explained by the declining price of leisure. In contrast, we find mixed evidence that higher wages contributed to the decline in hours worked over the last several decades. |
| JEL: | E24 J22 J32 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27744&r=all |
| By: | Leduc, Elisabeth (Free University of Brussels); Tojerow, Ilan (Free University of Brussels) |
| Abstract: | European countries have increasingly adopted wage subsidies for the sector of domestic services to reduce low-skilled unemployment. Yet, empirical evidence on their effectiveness is scarce. In this paper, we use Belgian administrative data to estimate how participation in the subsidized domestic services sector impacts the labour market outcomes of program participants. Our identification strategy rests on a dynamic event study difference-in-differences model combined with coarsened exact matching. Our findings indicate that such subsidies can be effective in reducing unemployment and inactivity, but only by increasing employment within the subsidized domestic services sector. We also find that program participation deteriorates physical health, thus increasing the worker's probability of claiming disability insurance benefits. |
| Keywords: | wage subsidies, low-skilled workers, unemployment, disability, domestic services, personal and household services, female employment |
| JEL: | J08 J24 J28 J38 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13544&r=all |
| By: | Akira Momota (Ritsumeikan University) |
| Abstract: | This paper theoretically investigates the effect of increased longevity on the years of schooling and work. We consider a situation in which individuals have opportunities for recurrent education by assuming that the transition from schooling to work is reversible. We find that setting aside a period of time for recurrent education is optimal for individuals when the life-span is longer than a certain threshold number of years. As the life-span increases, the total schooling years and the retirement age increase. However, when the life-span becomes so long that recurrent education takes place, the effect of an increase in the active life by one year on the lifetime income is significantly smaller than in the situation where the life-span is less long. |
| Keywords: | Human capital, Life-cycle model, Longevity, Recurrent education. |
| JEL: | I29 J24 J26 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kyo:wpaper:1042&r=all |
| By: | Gries, Thomas; Naudé, Wim |
| Abstract: | The economic impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is studied using a (semi) endogenous growth model with two novel features. First, the task approach from labor economics is reformulated and integrated into a growth model. Second, the standard represen- tative household assumption is rejected, so that aggregate demand restrictions can be introduced. With these novel features it is shown that (i) AI automation can decrease the share of labor income no matter the size of the elasticity of substitution between AI and labor, and (ii) when this elasticity is high, AI will unambiguously reduce aggre- gate demand and slow down GDP growth, even in the face of the positive technology shock that AI entails. If the elasticity of substitution is low, then GDP, productivity and wage growth may however still slow down, because the economy will then fail to benefit from the supply-side driven capacity expansion potential that AI can deliver. The model can thus explain why advanced countries tend to experience, despite much AI hype, the simultaneous existence of rather high employment with stagnating wages, productivity, and GDP. |
| Keywords: | Technology,artificial intelligence,productivity,labor demand,income distribution,growth theory |
| JEL: | O47 O33 J24 E21 E25 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:632&r=all |
| By: | Pierre-Loup Beauregard (Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia); Marie Connolly (Department of Economics, University of Quebec in Montreal); Catherine Haeck (Department of Economics, University of Quebec in Montreal); Timea Laura Molnar (Department of Economics and Business, Central European University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we exploit the geographical pattern of primary school reopenings during the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec to estimate the impact of school reopenings on parental employment and work hours. We first use a difference-in-differences approach, in which we compare parents of primary-school children in regions where school reopened in May 2020 to similar parents in regions where schools remained closed. We also use a triple-difference model, in which parents of older, secondary-school children are used as an additional control group. We estimate the impact of school reopenings separately for mothers and fathers, and for single parents and parents living in dual-parent households. We find a positive impact of school reopenings on employment and on actual hours worked. The effects tend to be stronger for single parents: single mothers have experienced a 20 percentage point increase in their employment rate following school reopenings. We also split our sample according to whether the job can be done from home, and find stronger impacts for those whose jobs cannot easily be done from home. Our results suggest that reopening schools allows parents, especially single parents, to maintain their employment link and support themselves. |
| Keywords: | school closures, school reopenings, labour market, employment, work hours, pandemic, Canada |
