Current Labor Market Research Articles

Occupational skills and labour market progression of married immigrant women in Canada

We use the confidential files of the 1991–2006 Canadian Census, combined with information from O*NET on the skill requirements of jobs, to explore whether immigrant women behave as secondary workers, remaining marginally attached to the labour market and experiencing little career progression over time. Our results show that the current labour market patterns of female immigrants to Canada do not fit this profile, as previous studies found, but rather conform to patterns recently exhibited by married native women elsewhere, with rising participation and wage progression. At best, only relatively uneducated immigrant women in unskilled occupations may fit the profile of secondary workers, with slow skill mobility and low-status job-traps. Educated immigrant women, on the other hand, experience skill assimilation over time: a reduction in physical strength and an increase in analytical skills required in their jobs relative to those of natives.

Import exposure and human capital adjustment: Evidence from the U.S.

We exploit variation in exposure to Chinese import competition to identify the effect of trade-induced changes in labor market conditions on human capital accumulation in the U.S. from 1990 to 2007. We document large increases in U.S. high school graduation rates in the labor markets most affected by import competition. After controlling for established predictors of high school completion, demographic shifts, and coincident labor market changes unrelated to trade with China, we estimate that a movement from the 25th to the 75th percentile in Chinese import exposure led to an average increase in the graduation rate of 3.64 percentage points. Consistent with an environment in which students weigh increases in future earnings potential from further education against current labor market opportunities foregone, we find that growth in Chinese imports led to declines in wages for all educational groups, and reductions in employment for individuals without a high school degree both in absolute terms and relative to their more educated peers.

La pobreza monetaria desde la perspectiva de la pobreza multidimensional: el caso peruano

There are several approaches to poverty, but two of them are more widely used: monetary poverty and multidimensional poverty. This paper analyzes the determinants of poverty in Peru, linking both approaches by means of a logistic regression in distinct periods. It is found that access to services (water, electricity, telephony) and housing ownership reduce remarkably the probability of being poor and that having health insurance also reduces it, but to a lesser extent. Interestingly, primary or secondary education does not have a significant impact in reducing the probability of being poor, which can be due to restrictions in the current labor market.

The development of adults' entrepreneurial competence for their successful career

Key competences underlying lifelong learning are particularly important in the knowledge society as they may guarantee more flexibility in the labour market and better adjustment to the permanent change. Entrepreneurial competence is one of the fundamental components for human employability and self-employment, often in conjunction with the ability to create and maintain jobs for themselves and others. Development of key skills and competences, as well as entrepreneurial competence, presents by itself potentially effective measure in coping with the existing skills mismatches, which is not sufficiently analysed and considered in the current active labour market policies. The main research question: what is the role of the development of entrepreneurial competence in striving for employability and successful career? The aim of this paper is to identify the importance of entrepreneurial competence in job related activities: job search, keeping the job place, professional career. The object of the paper is the entrepreneurial competence of adults seeking employability and successful career.

Employability in India – Challenges and Solutions

3 Abstract: Over 100 years. Employability is an emerged concept in unemployment and labour markets. Part of the problem of youth employability is the relevance of acquired knowledge, skills and educational and training qualifications to current labour market opportunities. This paper focuses the concept of employability and skills needed to become a globally recognized employee. The perception of Employers and employees towards employability skills required for Entry level engineering graduates in multinational software companies is examined. An approach of accreditation towards higher education is explained and highlighted the importance of accreditation in Indian Institutions. The development skills available in India which are needed to enhance the employability in global market are projected. Overall this paper paves a way for an Indian employee to work in global market.

Schnelle Arbeitsmarktintegration von Asylbewerbern – Was ist zu tun?

Abstract This article discusses the necessary measures for a successful integration of the currently large number of refugees into the German labor market. It is argued that the integration of these refugees will depend largely on the transferability of their human capital to the necessities of the German labor market and will require substantial investments in their language skills, further human capital as well as some adjustments of current labor market institutions. In an historical context, however, Germany seems to be very well prepared to master this challenge.

