Labor Demand Research Articles

I Would Like to but I Cannot: What Influences the Involuntariness of Part-Time Employment in Italy

AbstractOver the last two decades, involuntary part-time (IPT) employment has become a more and more pressing issue in Europe, especially in the southern countries, where IPT today constitutes most part-time employment. Using INAPP-PLUS data and different discrete choice model estimations, this paper aims to shed light on the factors that explain the IPT growth in Italy, focusing on what influences the IPT status at the individual, household and labour market levels. The main hypothesis is that what influences the IPT work derive from a combination of workers’ individual, household, and job characteristics which may engender limited power during the bargaining process. The empirical results, based on gender-specific models, highlight that characteristics associated with the IPT status significantly changed over time, reporting a convergent path between the gender profiles of IPT employment. However, IPT employment for women still appears to be mainly originated from the gendered division of domestic and care tasks, while this phenomenon seems to be mainly driven by the labour demand side for men.

Economy-wide Impacts of India–UAE CEPA: A CGE Analysis

The present study investigates the potential trade effects of tariff liberalisation under India–United Arab Emirates (UAE) Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) using general equilibrium analysis. The study specifically examines output, employment, exports and welfare effects of India–UAE CEPA in computable general equilibrium (CGE) framework using the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model and database version 10. The study indicates output gains in manufacturing sector for both countries and an increase in demand for unskilled labour in India. The study argues that the CEPA will result in an increase in global exports of all commodity groups for both India and UAE and a substantial gain in bilateral exports of both countries. The present study suggests that deeper integration through tariff reduction on imports under India–UAE CEPA will be welfare enhancing for both India and UAE. Overall results show that there is a lot of untapped potential to bring the welfare gains for both trading partners. Given the present schedule of tariff reduction of CEPA, a win–win scenario will emerge for both partners in short as well as long run. Finally, the study cautioned about the implications of sensitive list for trade effects and protection from misuse of rules of origin in the CEPA. JEL Codes: F1, F13, F14, F15, F17

The Impact of Climate Change on Work: Lessons for Developing Countries

Abstract We identify five areas where climate change may impact work and draw lessons for developing countries by reviewing the evidence. Firstly, demand for labor is unevenly affected, with agriculture, heat-exposed manufacturing, and the brown energy sector experiencing downturns, while other sectors may see a rise, resulting in an uncertain overall impact. Secondly, climate change impacts labor supply through absenteeism, shirking, and altering work-time patterns, depending on the activity and sector. Thirdly, productivity may decline, especially in heat-exposed industries, primarily due to health reasons. Fourthly, heightened earnings variability likely increases vulnerability among the self-employed. Fifthly, climate change can influence labor allocation and catalyze sectoral reallocation. Higher temperatures are also linked to increased migration. But caution is needed in interpreting these findings, as studies across these topics predominantly use fixed effect estimation and concentrate on short-term impacts, neglecting adaptation. Emerging research on adaptation indicates that workplace cooling is unappealing for firms with narrow profit margins, while coping strategies of farms and households have unclear optimality due to adoption barriers. Government responses remain understudied, with six potential areas identified: green jobs, green skills, labor-oriented adaptation, flexible work regulation, labor market integration, and social protection. We conclude by outlining future research directions.

Physiological Responses of Stress Tolerant Rice Varieties across Different Cropping Systems under Rainfed Stress

Rice, sustaining half of the world's population, is traditionally cultivated through transplanting, particularly in Asia. However, challenges like excessive water use, labour demands, and environmental stresses like drought prompt the search for alternatives. Our study evaluates the impact of various crop establishment methods (CEs) – conventional puddled transplanting, direct drill seeding on flatbeds (DSR), and direct seeding on raised beds (FIRB) – on five stress-tolerant rice varieties (V): DRR 42, DRR 44, Sukha Dhan 5, Sukha Dhan 6, and Sarjoo 52. The key physiological parameters like Relative Water Content, Membrane Stability Index, and Chlorophyll content were analysed across different CE and V combinations. Notably, FIRB consistently surpasses other methods, suggesting its potential in bolstering stress tolerance and yield. Among the five varieties, Sukha Dhan 5 (V3) displays the highest RWC, Sarjoo 52 (V5) in MSI, and DRR 44 (V2) demonstrates superior chlorophyll content. These varieties underscore their pivotal role in maintaining plant water status, facilitating robust photosynthesis, and enhancing stress resilience, thereby ensuring stable yields. Our findings underscore FIRB's promise in curbing water waste and mitigating drawbacks associated with conventional transplanting practices.

