Improve Labor Market Outcomes Research Articles

Do Youth Employment Programs Improve Labor Market Outcomes? A Systematic Review

This study reviews the evidence on the impact of youth employment programs on labor market outcomes. The analysis looks at the effectiveness of various interventions and the factors that influence program performance including country context, targeted beneficiaries, program design and implementation, and type of evaluation. We identify 113 counterfactual impact evaluations covering a wide range of methodologies, interventions, and countries. Using meta-analysis methods, we synthesize the evidence based on 2,259 effect sizes (Standardized Mean Differences, or SMD) and the statistical significance of 3,105 treatment effect estimates (Positive and Statistically Significant, or PSS).Overall, we find that just more than one-third of evaluation results from youth employment programs implemented worldwide show a significant positive impact on labor market outcomes – either employment rates or earnings. In general, programs have been more successful in middle- and low-income countries; this may be because these programs' investments are especially helpful for the most vulnerable population groups – low-skilled, low-income – that they target. We also conjecture that the more-recent programs might have benefited from innovations in design and implementation. Moreover, in middle and low income countries, skills training and entrepreneurship programs seem to have had a higher impact. This does not imply, however, that those programs should be strictly preferred to others; much depends on the needs of beneficiaries and program design. In high-income countries, the role of intervention type is less decisive – much depends on context and how services are chosen and delivered, a result that holds across country types. We find strong evidence that programs that integrate multiple interventions are more likely to succeed because they are better able to respond to the different needs of beneficiaries. We also find evidence about the importance of profiling and follow-up systems in determining program performance, and some evidence about the importance of incentive systems for services providers.

Financial Dependence of Young Adults with Childhood ADHD.

This study used data from the Pittsburgh ADHD Longitudinal Study (PALS) to evaluate financial outcomes of young adults (YA) with ADHD relative to comparisons. Participants for this study included 309 individuals who had been diagnosed with ADHD (DSM-III-R or DSM-IV) in childhood and 208 comparison YA without childhood ADHD diagnoses (total N = 517) who were followed through age 25. Participants were predominately male (88%) and Caucasian (84%). Diagnostic interviews were conducted in childhood. Young adults and their parents reported on financial outcomes and a number of predictor variables. Young adults with ADHD experienced greater financial dependence on family members (p < 0.05) and the welfare system (p < 0.01) and had lower earnings (p < 0.05) than comparisons. ADHD diagnostic status, education attainment, and delinquency were significant predictors of financial outcomes. A projection of lifetime earnings indicated that ADHD group participants could expect to earn $543,000-$616,000 less over their lifetimes than comparisons. Due to the propensity of individuals with ADHD to underreport problems, the data are likely to be underestimates. These findings support the need for interventions to improve labor market outcomes as well as the development of interventions that target the management of personal finances for individuals with ADHD in young adulthood.

Human capital linkages to labour productivity: implications from Thai manufacturers

Human capital investment is a necessary condition for improving labour market outcomes in most countries. Empirical studies to investigate human capital and its linkages on the labour demand side are, however, relatively scarce due to limitations of firm-level data-sets. Using firm-level data from the Thai manufacturing sector, this paper aims to investigate the effects of skill and human capital on labour productivity. Costs and benefits of human capital improvement are compared indicating that hiring workers who have higher education as well as providing them with in-service training has a statistically and significantly positive impact on an increase in labour productivity. However, hiring workers who have higher education yields less benefit than costs which come from higher average wage expenditures. However, providing training should contribute more benefit than cost. Besides education and training measures, we also measure workers’ skill levels into cognitive skills and non-cognitive skills and find that skill in information technology is found to be the most important cognitive skill for increasing labour productivity among Thai manufacturers. Non-cognitive skills such as those in leadership, time-management and communication are also important and seem to have positive relationship to labour productivity among Thai manufacturers.

