Household Labour Force Survey Research Articles

Multiple faces of labour market segmentation within the Turkish construction industry

Abstract This study explores labour market segmentation within the Turkish construction industry, in a developing country context characterised by refugee influxes and heightened earthquake risks. We apply statistical and regression analyses using 2002–2020 Household Labour Force Survey data to explore segmentation with a specific focus on payment, job type and social security enrolment. The findings reveal a segmented labour market where the progress in regular, permanent and registered employment in the 2000s failed to encompass most construction workers. Lower wages, and temporary and unregistered work are more common among the youngest and oldest workers, those with poor education and qualification levels, immigrants, and those employed by micro enterprises. The construction industry lags behind both manufacturing and services in terms of registered and permanent employment rates and average wages. The prevalence of workers in elementary jobs with little education highlights the ongoing challenge of ensuring a highly skilled workforce, while reconstruction activities in earthquake-prone zones and the demand for urban transformation in Türkiye are increasing. We argue that improvements in working conditions constitute an urgent restructuring component in the sector for elevating the status of construction jobs, addressing the shortage of skilled labour and ensuring a high-quality building stock that upholds the right to a secure life in Türkiye.

Analyzing The Length of Unemployment Among First-Time Job Seekers in Emerging Countries: Case of Turkey

The aim of this study is to analyze the factors that influence the unemployment duration of individuals entering labor market for the first time and those who have experienced working life before by using the 2020 Household Labor Force Surveys (HLFS) prepared by Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT). Further, the effects of individual unique factors such as gender, age, marital status, family size and education level on unemployment duration are examined. Empirical results using the Cox Proportional Hazard Model, which is a semi-parametric version of survival analysis, show that the first time job seekers are at risk regardless of genders. Also, family size has no statistically significant impact on unemployment duration, while being married, divorced or widowed has decreasing effect. It takes longer time for women to find a job than men. Another important finding is that as the education level of individuals increases, the duration of their job search increases.

Post-compulsory schooling of youth in Turkey: a case of pro-cyclical enrollment

PurposeThis study investigates the effect of business cycles on school enrollment in Turkey. During recessions, school enrollment might increase as opportunity cost of schooling declines, yet it might also decrease because of reduced income households have for education. Which effect dominates depends on the context. We empirically explore this in a context displaying canonical features of developing countries.Design/methodology/approachUsing the Turkish Household Labor Force Survey data for a period covering the Great Recession, we estimate the effect of unemployment rate separately for enrollments in general and vocational high schools and in undergraduate programs. To understand the cyclicality, we use a probit model with the regional and time variations in unemployment rates. We also build a simple theoretical model of work-schooling choice to interpret the findings.FindingsWe find that the likelihood of enrolling in general high schools and undergraduate programs declines with higher adult unemployment rates, but the likelihood of enrollment in vocational high schools increases. Confronting these empirical findings with the theoretical model suggests that the major factor in enrollment cyclicality in Turkey is how parental resources allocated to education change during recessions by schooling type.Originality/valueOur finding of pro-cyclical enrollment in academically oriented programs is in contrast with counter-cyclicality documented for similar programs in developed countries, which highlights the importance of income related factors in developing-country contexts. Our heterogeneous findings for general and vocational high schools are also novel.

Youth not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET) in Turkey: A Regional Analysis

The concept of youth not in education, training, and employment (NEET) is a relatively new popular concept. Its popularity is largely due to the fact that it takes into account different vulnerabilities such as unemployment and early school leaving, which are common among young people. The aim of this study is to examine the NEET youth in Turkey. In this context, the situation of young people in NEET status is examined according to gender, age, education level, marital status, and regional differences. For this purpose, the data pooled from the Household Labor Force Survey for the years 2014-2020 was used. In the study, first, NEET interpretations were made for Turkey using descriptive statistical tools, and then a logit analysis was performed to identify the determinants of NEET in Turkey. The findings reveal that demographic characteristics such as gender, marital status, age, education level, and region of residence are among the determinants of NEET.