The Hidden Cost of Globalization: Import Competition and Mental Distress

We study the effect of import competition on workers’ mental distress. To this purpose, we source information on the mental health of British workers from the British Household Panel Survey, and combine it with measures of import competition in more than 100 industries over 2001-2007. We find an increase in import competition to have a positive, statistically significant, and large impact on mental distress. The effect is strikingly robust to controlling for a wide range of individual, household, and industry characteristics. We show that part of the effect is due to import competition worsening the current labor market situation of individuals, in terms of higher probability of job displacement and lower wage growth. Additionally, and most importantly, we show that import competition worsens mental health also for individuals witnessing no change in observable labor market conditions, by increasing stress on the job and worsening expectations about the future.

Labour market response to economic crisis in Central Europe: is there room for common policy approach?

ABSTRACT. Our analysis confirms a lower degree of fluidity on Polish/Czech labour markets compared to Austria. In particular, we find evidence on higher employment rigidity and on lower employability of unemployed in Poland and Czech Republic. The major employment policy challenge faced by Poland and the Czech Republic is actually embodied in much lower job finding prospects of both prime-age and young unemployed in comparison with Austria. In addition, Austrian school-leavers, university graduates or those re-entering the labour market after parental leave are much more likely to find a job than young labour market entrants in the two remaining countries. Finally, Austrian labour market appears to be most flexible also when comparing the contributions of particular gross flows to unemployment rate dynamics.Keywords: Austria, Czech Republic, EU-SILC, gross labour market flows, longitudinal data, Poland, transitional probability, unemployment.JEL Classification : E24, J64(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)IntroductionThe labour market's ability to function as macroeconomic equilibrating channel is equally crucial for Eurozone members and countries which attempt to join the monetary union. In this article we address the ways in which central European labour markets have responded to Great Recession. More specifically, we explore the flow approach to identify the presence of common/distinctive features of labour market adjustments in three countries: Austria, Czech Republic and Poland, each of them being an interesting topic of special research (see e.g. Strielkowski and Hnevkovský, 2013). Special emphasis is on comparisons between the dynamics of the youth and prime-age labour markets, since youth unemployment appears to represent the major future labour market policy challenge (ILO, 2013). The proposed analysis is based on EU-SILC longitudinal data for the period 2008-2011. Austria serves a reference, low unemployment country. The main aim is to detect the departure (and the corresponding policy challenges) of the remaining countries from the patterns of labour market dynamics and adjustment paths that are typical for Austria.We look into the gross labour market flows and flow transition rates (also dented as transition probabilities) of shifting between the three labour market states represented by employment, unemployment, and inactivity (Abowd & Zellner, 1985; Blanchard & Diamond, 1990; Gomes, 2009; Silverstone & Bell, 2010; Elsby et al., 2011; ECB, 2012; Flek & Mysikova, 2013). Gross flows represent the movements of individuals between the labour market states in absolute numbers and constitute a proxy for assessing the labour market fluidity at aggregate level. Moreover, our analysis of gross labour market flows allows us to establish those that are crucial, comparable in size, or of minor importance for the entire labour market dynamics.Flow transition rates are treated as a first-order Markov process, where the transitional probability of moving from previous to current labour market status depends exclusively on the individual's previous status. This involves the rates at which a worker is exposed to a risk of job loss, of finding a job, of moving in and out of inactivity etc. The analysis of flow transition rates is of potential policy relevance as it clearly indicates the gaps between labour market prospects of individuals across countries, time and age categories. This simultaneously provides us with the specific targets and benchmarks for policies aimed at lowering those gaps.Another analytical possibility offered by a flow approach is to demonstrate how do movements of workers in and out of unemployment account for changes in unemployment rates (Dixon et al., 2011). Which gross flows, and to which extent, are behind the observed unemployment rate increases? Is the role of the respective gross flows comparable across countries, time and age categories? …

Is Social Mobility Spatial? Characteristics of Immigrant Metros and Second Generation Outcomes: 1940-1970 and 1970-2000.

