The end of the credential society? An analysis of the relationship between education and the labour market using big data
ABSTRACTA major focus of sociological research is on the role of the credential as a ‘currency of opportunity’, mediating the relationship between education and occupational destinations. However, the labour market has largely remained a ‘black box’ in sociological and education policy studies. This article draws on ‘big data’ from over 21,000,000 job adverts to explore how employers in the UK describe job requirements, with particular reference to the role of credentials. It challenges existing theories premised upon the notion that higher levels of formal education determine individual (dis)advantage in the competition for jobs. Although they have different views of the relationship between credentials, opportunity and efficiency, these theories assume that credentials largely determine occupational hiring. Our analysis suggests that formal academic credentials play a relatively minor differentiating role in the UK labour market, as the majority of employer’s place greater emphasis on ‘job readiness’. This raises a number of issues for sociological and policy analysis, including the future role of credentials in the (re)production of educational and labour market inequalities. Methodologically, the article highlights how the use of big data can contribute to the analysis of education, skills and the labour market.
- Research Article
75
- 10.1093/sf/soy096
- Oct 1, 2018
- Social Forces
Why do some people succeed in the labor market after incarceration but others do not? We study the transition from prison to work with data on monthly employment and earnings for a sample of men and women observed for a year after incarceration. More than in earlier research, the data provide detailed measurement of temporary and informal employment and richly describe the labor market disadvantages of formerly incarcerated men and women. We find that half the sample is jobless in any given month and average earnings are well below the poverty level. By jointly modeling employment and earnings, we show that blacks and Hispanics have lower total earnings than whites even after accounting for health, human capital, social background, crime and criminal justice involvement, and job readiness. A decomposition attributes most of the earnings gaps to racial and ethnic inequalities in employment. Qualitative interviews suggest that whites more than blacks and Hispanics find stable, high-paying jobs through social networks. These findings support a hypothesis of racialized re-entry that helps explain the unusual disadvantage of African Americans at the nexus of the penal system and the labor market.
- Research Article
- 10.1002/cl2.136
- Jan 1, 2015
- Campbell Systematic Reviews
Benefit programmes protect individuals against loss of income and provide unemployed individuals the possibility of finding a better match between their qualifications and job vacancies. This positive aspect of inducing workers to achieve better job matches has been shown to increase economic efficiency (Acemoglu & Shimer, 1999; Marimon & Zilibotti, 1999). However, unemployment benefits may also distort incentives by subsidizing long and unproductive job searches. In fact, the generosity of unemployment benefits is generally considered the main factor by which benefit systems affect unemployment. From a societal point of view, therefore, the optimal unemployment benefit system will balance considerations for protection with those for distortion (Feldstein, 2005; Mortensen, 1987). Theory suggests that putting a limit on benefit duration will tend to accelerate job search from the beginning of the unemployment spell and thereby shorten unemployment duration (Pissarides, 2000). Thus, generosity of benefits is determined not only by the amount paid but also by the duration of benefit entitlement. In the US, replacement rates1 are low and duration is short compared to benefit systems in most European countries. In 2005 the maximum duration of unemployment insurance entitlement among OECD countries 2 was shortest in the US at 6 months 3 and longest in Denmark, Norway, Portugal, the Netherlands, France, Finland and Spain, varying between 23 and 48 months (OECD, 2007). At the same time, the gross initial replacement rate was around 50% in the US, while varying between 62% and 90% in the aforementioned European countries. The lower level of generosity of benefits in the US compared to Europe is consistent with the observation of higher levels of active searches and a greater willingness to accept inferior jobs by unemployed workers in the US compared to Europe (Layard, Nickell & Jackman, 2005). As a consequence European policy-makers may be tempted to reduce the generosity of unemployment systems in order to reduce high unemployment levels4. While lowering the replacement rate may be politically intractable (indeed, examples of reductions of benefit rates and amounts are rare), the length of the unemployment benefit entitlement period is often used as a political instrument to improve work incentives for the unemployed. In Spain, for example, the benefit period was altered in 1992, in Slovenia in 1998, in Norway in 1997, in the UK in 1996, in Denmark in 1996, 1998 and 1999, and, more recently, in the Czech Republic in 2004, in Hungary and Portugal in 2006, and in Denmark again in 2010. The important public policy question is whether a more generous unemployment benefit system is causally related to higher unemployment rates. As pointed out in Card and Riddell (1993), there can be several complementary explanations for high unemployment rates, including differences in the fraction of nonworking time that is reported as unemployment (particularly among individuals with very low levels of labour supply), and differences in the overall distributions of working and nonworking time. Recent research on the effect of extended duration of unemployment insurance benefits in