High-skilled Workers Research Articles

Determinants of job insecurity during COVID-19: quantitative insights from the Romanian labor market

PurposeFollowing the COVID-19 pandemic, the issues related to job insecurity became even more prominent than before. This paper sets out to identify the determinants of job insecurity in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic among Romanian workers, a topic than was scarcely addressed in previous studies.Design/methodology/approachBased on a representative sample at the national level (N = 744), the authors performed a multilinear regression analysis that pinpoints the factors predicting job insecurity.FindingsThis study findings indicate that high-skilled workers employed on permanent arrangements, having higher workloads, who had received organizational support, and managed to harmonize work demands with family responsibilities experience the lowest levels of job insecurity. In this study, teleworking does not influence the level of job insecurity. Gender (being male), working in the public sector and approving the political management of the COVID-19 pandemic also count in securing the feelings employees have about their job.Originality/valueBesides filling a geographical gap in the literature, another innovative contribution of the paper is the emphasis on the importance for the employees of how public authorities manage the public health crisis. Also, this study explores the workload as a factor of job insecurity which was unaddressed previously. Implications for research and practice are emphasized.

Wage Differentials in the Post Liberalized Labor Market in Paksitan

ABSTRACT: In this paper, we investigate the wage differentials that exist in the post-liberalized labor market in Pakistan. The increasing wage differential contradicts standard labor theories and models. The literature also confirms the existence of wage differentials across different labor markets both in industrialized and non-industrialized countries. The firms compensate the workers both on their observable and unobservable characteristics. The mincer equation used in its semi-logarithmic decomposed form to derive wage differentials. The weighted adjusted standard deviation technique is used for further decomposition of the level and regional variations in sectoral wage gaps, as suggested by Horrace and Oaxaca. The sectoral heterogeneity, skill characteristics and regional dispersions derived by using the micro labor force data sets spread over thirty years. The results confirm the existence of inter-industry wage differentials. However, the size varies across the regions, levels of education, and types of occupations. A substantial difference in the wage gap observed in firms both in the formal and informal sectors. The financial services firms pay higher than the average national wage followed by firms in utility services, the services sector, and the mining sector. The firms in the agricultural sector pay lower than the average national wage. The dispersion in wages has risen to the magnitude of almost 25 percent over the last three decades. Firms pay higher wages to high-skill workers, while industries requiring jobs with low skills pay lower wages. The wage differentials in various regions are attributable to the persistent and relative backwardness of provinces. The high-skilled occupations in general are likely to have more benefits than those involving low-skilled workers. Individual and household characteristics account for almost 50 percent of variation regardless of the sectoral affiliation. The increase in the minimum wage, with targeted social policies in educational attainment, increased participation of women, and provision of social services in the informal sector may reduce the gap in wage difference.

Banerjee, P. (2022). The Opportunity Trap: High-Skilled Workers, Indian Families, and the Failures of the Dependent Visa Program

Banerjee, P. (2022). <i>The Opportunity Trap: High-Skilled Workers, Indian Families, and the Failures of the Dependent Visa Program</i>

Determinants of Migration Flows in Highly Skilled Migrants Interprovince in Indonesia

Migration and regional inequality are two interrelated concepts. Inequality between regions can lead to migration. High-skilled migration, or migration of high-quality human resources, has great potential to reduce interregional disparities by helping development in the destination area. However, in reality, the flow of high-skilled migration tends to lead to more advanced provinces, especially the capital and its surroundings. This condition causes disparities between regions to increase. This study analyzes the phenomenon of internal high-skilled migration between provinces in Indonesia at a macro level using a modified gravity model approach and is estimated using the zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) model. The results of this study show that the number of high-skilled populations in the provinces of origin and destination, geographical distance, average wages for workers, and the percentage of agricultural workers in the destination province, as well as the stock of migrants, influence the flow of high skilled migration between provinces in Indonesia. Increasing workers’ wages, access to transportation and information/social networks, as well as industrialization outside Java, need to be carried out to attract high-skilled migrants or keep high-skilled workers to remain in their provinces to realize equity between regions.

Digital economy and wage gap between high- and low-skilled workers

This paper explores the impact of digital economy development on the wage gap between high- and low-skilled workers based on the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) database in 2010–2020. The research results suggest that the higher the level of digital economy development, the larger the wage gap between high- and low-skilled workers. Some mediating mechanisms are identified and tested from the perspectives of the reaction of human labor to the development of digital economy: the labor misallocation and the mismatch between technologies and skills of workforce. The latter is represented by the response of workers to the risk of being replaced by machines, implying that high-skilled workers use the Internet to improve their abilities more than their low-skilled counterparts to cope with the substitution effect brought about by digital economic progress. The findings in this paper have important policy implications in the sense that governments at different levels should play an important role in assisting digital economy development in favor of the social disadvantaged groups, particularly the low-skilled workers in the labor market.

