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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2006‒03‒11
nine papers chosen by |
| By: | Stephen P. Jenkins (Institute for Social and Economic Research); John Micklewright (University of Southampton); Sylke V. Schnepf (University of Southampton) |
| Abstract: | We provide new evidence about the degree of social segregation in England’s secondary schools, employing a cross-national perspective. Analysis is based on data for 24 OECD member countries from the 2000 and 2003 rounds of the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA), using a number of different measures of social background and of segregation, and allowing for sampling variation in the estimates. England is shown to be a middle-ranking country, as is the USA. High segregation countries include Austria, Belgium, Germany and Hungary. Low segregation countries include the four Nordic countries and Scotland. In explaining England’s position, we argue that its segregation is mostly accounted for by unevenness in social background in the state school sector. Focusing on this sector, we show that cross-country differences in segregation are associated with the prevalence of selective choice of pupils by schools. The low-segregation countries in the Nordic area have negligible selection in schools. High segregation countries like Austria, Germany and Hungary have separate school tracks for academic and vocational schooling and, in each case, over half of this is accounted for by unevenness in social background between the different tracks rather than by differences within each track. |
| Date: | 2006–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2006-02&r=ltv |
| By: | Robert Plasman (Free University of Brussels, DULBEA); Michael Rusinek (Free University of Brussels, DULBEA); François Rycx (Free University of Brussels, DULBEA and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | Using a unique harmonized matched employer-employee dataset (European Structure of Earnings Survey, 1995), we study the impact of the regime of collective bargaining on wages in the manufacturing sector of three countries that are characterized by a multi-level system of bargaining: Belgium, Denmark and Spain. Our findings show that, compared to multiemployer bargaining, single-employer bargaining has a positive effect both on wage levels and on wage dispersion in Belgium and in Denmark. In Spain, single-employer bargaining also increases wage levels but reduces wage dispersion. Our interpretation is that in Belgium and Denmark, single-employer bargaining is used to adapt pay to the specific needs of the firm while, in Spain, it is mainly used by trade unions in order to compress the wage distribution. |
| Keywords: | collective bargaining, wage structure |
| JEL: | J31 J51 J52 |
| Date: | 2006–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1990&r=ltv |
| By: | Miles Corak (Statistics Canada and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | A cross country comparison of generational earnings mobility is offered, and the reasons for the degree to which the long run labour market success of children is related to that of their parents is examined. The rich countries differ significantly in the extent to which parental economic status is related to the labour market success of children in adulthood. The strength of these associations should not be interpreted as offering a target or menu for the conduct of policy. A framework for understanding the underlying causal process as well as the conception of equality of opportunity is reviewed as a guide for public policy. |
| Keywords: | poverty, generational mobility |
| JEL: | D31 J62 |
| Date: | 2006–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1993&r=ltv |
| By: | Daniel S. Hamermesh |
| Abstract: | Eating requires the raw food materials that make up meals and also the time devoted to buying food, preparing meals and eating them, and cleaning up afterwards. Using time-diary and expenditure data for the United States for 1985 and 2003, I examine how income and time prices affect both time and goods input into this household-produced commodity. By focusing on these two years, between which income and earnings inequality increased, I analyze how household production is affected by changing economic opportunities. The results demonstrate that inputs into eating increase with income, and higher time prices at a given level of income reduce time inputs. Over this period the relative goods intensity of producing this commodity increased, especially at the lower part of the income distribution, and the average time input dropped substantially. The results are consistent with goods-time substitution being relatively difficult for eating and with substitution becoming relatively more difficult as production expands. |
| Date: | 2006–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_434&r=ltv |
| By: | David Card; Jesse Rothstein |
| Abstract: | Racial segregation is often blamed for some of the achievement gap between blacks and whites. We study the effects of school and neighborhood segregation on the relative SAT scores of black students across different metropolitan areas, using large microdata samples for the 1998-2001 test cohorts. Our models include detailed controls for the family background of individual test-takers, school-level controls for selective participation in the test, and city-level controls for racial composition, income, and region. We find robust evidence that the black-white test score gap is higher in more segregated cities. Holding constant family background and other factors, a shift from a fully segregated to a completely integrated city closes about one-quarter of the raw black-white gap in SAT scores. Specifications that distinguish between school and neighborhood segregation suggest that neighborhood segregation has a consistently negative impact but that school segregation has no independent effect (though we cannot reject equality of the two effects). We find similar results using Census-based data on schooling outcomes for youth in different cities. Data on enrollment in honors courses suggest that within-school segregation increases when schools are more highly integrated, potentially offsetting the benefits of school desegregation and accounting for our findings. |