the US shows that benefit extensions raised the unemployment rate, but at least half of the effect is attributable to reduced labour force exit among the unemployed rather than to the changes in reemployment rates that are of greater policy concern (Rothstein, 2011). This review will focus on the effect on job finding rates of reducing the maximum duration of entitlement of unemployment benefits, and secondarily on the effects on the quality of these jobs. The intervention of interest is reduction in the maximum duration of entitlement of any kind of unemployment benefit with a known expiration date. The benefits may be unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, or they may be unemployment assistance (UA)/social assistance (SA) benefits as long as they have a known expiration date. In the majority of OECD countries, the UI benefit has a time-limit. In fact, only Belgium has an unlimited UI period. In other countries, the maximum duration varies between 6 months (as for example in the UK and the US) and 36 months (in Iceland). In most OECD countries, a secondary benefit is available for those who have exhausted regular UI benefits. This is known as SA benefits. Unlike UI benefits, SA benefits are generally means-tested without any necessary connection to past employment; they pay a lower level of benefit and are indefinite. We know of only one example of a SA benefit with a time limit: the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) which is available in the US. The federal government requires states to impose between 2- or 5-year limits on TANF (Gustafson & Levine, 1997). In a minority of OECD countries, UA benefits are paid after exhaustion of UI benefits. Like SA benefits, they are generally means-tested, pay a lower level of benefits and, excepting Hungary, Portugal and Sweden, are indefinite. Unemployment benefits with an indefinite time limit or non-financial benefits will be excluded from this review. Search theory offers an explanation for how this intervention might work. According to search theory, one can derive a relationship between the job-finding rate and the parameters of the benefit system, in particular the maximum benefit duration and the replacement rate (Mortensen, 1977). This relationship is driven by adjustments in search effort and reservation wages. The reservation wage is the minimum wage at which the unemployed are willing to accept a job. Forward-looking unemployed workers chose their current search effort and reservation wage in order to maximize the sum of the utility flow realized during the current period, plus the expected discounted future utility flow given that an optimal strategy will be pursued in every future period. The current search effort and reservation wage are thus affected by the future level of benefits. When the benefit period expires, the unemployed person experiences a potentially large drop in income. As the time of benefit exhaustion approaches, the value to that person of remaining unemployed falls, implying a higher search effort and/or a fall in the reservation wage, leading to a higher exit rate out of unemployment (Mortensen, 1977). This non-stationarity implies that unemployed individuals with different lengths of benefit entitlement have different optimal paths of reservation wage and search effort over time (van den Berg 1990). A shorter entitlement period gives the unemployed individual a stronger incentive to quickly gain employment in order to avoid the drop in income after the exhaustion date. How strong the incentive is depends on the magnitude of the income drop. If no secondary benefit is available for those who have exhausted their current benefit, the incentive to gain employment will be stronger. If an increased job finding rate is mainly driven by lowering the reservation wage, a lower job match quality is to be expected, for example, in the form of lower wages and/or lower re-employment duration. A number of factors may have an impact on the magnitude of the expected increase in the job finding rate. In general, the overall labour market conditions (i.e. the vacancy rate5 and, in particular, the unemployment rate) have an impact on the availability of and competition for jobs. If the vacancy rate is high (i.e. the number of vacancies is high in relation to job seekers) we would expect a bigger effect on job finding rates than if the vacancy rate is low. We would further expect a lower effect if the unemployment rate is high, regardless of the vacancy rate. If the vacancy rate is low coincident with a high unemployment rate, competition for available jobs is likely to be high. If the vacancy rate is high coincident with a high unemployment rate, it suggests mismatch in the labour market (i.e., the process by which vacant jobs and job seekers meet is not efficient) (Filges & Larsen, 2000; Pissarides, 2000). Whether compulsory participation in active labour market programmes is part of the unemployment system may also have an impact on the effect of maximum duration of entitlement. The compulsory aspect of activation may provide an incentive for unemployed individuals to look for and return to work prior to programme participation; the so called threat effect. Filges and Hansen (2015) summarize the available evidence on the threat effect of active labour market programmes and report a significant threat effect of compulsory participation in active labour market programmes. Further, actual participation in active labour market programmes may improve some of the participants' qualifications, thus helping them to find a job. Alternatively, active labour market programmes may have negative stigmatization and signalling effects to employers. Programmes associated with participants having poor employment prospect may carry a stigma. Because of asymmetric information, employers do not know the productivity of new workers, some of whom they might hire from the pool of the unemployed. Prospective employers might then perceive participants