Labor Force Behavior Research Articles

Employment of Land-Expropriated Farmers: The Effects of Land Expropriation and Gender Difference

The employment inequality between males and females in the context of land expropriation is not conducive for land-expropriated farmers to earn a sustainable livelihood. In this study, based on the data of two waves of household surveys, the “Chinese Family Panel Study” in 2016 and 2018, the PSM-DID method is used to test the effects of land expropriation on the employment behavior of the rural labor force, and the heterogeneous results of men’s and women’s employment behaviors are analyzed. The following conclusions are drawn. Land expropriation significantly reduces the employment probability of the labor force, encouraging the rural labor force to withdraw from the labor market voluntarily; land expropriation significantly shortens the employment distance of the labor force overall, promoting the urbanization of the rural labor force in the vicinity; land expropriation has a greater impact on the unemployment of the female labor force than that of the male labor force, and it increases the employment distance of males and reduces that of females, promoting the return of females’ labor to the family. The policy significance of this study is to attach importance to the long-term sustainable livelihoods of rural households and the employment equality of males and females in urbanization. Findings suggest family–friendly compensation for land expropriation should be formulated, rural construction land should be allowed to enter the market instead of being expropriated, and cooperation between county and developed regions should be encouraged for the creation of more jobs.

Labor Force Transitions of Older Married Couples in Germany

This study investigates the labor force behavior of older married couples in Germany. Monthly observations from the first eleven waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) are used to describe and analyze the relationship between the labor force behavior of husbands and wives. The empirical model is a discrete time, competing risks hazard model of transitions among labor force states defined by the employment status of both spouses. The analysis indicates that the probability of one spouse exiting employment is much larger if the other spouse is not employed than if the other spouse is employed. Similarly, one member of a couple is much more likely to enter employment if the spouse is employed than if the spouse is not employed. Observed covariates including wages and retirement benefits help to explain these patterns, but unobserved preferences for shared leisure also appear to play an important role.

Retention, Migration and Engagement: An Analysis of a Large-Scale Multiplex Volunteer Collaboration Network

Volunteer engagement is improving the well-being of individuals in society, and volunteers' retention and migration behaviors are critical to the management of non-profit organizations. Despite the existing effort to understand organization performance with network science, no prior study has tapped into the behavior of the unpaid labor force of non-profit organizations. This work looks into volunteers' engagement, retention, and migration by constructing dynamic egocentric collaboration networks using data from 827,260 unique volunteers' participation in 183,445 projects initiated by 74,556 non-profit organizations over nine years. We apply a multiplex network framework to characterize the heterogeneous relationships within the collaboration networks. We find that volunteers embedded in more cohesive networks and surrounded by fewer structural holes (gaps between individuals who have complementary sources of information) are more likely to remain in their existing non-profit organizations. These volunteers are less likely to explore unfamiliar organizations through migration, and collectively, the reduced migration rates negatively affect the development of small and newly-established organizations. Further, such volunteers have a higher volunteering engagement level overall, guaranteeing the supply of the volunteer labor force. Our work not only adds to the theories of network cohesion and structural holes but also deepens the understanding of how collaboration networks pose opportunities and constraints for volunteer behaviors. This work provides rich implications for volunteer management and public policy.

Female labor force participation in the US: How is immigration shaping recent trends?

Women entered the paid workforce in unprecedented numbers during the 20th century. Yet recent years have been witness to a creeping reversal in women's labor force participation. Why did the revolution stall? In response to debates over a “natural” limit to women's employment, or a cultural backlash against the dual-breadwinner household, we consider an alternative explanation, namely whether immigration has slowed the growth in female labor force participation. Using CPS data from 1998 to 2018, we show that the increase in the share of immigrants and children of immigrants in the population has reduced overall female labor force participation. However, immigration accounts for relatively little of the retreat from the labor force. Instead, the compositional effect of population change is overshadowed by behavioral shifts that affect both natives and immigrants. Lower participation rates among native-born women accounts for most of the overall decline. Despite persistent differences, we also find substantial convergence in the labor force behavior of native-born and foreign-born women, which bodes well for the long-term economic incorporation of immigrants and their children.