| JEL: | H73 I20 J18 J24 R20 |
| Date: | 2006–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12078&r=ltv |
| By: | George J. Borjas |
| Abstract: | The rapid growth in the number of foreign students enrolled in American universities has transformed the higher education system, particularly at the graduate level. Many of these newly minted doctorates remain in the United States after receiving their doctoral degrees, so that the foreign student influx can have a significant impact in the labor market for high-skill workers. Using data drawn from the Survey of Earned Doctorates and the Survey of Doctoral Recipients, the study shows that a foreign student influx into a particular doctoral field at a particular time had a significant and adverse effect on the earnings of doctorates in that field who graduated at roughly the same time. A 10 percent immigration-induced increase in the supply of doctorates lowers the wage of competing workers by about 3 to 4 percent. About half of this adverse wage effect can be attributed to the increased prevalence of low-pay postdoctoral appointments in fields that have softer labor market conditions because of large-scale immigration. |
| JEL: | J23 J61 |
| Date: | 2006–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12085&r=ltv |
| By: | George J. Borjas |
| Abstract: | The ultimate impact of immigration on the United States obviously depends not only on the economic, social, political, and cultural shifts that take place during the life cycle of the immigrant population, but also on the adjustment process experienced by the immigrant household across generations. This paper documents the evidence on social mobility in the immigrant population and summarizes some of the lessons implied by the evidence. There is significant economic "catching up" between the first and second generations, with the relative wage of the second generation being, on average, about 5 to 10 percent higher than that of the first generation. At the same time, there is a strong positive correlation between the socioeconomic outcomes experienced by ethnic groups in the immigrant generation and the outcomes experienced by their children, and a weaker correlation between the immigrants and their grandchildren. In rough terms, about half of the differences in relative economic status across ethnic groups observed in one generation persist into the next. As a result, the very large ethnic differences in economic status that characterize the current immigrant population will likely dominate discussions of American social policy for much of the 21st century. |
| JEL: | J61 |
| Date: | 2006–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12088&r=ltv |
| By: | Andrés Erosa; Luisa Fuster; Diego Restuccia |
| Abstract: | Using panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), we document that gender differences in wages almost double during the first 20 years of labor market experience and that there are substantial gender differences in employment and hours of work during the life cycle. A large portion of gender differences in labor market attachment can be traced to the impact of children on the labor supply of women. We develop a quantitative life-cycle model of fertility, labor supply, and human capital accumulation decisions. We use this model to assess the role of fertility on gender differences in labor supply and wages over the life cycle. In our model, fertility lowers the lifetime intensity of market activity, reducing the incentives for human capital accumulation and wage growth over the life cycle of females relative to males. We calibrate the model to panel data of men and to fertility and child related labor market histories of women. We find that fertility accounts for most of the gender differences in labor supply and wages during the life cycle documented in the NLSY data. |
| Keywords: | Gender wage gap, employment, experience, fertility, human capital |
| JEL: | J2 J3 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-199&r=ltv |
| By: | L.Guarcello; M. Manacorda; F. Rosati; J. Fares; S.Lyon; C. Valdivia |
| Abstract: | While youth issues are subject of growing attention in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region, data for indicators relating specifically to youth employment remain scarce in most SSA countries. There is therefore limited empirical basis for formulating policies and programmes promoting youth employment and successful school to work transitions. The study is aimed at beginning to fill this gap by generating and analyzing a set of youth education and employment indicators based on World Bank survey data for a subset of 13 countries in the Sub Saharan Africa region. Study findings highlight the disadvantaged position of young people in the labour force in the region. They face much higher levels of unemployment than their adult counterparts or young people in developed economies, and are much more concentrated in low skill and unstable informal sector work. Youth never attending school emerge as a particular policy concern. Uneducated youth appear to be stuck not only in low income jobs but also face a high risk of unemployment. The study places particular emphasis on measuring the initial transition from school to work for different groups of young people, and on identifying the factors affecting this transition. Results indicate that the average duration of the transition is very long in many SSA countries, suggesting young people in these countries are faced with substantial labour market entry problems upon leaving the school system. |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucw:worpap:15&r=ltv |