Immobile Labor Research Articles

The Economic History & Urban Geography of Race Relations in Detroit: Movement of Capital, White Resistance and Immobility of Black Labor

Detroit's intertwined history of deindustrialization and racial segregation is often explored separately. In The Origins of the Urban Crises (1996), Thomas Sugrue examines post-WWII job losses and housing discrimination without elucidating why and how the city came to experience the abrupt flight of capital in that period. Conversely, Murray and Schwartz's Wrecked (2019) details the catalysts for Detroit's deindustrialization but neglects its impact on the African-American community. This paper aims to bridge these perspectives by utilizing various secondary sources and archival evidence to analyze how concurrent discrimination and economic decline have maintained the persistent segregation between Detroit and its suburbs.

Labour immobility between industries: Consequences for the macroeconomy

Workers are failing to move to the most productive industries, despite the offer of higher wages. In order to explain this phenomenon, we provide evidence that when an industry experiences a positive, labour-productivity shock, it is subsequently harder for firms to find workers. This is represented by a fall in relative matching efficiency. We present a stylised two-sector search and matching model to show the consequences of this negative relationship. Our calibrated model not only closely tracks US wages and employment share over time, but also reveals substantial output losses as a result of labour misallocation between industries.

Building responsive and resilient supply chains: Lessons from the COVID‐19 disruption

Building responsive and resilient supply chains: Lessons from the <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 disruption

Is Female Labor Immobility Holding Back Industrialization in Pakistan?

Is Female Labor Immobility Holding Back Industrialization in Pakistan?

Labor Immobility, Stability Discourse, and LGBQ Young Adults’ Career Plans in Japan

Recent US studies showed that many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) young adults develop hopeful views about their occupational careers by emphasizing future workplaces’ friendly climates and denying their risk of experiencing discrimination. The results may partly reflect American labor market conditions and social discourses that endorse these views, and little is known about how LGBQ young adults may perceive their career chances and make plans in different labor market and discursive conditions. To extend the literature, the present study focuses on LGBQ young adults in Japan and contrast the results to those from a US study based on an equivalent design. Analysis of in-depth interviews highlighted Japanese LGBQ young adults’ anticipation of chilly industry climates. Further, they disengaged sexuality from their career plans by prioritizing career stability over industry climates and by deciding to hide their sexual identities from their future colleagues. They explained these decisions by addressing the importance of labor immobility and by drawing on a social discourse that linked career stability to a better life. Overall, the results underscored that the ways in which people respond to social marginalization greatly depend on what structural resources and constraints exist and what social discourses are present in the national context.

Population aging and labor mobility in Japan

By combining the static and dynamic computable general equilibrium models, this paper explores the dynamic impact of future demographic changes on the Japanese economy with a particular focus on multisector production and overlapping generations. Several numerical results were obtained. First of all, the sectoral real GDPs of the aging-related sectors are expected to continue to increase due to the higher demand generated by the elderly, while the total real GDP is forecasted to start to decrease from year 2036 due to the shrinking population. Secondly, calculations show that nearly 60 million more workers will be needed in the private long-term care sector in year 2049 than in year 2018. Thirdly, if a 90 percent inflow of additionally needed labor force to the medical services sector were to be obstructed, the total real GDP would shrink by 0.064 percent. If the same inflow obstruction were to occur to the private long-term care sector, the total real GDP would shrink by 0.030 percent. Fourthly, while a negative impact of the inelastic labor mobility was seen in almost all simulations, the impact of an obstruction in the medical service sector was found to be positive for the pharmaceutical sector due to substitution effect. Finally, the inelastic labor mobility will not only reduce the Japanese economic performance but also welfare, the extent of which depends on the duration of labor immobility. Thus, it is crucial for future economic growth as well as welfare of aging Japan that the additionally needed labor inflow to all aging-related sectors occurs smoothly.

Teachers' professional dispositions: Foundations for the immobile mobility in the diversified Swedish school market

Previous research has shown that when teachers in segregated school markets change jobs, they transfer to schools with similar pupil composition as the school from which they transferred. One explanation for this immobile mobility is that teachers develop context-related professional principles only suitable for one type of school context. This is conceptualised as a professional disposition. From interviews with secondary schoolteachers, three different types of professional disposition have been discovered: pragmatic, idea-driven and traditional. In this paper these are presented and related to a school market with reinforced school segregation and increased pedagogical and organisational diversity. • Professional disposition conceptualises the connection between individual professional principles and structural conditions of the school where the teacher is employed. • In a segregated and diversified school market, three types of professional dispositions have been identified: pragmatic, idea-driven and traditional. • Professional dispositions can explain the immobile labour market pattern in the diversified school market.