Health Status and Retirement Decisions for Older European Couples

In this paper we use data the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) to describe and analyse the dynamics of joint labour force behaviour of older couples for the EUI2 countries. We focus on three main issues: the relanvance of joint retirement across EUI2 countries, the existence of complementarities in leisure and/or assortative matting and the effects of health variables. Concerning the evidence, we first find that a working spouse is more likely to retire the more recently the other spouse has retired; this effect is stronger if the wife is the working spouse. Second, there is evidence of assortative mating and/or complementarities in leisure; the effects of all relevant factors on the retirement decision of one spouse depend strongly on whether the other one is working, unemployed, or retired. Third, besides the standard evidence that poor health increases the retirement probabiliby, we find that the husband's health affects the couple's retirement decisions much more strongly than the wife's health does. Additional asymmetric effects are detected with respect to income related variables.

Is Two Too Many? Parity and Mothers' Labor Force Exit.

How do women's chances of labor force exit vary by the number of children they have? Conventional wisdom suggests there may be a tipping point at the second child when women are particularly likely to leave. Women who only ever have one child, by contrast, are thought to be uniquely unlikely to exit. Using data from the nationally representative 1979-2012 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (https://www.nlsinfo.org/content/cohorts/nlsy79), event history methods estimate the likelihood of labor force exit as women progress across parity transitions. Results show no evidence for a tipping point around the birth of second children. Women are instead most likely to leave the labor force when they are pregnant with their first child and each subsequent child is associated with a smaller increase in the probability of exit. In addition, women who only ever have one child are less likely to leave the labor force than those who have more children and these differences arise as early as their pregnancies with their first children. College-educated women who only ever have one child are especially unlikely to exit. Findings thus do not support the second child tipping point hypothesis, but they emphasize the importance of completed parity and the transition to motherhood for mothers' labor force behavior.

Female labour force participation and economic development

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical model, which is aggregated across individuals to analyse the labour force participation rate, and empirical results to provide evidence of a U-shaped relationship between women’s labour force participation and economic development.Design/methodology/approachThe U-shaped relationship is investigated by employing a panel data approach of 40 countries around the world over the period 1960–2005. It is investigated whether the labour force behaviour of women in different age groups can be lumped together by considering ten different age groups.FindingsThe paper finds evidence in favour of the U-shaped relationship. For every age group and explanatory variable in the model, a particular point is found where the regime of falling participation rates changes into a regime of rising participation rates.Research limitations/implicationsTo evaluate this relationship, microeconomic analysis with primary data can also provide significant insights.Social implicationsEvery country can narrow the gap between the labour participation rates of men and women in the long term. Fertility decline, shifts of employment to services, part-time work, increased opportunities in education, and the capital-to-labour ratio as a measure for economic development are the key determinants.Originality/valueIn addition to the U-shaped relationship, considerable research has been carried out on demographic transition. This paper brings these two strands of literature together, by econometrically investigating the impact of demographic transition on female labour force participation given its U-shaped relation with economic development, i.e., turning points for different explanatory variables are calculated and their implications for economic growth are discussed.

Factors of Economic Behavior of Population in Regional Labor Market

The article is devoted to research into one branch of behavioral economics - peculiarities of economic decision-making by population in the labor market in the context of the Russian regions. Interregional and intraregional migration has been identified as one of the most significant consequences of economic decisions taken by the population. Migration, in turn, is as an important factor in regional economic development resulting in a redistribution of the labor force and affecting regional and local labor markets. It has been assumed that the desire to improve their material well-being forces economically active people to move to more economically developed territories, which allowed the authors to build a methodology for studying the economic behavior of the population, based on an assessment of regional disparities and account of the features of regional labor market. Within the framework of the methodology, the authors have proposed several socio-economic indicators which are based on statistical, analytical and comparative methods and can be used to reveal socio-economic stratification of population in regional aspect. It has been found out that the pattern of economic behavior of labor force in regional markets is determined by differences in the structure of consumer spending in regional context. As a result, the research methodology has enabled the authors to build the typology of the Russian Federation regions rating them according to their attractiveness for employable population.

Improving Small Area Estimates of Disability: Combining the American Community Survey with the Survey of Income and Program Participation

Summary The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is designed to make national level estimates of changes in income, eligibility for and participation in transfer programmes, household and family composition, labour force behaviour and other associated events. Used cross-sectionally, the SIPP is the source for commonly accepted estimates of disability prevalence, having been cited in the findings clause of the Americans with Disability Act. Because of its sample size, the SIPP is not designed to produce highly reliable estimates for individual states. The American Community Survey (ACS) is a large sample survey which is designed to support estimates of characteristics at the state and county level; however, the questions about disability in the ACS are not as comprehensive and detailed as in the SIPP. We propose combining the information from the SIPP and ACS to improve, i.e. to lower variances of, state estimates of disability (as defined by the SIPP).