R&D innovation, industrial evolution and the labor skill structure in China manufacturing

This paper utilizes the skill-biased technological change and routine-biased technological change hypotheses, along with the theory of firms' innovation behavior, to establish a comprehensive analytical framework. This framework aims to elucidate the mechanisms through which technological innovation, industrial evolution, and education affect the labor skill structure in China manufacturing. The empirical results that have been gathered can be succinctly described in the following manner: (1) Research and development innovation stimulates the demand for high-and low-skilled labor, and, the rising of total factor productivity reduces the demand for low-skilled labor, confirming the labor-friendly effect of product innovation and the labor-saving effect of process innovation. (2) The cyclical pattern of fluctuating demand for low-skilled labor can be attributed to the industrial concentration, driven by technological advancements. Nevertheless, the phenomenon of cyclicality has not been observed for high-skilled labor. (3) There exists a paradoxical relationship between higher education and industrial demand, wherein education and skill are mismatched. (4) There exists the SBTC in China manufacturing resulted from process innovation. However, the SBTC does not explain the cause or mechanism behind the relative productivity shift and the higher demand for educated workers. This paper examines several policy implications including R&D innovation, employment, and education.

Does exporting to China spur firm innovation activities in developing countries?

Trading with developed countries has been shown to promote technological progress. However, it remains unclear whether trade between developing countries promotes or hinders technological progress. To address this gap, the present study utilizes micro data from the 2006–2021 World Bank Enterprise Surveys for 139 developing countries to assess the link between exports to China and innovation activities. We analyze the relationship between exports to China and various proxies for firm-level innovation activities in other developing countries. Our findings suggest that exports to China significantly enhance innovation in other developing countries, regardless of the innovation measures used. The heterogeneous analysis shows that the effects are more pronounced for mature firms and exporters, while young firms and non-exporters are more likely to introduce process innovation directly, rather than spending more on R&D. This effect becomes more pronounced after the implementation of China's Belt and Road Initiative in 2013. The underlying mechanism is that exporting to China (only for capital-intensive goods) could increase the demand for skilled labor, thereby contributing to higher innovation activities among firms in developing countries, as evidenced by firms hiring a greater proportion of skilled labor. These labor adjustments could contribute to the increase in the likelihood of firms introducing process innovation and spending on R&D by 38% and 47%, respectively.

Assessing the Economic Impact of Coffee Farming on Rural Communities in Colombia

Purpose: The aim of the study was assessing the economic impact of coffee farming on rural communities in Colombia Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: Assessing the economic impact of coffee farming on rural communities in Colombia reveals significant findings. Coffee farming is a major source of employment and a primary contributor to household income in these areas, supporting the economic stability of numerous families. Moreover, the coffee industry’s demand for labor not only boosts local employment rates but also contributes to regional economic development through the generation of export revenues. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Dependency theory, livelihoods approach & dual economy model may be used to anchor future studies on assessing the economic impact of coffee farming on rural communities in Colombia. Implement CBPR methods to involve coffee farmers in the research process, ensuring that their firsthand experiences and insights inform the study. Advocate for policies that support fair trade practices.

Generalist CEOs and stock price crash risk

AbstractWe investigate whether generalist chief executive officers (CEOs), that is, CEOs who gain transferable skills across firms and industries, have less incentive to hoard bad news. To address endogeneity concerns stemming from firm–CEO matching, we deploy a difference‐in‐differences method utilizing exogenous CEO turnovers, propensity score matching and entropy balancing matching methods, and Oster's coefficient stability test. Supporting our conjecture, we find a negative relation between CEOs’ general ability index (GAI) and future stock price crash risk. The effect of CEOs’ GAI on crash risk is stronger when labor demand is stronger and when firms have more agency conflicts. Our analysis further suggests that generalist CEOs attenuate crash risk by increasing conditional accounting conservatism and reducing real earnings management. Taken together, our findings highlight the role of CEOs’ general human capital in increasing their tolerance for failure and mitigating the agency problem.

Does reliable electricity mean lesser agricultural labor wages? Evidence from Indian villages

Using a panel of 1,171 villages in rural India that were surveyed in the India Human Development Surveys, I perform a difference-in-differences analysis to find that improvements in electricity reliability have a negative effect on the increase in casual agricultural labor wage rates. Changes in men’s wage rates are found to be affected more adversely than women’s, resulting in a smaller widening of the gender wage gap. I find that better electricity reliability reduces the time spent by women in fuel collection substantially which could potentially increase labor supply. The demand for labor remains unaffected by reliability, which could lead the surplus in labor supply to cause wage rates to stunt. However, I show that electrical appliances such as groundwater pumps considerably increase labor demand indicating that governments could target increasing the adoption of electric pumps along with bettering the quality of electricity to absorb the surplus labor into agriculture.