in such programmes as low productivity workers or workers with tenuous labour market attachment (Kluve et al. 1999; Kluve et al., 2007). A recent systematic review by Filges et al. (2015) investigated the effect of participating in active labour market programmes and found that there is a significant positive effect, although small, of participating in active labour market programmes. The effect reported in Filges et al. (2015) is however a pure post-programme effect of active labour market programmes; it refers to the period after participation in a programme. The net effect of active labour market programme participation on job-finding rates is, however, composed of two separate effects: a lock-in effect and a post-programme effect. The lock-in effect refers to the period of participation in a programme. During this period, job-search intensity may be lowered because there is less time to search for a job, and participants may want to complete an on-going skill-enhancing activity; hence the lock-in effect. The combination of the two effects, lock-in and post-programme, consequently determines the net effects of active labour market programme participation on unemployment duration. These additional effects on the search behaviour and employment prospects when compulsory participation in active labour market programmes is part of the unemployment system may dampen the observed effects of maximum duration of entitlement on job finding rates. Finally, the type of unemployment benefit may have an impact on the effect on the job finding rate. As mentioned above, some countries employ two systems to provide benefits to unemployed individuals: an unemployment insurance system for individuals who typically have a strong labour market attachment (UI benefits) and a social welfare system for individuals who often have other problems in addition to unemployment (SA or UA benefits). The effect size in social welfare systems offering unemployment benefits with a known expiration date is, due to the participants' lower labour market attachment, expected to be less than the effect size in unemployment insurance systems with a known expiration date. In order to reduce high unemployment levels, policy-makers may wish to reduce the generosity of the unemployment system either in amount (the replacement rate) or in maximum potential duration. The positive correlation between unemployment benefit generosity in terms of the replacement rate and unemployment duration is well established at the empirical level (Layard et al., 2005). However, it may be politically intractable to lower the replacement rate, and there are indeed strong efficiency and equity arguments for having a reasonable value of unemployment benefits (Acemoglu & Shimer, 1999; Marimon & Zilibotti, 1999). Search theory suggests that an increase in unemployment benefit generosity, in terms of maximum duration of benefit entitlement, has a negative impact on the job search activities of the unemployed increasing their unemployment duration. There is clear evidence that the prospect of exhaustion of benefits results in a significantly increased incentive for finding work, although the effect is small (Filges et al., 2013). Hence, shortening the benefit eligibility period may reduce the share of long and unproductive job searches somewhat. The conclusion in Filges et al. (2013) however leaves unanswered the question of by how much reducing the maximum unemployment benefit entitlement will decrease unemployment duration. There are many empirical papers on the effect of maximum benefit entitlement on unemployed individuals (Caliendo, Tatsiramos and Uhlendoff 2009; Bennmarker, Carling & Holmlund, 2007; Ham & Rea, 1987; Hunt, 1995; Katz & Meyer, 1990 and Lalive & Zweimüller, 2004), but the empirical research has not been summarized in a systematic review to obtain a clearer picture of the available evidence on the employment effect of reducing maximum duration of benefit entitlement. One paper provides a review of the literature on how incentives in unemployment insurance can be improved (Fredriksson and Holmlund 2006). However, it is not a systematic review and, furthermore, the authors do not make the important distinction between exits to employment and exits to other destinations such as such as other kinds of benefits or out of the labour force. Distinguishing between destinations is vital. As shown in Card, Chetty and Weber (2007), the exit rate from registered unemployment increases over 10 times more than the rate of re-employment at the expiration of benefits. The difference between the two measures arises because many individuals leave the unemployment register immediately after their benefits expire without returning to work. There is a great deal of political interest in optimizing the unemployment benefit system so it balances the protection and distortion dimensions. The political interest is to reduce the unemployment level, to prevent exploitation of the unemployment benefit system and at the same time protect the unemployed individuals from the consequences of involuntary unemployment. It is therefore of great importance to establish the effect of reducing maximum duration of unemployment benefit entitlement on employment probabilities. The purpose of this review is to systematically uncover relevant studies in the literature that measure the effects of shortening the maximum duration of unemployment benefit entitlement on job finding rates, and to synthesize the effects in a transparent manner. As a secondary objective we will, where possible, investigate the extent to which the effects differ among different groups of unemployed such as high/low educated or men/women, and further explore from which point in the unemployment spell do unemployed individuals react to the length of benefit entitlement. The title for this systematic review was approved in The Campbell Collaboration on 9. October 2012. Study designs that use a well-defined control group are eligible. The main