Research on immigrant and second generation outcomes has often examined their locations, following ideas that geographic dispersion facilitates social mobility, and that characteristics of the ethnic environment enable or constrain progress. I contend that second generation socioeconomic outcomes depend in part on the location choices and characteristics of a previous immigrant generation. Further, I suggest that this relationship reflects the changing geography of immigrants and labour markets, rather than geographically unfolding assimilation. Using the 1940, 1970, and 2000 Integrated Public Use Microdata Series files from the US Census, I regress second and 1.5 generation wage and educational outcomes in 1970 and 2000 on metro-area characteristics of a previous generation (1940 and 1970, respectively). Current labour market and second generation characteristics are included as controls and to facilitate interpretation. Characteristics of a previous immigrant generation's location were more important for second generation outcomes in the 1940-1970 period, while current place characteristics become more significant by 2000. There is evidence of selection operating through the positive intergenerational effects of places where immigrants' educational levels were high a generation ago. Metro-level immigrant concentration and manufacturing employment also have generally positive effects, although variations across generations and by nationality suggest their significance for social mobility is inadequately understood. The historical immigrant geographies of the US, and the ways in which metro labour market conditions intersect with immigrants' locational choices, both within and between generations, are thus a critical piece of the economic and spatial assimilation puzzle.

Psychosocial Work Environment and Musculoskeletal Symptoms among 21-Year-Old Workers: A Population-Based Investigation (2011-2013).

BackgroundThe current labour market is becoming more flexible and informal, with job insecurity selectively affecting young workers. However, the role of these increasing adverse psychosocial working conditions on health outcomes remains little known among newly employed workers.ObjectiveTo estimate the associations between psychosocial work environment and musculoskeletal outcomes (widespread pain syndrome features and regional pain) in a population-based sample of young workers.MethodsCross-sectional data from workers aged 21 years were collected during the third wave of the EPITeen cohort study (2011-2013; n=650). The Job Content Questionnaire was used to characterize the psychosocial work environment according to the demand-control-support model. Data on pain and non-pain dimensions of the widespread pain syndrome (Fibromyalgia Survey Questionnaire) as well as on regional musculoskeletal pain (Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire) were also collected. Crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were computed using logistic regression and all estimates were adjusted for sex, education and occupational biomechanical demands.ResultsJob insecurity was significantly associated to the non-pain dimension of the widespread pain syndrome (adjusted OR [95% CI]=1.51 [1.08, 2.12]). Young workers with strain jobs were significantly more likely to report high levels of non-pain symptoms when compared with those with no-strain jobs and this effect was even stronger when social support was added to the main exposure: workers with strain jobs and low social support had twice the odds of reporting high levels of non-pain features than those with high strain but high social support jobs (adjusted OR=1.86, 95% CI: 1.04, 3.31). These significant associations were not observed when widespread pain or multisite regional pain were the outcomes.ConclusionIn the beginning of professional life, high strain jobs were associated to non-pain complaints, especially when the work environment provided also low social support.

Praca zarobkowa a bezpieczeństwo socjalne (uwagi na tle przekształceń rynku pracy)

The present elaboration is dedicated to the analysis of labour market transformation since the codification of Polish labour law to the present day. Author emphasizes that the legal form of paid activity determines the legal status of the person concerned, both with relation to stability of employment and social security protection. Under centrally planned economy, the employment contract for an indefinite duration constituted the basic form of paid activity. Currently, however, various forms of work performance co-exist, many of them remain outside the scope of labour law. Author indicates deep segmentation of current labor market. He also pays attention to the fact that paid work quite often ensures neither life stability nor proper social protection.

Public works programme and primary health care in South Africa: Creating jobs for health systems strengthening?

This paper examines employment and skills training for community caregivers within the expanded public works programme in South Africa. The paper argues that, as currently conceptualised, the skills and learnership programmes for community caregivers fail to take full advantage of the prevailing labour market realities. Therefore, the paper argues for strategic reconceptualisation of the programme to include learnerships for community caregivers that impart more mid-level to higher-level skills to meet current and future labour market demands particularly in primary health care. This, it is argued, will address the scarcity of skills in the health sector of the economy. Furthermore, the proposed programme will simultaneously have positive impacts on unemployment, the primary health care system and the socio-economic well-being of community caregivers.