The Decent Work Questionnaire: adaptation and validation of the Spanish version

ObjetivoA crescente atenção à ética empresarial, integridade e respeito aos direitos humanos no trabalho tem sido um tema cada vez mais relevante. O trabalho digno é um conceito importante que representa a promoção dos direitos humanos no trabalho e nas empresas, assim como o trabalho realizante e produtivo mantido com o diálogo social. O presente estudo apresenta a adaptação e validação da versão em espanhol do Questionário de Trabalho Digno (QTD), permitindo a avaliação do trabalho digno em espanhol. Inicialmente desenvolvido e validado para países de língua portuguesa, a versão italiana do QTD também foi recentemente adaptada e validada.Desenho/metodologia/abordagemA escala de 31 itens foi aplicada a uma amostra de 1528 trabalhadores espanhóis altamente qualificados. A análise factorial confirmatória (AFC) foi realizada. A validade convergente e discriminante foi testada, examinando as ligações do QTD às medidas de Engajamento no Trabalho e Burnout.ResultadosAFC confirmou o modelo original de ordem superior com 7 fatores, com um ajuste de modelo muito bom e boa consistência interna de confiabilidade (α = 0,94). Também testamos sua validade convergente e discriminante. Ambas foram suportadas.Originalidade/valorNossos resultados confirmaram a versão em espanhol do QTD como uma ferramenta de medição multidimensional confiável e válida. Também reforçaram a ideia deste instrumento ser uma boa medida transcultural do trabalho digno.

How elastic is labor demand? A meta-analysis for the German labor market

The own-wage elasticity of labor demand measures the effect of higher wages on firms’ demand for labor and, thus, determines the impact of supply shocks, minimum wages, and collective wage agreements on the labor market. I carry out a comprehensive meta-analysis to shed light on the nature of this parameter, leveraging 705 elasticity estimates from 105 studies on the German labor market. The average elasticity is −0.43, but entails important heterogeneity: Labor demand turns out particularly elastic for low- and high-skilled workers, in the long run, and for internationally operating firms. While empirical designs that address endogeneity deliver more negative elasticities, the analysis does not support any systematic differences by region or by margin of adjustment.

Are Social Skills Helping Women in the Brazilian Labor Market?

We document an increase in the likelihood of women working in a good job (those with higher wages) in the Brazilian high-skilled labor market in the period of 1994-2017. We highlight the importance of social skills in explaining why the growing demand for high-skilled workers has not been equal across gender. To do so, we built a novel Brazilian Classification of Occupations (CBO) rating based on skill content compatible with the O*NET task index. Our results show a positive relationship between social skills and the female share of occupations, which suggests that women have been choosing professions intensive in this skill. We also provide results consistent with neuroscience literature, which has reported that women have a comparative advantage in performing tasks that require social skills. Finally, we find that the relevance of such skills in determining wages is higher for women than men in recent years.

Исследование самооценки качества жизни работающего населения Российской Федерации

The commonality of the goals of occupational health and safety and medicine is to ensure working conditions that contribute to the preservation of the employee health. For professions, in which it is not possible to exclude the possibility of a negative impact of occupational hazards and harmfulness, timely detection of health disorders and medical restrictions on the performance of certain types of work help to preserve the worker health. However, in the occupational medicine, little attention is paid to the subjective assessment of the health of industrial employees. The purpose of the study is to establish the degree of influence on the psychosomatic state of the mining and processing plant underground workers of working conditions associated with the profession, experience, the presence of an assigned preferential pension, as well as comparison with similar indicators for workers in other manufacturing industries. The analysis of the subjective assessment of the quality of life of miners was carried out using the Russian version of the SF-36 questionnaire, according to the results of which the self-assessment of the quality of life of miners admitted by the medical commission to work exceeds 50 points, for those who did not pass the medical commission (23.28 % of the total) subjective indicators of physical and mental health are less than 50 points. There is a trend towards a decrease in the quality of the life indicators with an increase in length of service to the minimum values by 35 years of work, which is noted in the published questionnaire studies of the highly-skilled workers of the enterprises in other branches of industry. In the group of highly-skilled workers over 36 years, the majority of whom are pensioners (less than 60 years, according to the legislation of the Russian Federation) of pre-retirement age, the workers with physical and mental health indicators comparable to the self-assessment of the quality of life of miners who worked at the enterprise for less than 20 years remain in the profession. A review of studies at other enterprises with harmful and hazardous working conditions allows to judge that the decrease in the physical and mental tone of the quality of life of the highly-skilled workers is aggravated by the presence and severity of the diseases received, as well as the level of industrial potential of the enterprise. The obtained results of the objective and subjective dynamics of the health status of workers in harmful and hazardous working conditions can form the basis for the development of preventive measures to reduce occupational risks.

