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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2005‒02‒01
eight papers chosen by |
| By: | Sara de la Rica (Universidad del País Vasco); Juan Jose Dolado (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid); Vanesa Llorens (LECG Consulting Spain S.L.) |
| Keywords: | gender gap, glass ceilings, glass floors, quantile regressions |
| JEL: | J16 J71 |
| Date: | 2005–01–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehu:dfaeii:200501&r=ltv |
| By: | Annette Jäckle (Institute for Social and Economic Research); Emanuela Sala (Institute for Social and Economic Research); Stephen P. Jenkins (Institute for Social and Economic Research); Peter Lynn (Institute for Social and Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | This report derives from the project “Improving survey measurement of income and employment (ISMIE)” which investigates measurement error in survey data on income and employment, using a UK sub-sample of the European Household Community Panel (ECHP). In this paper we describe the process of collecting validation data and the outcomes of the process. Validation data were obtained from two sources: employers’ records and government benefit data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The former provided information on occupation and employment status, gross and net pay, membership of company pension schemes and industry sector. The latter provided histories of benefit receipt and tax credits, for example, child, disability, housing and unemployment benefits, pensions and income support. In the survey interview, respondents were asked for written permission both to obtain their DWP records and to contact their employer. They were also asked to provide information that would facilitate the process of obtaining the validation data: National Insurance number (NINO) and employer contact details. Subsequently, DWP records were extracted using a non-hierarchical matching strategy, based on different combinations of identifying variables obtained in the survey (NINO, sex, date of birth, name and postcode), and a survey of employers was carried out (mail, with telephone follow-up). The representativeness of the validation samples obtained depends on the co-operation of both survey respondents and providers of validation data, as well as errors in the matching process. We report permission rates, proportions providing matching items, match rates for the DWP data and response rates to the employer survey. We identify correlates of these measures of success at each stage of the validation process in terms of substantive characteristics of the survey respondents. Variation by subgroups is identified and implications for the representativeness of the validation sample are discussed. |
| Date: | 2004–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2004-14&r=ltv |
| By: | Peter Lynn (Institute for Social and Economic Research); Annette Jäckle (Institute for Social and Economic Research); Stephen P. Jenkins (Institute for Social and Economic Research); Emanuela Sala (Institute for Social and Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Using an experimental design, we compare two alternative approaches to dependent interviewing (proactive and reactive) with traditional independent interviewing on a module of questions about sources of income. We believe this to be the first large-scale quantitative comparison of proactive and reactive dependent interviewing. The three approaches to questioning are compared in terms of their impact on under-reporting of income sources and related bivariate statistics. The study design also enables identification of the characteristics of respondents whose responses are sensitive to the mode of interviewing. We conclude that under-reporting can be significantly greater with independent interviewing than with either form of dependent interviewing, especially for income sources that are relatively common or relatively easy to forget. We find that dependent interviewing is particularly helpful as a recall aid for respondents below retirement age and registered disabled persons. |
| Date: | 2004–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2004-16&r=ltv |
| By: | Marcus Eliason (Centre for European Labour Market Studies); Donald Storrie (Centre for European Labour Market Studies) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we examine the long-term effects of job displacement due to establishment closures in Sweden on labor market status. Using linked employer-employee data we are able to identify all employees displaced in 1987 and follow them until 1999. The displaced employees are compared to a large random sample of non-displaced employees by using a difference–in–difference matching estimator. We find a rapid and almost total recovery of those displaced in 1987 compared to the control group up to 1990, both with respect to employment and unemployment. However, with the advent of the deep recession in 1990, the two groups again diverge and by the end of the century, the echo of the job loss 13 years earlier had still not subsided. We attribute the longer-term effects to recurrent displacements. Among the various possible explanations of this phenomenon, we focus on short tenure on subsequent jobs which makes the previously displaced vulnerable to further adverse shocks. We cannot precisely identify the significance of short tenure for recurrent displacement but loss of job specific capital or seniority lay-offs rules are the prime candidates. |
| Date: | 2004–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2004-20&r=ltv |
| By: | Marcus Eliason (Centre for European Labour Market Studies) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to examine the effect of a spouse's job loss on the probability that his/her marriage ends in divorce. Previous empirical studies on this matter are sparse, and the results inconclusive. Moreover, all previous studies focus on the short-term effects. A unique Swedish data set is used, containing all married couples where one of the spouses was displaced, due to an establishment closure, and an appropriate comparison group. I provide further evidence that the adverse consequences of a job loss cannot be measured in monetary terms alone, and extend the current literature on the impact of job loss (unemployment) on marital instability by also investigate the impact in the long run. The results suggest the existence of a destabilizing impact on marriages from both husbands’, and wives’, job losses, and both in the short and the longer run. |
| Date: | 2004–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2004-21&r=ltv |
| By: | Stephen P. Jenkins (Institute for Social and Economic Research); Peter Lynn (Institute for Social and Economic Research); Annette Jäckle (Institute for Social and Economic Research); Emanuela Sala (Institute for Social and Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Linkages of household survey responses with administrative data may be based on unique individual identifiers or on survey respondent characteristics. The benefits gained from using unique identifiers need to be assessed in the light of potential problems such as non-response and measurement error. We report on a study that linked survey responses to UK government agency records on benefits and tax credits in five different ways. One matched on a respondent-supplied National Insurance Number and the other four used different combinations of sex, name, address, and date of birth. As many linkages were made using matches on sex, date of birth, and post-code, or on sex, date of birth, first name and family name, as were made using matches on self-reported National Insurance Number, and the former were also relatively accurate when assessed in terms of false positive and false negative rates. The five independent matching exercises also shed light on the potential returns from hierarchical and pooled matching. |
| Date: | 2004–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2004-23&r=ltv |
| By: | Stephen P. Jenkins (Institute for Social and Economic Research); Lorenzo Cappellari (Universita Cattolica di Milano); Annette Jäckle (Institute for Social and Economic Research); Emanuela Sala (Institute for Social and Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | We analyse consent patterns and consent bias in the context of a large general household survey, the ‘Improving survey measurement of income and employment’ (ISMIE) survey, also addressing issues that arise when there are multiple consent questions. Using a multivariate probit regression model for four binary outcomes with two incidental truncations, we show that there are biases in consent to data linkage with benefit and tax credit administrative records held by the Department for Work and Pensions, and with wage and employment data held by employers, and also in respondents’ willingness and ability to supply their National Insurance Number. The biases differ according to the question considered, however. We also show that modelling consent questions independently rather than jointly may lead to misleading inferences about consent bias. A positive correlation between unobservable individual factors affecting consent to DWP record linkage and consent to employer record linkage is suggestive of a latent individual consent propensity. |
| Date: | 2004–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2004-27&r=ltv |
| By: | Carneiro, Pedro (University College London); Heckman, James (University of Chicago); Masterov, Dimitriy (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the relative significance of differences in cognitive skills and discrimination in explaining racial/ethnic wage gaps. We show that cognitive test scores taken prior to entering the labor market are influenced by schooling. Adjusting the scores for racial/ethnic differences in education at the time the test is taken reduces their role in accounting for the wage gaps. We also consider evidence on parental and child expectations about education and on stereotype-threat effects. We find both factors to be implausible alternative explanations for the gaps we observe. We argue that policies need to address the sources of early skill gaps and to seek to influence the more malleable behavioral abilities in addition to their cognitive counterparts. Such policies are far more likely to be effective in promoting racial and ethnic equality for most groups than are additional civil rights and affirmative action policies targeted at the workplace. |
| Keywords: | Cognitive skills; discrimination; wage gaps |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2004–09–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2005_003&r=ltv |