control or comparison condition is no change in maximum duration of benefit entitlement. Non-randomized studies, where the reduction in maximum duration of benefit entitlement has occurred in the course of usual decisions outside the researcher's control must demonstrate pre-treatment group equivalence via matching, statistical controls, or evidence of equivalence on key risk variables (e.g., labour market conditions) and participant characteristics. These factors are outlined in section ‘Assessment of risk of bias in included studies’ under the subheading of Confounding, and the methodological appropriateness of the included studies will be assessed according to the risk of bias model outlined in section ‘Assessment of risk of bias in included studies’. Studies of the effect of reducing unemployment benefit entitlement typically are estimated on data collected from administrative registers or by questionnaires. Studies that use different data sources for treatment and control groups will not be eligible. Only studies that use individual micro-data are eligible. Studies that rely on regional or national time series data are not eligible, even though micro-econometric estimates of individual effects merely provide partial information about the full impact of shortening the maximum duration of benefit entitlement (Calmfors, 1994; Calmfors, 1995). We will include studies irrespective of their publication status, and their electronic availability. We will include unemployed individuals who receive some sort of time limited benefit during their unemployment spell. The International Labour Office (ILO) definition of an unemployed individual is a person, male or female, aged 15-74, without a job who is available for work and either has searched for work in the past four weeks or is available to start work within two weeks and/or is waiting to start a job already obtained (ILO, 1990); however, different countries may apply different definitions of an unemployed individual, see for example Statistics Denmark (2009). We will include participants receiving all types of unemployment benefits with a known exhaustion date. The only restriction is that the benefits must be related to being unemployed. We will therefore exclude individuals who only receive other types of benefits not related to being unemployed. We will include all unemployed participants regardless of age, gender, etc. who receive some sort of time limited benefit during their unemployment spell. The intervention is reduction in the maximum duration of entitlement of any kind of unemployment benefits. The benefits may be unemployment insurance (UI) benefits or they may be unemployment assistance (UA)/social assistance (SA). The only requirement is that the benefit must have a known expiration date. The UI benefit usually has a known time-limit whereas UA and SA usually are indefinite. Unemployment benefits with an indefinite time limit or non-financial benefits will be excluded from this review. The objective is to determine whether reducing the maximum entitlement to unemployment benefits motivates unemployed individuals to find a job more quickly. Distinguishing between destinations is therefore vital. The primary outcome is exits to employment. Studies only looking at exits to other destinations such as other types of social benefits or non-employment and studies who do not distinguish between destinations are not eligible. We will consider secondary outcomes in terms of the impact that reducing the maximum duration of entitlement of benefit has on the duration of re-employment and on income. This will the done in order to obtain a clearer picture of the effect that reducing the maximum entitlement of unemployment benefit has on the quality of the job. If the duration of re-employment or the wage is low, this could indicate that reducing entitlement forces unemployed individuals to find jobs that do not match their qualifications and therefore they may return to unemployment quickly. Outcomes measured as hazard ratios may be reported as an overall effect on the hazard ratio, or may be reported separate for various unemployment duration intervals. All time points reported will be considered. All types of settings are eligible. Relevant studies will be identified through electronic searches of bibliographic databases, research networks, government policy databanks and internet search engines. No language or date restrictions are applied in the searches6. An example of the search strategy for Business Source Elite is listed in Appendix 1.4. The strategy will be modified for the different databases. We will report full details of the modifications in the completed review. Additional searches will be made by means of Google (including Google Scholar) and we will check the first 150 hits. OpenSIGLE will be used to search for European grey literature (http://opensigle.inist.fr/). Copies of relevant documents will be made and we will record the exact URL and date of access for each relevant document. Websites of the following private independent research institutes and economic networks will be searched: IZA -- Institute of the Study of Labor (www.iza.org) CEPR -- Centre for Economic Policy Research (www.cepr.org) NBER -- National Bureau of Economic Research (www.nber.org) MDRC -- the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation -- (www.mdrc.org) CESifo -- the cooperation between CES (Center for Economic Studies) and IFO (Institute for Economic Research) -- (www.cesifo-group.de/portal/page/portal/ifoHome) are all covered via IDEAS. In addition we will look into the following sites: Danish Economic Councils (www.dors.dk) OECD - the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (www.oecd.org) IMF - The International Monetary Fund (www.imf.org) AIECE - Association of European Conjuncture Institutes (www.aiece.org) ESRC - Economic Social Research Council (www.esrc.ac.uk) Copenhagen Economics (www.copenhageneconomics.com) SSRN -- Social Science Research Network (www.ssrn.com) will also be searched to uncover potential preprint discussion papers. Unpublished theses and dissertations will be searched through the databases: Theses and dissertations and Theses Canada. Copies of relevant documents from Internet-based sources will be made. We will record the exact URL and date of of included studies and of relevant will be of Labor and will be searched for the and the available of of included studies and relevant will be searched for potential new with national and will be considered to and on-going We expect that a of the studies we will have been without of there is no for in labour market This among other from some of of participants due to about of The in these studies without of participants is the of the effect. studies use in benefit or changes of the maximum entitlement period. A policy is to the maximum benefit period when labour market conditions are expected to studies use this policy to the effect on unemployment duration & Rea, 1987; Hunt, and Katz & Meyer, 1990). It is however to rely on such a as these changes any other policy If the of the change are not for it will of the effect will be due to the labour market conditions that to the change in entitlement in the first A more recent & Zweimüller, extended benefit entitlement in and four different in order to the effect of extended benefit entitlement from the impact of labour The extended benefit entitlement was to the labour market problems in and for of The was therefore limited to job seekers aged or in for a limited time period (the after implying that there may be many workers who are to different for time and they different of where no are consider the policy of extended benefit entitlement as thereby to the when it can be that the individuals are not to during the observation period Lalive & Zweimüller, for further The same of apply to all changes to the maximum entitlement period. example the by and of the unemployment insurance system in The reduced the maximum duration of benefits, by half for most groups of the effect, they a strategy and the of employment and after the for those affected with the job finding for those who not avoid bias due to of the from employment to they only consider data for the period of 2 months and 2 months after the The authors further that it is a as the in potential benefit duration to the of the labour market and furthermore, potential benefit duration for different groups of unemployed. In Tatsiramos & the is on a The strategy on a in the maximum duration of unemployment benefits at the of in unemployed who are the with unemployed the gives a measure of the effect of maximum duration of benefits. is the in Lalive on a in the potential benefit duration at and in We will into the of of the studies to determine to whether individuals in groups (i.e. whether individuals may have whether there treatment groups and whether several studies are on the same data included in this review will be for in the of and the of as statistical can when they are When have been we will effect estimates and their & 2011). In where have not applied that control for effects, we will the correlation & and Studies with intervention groups with different individuals will be included in this review. avoid problems with between effect we will apply & However, studies that this around studies included in the data et al., If this number be we will use a effect size (the in order to avoid between effect This provides an of the effect size but the effects applied when effect are better in terms of than do effects 2007). However, of when effect are included are less often than If is not (e.g., the and/or control groups include the same only one intervention group will be and compared to the control group to avoid The of which to include will be on risk of bias We will the that we to have the least risk of bias bias and in of the data will be In some several studies may have used the same of data or some studies may have used only a of a used in We will review all such studies, but in the we will only include one of the effect from each of This will be done to avoid between the (i.e. the estimates of the in the The of which to include will be on risk of bias of the We will the from the that we to have the least risk of bias If two studies are to have the same risk of bias and one of the studies a of a used in or studies, we will include the the full of When the results are measured at time each outcome at each time point will be in a separate with other studies at a time As a these will be according to length of unemployment duration as to less than 6 6 months to more than However, the studies provide for an of relevant and duration for the of we will the the of review two review will first and to exclude studies that are Studies considered by at least one or studies there is in
- Research Article
40
- 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2005.01036.x
- Nov 1, 2005
- The Economic Journal
Immigration has become one of the most important topics of popular debate in the UK. While the balance of public opinion is to reduce immigration, the numbers migrating to Britain has increased sharply over the last decade. Recent years have also seen a series of changes in immigration policy which have been accompanied by a heightened interest in research findings that can help to guide policy in the future. The papers in this Feature address some of the key economic issues. Do immigrants reduce wages and employment rates for non-immigrant workers? And what are the adjustment mechanisms through which immigrant labour is absorbed into the economy? How do immigrants perform in the UK labour market and how and why do they suffer disadvantage in the competition for jobs? There is a large empirical literature that debates these questions for the US and other traditional countries of immigration. For Britain, the literature is smaller and has not progressed as far. The articles in this Feature aim to advance the