Labor Economics Research Articles

The UK gender pay gap: Does firm size matter?

AbstractMotivated by the introduction of the UK Gender Pay Gap Reporting legislation to large firms, defined as over 250 employees, we use linked employee–employer panel data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings to explore pre‐legislation variation in the gender pay gap by firm size. In doing so, we contribute to the evidence on the relationship between two prominent empirical regularities in the labour economics literature, namely the gender pay gap and the firm‐size wage premium. We find that both the raw and adjusted gender pay gaps increase with firm size in the UK private sector, even after controlling for unobserved worker heterogeneity, consistent with the legislation being targeted effectively. However, this conclusion changes after accounting for unobserved firm‐level heterogeneity. Large firms have smaller within‐firm raw gender pay gaps and similar adjusted gender pay gaps when compared to smaller firms. Our findings are not specific to the current definition of large firms but hold more generally, including at alternative proposed size thresholds.

Interactions with Powerful Female Colleagues Promote Diversity in Hiring

Previous articleNext article No AccessInteractions with Powerful Female Colleagues Promote Diversity in HiringMarco Battaglini, Jorgen Harris, and Eleonora PatacchiniMarco Battaglini Search for more articles by this author , Jorgen Harris Search for more articles by this author , and Eleonora Patacchini Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Labor Economics Just Accepted Published for the Society of Labor Economists, Economics Research Center/ NORC Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/720392 Views: 135Total views on this site HistoryAccepted April 08, 2022 PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The Health and Welfare Effects of Increases in Workers’ Compensation Benefits

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Health and Welfare Effects of Increases in Workers’ Compensation BenefitsLu JinksLu Jinks Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Labor Economics Just Accepted Published for the Society of Labor Economists, Economics Research Center/ NORC Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/720456 Views: 76Total views on this site HistoryAccepted April 15, 2022 PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Understanding the Effect of Parental Education and Financial Resources on the Intergenerational Transmission of Income

Previous articleNext article No AccessUnderstanding the Effect of Parental Education and Financial Resources on the Intergenerational Transmission of IncomeAiday SikhovaAiday Sikhova Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Labor Economics Just Accepted Published for the Society of Labor Economists, Economics Research Center/ NORC Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/720390 Views: 122Total views on this site HistoryAccepted March 21, 2022 PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

A Twofold Subjective Measure of Income Inequality

Social scientists have been aiming to calculate a “subjective income Gini coefficient”of survey respondents that would describe their beliefs about income inequality in their country. Niehues (Subjective perceptions of inequality and redistributive preferences: an international comparison, Cologne Institute for Economic Research, IWTRENDS Discussion Paper, 2014) derives this estimate from respondents’ beliefs about the relative sizes of different social classes (answers to “shape of society” questions), while Kuhn (The individual perception of wage inequality: a measurement framework and some empirical evidence, Technical report, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), 2015) estimates it using beliefs about the pay structure. We combine their efforts to calculate what we call a twofold subjective Gini coefficient, which incorporates both pieces of information independently from one another. We present the country-level distribution of perceived and desired twofold subjective Gini coefficients using the ISSP Social Inequality V survey (ISSP Research Group in International social survey programme: social inequalityv—issp 2019, 2019. https://doi.org/10.4225/13/511C71F8612C3). Accounting for both subjective class structure and pay structure yields much lower perceived and desired levels of inequality. At the country level the averages of the twofold subjective Gini coefficients are closer to actual income Gini coefficients than the previous measures. At the individual level the twofold subjective Gini coefficients are better predictors of the individual’s verbal assessment of inequality and their preferences towards redistribution.