Tarım Sektöründe İstihdamın Yapısal Analizi

The agricultural sector is a strategic economic component that has importance at micro level in the sense of meeting basic food needs and being the main supplier of other sectors and at macro level in the sense of creating employment and increasing national income. In this context, the agricultural sector can directly shape the labor market with its employment dimension and be affected by the dynamics of the labor market. This study was conducted to determine the structural and characteristic features of the agricultural sector in the labor market in Turkey. Within the scope of the study, micro dataset of the 2019 Household Labor Force Survey of Turkish Statistical Institute was used. The findings indicated that 18.2% of those employed in Turkey were active in the agricultural sector and women were working in agriculture more than other sectors. A significant portion of those employed in the agricultural sector work in small-scale enterprises (the rate of enterprises with less than ten employees: 96.4%). In the study, it was also determined that the unpaid family worker (46.1%), unregistered (86.6%), part-time (24%), and temporary work (71.1%) status of those working in the agricultural sector were significantly higher compared to general employment. Agricultural production is made mostly in Black Sea Region and at least in Istanbul. Average income of agricultural laborers is quite low compared to general employment. The average incomes of male and female workers also differ significantly. This difference is more evident against women working in the agricultural sector. Keywords: Agricultural Sector, Employment, Labor market

What Matters for Job Finding and Separation in the Long Run? Evidence from Labor Market Dynamics in New Zealand

We use the novel anonymized Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) microdata to analyze job finding rates and job separation rates in New Zealand. We find that individual characteristics, including age, gender, ethnicity and education have a significant impact on job finding and separation rates, even after controlling for other factors. We use a decomposition approach to analyze how the effects of individual characteristics on job finding and separation rates contribute to heterogeneity in employment outcomes. Overall, we find that higher separation rates of young workers play a disproportionate role in explaining heterogeneity of employment outcomes across age groups, while differences in finding rates are somewhat more important in explaining differences by education level. Both finding and separation rate differences are important in explaining differences across ethnicities. We also find some heterogeneous response of worker groups to business cycle after controlling for other factors. The results underscore the importance of well-targeted labor market support policies.

Changing Family Incomes in New Zealand 2007–20

This article describes income mobility patterns in New Zealand over the short to medium term. It uses a special dataset which tracks the Household Labour Force Survey over the period from 2007 to 2020, using 2013 census data. The measure of income is total family taxable income per adult equivalent person. The income unit is the individual. Just below half of those initially in the bottom decile remained either there or in the second-lowest decile over seven years, while about two-thirds of those initially in the top decile remained either there or in the second-highest decile. Income mobility was least for those in the top and bottom deciles. People also move below or above a low-income threshold over time. Of those who initially had incomes less than half of the median income per adult equivalent person, about half remained in that category after six to seven years. Unemployment and single parenthood were closely associated with longer-term low income. Policies that promote employment and education may be effective, yet not necessarily sufficient, in reducing low income and low-income persistence.

The motherhood wage penalty in Turkey

AbstractWomen with children, on average, earn lower wages than those who do not have children. This is called the “motherhood wage penalty”. This study provides estimates of the wage penalty for working mothers in Turkey using the Turkish Household Labor Force Survey (HLFS), 2014–2018. The gross wage penalty is 21.3 percent, but it is entirely explained by human capital variables: education, marital status, and potential experience in the pooled cross-section. The bulk of the gross penalty is attributable to the higher educational attainment of the subsample of non-mothers compared to mothers. When the wage-setting mechanisms in the public versus private sectors, and differences in fertility exposure by age cohort conditional on education are accounted for, a clearer picture emerges. Empirical findings indicate that the wage penalty does not exist for mothers employed in the public sector but that there is a 3 percent penalty for mothers working in the private sector, with the highest value being 6.1 percent for university-educated young mothers. In addition, wage losses are higher for the younger age cohort, presumably due to leaves of absence from work for time spent caring for young children, which lead to skill erosion.

Measuring Pandemic and Lockdown Impacts on Wellbeing.

With the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic, New Zealand's official statistical agency (Stats NZ) moved quickly to supplement the quarterly Household Labour Force Survey with wellbeing measures from the General Social Survey. The first supplement (June 2020) began toward the end of a restrictive national lockdown. Subsequent quarterly surveys continued through a second lockdown for the Auckland region, enabling tests of regional lockdown impacts. Survey measures include questions on life satisfaction, health, income adequacy, social capital (trust), and loneliness. Published aggregated data indicate that life satisfaction, social capital, health, and financial wellbeing were each higher through the pandemic (in 2020) than prior to it, including for disadvantaged groups, but loneliness rose. Analysis of the individual‐level data, confined to the within‐pandemic period, however indicates that more restrictive lockdowns were associated both with reduced life satisfaction and greater loneliness, with differing impacts according to labor market and household status.