Task Content and Job Losses in the Great Lockdown

The author examines the short-term labor market effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (aka the Great Lockdown recession) in the United States. Findings show that the task content is an important predictor of job losses; jobs with a high non-routine cognitive content are especially well-protected, even if they are not teleworkable. Teleworkability matters more for low-paying jobs. The importance of task content, particularly for non-routine cognitive tasks, is strong even after controlling for demographics and for differential sector and location shocks, while effects persist in the medium run. Jobs subject to higher structural turnover rates were much more likely to be terminated, suggesting that easier-to-replace employees were at a particular disadvantage, even within sectors. At the same time, labor hoarding may occur for more valuable matches. Individuals in low-skilled jobs fared comparatively better in industries with a high share of high-skilled workers, suggesting complementarities across skill types.

Who is Replaced by Robots? Robotization and the Risk of Unemployment for Different Types of Workers

We study the effects of robotization on unemployment risk for different types of workers. We examine the extent to which robotization increases inequality at the skill level and at the occupational level using two theoretical frameworks: skill-biased technological change and task-biased technological change. Empirically, we combine worker-level data with information on actual investments in industrial robots. Zooming in on the German manufacturing industry, our multivariate results show that robotization affects different types of workers differently. We do not observe an increase in unemployment risk for low- and medium-skilled, but we find a considerably lower unemployment risk among high-skilled workers. Moreover, the unemployment risk is significantly higher in occupations with highly substitutable tasks, but only in industries that invest largely in robots.

Connecting higher education to workplace activities and earnings.

Higher education is a source of skill acquisition for many middle- and high-skilled jobs. But what specific skills do universities impart on students to prepare them for desirable careers? In this study, we analyze a large novel corpora of over one million syllabi from over eight hundred bachelors' granting US educational institutions to connect material taught in higher education to the detailed work activities in the US economy as reported by the US Department of Labor. First, we show how differences in taught skills both within and between college majors correspond to earnings differences of recent graduates. Further, we use the co-occurrence of taught skills across all of academia to predict the skills that will be taught in a major moving forward. Our unified information system connecting workplace skills to the skills taught during higher education can improve the workforce development of high-skilled workers, inform educational programs of future trends, and enable employers to quantify the skills of potential workers.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Workplace: Current State and Future Perspectives

Rapid technological developments in Artificial Intelligence technologies and its multiple applications on the workplace have stoked many fears and speculations in the society about possible job loss. Current studies report no decrease in demand of high-skilled workers associated with AI technologies. Also, there are no evidences that they will displace jobs in the near future. More companies keep on using and scaling AI in nearly every industry. Most of the businesses are getting benefits after implementation of AI. Most of the progress AI made relate to highly-educated and skilled occupations. To develop further, companies should decide which tasks and routines to be performed and delegate them to humans or robots. AI will not only lead to automation, but will also complement labor. Implementation of AI technologies widely across all industries still face challenges. Part of the limitations is technical related, there are also potential issues with data protection, its fraudulent use and cybersecurity are the main challenges to focus. Businesses and authorities should harness AI development and benefit from the increased productivity and working performance. Focus should be on ensuring the transition to new technologies is smooth and stressless.

Do higher minimum wages decrease union membership in minimum-wage-intensive industries?

ABSTRACT Over the past decade, organized labour has played a significant role in advocating for minimum wage increases. In this paper, we investigate the effects of minimum wage increases on union membership among individuals in minimum wage intensive industries. We find no evidence of a change in union membership among high-skilled workers in these industries. Consistent with a ‘free-riding’ hypothesis, we find evidence that minimum wage increases predict declines in union membership among low-skilled workers in these industries. These workers are the minimum wage’s most direct beneficiaries.