Economic Scar Tissue of COVID-19 Puzzle: An Analysis, Evidence and Suggestion on Global Perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic has instigated tremendous human and economic hardship around the world. Using meta-literature and time series analysis, we conduct both synthesis and empirical analysis to investigate particularly the economic perspectives of COVID-19 across several financial systems: (a) Asian market, (b) European market, (c) American market and (d) Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA) market. The critical review of the leading business and finance journals of ISI-WOS summarizes that the outburst of COVID-19 mercilessly affects global economies; however, the end phase of the systematic cascading effect has not clearly folded yet. The probable reasons of economic downturn are productivity reduction, labour immobility, undue job loss, scarcity of employment opportunities, discontinuation of supply chain, declining foreign exports, investment uncertainty, adverse clientele effect, etc. However, after analysing the pre- and during COVID effect on foreign reserve and remittance, we identify an inconclusive finding: (a) bullish trend, (e.g., the USA, Canada, Mexico, Japan, India, Bangladesh and Singapore); (b) bearish trend, (e.g., the UK, Sri-Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Italy and Brazil). Our time series analysis between pre- and during COVID-19 also documents the economic mystery that although the overall economic growth has gone down, foreign reserve and remittance have increased gradually across several economies. Overall, the current global situation demands systematic, well-targeted and aggressive fiscal-monetary stimulus initiatives. Therefore, this study offers theoretical, empirical and policy-oriented academic novelty with the possible suggestions and dynamic strategies to circumvent COVID-19 adverse effects.

Application of biological and digital technologies in resolving the negative effects of COVID-19 pandemic on crop production in Nigeria

The COVID-19 pandemic has wrecked great havoc in many spheres of life, including education, health, economy, and agriculture. This paper x-rayed the effects of the pandemic on crop production in Nigeria, and efforts made to proffer viable solutions through the application of biological and digital technologies. The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on crop production was palpable in shortage of farm labour and labour immobility, disruption of agricultural input supply chain (e.g., fertilizers, agrochemicals, and seeds) and food distribution network. These irregularities grossly escalated food insecurity challenges, sparked price hikes, increased hunger and food losses. Considering the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on crop production which invariably extends to farmers’ income, food security, family nutrition and health, prompt measures to minimize the onward transmission among key players in crop production and food supply chain are imperative. The application of biological technologies including vaccination, use of natural herbs and spices, organic agriculture options (such as organic manuring, use of botanical protectants, farmers’ own seeds, cover cropping, mulching, biofertilizers, etc.), agricultural mechanization, and the digital technologies (mobile phones, remote sensing services, online platforms, robotics and artificial intelligence) would go a long way in resolving the negative effects of the pandemic on crop production in Nigeria. Strict adherences to the recommended public health safety measures (social distancing, compulsory use of face masks in the public, regular hand hygiene, covering of one’s mouth when sneezing or coughing, disinfection of high touch surfaces) are crucial in curtailing the spread of COVID-19 infection.&#x0D; Key words: COVID-19 pandemic, crop production, food security, bio-and digital technologies, Nigeria

Ageing bodies, precarious futures: the (im)mobilities of ‘temporary’ migrant domestic workers over time

ABSTRACT In both historical and contemporary studies of contract mobile labour, little attention has been granted to ageing migrant bodies from a lifecourse perspective. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted with older migrant domestic workers in Singapore, this article investigates how, in the context of restrictive regimes of mobility shaping temporary labour migration, age crucially factors into the (im)mobility of migrant domestic workers. Growing older and approaching retirement marks a point of perceived bodily immobility as states and employers deem migrants’ ageing bodies as too frail and no longer productive, thus inducing mandatory returns to their countries of origin. The paper traces how the ageing bodies of ‘temporary’ migrants are discursively constructed by neoliberal regimes of mobile labour; the implications on migrants’ present and future mobilities; and how migrants contest such characterisations of their bodies and attempts at controlling their mobilities at different scales. In considering the later-life implications of long years of work abroad in precarious and low-wage conditions, we see how age becomes important to our intersectional analyses of racialised (im)mobile labour across multiple historical and comparative contexts, and to our understandings of how inequalities are (re)produced over time.