The role of imperfect market structure in the employment effect of emissions trading scheme in China: A theoretical extension and empirical investigation

The Chinese government aims to balance employment stabilization and emissions reduction when it initiates an emissions trading scheme (ETS) to control carbon emissions. However, the policymakers should not neglect the role of imperfectly competitive market structure and market power from incumbent firms. In view of this, classical framework of Berman and Bui's (2001) is extended in this paper to clarify the theoretical mechanism of employment effect of the ETS considering firm-level market power. In addition, based on the firm-level panel data from 2008 to 2019 of China, the employment effect of each pilot ETS is measured with the method of difference-in-difference-in-differences. Then a moderating effect model is established to verify the role of firm-level market power on the heterogeneous employment effect among the pilot ETSs. Moreover, the employment effect is further decomposed to evaluate the influential mechanism from the perspective of firms’ strategic behavior. It is found that there is negative employment effect of China's ETS policy, due to the significant moderating role of firm-level market power. This decrease in labor demand is mainly dominated by a negative output effect rather than a positive substitution effect because strategic allowance sellers with stronger market power tend to hire fewer employees to reduce carbon emissions by controlling production scale. However, the heterogeneity of policy effects resulted by market structure is also identified in different pilot regions. Employment dividend has been found in Beijing and Tianjin where strategic allowance buyers manipulate the carbon market and hire more employees to consolidate their market power. Therefore, policymakers should improve the design of the ETS to overcome the adverse employment effect duo to the region-specific market structure.

CGE Analysis of the Impact of the 2024 Minimum Wage Increase on the National Economy in Indonesia

One of the minimum wage problems is caused by workers/laborers' needing to agree with the wage increase set. The minimum wage increase is still minimal compared to the high worker need. The Labor Organization president called the government to raise the provincial minimum wage (UMP) and district/city minimum wage (UMK) 2024 by 15%. This figure is obtained from the Decent Living Needs (KHL) survey results and other indicators such as inflation and economic growth. On the other hand, the minimum wage increase of 15% is considered by employers to be unrealistic, considering the condition of the national economy is hit by uncertainty. The government said that determining the minimum wage based on PP 36/2021 and considering the welfare of workers/laborers’ also looks at the Company's capabilities. This paper aims to see new macroeconomic and welfare conditions due to the increase in the minimum wage by 15%. Using the general equilibrium model of static computing (CGE), the analysis results show that an increase in the minimum wage leads to a decrease in demand for labor, especially in labor-intensive sectors. The increase in wages impacts increasing household income, thus indicating an increase in household welfare. However, inflationary pressures brought about by the minimum wage increase mask the increase in revenue, resulting in a decrease in household consumption budgets. This translates into a loss of net well-being, with a more significant impact on urban households than rural households. The output of most sectors, especially labor-intensive sectors, declined, but nominal GDP increased. The increase in nominal GDP is due to rising prices, not actual economic output.

LABOUR MARKET IN UKRAINE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF A YEAR OF FULL-SCALE WAR

The main purpose of this research article is a comprehensive study of the transformational impact of a full-scale war on the labour market, with a special focus on the challenges posed by labour force dynamics in the context of the Ukrainian economy. Through rigorous analysis and empirical research, the paper aims to identify and highlight the multifaceted changes that occur in the labour market during conflict, shedding light on the complex relationship between war-induced factors and the composition of the labour force. By examining these dynamics, the paper aims to make a valuable contribution to policy and strategic decision-making aimed at mitigating the negative effects of war on the labour market, which will ultimately contribute to sustainable economic recovery and development after the conflict ends. Methodology. This research article uses secondary analysis of data from the State Employment Service, as well as the results of surveys conducted by sociological groups and consulting companies. The practical implementation of the conclusions outlined in this article involves the formulation of targeted recommendations aimed at improving the effectiveness of state policy on the labour market in Ukraine, in particular, with a focus on the restoration of human resources in the post-conflict period. Drawing on the findings of a comprehensive analysis of war-induced labour market changes, these practical recommendations aim to offer actionable strategies for policy makers and stakeholders. Emphasising the need for rapid and adaptive interventions, the authors call for evidence-based decision-making to address the identified challenges. The practical implementation of these recommendations aims to guide the development and implementation of policies that will not only mitigate the immediate impact of the war on the labour market, but also contribute to the long-term sustainability and stability of the Ukrainian labour force. Value/Originality. Current trends in the labour market are analysed. The main threats to the labour market of Ukraine and the impact on the supply and demand of labour under martial law are identified. The author proposes to regulate the professional and qualification imbalance in the labour market through the system of advanced training or retraining of employees seeking employment in a profession in demand in the economy; spreading new forms of employment and supporting self-employment; investing in the creation of new jobs with decent conditions and remuneration.