Drivers of employment outcomes amongst skilled migrants to Australia

During the last 2 decades Australia has very substantially increased its skilled migration intake to off-set the effects of declining fertility and increased longevity. Between 1996 and 2011, permanent arrivals in Australia rose from 85000 to 195000 per year, with 83 per cent of the increase accounted for by migration through the Skill Stream. Furthermore, since the mid-2000s Australian skilled migration policy has shifted from a “supply driven” model that favoured independent General Skilled Migrants, to a “hybrid model” that balances supply driven migration against Employer Sponsored “demand driven” migration. van de Ven and Voitchovsky (2014) report estimates for the period between 2005 and 2009, which indicate that this shift to a hybrid model for selection substantively improved labour market outcomes amongst skilled migrants. Here we explore the channels through which improved labour market outcomes were achieved. Our investigation emphasises the likely importance of English language and experience in delivering improved employment outcomes, aspects that are imperfectly controlled for in our first empirical study.

Do E‐verify mandates improve labor market outcomes of low‐skilled native and legal immigrant workers?

We examine the impact of the 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA) on employment outcomes of low‐skilled legal workers. We use the synthetic control method to select a group of states against which the labor market trends of Arizona can be compared. Our results suggest that contrary to its intent, LAWA does not appear to have improved labor market outcomes of legal low‐skilled workers who compete with unauthorized immigrants, the target of the legislation. In fact, we find some evidence of diminished employment and increased unemployment among legal low‐skilled workers in Arizona. These findings are concentrated on the largest demographic group of workers—non‐Hispanic white men. While they are less likely to find employment, those who do have on average higher earnings as a result of LAWA. The pattern of results points to both labor supply and labor demand contractions due to LAWA, with labor supply dominating in terms of magnitude.

Impact of Labor Market Institutions on Unemployment: Results from a Global Panel

Policies and programs designed to protect workers may, paradoxically, have a negative impact on labor as a whole by increasing unemployment. A key question is which policies have this effect. Using a 3-year panel of 90 countries, the study finds that the unemployment rate is affected by the existence, duration, and replacement rate of unemployment insurance. Hiring and retrenchment regulations and the nature of collective bargaining, however, are not significantly correlated with unemployment. These results are broadly in line with the extensive literature on countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development but are at odds with the few cross-country studies that have considered a wider sample. These findings question again whether the deregulation of labor markets in developing countries will improve labor market outcomes.

The Nordic Labor Market and Migration

The large influx of migrants to Nordic countries in recent years is challenging the adoptability of Nordic labor market institutions while also adding to potential growth. This paper examines the trends, economic drivers, and labor market implications of migration to Nordic countries with a particular focus on economic migration as distinct from the recent large flows of asylum seekers. Our analysis finds that migration inflows to the Nordics are influenced by both cyclical and structural factors. Although migration helpfully dampens overheating pressures during periods of strong demand, and over the longer term will cushion the decline in labor supply from population aging, in the near-term unemployment can rise, especially among the young and lower-skilled. The analysis highlights the need to adapt Nordic labor market institutions in a manner that better facilitates the integration of migrants into employment. In particular, greater wage flexibility at the firm level and continued strong active labor market measures will help improve labor market outcomes among immigrants.

The Nordic Labor Market and Migration

The large influx of migrants to Nordic countries in recent years is challenging the adoptability of Nordic labor market institutions while also adding to potential growth. This paper examines the trends, economic drivers, and labor market implications of migration to Nordic countries with a particular focus on economic migration as distinct from the recent large flows of asylum seekers. Our analysis finds that migration inflows to the Nordics are influenced by both cyclical and structural factors. Although migration helpfully dampens overheating pressures during periods of strong demand, and over the longer term will cushion the decline in labor supply from population aging, in the near-term unemployment can rise, especially among the young and lower-skilled. The analysis highlights the need to adapt Nordic labor market institutions in a manner that better facilitates the integration of migrants into employment. In particular, greater wage flexibility at the firm level and continued strong active labor market measures will help improve labor market outcomes among immigrants.

Do E-Verify Mandates Improve Labor Market Outcomes of Low-Skilled Native and Legal Immigrant Workers?

Do E-Verify Mandates Improve Labor Market Outcomes of Low-Skilled Native and Legal Immigrant Workers?