Economic Impact of COVID-19 in Asia, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East

This study aims to present a description of the economic impact of COVID-19 in Asia, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. This pandemic outbroke in the city of Wuhan in China, spreading to approximately 213 countries and territories around the world and is still ongoing. We are particularly interested in investigating the economic outlook for COVID-19. This document uses data from scientific contributions published in the Dimensions research academic database; starting from the fact that this situation is an event in development, still. In addition, the bibliometric analysis tools of science from this Dimensions platform are used. In addition, VOSviewer software was used to build and visualize bibliometric science networks. To explore this issue in depth, we divided the economic impact into several regions, that is, the Chinese economy, the Central Asian economies, the South Asian economies, the Southeast and West Asian economies, the European economies, the North African, North African economies, Middle East. With all intention, the document avoids the information that is handled in the American continent, since it is a much more accessible and current knowledge in our geo-economic contact. This scientific contribution concludes that epidemic situations seriously affect economies around the world. The basic reasons behind such severity are labor immobility, reduced productivity, supply chain disruption, decreased exports, uncertainty, etc. This study is of interest for companies and legislators to estimate and plan current and post-pandemic situations.

Economic perspective of coronavirus (COVID-19).

This study aims to present a quick overview of the novel coronavirus (afterward COVID‐19) which triggers from Wuhan, spread approximately 213 countries and territories around the globe, and still currently ongoing. Particularly, we are interested to investigate the economic perspective of COVID‐19. This paper uses data from online published articles and current media sources, as the COVID‐19 situation is unfolding yet. To deeply explore the said matter, we divide the economic impact into six dimensions that is, Chinese economy, Central Asian economies, South Asian economies, South East and West Asian economies, European economies, Northern African, and Middle Eastern economies. The paper concludes that epidemic situations like COVID‐19 severely affect economies around the globe. The basic reasons behind such severity are immobility of labor, reduction in productivity, discontinuation of the supply chain, a decline in exports, uncertainty, and so on. This study is quite important for businesses and policymakers to estimate and plan current and post‐COVID‐19 situations.

From Inemployment to Unemployment Worldwide: Post-COVID-19

The impact of Post-COVID-19 on economic growth is obviously substantial, but measuring such impact to get a sense of the intensity of its effects on inflation and unemployment is subject to a great deal of uncertainty. As such, this paper primarily attempts to close this gap by introducing the COVIDECONOMICS-19-Simulator (COVIDECONOMICS-19-Simulator), a new economic instrument that could be used to evaluate the impact of Post-COVID-19 on inflation and unemployment. Based on five key indicators, the COVIDECONOMICS-19-Simulator considers and draws its assessment from different focuses of analysis to evaluate the Post-COVID-19 economic damage anywhere and anytime. Hence, in this article, the world economy was used to illuminate and illustrate the applicability of the COVIDECONOMICS-19-Simulator from where analyses provide a coherent evaluation of the degree to which Post-COVID-19 negative economic effects on the world inflation and unemployment. Finally, this paper also proposes a new concept entitled “Inemployment”. The inemployment define as the full or partial labor immobility or lockout from any contagious diseases (epidemics or pandemic) or natural disasters or social conflict (war). The inemployment can be considered as a pre-stage to unemployment in the short or medium run.

Globalisation and the Recent Trade Wars: Linkages and Lessons

AbstractAnti‐globalization sentiments have risen significantly in developed economies, impacting the outcome of national elections in the US and the BREXIT referendum in the United Kingdom. It has also led to tariff escalations and trade wars, especially between the US and China. These developments run contrary to the conventional wisdom that globalization has positively Impacted the global economy and that the distribution of gains has been in favor of developed economies. This paper argues that it is the incomplete implementation of the main pillars of globalization that has created rising discontent in developed countries. Conceived as the process of integration of goods, capital, technology and labor, globalization was premised on free movement of goods and factors of production within and across countries as well on the assumption that factors of production would be perfect substitutes everywhere. The paper posits that it is the immobility of labor across and within countries that has led to the globalization‐induced dislocations in some developed economies. Across countries, artificial immigration barriers restrict labor movement while within countries, labor market rigidities and absence of perfect substitution in the labor market constrain the migration of labor from the declining to the booming sectors of the economy creating large income inequalities. Implications of the foregoing for the future of globalization and Africa’s export‐led industrialization are presented.