Детское движение России как инструмент развития современного человеческого капитала

In his article Child movement in Russia as an instrument of modern human capital development the author puts forward the problem of underestimating
 and even complete ignoring children community unions while handling the task of preparing effective human potential for Russian regions. According
 to author the State as the customer of human capital and the children movement as a potential contract accepter at key stages of forming required
 values, competencies and traits, have not yet built regular “business” relationship: they have not defined exact goals of educational process according
 to current labour market demands, and have not drawn ”game rules” for educators market. Fineness of the publication is due to the fact that many
 advocates of pushing global human and Russian traditional spiritual values into education do not see themselves as professionals responsible for
 forming competencies for success at modern labour markets as well. Even the terms human capital, educators market, personal development program
 are strongly confronted by many teachers. But it is impossible not to talk about that. Especially after publishing State strategy of pedagogy in Russian
 Federation up to 2025 and its stating the task of forming national pedagogical ideal.

Global Education from an ‘Indigenist’ Anti-colonial Perspective

This paper troubles the dominant ways of pursuing of “global education” pointing to the possibilities of such education through an Indigenist anti-colonial lens. The intellectual objective is to ensure that global education helps destabilize existing power relations, colonial hierarchies, and re-centers key questions of equity, power and social justice in education. An important question is: How do we frame an inclusive anti-racist future and what is the nature of the work required to collectively arrive at that future? It is argued that one of the many hallmarks of the contemporary neo-liberal corporate agenda in education is the intensification of private and corporate commercial interests in schooling and education. Education is being tailored to suit the needs of the current labour market with funding being preferentially diverted to economically viable disciplines, the streaming of students to ensure a blue-collar workforce and with complete disavowal of education as a social and public good. The paper introduces an ‘Indigenist anti-colonial’ lens highlighting Indigenous democratic principles for effective educational delivery. Indigenous communities see education both as a process and as something that happens at a place or site where learners openly utilize the body, mind and spirit/soul interface in critical dialogues about themselves and their communities. There is a shared understanding in these communities that people come to know through the simultaneous, dialogical and trialectic engagement of body, mind and spirit/soul, reinforcing the power of Land and Earth teachings; a need to understand the learner and the learning space; the nexus of society, nature, and culture; bringing an embodied connection to education; the importance of ethics, consciousness and responsibility; and engaging the coloniality of power. It is concluded that for the Global South, a rethinking of schooling and education has to take us back to our roots to examine our histories and cultural traditions of knowledge production, dissemination and use. We need to look at education from this source in terms of its connections with family life, community and social relevance. This means drawing from the lessons of how knowledge is impacted through early socialization practices, child-rearing practices, teaching and learning responsibilities of community membership, and the application of knowledge to solve everyday practical problems within one’s backyard and beyond.

Stakeholders and Cooperation in Higher Education Institutions

In the recent years, Portuguese universities have diversified their strategies to promote entrepreneurial education among (under/post) graduates either through formal education or non-formal and informal activities. These activities are undertaken by different higher education stakeholders and key actors that may contribute to the construction of an entrepreneurial ecosystem and to raising the entrepreneurial spirit in (under/post) graduates. Therefore, it is possible to assume that the success of entrepreneurial learning can be related to the establishment of solid links and partnerships between higher education institutions, the government and the current labour market. From the ongoing project “Link.EES – Entrepreneurial Learning, Cooperation and the Labour Market: Good Practices in Higher Education” (POAT – ESF) we intend to contribute to the reflection regarding the added value of inter-organizational cooperation between the different entrepreneurial stakeholders involved in non-formal and informal learning in Portuguese Higher Education and the their impact on regional and national development.