discussion, first with an examination of recent findings for the US, and then with three studies that address some of the same issues for the UK. To put the UK evidence into context, the first article is an assessment for the US by one of the leading US economists on the economics of migration. David Card investigates the impact of migration on US wages and employment, as well as the various mechanisms that may lead to adjustment. He also addresses the performance of immigrants in the US economy. Here he takes a slightly more general stand than much of the literature by considering the intergenerational adaptation of immigrants. His conclusions on employment and wage impact are in line with much of the previous literature: although immigration has strong effects on relative supplies of different skill groups, local labour market outcomes for low skilled natives are not much affected by these relative supply shocks. The evidence suggests that this is due to adjustment within industries, rather than across industries, to skill-group specific relative supply shocks. Card also argues that the evidence is not suggestive of displacement effects of native workers from one locality to another, an argument that is often used to account for small wage effects in studies based on local labour market analysis. Finally, Card’s analysis on immigrant assimilation supports the view that first generation immigrants do not on average catch up with natives in terms of economic performance, but shows a strong educational progress of second generation immigrants, where most catch up with children of natives. His paper provides an overall positive assessment of the new migration into the US. These issues remain controversial in the US. Borjas (2003) argues that the negative wage effects from immigration can be observed at the national level. There is disagreement about how local labour markets adjust to immigration and The Economic Journal, 115 (November), F297–F299. Royal Economic Society 2005. PublishedbyBlackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
- Research Article
1
- 10.53808/kus.2019.16.1and2.1809-s
- Dec 28, 2019
- Khulna University Studies
Gender inequality in the labor market is a common occurrence across the developed or least developed countries. The objective of the study was to explore how the nature and extent of gender inequality in the labor market vary between a developed and a least developed country. In this regard, the Czech Republic as a developed and Bangladesh as a least developed country were selected purposively considering their socioeconomic status. A quantitative content analysis was done to compare the gender inequality in labor market using key databases including Labor Force Survey 2010 of Bangladesh, Labor Force Survey 2013 of Czech Republic, Eurostat 2014, ILO 2013, and World Bank 2012. The findings reveal that for the labor force participation, the number of Bangladeshi women (36 percent) is found less than half of men (82.5 percent) whereas, in Czech, the difference between men (68.1 percent) and women (59.5 percent) is much lower in this sector. While women in both countries failed to keep pace with men in employment, this gap is broader in Bangladesh. Moreover, in two countries, women’s appearance in higher level positions such as administrative, managerial and technical remain negligible and gender pay gap is found 21 percent for the Czech Republic and 25 percent for Bangladesh. In general, although gender inequality persists in the labor market of both countries, the ratio of inequalities is minor in the Czech labor market than that of Bangladesh. Attending of women in technical and vocational education and promoting gender blind mindset during recruitment can ensure gender equality in the labor market to a great extent. This study calls for integrating new dimensions of gender inequality such as underemployment, parenting and unemployment, and comparing more than two countries to have a holistic picture,which could stimulate dialogue of social research.
- Research Article
176
- 10.1086/259898
- May 1, 1972
- Journal of Political Economy
Racial Discrimination and Trade Unionism
- Components
- 10.18356/b7277ec0-en
- Jul 27, 2001
The way in which the economically active population (EAP) develops is determined by demographic trends and the degree to which the working age population offers its labour in the labour market. The progression of the demographic transition has caused the annual growth rate of the working age population to fall in Latin America and the Caribbean, thus lessening the pressure on the labour market. At the same time, the new cohorts entering the market have higher levels of formal education, which improves their chances of productive integration in the workforce, although serious doubts persist as to the quantitative and qualitative results of the region’s education systems.
- Book Chapter
4
- 10.4018/978-1-7998-3737-4.ch002
- Oct 28, 2020
Indonesia has committed to embody gender equality in the labor market through gender mainstreaming programs in all sectors. Nevertheless, the reality indicates that gender inequality in the labor market still exists. This chapter aims to discuss various issues of gender inequality in the Indonesian labor market in the agriculture, manufacturing, and services sectors. The data used for the analysis is the 2016 national labor force survey. The survey covered 82,613 workers with 31,256 of them from the agricultural sector, 14,835 from the manufacturing sector and 36,522 from the services sector. The analysis shows the dominance of male labor in all the sectors with the lowest proportion of female workers occurs in the manufacturing sector (27.1%) followed by the agricultural sector (37.5%) and the services (46.5%). Based on the type of position, men are more dominant in strategic positions in all the three sectors. The highest wage disparity between women and men takes place in the agricultural sector followed by the manufacturing and the services.