| JEL: | I24 I28 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grc:wpaper:20-06&r=all |
| By: | Kemnitz, Alexander; Knoblach, Michael |
| Abstract: | There is now increasing evidence that for the U.S. economy, the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor, "sigma", is rising over time. To account for this, we propose a microfounded model, where the evolution of "sigma", and, hence, the shape of the aggregate production function occur endogenously. We develop a Schumpeterian growth model in which firms can undertake R&D activities that stochastically lead to the discovery of production technologies characterized by a higher elasticity of substitution between capital and labor. Improved possibilities for factor substitution mitigate the diminishment of the marginal product of capital and spur capital accumulation. Due to successful innovations, the steady state of the economy entails higher levels of the capital stock and the output good. Moreover, our numerical simulations show that the timing of innovations is important: two economies with the same steady-state elasticity of substitution between capital and labor can differ in terms of their steady-state levels of the capital stock and the output good. |
| Keywords: | Monopolistic competition,Endogenous elasticity of substitution,Functional normalization,Schumpeterian growth model |
| JEL: | E24 J24 J31 O33 O41 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tudcep:0220&r=all |
| By: | Stijn Baert (-) |
| Abstract: | This article introduces the metaphor of the iceberg in the labour market. While policy in most OECD countries has historically focussed on reducing unemployment (the tip of the iceberg), the group of inactive people (below the waterline) is much larger. Therefore, we point to the clear limitations of the unemployment rate as the (single) key macro-economic indicator of the health of the labour market. A parsimonious dashboard approach utilising the unemployment-to-population ratio and the inactivity-to-population ratio as two highly appropriate and complementary measures is defended. We show that the ratio of these two indices varies greatly between countries, which calls for different policies for different countries. |
| Keywords: | employment, unemployment, inactivity, labour market policy, labour market indicators |
| JEL: | J64 J08 J23 J24 J68 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:20/1002&r=all |
| By: | Mehrab Kiarsi; Samuel Muehlemann |
| Abstract: | We first show that in any reconfigured matching models of the labor market low vacancy posting costs play a central role in generating large unemployment volatility as observed in the data. Moreover, we show that low vacancy costs play a critical role in inducing wage inertia in these models as well. We show that the seemingly important roles of the replacement ratio and fundamental surplus fraction in inducing high unemployment and market tightness volatility are confounded with the role of vacancy posting costs. They, per se, are not important for labor market volatility. We then use unique data on job vacancies in Germany and show that the ratio of vacancy costs to GDP is extremely low. The estimated low vacancy costs imply that the leading models of the labor market perhaps have not much empirical difficulty in accounting for cyclical behavior of wages and labor market activity observed in the data. |
| Keywords: | Search and matching model, vacancy posting costs, wage inertia, unemployment volatility |
| JEL: | E23 E24 E30 E32 E39 J24 J31 J63 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0174&r=all |
| By: | Stijn Baert; Matteo Picchio (-) |
| Abstract: | This article contributes to the nascent literature on the effect of grade retention in school on later labour market success. A field experiment is conducted to rule out the endogeneity of both outcomes. More concretely, various treatments of grade retention are randomly assigned to fictitious résumés sent in application to real vacancies. Overall, grade retention does not significantly affect positive call-back by employers. However, when narrowing in on vacancies for occupations where on-the-job training is important, job candidates with a record of grade retention are 16% less likely to receive a positive reaction. This finding is consistent with Queuing theory. |
| Keywords: | grade retention, hiring youth, training, signalling, queuing |
| JEL: | I21 J23 J70 C93 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:20/999&r=all |
| By: | Cortes, Matias (York University, Canada); Tschopp, Jeanne (University of Bern) |
| Abstract: | Wage inequality has risen in many countries over recent decades. At the same time, production has become increasingly concentrated in a small number of firms. In this paper, we show that these two phenomena are linked. Theoretically, we show that shocks that increase concentration will also lead to an increase in wage dispersion between firms. Empirically, we use industry-level data from 14 European countries over the period 1999-2016 and show robust evidence of a positive and statis-tically significant correlation between concentration and between-firm wage inequality, driven by increases in market shares and wages in high productivity firms. |
| Keywords: | wage inequality, market power, heterogeneous firms, Europe |
| JEL: | J31 L11 E24 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13557&r=all |
| By: | Mauro Caselli (School of International Studies & Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento); Paolo Falco (Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark) |