Erratum

Previous article FreeErratumOriginal articleContributorsPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreThe Contributors list in volume 67, number 1, contained incomplete biographical information for Guirong Li, Delei Liu, Xinwu Zhang, Yue Ma, Cody Abbey, and Robert Fairlie. The journal office regrets the error. The corrected passages are below.Cody Abbey ([email protected]) is a Project Manager at the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions. He manages and evaluates projects related to education technology and mental health. He was part of the inaugural class of the Yenching Academy at Peking University and completed his bachelor’s degree in public policy at Princeton University. While at Princeton he spent his summers serving as a volunteer teacher in rural China.Robert Fairlie ([email protected]) is Professor and Chair of Economics Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He researches entrepreneurship, education, information technology, inequality, labor economics, and immigration. He has published over 70 journal articles and book chapters, two academic books, and numerous government and foundation reports. He received his PhD and MA from Northwestern University and BA with honors from Stanford University.Guirong Li ([email protected]) is a professor at the School of Education and the International Center for Action Research on Education at Henan University in Kaifeng, China. She focuses her research on the evaluation of the development quality of rural education in China, especially on secondary vocational education. She has also conducted large-scale data surveys and assessments on educational policies that can improve the quality of rural student development and promote balanced urban and rural education.Delei Liu ([email protected]) is a PhD Candidate at the School of Education at Henan University in Kaifeng, China, and has been studying education policy and teacher education in rural China for 4 years. He has extensive experience doing field work management. His research focuses on rural education and rural teachers’ career persistence in China.Yue Ma ([email protected]) is a Research Scholar at the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions and has been researching the economics in education and human capital in rural China for over 10 years. He has extensive experience doing field work management. While earning his master’s and PhD degrees in Northwest University and Shaanxi Normal University, his research has focused on rural education in China.Xinwu Zhang ([email protected]) is a PhD Candidate at Northwest University in Xi’an, China and has been researching the economics in education and human capital in rural China for 4 years. He has extensive experience doing field work management. His research has focused on rural education and health care in China. Previous article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Comparative Education Review Volume 67, Number 2May 2023 Sponsored by the Comparative and International Education Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/725409 HistoryReceived April 04, 2023Accepted April 04, 2023 © 2023 Comparative and International Education Society. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.Related articlesContributors1 Feb 2023Comparative Education Review

Robber Barons and Wretched Refuse: Ethnic and Class Dynamics during the Era of American Industrialization

Robber Barons and Wretched Refuse: Ethnic and Class Dynamics during the Era of American Industrialization

The role of political economy in the strategic choice for automation: a case study in a German logistics firm

The current automation debate neglects the social conditions underpinning technological change. Following recent labour process analysis (LPA) concepts and the Regulation School theory of the firm, I apply a firm-level strategic choice approach to trace the political-economic and organisational conditions associated with automation in logistics. To this end, I reconstruct the strategic choice of industrial automation in a German parcel logistics firm. Moreover, I compare two types of distribution centres on the level of task automation in the company and discuss the failed implementation of the automation project. I employ qualitative data about the company and four of its facilities to trace the process. The case selection fits the current debate as logistics has a high share of routine jobs, and therefore – according to labour economists – the industry faces a high risk of automation-induced job displacement. The analysis yields that actors drew on six essential conditions for the automation project at the firm and the political-economic level. The case study demonstrates the working of an ambivalent causal mechanism and stresses the relevance of organisational affordances and material-technical requirements for successful automation projects. The results synthesise the political-economic and organisational conditions that need to be considered in technological change in logistics. Thereby the article adds to a political economy of automation. Ultimately, the findings also emphasise the need for labour strategies centring on technological change in logistics.

The Intergenerational Effects of the Vietnam Draft on Risky Behaviors

Next article No AccessThe Intergenerational Effects of the Vietnam Draft on Risky BehaviorsMonica Deza and Alvaro MezzaMonica Deza Search for more articles by this author and Alvaro Mezza Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Labor Economics Just Accepted Published for the Society of Labor Economists, Economics Research Center/ NORC Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/725595 HistoryAccepted April 21, 2023 © 2023 The University of Chicago. All Rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

When does self-employment equalise income? Evidence from developing countries

PurposeA lack of sufficient gainful employment opportunities in developing countries means that those at the bottom of the income ladder resort to self-employment for survival. While self-employment equalises inequality by providing earning opportunities to such individuals due to the ease of entry, it also creates a competitive environment among the self-employed, consequently widening inequality. In light of this, the study aims to determine the optimal level at which self-employment narrows inequality.Design/methodology/approachFive-yearly average data from 72 developing countries covering 2000–2019 is used. Inequality measures include Gini, and self-employment includes total, male and female participation levels. The empirical analysis is based on the dynamic two-step system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation approach, two-stage instrumental variables (2 SLS IV) approach and Sasabuchi (1980) and Lind and Mehlum (2010) test. Several robustness checks are used to validate the findings.FindingsPrima facie, the study's findings suggest that self-employment equalises inequality in developing countries. The income-equalising effect can be seen, however, when the total, male and female self-employment levels are below the optimal of 54.22% of total employment, 52.50% of male employment and 54.19% of female employment, respectively. Inequality widens when self-employment exceeds these optimal levels. Further, the income-narrowing effect of self-employment is larger than its income-widening effect. When self-employment is below its optimal level, it reduces inequality 80 times more effectively than when it widens above the optimal levels. The corresponding figures for male and female self-employment are 90 and 52, respectively. Second, the income-equalising effects of self-employment are gender-specific.Practical implicationsDeveloping countries striving to achieve SDG 10 should limit self-employment to the above-mentioned levels. To this end, an inclusive approach to reducing inequality requires these countries to use selective and targeted policy interventions to create gainful employment opportunities for those above the identified optimal levels and eventually assist them in utilising these opportunities.Originality/valueTo the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to determine the optimal levels at which self-employment equalises income in developing countries. As such, it makes novel contributions to both labour and development economics.