Book Review: The Opportunity Trap: High-Skilled Workers, Indian Families, and the Failures of the Dependent Visa Program by Pallavi Banerjee

Book Review: <i>The Opportunity Trap: High-Skilled Workers, Indian Families, and the Failures of the Dependent Visa Program</i> by Pallavi Banerjee

Production of Washed Bottom Ash as Sand Replacement Material in Concrete Paving Block

Concrete Paving Block (CPB) is made by mixing sand, gravel, cement, and water and is used in non-traffic and traffic areas. The CPB is proposed in a variety of shapes, sizes, colours, and materials. The demand for the CPB is increased in line by increasing in residential houses and building construction, and infrastructure activity. The advantages of CPB when compared with the rigid and flexible pavement is a more beautiful and interactive surface, fast-paced production without high technology equipment or skilled worker, and also creating a balanced humidity. Nowadays, concrete using waste materials such as cement, sand, or gravel replacement becomes more popular which supported the sustainable development requirement and goal. The replacement activity of concrete ingredients for promoting waste material with low carbon content in CPB is also part of the sustainable development programme which reduced the environmental impact of the waste material or production of natural concrete ingredients and cost production. With the intention of the issue, the CPB using bottom ash (BA) which is washed to reduce the carbon content is produced and tested for skid resistance, water absorption, and mechanical behaviour. The chemical and physical behaviour of WBA is conducted and shown the suitability to replace sand in CPB. The compressive strength of WBA with 100% of sand replacement in CPB illustrates the maximum load and compressive strength of approximately 1198.35 kN and 30.73 MPa and is appropriately used for paving blocks.

How Do COVID-19 Vaccine Policies Affect the Young Working Class in the Philippines?

Dubbed the "inequality virus", coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has unveiled and magnified many of the global society's long-standing inequalities and health inequities. This work brings together the phenomena of increased inequality and health inequities felt by the poor and young working class of the Philippines and how they interact negatively with existing vaccine policies. The poor and the young were more likely to have experienced employment disruptions with limited access to technologies that allowed for teleworking. Informal economy workers suffered from diminished labor protection and draconian lockdowns. Disadvantaged areas persistently dealt with limited health resources, and the working class was disproportionately vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. Utilitarian vaccine policies such as mandatory vaccination and the prioritization scheme negatively interacted with these COVID-induced inequalities and health inequities. While the young working class was more likely to be unemployed, mandatory vaccine policy required that they get vaccinated before seeking re-employment. However, the prioritization scheme adopted by the government failed to target them as a priority. This left them in a vulnerable state of prolonged unemployment while on standby for better supply and improved infrastructure for vaccine rollout. Future prospects in terms of economic recovery and health equity will be affected by issues such as potential increased taxation, the rapidly digitalizing labor market that is evolving to favor highly-skilled workers, and the staging of universal healthcare in the country.

Low-Skill Products by High-Skill Workers: The Distributive Effects of Trade in Emerging and Developing Countries

In developing countries, trade is increasingly associated with greater returns to high-skilled labor and rising inequality. These empirical patterns are at odds with canonical models of trade in the developing world. What does this mean for the political economy of trade in these countries? We argue that although developing countries have a comparative advantage in low-skill products, these are produced by workers that are relatively high-skilled compared to their peers. Trade and global production benefit relatively skilled workers, particularly those exposed to exports and inward foreign direct investment in manufacturing. Our argument offers insight into why relatively skilled workers are most supportive of free trade and why inequality is rising in developing countries. We examine micro- and macro-level implications of our argument using cross-national survey data on policy preferences and aggregate data on trade and inequality. The findings have important implications for the political economy of trade and global production in developing countries.

Robots, skills and temporary jobs: evidence from six European countries

ABSTRACT In our analysis of the impact of robot adoption on the use of flexible contracts in six European countries, we find that control for the type of innovation model that is dominant in an industry is crucial. In a ‘high knowledge cumulativeness’ innovation regime, robot adoption reduces the probability that high-skilled workers will receive temporary contracts, while no significant effect has been found for medium- and low-skilled workers. The rationale is: In a high cumulativeness regime, innovation depends on a firm’s internal knowledge sources, and high-skilled (rather than medium- and low-skilled) workers are crucial carriers of knowledge. The situation is different in ‘low-cumulativeness’ regimes. In the latter, firms are primarily using externally acquired knowledge in their innovation process. This makes workers more easily interchangeable and robot adoption significantly increases the probability to get temporary jobs for both medium- and high-skilled workers, but leaves low-skilled workers unaffected.

The Opportunity Trap: High-Skilled Workers, Indian Families, and the Failures of the Dependent Visa Program by Pallavi Banerjee (review)

The Opportunity Trap: High-Skilled Workers, Indian Families, and the Failures of the Dependent Visa Program by Pallavi Banerjee (review)