| Abstract: | How does demand for migrant vs native workers change with price? We conduct an experiment with 56,000 Danish households (over 2 percent of all households in the country), who receive an advertisement from a cleaning company whose operators vary randomly across areas but meet the same quality standards and have equal customer ratings. When the operator has a migrant background, we find that demand is significantly lower than when the operator is a native. The gap, however, is highly sensitive to price, with demand for the migrant increasing steeply as the price falls. For an hourly pay close to the 25th percentile of the earnings distribution in similar occupations (24 USD per hour), demand for the migrant is one-fifth of the demand for the native. A 25 percent reduction in the price makes the gap in demand disappear. |
| Keywords: | Migrants, discrimination, experiment, labour market integration, consumer preferences |
| JEL: | C93 J23 J61 J71 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kud:kuiedp:2006&r=all |
| By: | Guven, Cahit; Sotirakopoulos, Panagiotis; Ulker, Aydogan |
| Abstract: | We examine the short-term labour market effects of COVID-19 and the associated national lockdown in Australia by estimating person-fixed-effects models using the Longitudinal Labour Force Survey. COVID-19 decreased labour force participation (LFP) by 2.1%, increased unemployment by 1.1% and reduced weekly working hours by 1.1. The national lockdown decreased LFP by 3.3%, increased unemployment by 1.7%, and decreased weekly working hours by 2.5. The probability of working on Fridays decreased by 10% while working fewer hours due to being on leave, work shifts, not having enough work and losing jobs all increased due to the lockdown. The pandemic and the lockdown increased underemployment and job search efforts significantly. In terms of heterogeneity of these effects, our analysis shows that those with up to high-school education experienced larger reductions in their LFP and working hours than others. However, immigrants and individuals with shorter job tenure or occupations unsuitable for remote work were hit the hardest in terms of unemployment. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19,National Lockdown,Labour Market,Short-term,Australia |
| JEL: | I15 I18 J21 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:635&r=all |
| By: | Danielle Li; Lindsey R. Raymond; Peter Bergman |
| Abstract: | This paper views hiring as a contextual bandit problem: to find the best workers over time, firms must balance “exploitation” (selecting from groups with proven track records) with “exploration” (selecting from under-represented groups to learn about quality). Yet modern hiring algorithms, based on “supervised learning” approaches, are designed solely for exploitation. Instead, we build a resume screening algorithm that values exploration by evaluating candidates according to their statistical upside potential. Using data from professional services recruiting within a Fortune 500 firm, we show that this approach improves the quality (as measured by eventual hiring rates) of candidates selected for an interview, while also increasing demographic diversity, relative to the firm's existing practices. The same is not true for traditional supervised learning based algorithms, which improve hiring rates but select far fewer Black and Hispanic applicants. In an extension, we show that exploration-based algorithms are also able to learn more effectively about simulated changes in applicant hiring potential over time. Together, our results highlight the importance of incorporating exploration in developing decision-making algorithms that are potentially both more efficient and equitable. |
| JEL: | D80 J20 M15 M51 O33 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27736&r=all |
| By: | Mario García-Zúñiga (University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides the first estimates of the number of days worked per year in the construction sector in Madrid between 1740 and 1810. Using a database of 389,000 observations with over 2.15 million paid days, we demonstrate how the length of the working year in the second half of eighteenth century was very close to the modern standard of 300 days, and that, by the end of the century, building workers—both skilled and unskilled— actually worked around 280 days, a far higher number than suggested by the current estimates for Spain or the figures proposed recently for northern Europe. |
| Keywords: | Spain, pre-industrial labour market, 18th century, working year, construction history |
| JEL: | J3 J49 N33 N63 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0195&r=all |
| By: | Craig Garthwaite; Jordan Keener; Matthew J. Notowidigdo; Nicole F. Ozminkowski |
| Abstract: | Intercollegiate amateur athletics in the US largely bars student-athletes from sharing in any of the profits generated by their participation, which creates substantial economic rents for universities. These rents are primarily generated by men’s football and men’s basketball programs. We characterize these economic rents using comprehensive revenue and expenses data for college athletic departments between 2006 and 2019, and we estimate rent-sharing elasticities to measure how rents flow to women’s sports and other men’s sports and lead to increased spending on facilities, coaches’ salaries, and other athletic department personnel. Using complete roster data for every student-athlete playing sports at these schools in 2018, we find that the rent-sharing effectively transfers resources away from students who are more likely to be black and more likely to come from poor neighborhoods towards students who are more likely to be white and come from higher-income neighborhoods. To understand the magnitude of the available rents, we calculate a wage structure for college athletes using the collective bargaining agreements in professional sports leagues as a benchmark. We also discuss how our results help understand how universities have responded to recent threats to these rents arising from litigation, legislation, and the global coronavirus pandemic. |