- 10.7892/boris.114083
- Sep 29, 2017
The educational expansion of the last decades has broadened access to higher education. Especially girls caught up with boys in their educational attainments (DiPrete and Buchmann 2013). Whether educational inequalities by social origin decreased is less clear. Moreover, there is evidence that this trend might be gender specific: Becker and Muller (2011) show that the effects of social origin on educational outcomes remained strong for boys but less so for girls. At the same time, improved education for women has not translated into equal work opportunities for men and women (Blau and Kahn 2016). So far, in research on educational transitions and/or labour market inequalities, effects of social origin and gender have rarely been studied jointly (for an exception see Rivera and Tilcsik 2016). The aim of our research is to fill this gap and better understand the mechanisms that lead to differences in occupational outcomes at the intersection of social origin and gender by considering different pathways from compulsory education into the labour market. Theoretically, we combine two lines of argumentation: First, we draw on the literature on primary and secondary effects of origin (Bourdieu and Passeron 1971; Boudon 1974; Breen and Goldthorpe 1997). Second, we assume that the horizontal gender segregation by field of study, vocational education and training (VET), and occupation (Barone and Schizzerotto 2011; Charles and Bradley 2009; Gabay-Egozi et al. 2014) can translate into vertical stratification (for Switzerland see for example: Imdorf and Hupka-Brunner 2015; Hupka-Brunner et al. 2011; Zimmermann 2012). Furthermore, we pursue a life-course perspective to identify cumulative advantages or disadvantages over the educational trajectory (Sackmann 2007, Chapter 6). In order to investigate this empirically, we use data from the TREE (Transitions from Education to Employment) panel study that follows a large sample of Swiss PISA 2000 participants in their transition from education to their labour market position at age 30 (nine data collection waves, 2001–2014). In a first step, we employ sequence analysis to identify relevant clusters of sequences of education and job episodes of the respondents. Then, we conduct regression analysis to determine how these types of educational pathways influence job outcomes depending on social origin and gender. Classifying the pathways using sequence analysis allows us to reduce the complexity of individual life courses without sacrificing the strength of panel data. Preliminary results show, first, that educational pathways differ by social origin and gender. The higher the social status of the parents, the more likely it is that children pass through one of the academic pathways. Similarly, women more often to run through an academic track, whereas men more frequently complete vocational training. Second, these different trajectories lead to unequal occupational status. Net of the educational trajectory also a significant effect of social origin remains. Finally, gender effects on job outcomes are specific to educational trajectories, indicating that they result from horizontal segregation.
- Research Article
- 10.70177/ijen.v3i2.2153
- Apr 19, 2025
- International Journal of Educational Narratives
Background. With increasing competition in the labor market, students must possess not only academic knowledge but also the practical skills and emotional readiness to transition into professional environments. Purpose. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a career guidance program in improving students’ job readiness, focusing on key factors such as self-efficacy, communication skills, and career decision-making abilities. Method. A quantitative research design was employed, using pre- and post-surveys to assess the program’s impact on a sample of 300 high school students. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and paired sample t-tests. Results. The results indicate a significant improvement in students’ job readiness after participating in the career guidance program. The most notable gains were observed in self-confidence, the ability to make informed career decisions, and the development of job-search skills. Conclusion. The study concludes that career guidance programs are highly effective in equipping students with the necessary skills and mindset to succeed in the job market. Schools and educational institutions should prioritize the implementation of such programs to better prepare students for future employment opportunities.
- Research Article
145
- 10.1086/653654
- Apr 1, 2010
- Journal of Labor Economics
There has been a renewed interest in monopsony in labor markets in recent years that includes both the traditional static approach to monopsony, ably reviewed by Boal and Ransom (1997), and the “new” approach to monopsony with more attention paid to dynamic issues, developed in detail by Manning (2003). The articles presented in this supplement highlight both approaches and illustrate the range of labor market settings in which the exercise of monopsony power may be important. The first use of the term “monopsony” in economics is widely attributed to Robinson (1969). Robinson conceived of monopsony as analogous to monopoly. Whereas monopoly refers to the case of a single seller confronted in a market by many buyers, monopsony refers to the case of a single buyer confronted in a market by many sellers. Just as the monopolist faces a downward-sloping demand curve for his product and
- Research Article
- 10.2139/ssrn.2892337
- Jan 3, 2017
- SSRN Electronic Journal
The global objective of the paper is to analyze the impact of gender inequality in education on economic growth in the CEMAC countries for the period 1971-2014. In order to present the potential of the approach, two themes are examined: the self-perpetuation of gender inequality and the effect on economic growth. In this context, we use a simultaneous equations model with error components. The results suggest that there is self-perpetuation of gender inequality. The effects of the inequalities in education on economic growth are direct and indirect through public investment, labor market and political instability. Therefore, the CEMAC countries must increase their public expenditure on education system and reduce gender inequality in labor market for better reducing gender inequality in education, and so to promote economic growth. Political stability is also important for fighting against gender inequality in education.