ECONOMIC AND FUNCTIONAL DIMENSIONS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT CORRIDORS IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION

Under current conditions of growing interdependence of national economies, global supply chains are being transformed and trade flows are being reoriented. The dynamics and scale of these processes are largely determined by the efficiency of international transport corridors. Investments in transport corridors have a significant multiplier effect on the entire economy by stimulating the development of transport and logistics and related sectors of the economy, creating a growing demand in labour markets, and developing global value chains, international production, trade and logistics networks. The purpose of the article is to study the impact of international transport corridors on the development of territories at the national and regional levels. The use of descriptive statistics allowed to assess the impact of international transport corridors on the level of economic development, trade openness and foreign trade volumes based on the analysis of data from 121 countries. The links between the zones of influence of international transport corridors and other functional types of territories in Ukraine were investigated. The territorial coefficient of environmental load in the context of Ukrainian regions was calculated. The results of the study will be useful for both researchers in the field of logistics and transport infrastructure development and policymakers in the field of transport and economic policy.

Energy access and female labor force participation in developing countries

Access to reliable modern energy services and female economic empowerment are vital for sustainable development of developing countries. While micro-level evidence suggests that energy access can alleviate women's household burdens and enhance their labor market participation, there is little macro-level evidence on this relationship and limited insights on how institutional environments influence it. This study fills this gap using a national-level dataset covering 78 developing countries from 2000 to 2020 and analyzing how access to electricity and clean cooking fuels affects women's labor supply and demand, respectively. Results show that clean energy access increases female labor force participation, particularly in rural areas and small island developing countries. Electricity access reduces female unemployment, especially in urban areas and African countries. Moreover, the importance of country risk and governance capability in shaping this relationship is highlighted. These findings provide valuable insights for enacting synergy policies targeting sustainable development goals.

Gender, climate and landowning: Sources of variability in the weather pattern change and ideal fertility relationship in Sahelian West Africa

This paper advances our understanding of the relationship between climate change and ideal fertility in Sahelian West Africa by exploring sources of variation in that relationship. Using an integrated dataset of Demographic and Health Surveys with monthly rainfall and temperature data, the analyses model dimensions of prospective ideal fertility for young, childless men and women in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria. Temperature, particularly in the arid climate zone, is shown to have a positive effect on ideal fertility. Landowning insulates individuals from adjusting their fertility ideals in response to change. Gender-stratified models reveal that under hotter conditions, women have a higher ideal number of children but their ideal gender composition remains relatively balanced, while men do not change their ideal number of children but show a preference for more sons. The increase in ideal fertility in response to weather change may be understood as an increasing need to generate human capital to meet the increased labour demands that climate change brings over both the short and the long term.

The effects of gender-specific local labor demand on birth and later outcomes

We study the effects of local labor market conditions during early pregnancy on birth and later outcomes. Using a longitudinal survey of newborns in Japan, we find that improvements in employment opportunities increase the probability of low birth weight and premature birth. We also examine the effects of gender-specific labor market conditions. An increase in labor demand for women has a large negative effect on gestational age, especially for mothers who gave birth at relatively young ages. However, we find little evidence of a lasting negative effect of an increase in labor demand during early pregnancy on serious health conditions or developmental delays in early childhood. Using prefecture-level panel data, we confirm that the negative effect on infant birth weight is not driven by selective fertility and mortality.

Trafficking Captives in South America’s Southern Cone

Trafficking Captives in South America’s Southern Cone

Spatial disparity of skill premium in China: The role of financial intermediation development

In China, the relative wages of high-skilled and low-skilled workers display huge variation across different regions. We examine whether financial intermediation development (FID) can explain such variation. Conceptually, better-developed financial intermediation helps financially-constrained firms raise new capital, which is usually skill-biased, resulting in an increased demand for skilled labor and skill premium. Using a cross-section of workers from the 1% Population Survey of 2005, we find consistent evidence; besides, the relationship is stronger among workers in industries with higher capital-skill complementarity and in non-state-owned enterprises. Overall, our results suggest that the financial market plays a role in explaining skill premium in China.

The impact of robots on labor demand: evidence from job vacancy data in South Korea

The impact of robots on labor demand: evidence from job vacancy data in South Korea

Why should we be concerned about balancing the supply and demand of skilled workers?

This study explores the dynamics between technological advancements, educational reforms, and their consequent impact on the labor market in Chile over 1980–2018 reported by Campos-González and Balcombe (2024). The authors analyze the evolution of the skill premium in response to significant policy changes and global technological trends revealing a pivotal shift in the Chilean labor market: the transition from a technology-driven phase, where rapid technological advancements heightened the demand for skilled labor in the pre-2000 period, to an education-driven phase post-2000, marked by comprehensive educational reforms. These reforms effectively increased the supply of educated workers, leading to the stabilization, and posterior decrease of the skill premium. The authors contribute to the broader understanding of how nations can navigate the challenges posed by the digital age, providing valuable insights for policymakers and educators in fostering equitable and sustainable economic growth. The study’s findings are particularly relevant to emerging economies undergoing similar transitions, offering a framework for policy formulation that synchronizes educational advancements with technological progress to ensure inclusive economic development.