The Growth–Employment–Poverty Nexus in Africa

AbstractThis paper focuses on employment and the labour market as a key mechanism leading from growth to poverty reduction in Africa. Given that the development goals are economy-wide outcomes—less poverty, shared prosperity, more and better job opportunities, etc.—the required analysis must be at the market level. Individual-level analysis is not enough. The paper brings together insights from labour economics and from development economics. It draws upon Fields’ work over decades at the intersection of these two fields. A concluding section presents suggestions for policy analysis.

On event studies and distributed‐lags in two‐way fixed effects models: Identification, equivalence, and generalization

SummaryWe discuss three important properties of panel data event study designs. First, assuming constant treatment effects before and/or after some event time, also known as binning, is a natural restriction, which identifies dynamic treatment effects in the absence of never‐treated units. Second, event study designs with binned endpoints and distributed‐lag models are numerically identical. Third, classic dummy variable event study designs can be generalized to models that account for multiple treatments of different signs and varying intensities. We demonstrate the practical relevance of our methodological points in an application studying the effects of unemployment benefit duration on job search effort.

Mind the gap: an empirical analysis of pay discrimination in Hollywood

PurposeThis study aims to identify and explain a possible gender pay gap in the creative industry. By using the salary information of Hollywood actors, this paper restricts the analysis to a relatively homogenous group of workers. In addition, actors' human capital endowments and past performance can be measured precisely. The factors that impact the salaries of movie stars are likely to influence the pay of other high-wage employees, such as athletes and executives.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a rich panel data set including 178 female and male actors in 973 movies released between 1980 and 2019. Using a random-effects model and the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition approach, this paper distinguishes between a fraction of the gender pay gap that can be explained and another fraction that cannot be explained. Hence, only the unexplained residual typically obtained by estimating two standard Mincer-type earnings functions is due to discriminatory pay practices.FindingsThis study reveals a pay difference between female and male actors. Gender-specific representation in leading roles and systematic differences in performance measures can explain this pay difference. While female actors' underrepresentation in leading roles reflects consumer tastes and, therefore, reflects discriminatory attitudes, no evidence can be found for direct pay discrimination in Hollywood's movie business.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first Hollywood study to relying on a rich panel data set that includes various measures of the human capital characteristics of the different individual actors. This paper's theoretical contribution lies in applying classic labor economics reasoning to explain pay determination in Hollywood's movie business.

Bringing the classroom to the real world: Field trips to marginalized neighborhoods

The authors incorporate experiential learning into three courses: Urban Economics, Labor Economics, and the Economics of Inequality. Students visit neighborhoods that, while geographically proximate, remain outside most students’ day-to-day experiences, such as a legal red-light district that is also home to low-wage immigrant workers and a public rental housing estate whose residents were recently relocated. These location-oriented field trips raise a confluence of themes, such as poverty and crime, that relate to and beyond the authors’ courses. Students’ written reflections provide evidence that they are able to: (i) identify economic concepts within the lived realities of communities; (ii) recognize the assumptions and validity of economic models; and (iii) contextualize and reevaluate the costs and benefits to the economic agents whom they model in the classroom.