Interventions to Improve the Labour Market Situation of Adults with Physical and/or Sensory Disabilities in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries: A Systematic Review

Disability is a development issue, with widespread poverty, inequality and violation of human rights. Recent estimates suggest that more than one billion people are living with some form of disability. Persons with disabilities are over-represented among the world’s poor, and significant labour market disadvantage helps maintain the link between poverty and disability in many country contexts. The costs of disability are particularly acute in low- and middle-income countries (those with gross national income per capita of less than $12,616), where up to 80% of people with disabilities of working age can be unemployed, around twice that for their counterparts in high-income countries. When people with disabilities do work, they generally do so for longer hours and lower incomes, have fewer chances of promotion, are more likely to work in the informal labour market, and are at greater risk of becoming unemployed for longer periods. The barriers faced by people with disabilities globally in accessing and sustaining paid work is a profound social challenge. There is now growing recognition of employment as a key factor in the process of empowerment and inclusion into society, and the role of interventions to improve labour market outcomes for disabled people is receiving increased international attention. It is therefore both vital and timely to increase understanding of the impacts of available programmes, in order to ensure that they are effective in delivering positive outcomes for people with disabilities and provide value for money. Although several reviews have attempted to summarise the existing research in this area, there are a number of substantive and methodological limitations to these reviews. Thus, there is a need to systematically examine the evidence base to provide an overview of the types of interventions being used to improve employment outcomes, to identify those that are effective and ineffective, and to identify areas in which more research needs to be conducted.

Learning to adapt: does returning to education improve labour market outcomes?

The transition into a post-industrial economy changed the nature of the Australian labour market extinguishing jobs in traditional industries and creating jobs in new industries. Workers displaced from the manufacturing sector and women seeking to re-enter the labour market after taking time out for family reasons need to retrain in order to secure full-time employment in new industries. Consequently, returning to education is a relatively common occurrence in Australia as adults adapt to the changing demands of the labour market. Using the first 12 waves of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia data, this paper examines the characteristics of those who return to education and gain new educational qualifications. The effect of upgrading educational qualifications on employment outcomes is also examined. The results show that those with higher levels of education were more likely than those with low levels of education to complete new qualifications after the age of 25 and that employment outcomes vary according to level of qualification completed.

Effects of public employment services on labor transitions: an analysis for the Spanish case

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of public employment services (PES) on transitions from unemployment. Design/methodology/approach – The likelihood of exit from unemployment is explained by a multinomial logit model which takes into account the target state of the transition (unemployment, employment or inactivity). In order to analyze the unobserved heterogeneity, the model has been estimated using a Generalized Linear Latent and Mixed Models. Findings – The analysis suggests that the contribution of PES to improving labor market outcomes is low in the case of transitions to employment. Nevertheless, PES play an important role in workforce dropout prevention. Practical implications – The results suggest that redesign and modernization are needed to improve PES performance. More intensive job counselling should be provided so that PES get beyond workforce dropout prevention and start having clear positive effects on placement. Target groups should be defined more clearly so as to ensure sustainable transitions for individuals at risk of exclusion. PES should focus on the most disadvantaged jobseekers and those who need more help to get jobs. Originality/value – First, the results highlight the role PES play in reducing inactivity rates. Second, this is the first study in Spain that uses Labor Force Survey (LFS) data to evaluate PES in a dynamic framework. The LFS is the only data source which allows us to relate people registered unemployed to people considered unemployed by international standards.

Perspectives on Higher Education and the Labor Market Outcomes in Nigeria

This study examines the role of higher education in improving labor market outcomes with a particular focus on public policy considerations in Nigeria. One important institution the labor market relies on for the production of high level manpower is the university. This is so because of the link between higher education knowledge and business practice. The study found that government policies need to be seen within a broader macroeconomic context if higher education is to contribute to national economic growth. The study also found that policies aimed at improving the skills of the workforce will have limited impact on the national economy unless there is a place in the labor market that demands those skills. This study recommends among others, agriculture, infrastructure construction for both rural and urban geography, manufacturing, international partnership for employment creation for higher education graduates in the labor market. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n3p125

Regional Effect Heterogeneity of Start-up Subsidies for the Unemployed

Caliendo M. and Künn S. Regional effect heterogeneity of start-up subsidies for the unemployed, Regional Studies. Evaluation studies have shown the high effectiveness of start-up subsidies for unemployed individuals to improve labour market outcomes of participants. What has not been examined yet are the potentially heterogeneous effects of start-up programmes across regional labour markets. Labour demand-side restrictions in deprived areas generally increase entries into start-up programmes as job offers are limited. However, the survival of firms in these areas is also lower, such that the overall effect remains unclear. Based on German data, it is found that the founding process, development of businesses and programme effectiveness are influenced by prevailing economic conditions at start-up.