Bad Jobs as a Core Driver of Growing Social Inequality in the United States. Book Review: Kalleberg A. (2011) Good Jobs, Bad Jobs: The Rise of Polarized and Precarious Employment Systems in the United States, 1970s to 2000s, New York: Russell Sage Foundation

This is a review of a masterpiece by a famous professor of labor sociology. Anyone looking for understanding current labor market processes needs to read this latest work by Arne L. Kalleberg, the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Kalleberg focuses on the US and shares his deep understanding of a wide range of social and economic mechanisms of the labor market under globalization. The book gives a vivid description of the current labor market and provides an explanation for the changes that brought about the rise of precarious employment. The book sheds light on the reasons for the dramatic increase in polarization and inequality between jobs and both between and within occupations. Kalleberg argues that the US is in dire need of a new social contract to tackle the challenges that arise from a globalized division of labor, widening polarization in the quality of jobs, and the proliferation of precarious work. An example of such a new social contract is a “flexicurity” system, aspects of which exist today in some countries. Kalleberg claims that only a coordinated effort by government, business and labor can address the sources and consequences of the polarization in job quality and that only such an effort will be able to improve both the economic competitiveness of the US and the quality of jobs and lives of American citizens. Though the book itself is focused on the American labor market during the last forty years, this review attempts to place Kalleberg’s ideas into a global context.

All Work and No Pay: Establishing the Standard for When Legal, Unpaid Internships Become Illegal, Unpaid Labor

During the early twentieth century, working conditions in the United States were rough. Employees worked long hours under dangerous conditions and received very little pay. People used the term sweating to describe these difficult working conditions. Sweating is defined as “the unfair exploitation by unscrupulous employers of the necessities of the poorer and more helpless class of workers by requiring them to work for wages inadequate to their needs or for excessive hours or under insanitary conditions.” Today, while working conditions have improved for most, the term sweating could still be used to describe conditions for a certain type of worker—unpaid interns. Abusive labor practices may not be as widespread or as visible as they were in the early twentieth century, but they are still a prevailing problem in the current intern labor market. Illegal unpaid internships subject a countless number of workers to “unfair exploitation by unscrupulous employers.” The intern market is massive and so is the potential for abuse. In the United States, it is estimated there are between 1 to 2 million interns and as many as 50 percent of these interns

The Hidden Cost of Globalization: Import Competition and Mental Distress

We study the effect of import competition on workers’ mental distress. To this purpose, we source information on the mental health of British workers from the British Household Panel Survey, and combine it with measures of import competition in more than 100 industries over 2001-2007. We find an increase in import competition to have a positive, statistically significant, and large impact on mental distress. The effect is strikingly robust to controlling for a wide range of individual, household, and industry characteristics. We show that part of the effect is due to import competition worsening the current labor market situation of individuals, in terms of higher probability of job displacement and lower wage growth. Additionally, and most importantly, we show that import competition worsens mental health also for individuals witnessing no change in observable labor market conditions, by increasing stress on the job and worsening expectations about the future.

An assessment model for competency-based curriculum in vocational education and training in Iran

Aim: The complexities of current labor market have led fundamental transition in vocational education and training curricula, and it's become much significant, a competency-based point of view and simultaneous attention to technical and nontechnical competencies. To evaluate the quality of technical and nontechnical competencies used in vocational education and training curricula in Iran in order to present an assessment model was the objective of this research. Methods: The research method was a survey, and the statistical population was a group of 30 experts in authoring and editing of vocational education and training textbooks. All the samples were censured, due to a small population. The research tool was a two-part interview, containing questions about the existing situation and the desirable situation of attention to technical and nontechnical competencies in vocational education and training curricula. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used to analyze statistical data. Results: The results in technical competencies part showed that the average attention rating to tasks like: The proper way to work with tools, paying attention to all aspects of a profession and work environment health and safety is higher than average but still is far away from the desirable situation. Conclusion: The average attention rating in nontechnical competencies part to tasks like teamwork, professional ethics, new technologies, entrepreneurship, and resource management is lower than average and is too far away from the desirable situation.

How Many Educated Workers for Your Economy? European Targets, Optimal Public Spending, and Labor Market Impact

This paper studies optimal taxation schemes for education in a search-matching model where the labor market is divided between a high-skill and a low-skill sector. Two public policy targets – maximizing the global employment level and optimizing the social surplus – are studied according to three different public taxation strategies. We calibrate our model using evidence from fourteen European countries, and compare our results with the target from the Europe 2020 Agenda for achievement in higher education. We show that, with current labor market characteristics, the target set by governments seems compatible with the social surplus maximization objective in some countries, while being too high for other countries. For all countries, maximizing employment would imply higher educational spending than that required for the social surplus to reach its maximum.