The Impact of Selection into the Labor Force on the Gender Wage Gap

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Impact of Selection into the Labor Force on the Gender Wage GapFrancine D. Blau, Lawrence M. Kahn, Nikolai Boboshko, and Matthew ComeyFrancine D. Blau Search for more articles by this author , Lawrence M. Kahn Search for more articles by this author , Nikolai Boboshko Search for more articles by this author , and Matthew Comey Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Labor Economics Just Accepted Published for the Society of Labor Economists, Economics Research Center/ NORC Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/725032 Views: 33Total views on this site HistoryAccepted March 10, 2023 © 2023 The University of Chicago. All Rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Altruism or Money? Reducing Teacher Sorting Using Behavioral Strategies in Peru

Previous articleNext article No AccessAltruism or Money? Reducing Teacher Sorting Using Behavioral Strategies in PeruNicolas Ajzenman, Eleonora Bertoni, Gregory Elacqua, Luana Marotta, and Carolina Mendez VargasNicolas Ajzenman Search for more articles by this author , Eleonora Bertoni Search for more articles by this author , Gregory Elacqua Search for more articles by this author , Luana Marotta Search for more articles by this author , and Carolina Mendez Vargas Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Labor Economics Just Accepted Published for the Society of Labor Economists, Economics Research Center/ NORC Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/725166 HistoryAccepted March 22, 2023 © 2023 The University of Chicago. All Rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Unemployed Job Search across People and over Time: Evidence from Applied-For Jobs

Previous articleNext article No AccessUnemployed Job Search across People and over Time: Evidence from Applied-for JobsJonas Maibom, Nikolaj Harmon, Anita Glenny, and Jonas FluchtmannJonas Maibom Search for more articles by this author , Nikolaj Harmon Search for more articles by this author , Anita Glenny Search for more articles by this author , and Jonas Fluchtmann Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Labor Economics Just Accepted Published for the Society of Labor Economists, Economics Research Center/ NORC Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/725165 Views: 59Total views on this site HistoryAccepted March 22, 2023 © 2023 The University of Chicago. All Rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Formation of enterprise personnel: factors and methods

The relevance of the research topic is that at present, personnel planning is an essential element of the personnel policy of any enterprise, which contributes to the fulfillment of tasks related to the development of the enterprise. Formulation of the problem. Personnel planning of an enterprise requires constant adjustment: how many employees, what qualifications, when is it needed? How to attract the right employees? Analysis of recent research and publications. Much attention has been paid to the study of the issue of the importance of personnel formation in the works of such scientists as D. Boginya, P. Buryak, V. Geyets, V. Grineva, A. Kolot, L. Mikhailova, V. Petyukh, O. Slavgorodskaya, V.A. Lukyanykhin, V. Lukashevich, M. Kh. Meskon, M. I. Murashko, F. I. Khmel, S. V. Shekshnya, G. Shchekin, etc. Therefore, properly organized personnel formation is an integral part of effective enterprise management. The purpose of this article- consider the concept of "personnel planning" and its main content and determine the direction of improving the formation of the enterprise's personnel. The object of research factors and methods of formation of personnel potential at enterprises. The subject of the study is the study of theoretical and practical issues of the formation of human resources in enterprises. Application area. The results of this study can be applied at Ukrainian enterprises to solve the problem of forming the personnel potential of an enterprise, also in the initial process when teaching the discipline "Labor Economics and Social and Economic Relations", "Personnel Management", "Innovative Development of Enterprises", "Personnel Management", " Administrative Management". Conclusions in accordance with the article. This study leads us to the conclusion that personnel planning is an integral part of enterprise management.

The Effect of Priming Structural Fairness on Inequality Beliefs and Preferences

Experimental research on pay inequality attitudes often provides information about pay inequality with the expectation that greater awareness of pay differences will increase the belief that pay inequality is unfair, thereby strengthening support for policies addressing pay inequality. Less explored is whether providing information about why pay inequality might be justified may lower support for addressing pay inequality or counteract the effect of providing information about such inequality. This paper finds that providing static information about pay differences across the income distribution generally does not affect support for policies addressing pay inequality. However, providing information about pay inequality followed by a labor economics argument in support of pay differences (priming structural fairness) generally decreases support for such policies. One mechanism through which this effect may operate is by increasing the belief that differences in pay are justified.

Learning labor economics through narrative interviews on the work that people do

I implement in a labor economics course a project-based assignment involving narrative interviews on the work that people do. Through experiential learning, students investigate how social, political, and economic forces shape the evolution of an occupation. Students apply one or more of the three neoclassical models — the neoclassical model of labor-leisure choice, the neoclassical model of labor demand, and the neoclassical model of the labor market — to an occupation to explain why it is in decline. Furthermore, students hone their social skills through collaborating with their groupmates, conducting narrative interviews with strangers, and delivering a TED-style talk to their classmates. I draw on student presentations and reflections to demonstrate learning outcomes.