Unemployment Insurance Experience Rating and Labor Market Dynamics

Unemployment insurance experience rating imposes higher payroll tax rates on firms that have laid off more workers in the past. To analyze the effects of UI tax policy on labor market dynamics, this paper develops a search model of unemployment with heterogeneous firms and realistic UI financing. The model predicts that higher experience rating reduces both job creation and job destruction. Using firm-level data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, the model is tested by comparing job creation and job destruction across states and industries with different UI tax schedules. The empirical analysis shows a strong negative relationship between job flows and experience rating. Consistent with the empirical results, comparative steady state tax experiments show that a 5% increase in experience rating reduces job flows by an average of 1.4%. While the unemployment rate falls on average by .21 percentage points, the effect on tax revenues is ambiguous. The model has implications for UI financing reform currently being considered at the state and national level. Two alternative reforms that close half of the UI financing gap are considered: the reform that increases experience rating is shown to improve labor market outcomes. In a version of the model with aggregate shocks, higher experience rating dampens the response of layoffs and unemployment over the business cycle. Experience rating also induces nonlinear responses of unemployment to proportionally larger shocks as well as asymmetry in response to booms and busts.

Empowering Women: The Effect of Schooling on Young Women's Knowledge and Use of Contraception

Large differences in fertility between women with high and low levels of education suggest that schooling may have a direct impact on knowledge and use of contraception. We investigate this issue using information on women in Mexico. In order to identify the causal effect of schooling, we exploit temporal and geographic variation in the number of lower secondary schools built following the extension of compulsory education in Mexico from 6th to 9th grade in 1993. We show that raising females' schooling beyond 6th grade increases their knowledge of contraception during their reproductive years and increases their propensity to use contraception at sexual debut. This indicates that the impact of schooling on women's wellbeing extends beyond improved labour market outcomes and includes greater autonomy over their fertility.

Making the Case for an Aboriginal Labour Market Intermediary: A Community Based Solution to Improve Labour Market Outcomes for Aboriginal People in Manitoba

Making the Case for an Aboriginal Labour Market Intermediary: A Community Based Solution to Improve Labour Market Outcomes for Aboriginal People in Manitoba

What’s the Value of Social Capital?A Within-Person Job Offer and Choice Test

Whether and how social capital derived through social ties creates value has animated substantial research in sociology, economics, and political science. Amongst the most active lines of research on the matter considers whether social ties improve labor market outcomes. Two primary analytical approaches have been employed to this end. One considers whether social ties help individuals find work. A second approach considers whether social ties lead to jobs with better attributes (e.g., pay), contingent on finding work. Sociologists are generally inclined to believe that social ties have a causal impact on labor market outcomes—that is, it is “who you know that counts” to some degree. However, the evidence informing this belief is circumstantial and often inconsistent. This is particularly true with respect to the second approach concerning whether the use of social ties leads to jobs with more favorable characteristics. In this research we propose and test a model that addresses prior criticisms of the latter approach by leveraging unique data on contemporaneous job search with detailed information about job search channels and offer characteristics. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we find that search through social networks typically results in job offers with lower total compensation. However, net of compensation, job offers derived through alumni contacts (weak ties) as well as thorough family and friends are more likely accepted.

PROTOCOL: Interventions to Improve Labour Market Outcomes of Youth: A Systematic Review of Active Labour Market Programmes

PROTOCOL: Interventions to Improve Labour Market Outcomes of Youth: A Systematic Review of Active Labour Market Programmes

Repeated job quits: stepping stones or learning about quality?

Increasing labor mobility is high on the political agenda because of its supposedly positive effects on labor market functioning. However, little attention has been paid to information imperfections, and to what extent they limit potential efficiency gains of labor mobility. When the quality of a new job offer is known ex ante, job quits serve as a stepping stone to better jobs. Yet, if job quality is only observed ex post, job quits may lead to worse matches. This paper argues that actual job quit behavior is characterized by a mixture of both, and investigates the relative empirical content of both extremes in quit decisions. A variance decomposition shows that for nearly 70% of job quits job quality was observed ex-ante; the remaining 30% was learned ex post. Hence, stimulating job mobility mostly improves labor market outcomes, though governments may aim to further reduce information imperfections in order to maximize the efficacy of labor policies. J28, J62