Türkiye’de Hizmet Sektöründe Bilgi Yoğunluğuna Göre Cinsiyete Dayalı Ücret Farklılıkları

This study aims to determine whether knowledge intensive services (KIS) reduce gender wage gaps and women’s labor attributes in the Turkish service sector by employing survey data from the Turkish Household Labor Force Survey of 2019. Both mean wage differences and wage differences across the wage distribution are examined by employing the Oaxaca–Blinder wage decomposition, along with the Heckman sample selection procedure, and the Melly decomposition approaches respectively. The results suggest that, in spite of the relatively higher mean wages of women in KIS employment, KIS offers worse employment outcomes for women in terms of intra-sector wage inequality, and relatively poorer working conditions than the Turkish service sector.

Spatial wage curves for formal and informal workers in Turkey

This paper estimates spatial wage curves for formal and informal workers in Turkey using individual level data from the Turkish Household Labor Force Survey provided by TURKSTAT for the period 2008–2014. Unlike previous studies on wage curves for formal and informal workers, we extend the analysis to allow for spatial effects. We also consider household characteristics that would affect the selection into formal employment, informal employment, and non-employment. We find that the spatial wage curve relation holds both for formal and informal workers in Turkey for a variety of specifications. In general, the wages of informal workers are more sensitive to the unemployment rates of the same region and other regions than formal workers. We find that accounting for the selection into formal and informal employment affects the magnitudes but not the significance of the spatial wage curves for the formal and informal workers with the latter always being larger in absolute value than that for formal workers.

EDUCATION, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, AND GENDER PAY GAP: THE CASE OF TURKEY

This article aims to reveal the characteristics of the relationship between education and income distribution in Turkey. Additionally, it examines the role of gender pay gaps in this relationship. In the study, Heckman two-stage estimation and tranche regression methods were applied by using the data from the Household Labor Force survey of 2017 of TURKSTAT. According to the results of the study, according to the Heckman two-stage estimation method, increases in education level increase the wage income of women faster than men. According to the quantile regression method, the effect of education on wages is greater for males in low earning segments and higher for females in high earning segments. The results of the study show that increasing the education level of women is the shortest way to reach a higher level in income distribution equality.

The effect of parental job loss on youth transition to employment in Turkey

AbstractThis article analyses the impact of household head's involuntary job loss on young person's (15–24 years old) likelihood to transition from non‐employment to employment. We construct twelve two‐year pseudo‐panels based on previous year's labour market outcomes using Turkish Household Labor Force Surveys (THLFS) from 2005 to 2016 and then pool the twelve pseudo‐panels for analysis. We examine youth's labour market responses according to education levels and gender. We show that a female with at least a high school degree is about 8.7 percentage points more likely to transition to from non‐employment to employment in the group where the head experienced an unexpected job loss than a female in the group where the head remained employed. Furthermore, for females, the probability of transitioning to employment increases by education level. For males, although we find positive and statistically significant effect of head's job loss on the transition probability, we do not find any differences according to education level.

Covid 19 and the Turkish labor market: Heterogeneous effects across demographic groups

The aim of this paper is to detect the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on several labor market indicators and to identify the heterogeneity of these effects across different demographic groups in the Turkish labor market. To this aim, we use the quarterly Turkish household labor force surveys which cover the period between 2005 and 2020. We find that pandemic decreased employment and labor force participation of almost all groups. The effect on women was more prominent in comparison with men. We also find heterogeneity with respect to age. Finally, our results show that the least educated were more negatively affected by the pandemic.

The Effect of the Regional “Income Tax Withholding Allowance” and “Social Security Premium Support” Programmes on Labour Outcomes in Turkey

Abstract This paper examines the employment effects of the “Income tax withholding allowance” and “Social security premium support” programmes implemented in Turkey in 2012. The programmes aim to provide incentives to firms and generate employment opportunities for groups in targeted regions in the Eastern part of Turkey. The analysis relies on detailed micro-level data derived by the Household Labour Force Survey in 2008–2016. We apply the difference-in-differences (DID) method, and we use as treated subjects the respondents located in the regions affected by the policy. Moreover, we propose the propensity score matching approach within the DID framework to reduce the possible selection bias. The findings show a positive impact of the programme on employment, wages, the number of working hours and labour force participation, but we find a negative effect on the probability of being employed in a permanent job for the treated group.