| JEL: | J3 Z2 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27734&r=all |
| By: | Anastasios Papanastasiou; Bradley J. Ruffle; Angela L. Zheng |
| Abstract: | We study the factors associated with compliance with social-distancing regulations using a unique dataset on the behaviour of Ontarians during the COVID-19 pandemic. To start, we build a simple theoretical model of social distancing in order to understand how some individual and community-level factors in uence compliance. We test our model's predictions by designing and conducting a survey on Ontarians in which we elicit their degree of compliance with current distancing regulations as well as proposed regulations that impose different fine levels on violators or grant wage subsidies to encourage staying at home. In line with the model's predictions, we show that variables related to one's risk of infection (e.g., health status, age, necessity of working outside the home, regional COVID-19 cases) are signi cant predictors of compliance as are gender, political beliefs, risk and time preferences. Furthermore, we demonstrate that fines and wage subsidies can be powerful policy tools for promoting full compliance with regulations. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19; physical distancing; non-compliance fines; wage subsidies; risk of infection. |
| JEL: | I12 I18 J38 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:deptwp:2020-16&r=all |
| By: | Philippe Sterkens; Stijn Baert; Claudia Rooman; Eva Derous (-) |
| Abstract: | Hiring discrimination towards (former) burnout patients has been extensively documented in the literature. To tackle this problem, it is important to understand the underlying mechanisms of such discrimination. Therefore, we conducted a vignette experiment with 425 genuine recruiters and jointly tested the potential stigma against job candidates with a history of burnout that were mentioned earlier in the literature. We found candidates revealing a history of burnout elicit perceptions of requiring work adaptations, likely having more unpleasant collaborations with others as well as diminished health, autonomy, ability to work under pressure, leadership capacity, manageability, and learning ability, when compared to candidates with a comparable gap in working history due to physical injury. Led by perceptions of a reduced ability to work under pressure, the tested perceptions jointly explained over 90% of the effect of revealing burnout on the probability of being invited to a job interview. In addition, the negative effect on interview probability of revealing burnout was stronger when the job vacancy required higher stress tolerance. In contrast, the negative impact of revealing burnout on interview probability appeared weaker when recruiters were women and when recruiters had previously had personal encounters with burnout. |
| Keywords: | hiring discrimination, burnout, statistical discrimination, taste-based discrimination |
| JEL: | J71 I14 C83 C91 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:20/1000&r=all |
| By: | Levan Bezhanishvili (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic); William Appleman (Charles University in Prague - CERGE-EI (Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute)); Zurab Abramishvili (International School of Economics at Tbilisi State University) |
| Abstract: | On September 1, 2014, Georgia enacted a one-time, immediate policy shifting public office working hours from 10:00-19:00 to 9:00-18:00 and affected the work schedules of all subjected employees. Due to professional scheduling conflicts faced by women with household responsibilities, some members of parliament believed that the new hours may be “family friendly†, i.e. convenient for combining career and household activities, and increase female labor participation. The policy affected approximately 200,000 employees, but had never been evaluated, nor had any similar policy in any economic literature. Given that the policy did not affect the private sector, we employed a difference-in-differences approach using the National Statistics Office of Georgia Households Incomes and Expenditures Survey from 2013 - 2016. We find that the policy did not lead to more women working in the public sector, but did end up leading to an increase in female working hours. It was not through the expected channel, but rather through the taking up of the reduced working hours of employees with children that had been working over 40 hours, especially by married women without children, followed by unmarried without children, and by part-time employees with children. Effectively, the policy directly reduced the engagement of full-time employees with children and slightly increased the engagement of part-time employees with children. It did not directly increase female labor participation. As male working hour engagement was most negatively affected and those hours were mostly taken up by females, it could be argued that the policy did, indirectly, have a positive impact on gender equality in the labor market and, possibly, even domestically. |
| Keywords: | I38, J21, J22, J23 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2020_30&r=all |