Tax competition and the efficiency of “benefit-related” business taxes

We construct a tax competition model in which local governments finance business public services with either a source-based tax on mobile capital, such as a property tax, or a tax on production, such as an origin-based value-added tax, and then assess which of the two tax instruments is more efficient. Many taxes on business apply to mobile inputs or outputs, such as property taxes, retail sales taxes, and destination-based VATs, and their inefficiency has been examined in the literature; however, proposals from several prominent tax experts to utilize a local origin-based VAT have not been analyzed theoretically. Our primary finding is that the production tax is less inefficient than the capital tax under many—but not all—conditions. The intuition underlying this result is that the efficiency of a user fee on the public business input is roughly approximated by a production tax, which applies to both the public input and immobile labor (in addition to mobile capital). In marked contrast, the capital tax applies only to mobile capital and is thus likely to be relatively inefficient.

Intersectoral Labor Immobility, Sectoral Comovement, and News Shocks

AbstractSectoral comovement of output and hours worked is a prominent feature of business cycle data. However, most two‐sector neoclassical models fail to generate this sectoral comovement. We construct and estimate a two‐sector neoclassical Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DGSE) model generating sectoral comovement in response to both anticipated and unanticipated shocks. The key to our model's success is a significant degree of intersectoral labor immobility, which we estimate using data on sectoral hours worked. Furthermore, we demonstrate that imperfect intersectoral labor mobility provides a better explanation for the sectoral comovement than an alternative model emphasizing the role of labor‐supply wealth effects.

Does High Labor Mobility Always Promote Trade Liberalization?

Labor immobility (high adjustment cost) has been regarded as a major obstacle to trade liberalization, and it has been argued that higher labor mobility promotes trade liberalization. However, this is not the case when we take into account conflicts of interests between politicians and voters that are inevitable in representative democracy. We construct a simple two periods model including both election and sectoral adjustment, and show that the non-monotonic relationship between labor mobility and trade liberalization exists due to the principal-agent relationship. Higher labor mobility prevents trade liberalization in some cases.

Reconsidering Logics of International Trade Models

This paper reconsiders logics somewhat implicit in many international trade models, particularly centered around Law of One Price. International trade is identical to domestic trade with two markets combined as one only when no frictions, such as labor immobility, or some states close, exist. In case of labor immobility, transportation firms are able to extract profits in addition to operating costs, which suggests that models should be written differently for the zero-friction case and other cases. The stories of isolations and separations continue in this paper, which suggest that models should be written differently when some frictions exist and when some frictions do not exist. This juncture cannot simply be modelled by some friction parameter going to zero and no-friction and friction cases need to be handled separately. The paper also can be said to review some of the equilibrium conditions used to obtain a unique equilibrium in many of international trade models that are not really completely justified. When relaxing these conditions, international trade models often should exhibit multiple equilibria. Thus, more careful consideration of how to close a international trade model for a unique equilibrium is required. Law of One Price, in light these considerations, does not hold automatically in the market and rather must be held by monetary or fiscal policy.

Inter-firm mobility and return migration patterns of skilled guest workers

Two concerns central to the debate over skilled guest worker programs in the USA are that (1) guest workers are restricted from inter-firm mobility and are “effectively tied” to their firms, and (2) guest workers provide cheap and immobile labor that crowds out natives, especially during times of heightened unemployment. We address these concerns by using a unique dataset of employee records from six large Indian IT firms operating in the USA. We find that the guest workers in our sample exhibit a significant amount of inter-firm mobility that varies over both the earnings distribution and the business cycle. We also find that these workers exit the USA during periods of heightened unemployment. These findings provide new evidence on the implications of the institutional features and debate surrounding guest worker programs.

Monetary union with sticky prices and direct spillover channels

This paper derives a sticky-price, forward-looking model of a monetary union (MU) of two countries, with trade across countries and immobile labour. Contrasting to the existing literature, the resulting laws-of-motion do not resort to spillovers via aggregate, union-wide magnitudes but instead feature direct impact of the output gap of the respective other country, and indirect impact of price dynamics via the the consumer price indices (CPIs). Further, the paper analyses the equilibrium dynamics of a variant of the model under various exogenous shocks, most prominently, idiosyncratic shocks to cover diverging developments of the different regions of an MU. A numerical analysis of the parameter calibration for saddlepath-stable behaviour is provided. I find i.a. that idiosyncratic shocks result in heavily oscillating behaviour due to unsynchronised spillovers and reactions of the central bank.