Returns on Investment in Education: Evidence from Turkey by Education Level and by Higher Education Program

This paper estimates private and social returns on investment in education in Turkey, by level of educa¬tion and by higher education program, using the 2008-2016 Household Labor Force Survey and Income and Living Conditions Survey panel datasets. The paper uses panel econometrics with the Hausman-Tay¬lor and instrumental variable methods dealing with the endogeneity and unobserved heterogeneity problems. The private returns on investment in higher education tend to be higher as compared to the private returns on investment in non-tertiary education. The results indicate that the private returns on investment from various higher education programs are signifcantly different across various higher ed¬ucation programs. Based on the empirical fndings, a number of policy recommendations are developed.

Estimating the prevalence of children living with a stepparent in New Zealand using linked administrative, census, and survey data

ABSTRACT Robust estimates of the incidence of children living with a stepparent are lacking, partly due to a lack of the requisite questions on census and survey questionnaires. Even when these questions are included, resultant estimates are impacted by how respondents choose to portray their relationships. Our first aim was to develop a method for combining census or survey data with administrative data (birth registrations and migrant visa applications) to identify step-relationships. Our second aim was to use this methodology to calculate estimates of children living with a stepparent in New Zealand. We estimate 7.5% of children aged 17 and under were living with a stepparent at the 2013 Census. Estimates using Household Labour Force Survey data produced slightly lower estimates of 6.3-6.9% of all children aged 17 and under for the years 2016 through 2019. Our results provide the most comprehensive attempt to estimate the prevalence of children living with stepparents in New Zealand to date, and demonstrate a novel methodology for identifying step-relationships using administrative data in a linked data environment.

The effect of regional competitiveness operational programme on employment: an empirical assessment for the Central Anatolia of Turkey

ABSTRACT Regional Competitiveness Operational Programme (RCOP) is one of the policies which aims to increase the competitiveness of the poorest regions of Turkey by supporting enterprises and creating employment opportunities. This study aims to investigate whether RCOP has generated more employment opportunities in the “East-Central Anatolia Region” compared to its neighbor called “West-Central Anatolia Region”. As an identification strategy, we implement Difference-in-Differences (DiD) methodology, and for the robustness check, we apply DiD with Propensity Score Matching (PSM). The entire analysis relies on data derived from the Household Labor Force Survey between 2004 and 2017. Our findings show that RCOP increased only the employment rate of young people aged between 15–24. We find no evidence of a positive effect for people over 24 years old. Governments in other countries which are also concerned about unemployment and vulnerability among youth could implement similar policies. Even though the programme has been effective in increasing the youth employment rate, the employment gap between men and women persists in favor of men in all age groups, including the youth. This finding offers an insight into the necessity of additional policies to increase female employment and close the gender gap in employment opportunities.

College majors and wages in Turkey: OLS and quantile regression with sample selection correction

PurposeThis study aims to analyze the wage differentials of the majors in college education in Turkey, which is a country implementing an ongoing expansion in college education in recent years.Design/methodology/approachThe study implements Mincreian wage regression using ordinary least squares, Heckman two-step estimation and quantile regression with sample selection correction by using household labor force surveys of TurkStat from the years 2014–2017.FindingsThe findings indicate one of the highest heterogeneity, close to 0.50 log points, between majors in the literature. The within-heterogeneity created by majors is highest among the graduates of social-behavioral sciences, law, biology, physics, mathematics, statistics, computer, engineering and manufacturing, as shown by a 90–10 difference, which is almost 700% for some of these majors. This study shows that the natural science and technical majors that are expected to be more productive and to be paid more fall behind in the wage distribution.Research limitations/implicationsEstimation results show that natural science majors, except for subjects allied to medicine and engineering, are paid lower than law and service-sector-related majors. This indicates that the predictions of the skill-biased technical change hypothesis are not valid in the wage profiles in Turkey and that some majors supply more than the sectoral needs. This casts doubts on the effectiveness of the ongoing higher education expansion process of the country.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on wage differentials of college majors, an area with limited studies. This is the first study analyzing wage differentials of the field of studies by correcting sample selection bias for the Turkish case.

A Practitioner’s Guide to Handling Irregularities Resulting from the 2014 Revisions to the Turkish Household Labor Force Survey

A Practitioner’s Guide to Handling Irregularities Resulting from the 2014 Revisions to the Turkish Household Labor Force Survey