- Dissertation
- 10.15126/thesis.00850414
- Feb 28, 2019
This research explores the extent to which employees in the UK manage their emotions on SNSs as they try to ensure their activities conform to their employers’ expectations in a competitive and unsecure labour market. This topic was explored by interviewing forty employees aged over twenty-five from a range of professions and who use at least one of the social networking platforms. The participants’ personal experiences of some of the new features of the UK labour market, such as labour market insecurities, as well as their distinctive domestication of SNSs, form a backdrop for the exploration of whether they tailor and suppress their performances and emotions on SNSs. As a result, this study explored the extent to which the interviewees perform emotional labour on SNSs as they manage their emotions to meet their employers’ expectations. Previous studies on the use of the various forms of social networking sites have focused primarily on children, teenagers and young adults, usually between the ages of thirteen and twenty-five. These studies explored how young adults use these SN platforms to strengthen their social capital and manage online impressions, as well as their perception of online privacy and surveillance. While these issues may be relevant to older adults’ use of social networking sites, it was proposed that using these SN platforms and, at the same time, ensuring employers’ expectations are met in an unsecure and competitive labour market, might add further complexities to their experiences. Drawing on the literature on the current state of the labour market, social practices on networking sites and emotional labour with respect to conforming to employers’ expectations, this present study used the theories of Goffman on dramaturgy, Hochschild and Bolton on emotion management, Standing on the precarious society, boyd on collapse contexts and networked publics, and Silverstone and Hirsch on domestication to frame the research questions, design and analysis. Findings revealed that within this group of employees, SN platforms have not only become a vital tool to interpret and adapt to certain new features of the UK labour market, such as the increase in labour market insecurities, but have also become a site where emotional labour is performed to an extent. Surprisingly, there were many similarities in the way these participants use and incorporate these platforms, irrespective of certain demographics such as their type of profession, gender and age that were initially assumed to lead to major differences. It was observed that the majority of the interviewees experience various emotions and feel obliged to tailor, suppress and manage these emotions in the workplace and on SNSs to meet their employers’, and in some cases their colleagues and clients’ expectations. This study advocates the notion that since the continuous use of social networking sites involve suppressing, tailoring and negotiating various emotions, they should be considered a site for emotional labour. In conclusion, as the labour market appears to be undergoing significant changes, it may be that other locations besides the workplace and social networking sites, where emotional management is required, may exist. As such, this study provides a foundation potentially useful to explore other complex settings where employees might perform some form of emotion management.
- Research Article
178
- 10.1111/j.1468-2435.2010.00609.x
- Dec 13, 2010
- International Migration
This paper examines the labour market integration of immigrants who have entered Germany since 1990, and compares their situation with that of their predecessors. The analyses based on the cumulative micro‐census data reveal that recent immigrants into Germany are on average better‐educated than their earlier counterparts, and some ethnic groups are even better‐ educated than the national average. Despite their high levels of formal education, these immigrants coming mostly from Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East face severe integration problems in the German labour market. Thus, after taking into account the value of human capital represented by these immigrants, their ethnic disadvantages appear to increase. This stands in sharp contrast with the disadvantages faced by “classic” immigrants who arrived in Germany during the 1960s and 1970s, for whom lack of human capital had been identified as the main obstacle to labour market integration.
- Research Article
14
- 10.2139/ssrn.3390231
- Jan 1, 2019
- SSRN Electronic Journal
We investigate heterogeneous effects of new digital technologies on the individual-level employment- and wage dynamics in the U.S. labor market in the period from 2011-2018. We employ three measures that reflect different aspects of impacts of new digital technologies on occupations. The first measure, as developed by Frey and Osborne (2017), assesses the computerization risk of occupations, the second measure, developed by Felten et al. (2018), provides an estimate of recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), and the third measure assesses the suitability of occupations for machine learning (Brynjolfsson et al., 2018), which is a subfield of AI. Our empirical analysis is based on large representative panel data, the matched monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) and its Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC). The results suggest that the effects of new digital technologies on employment stability and wage growth are already observable at the individual level. High computerization risk is associated with a high likelihood of switching one's occupation or becoming non-employed, as well as a decrease in wage growth. However, advances in AI are likely to improve an individual's job stability and wage growth. We further document that the effects are heterogeneous. In particular, individuals with high levels of formal education and older workers are most affected by new digital technologies.
- Research Article
4
- 10.22136/est0502016755
- Dec 17, 2015
- Economía Sociedad y Territorio
El turismo en México es significativo económicamente por generar importantes efectos en el crecimiento. Utilizando datos trimestrales de arribos turísticos internacionales a Los Cabos (AT), el tipo de cambio real (TCR) y el producto interno bruto (PIB) de México, se utiliza el análisis de cointegración para demostrar dos aspectos i) al menos un vector de cointegración entre el Producto Interno (PIB) de México y el TCR y AR, obteniendo para ambas variables elasticidades inelásticas (positiva y negativa respectivamente) y, ii) una relación estable de largo plazo entre el PIB y AT.
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