Labor Force Participation and Educational Attainment in the United States

The objectives of this paper are twofold. Aggregate labor force participation rates in the United States are described focusing on educational attainment. A model is developed for decomposing aggregate labor force participation rates for men and women from 1994 to 2014 from a unique perspective by focusing on changes in educational attainment and on changes in the labor force behavior. The findings presented here indicate that men’s aggregate labor force participation rates declined during the 20-year period at all levels of educational attainment, due primarily to changes in population shares. A different picture emerges regarding women. For women with high school or some college or associate degree, it was changes in labor force behavior that dominated changing aggregate labor force participation rates. For women with the lowest and highest levels of educational attainment, less than high school or at least a baccalaureate degree, it was changes in their population shares that drove changes in aggregate labor force participation rates.

Discouraged or added worker effect: Which one prevails in the Polish labour market?

We test whether the discouraged worker or added worker effect prevails in the Polish labour market. The discouraged worker effect implies that the participation rate is procyclical with respect to the GDP and countercyclical with respect to the unemployment rate. The added worker effect yields contrary findings. We analyse the period 1994–2014 with quarterly data. We focus on the working age population, both males and females. We apply a range of methods to obtain robust results, some of which have never been employed to resolve this problem. They include ad hoc filtration, spectral analysis, unobserved component model, time-varying parameter model, and frequency domain regression. The results indicate that the added worker effect prevails in most of the business cycle frequencies. It is significant and varies over time. It is true for both males and females. It is considerably stronger in contractions than in expansions. In low business cycle frequencies, the discouraged worker effect prevails. Although the last case is rare, it proves the heterogeneity of labour force behaviour over the business cycle.

Dynamic Analysis and Modeling of the Labor Market Development in Ukraine

Negative tendencies on the labor market in Ukraine caused social and economic problems which are connected with low level of income and unemployment. The article deals with investigation of dynamics peculiarities of socio-economic processes and modeling of the relationships between macroeconomic indicators on labor market in Ukraine during 2002–2013. The econometric model for labor force behavior is conducted. We also estimated system that models short-term adjustments and makes it possible to determine the short-run effects of some factors on the growth rate of wages, labor force, employment and unemployment. On the basis of simultaneous equation models the different alternative behavior scenarios of labor market indicators are analyzed.

Transitions between states of labor-force participation among older Israelis.

The study examines the labor-force behavior of Israelis at older ages, focusing on the determinants of the transitions between states of labor-force participation between 2005 and 2010. The study uses panel data from the first two waves of the SHARE-Israel longitudinal survey. A multinomial logit model is used to examine the impact of sociodemographic characteristics, health state, and economic resources on labor-force transitions of people aged 50-67. The results emphasize the role of age and poor health in "pushing" older people out of the labor force or "keeping" them there. Spouse's participation is found to encourage individuals to leave the labor force or to refrain from joining it. However, living with a participating spouse is negatively associated with staying out of the labor force, consistent with the dominance of the complementarity of leisure effect found in the literature. Wealth as an economic resource available to individuals for retirement is also found to encourage individuals to leave the labor force or to refrain from joining it.

Diversity of labor supply incentives and retirement: evidence from Ireland

This paper gives a first-time assessment of the interaction between retirement programs (public and occupational) and labor force behavior of older people in Ireland. Workers planning retirement face a trade-off between earnings from continued work and benefit payments from income security programs. We simulate retirement incentives embedded in these programs. Retirement pathways typical for Ireland uncover different patterns of the incentives; these patterns correspond to observed retirement behavior. A major source of variation relates to the coverage by occupational pensions.

Do Women Respond to Changes in Family Policy? A Quasi-Experimental Study of the Duration of Mothers' Employment Interruptions in Germany

Based on a sequence of policy changes in Germany’s parental leave programme, the article uses an interrupted time-series design to provide empirical evidence on the relationship between mothers’ labour force behaviour and family policy. Using event history modelling techniques and 1984–2010 data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, the analysis shows that mothers have strongly responded to various changes to Germany’s parental leave programme, including both entitlement extensions and incentives to speed their return to work. As transition rates at which mothers return to employment generally fall while being covered by parental leave entitlements but peak when entitlements are exhausted, five consecutive entitlement extensions between 1986 and 1992 have empirically been accompanied by respective increases in the duration of employment interruptions following childbirth. This upward trend has partly been reversed by stronger monetary and procedural incentives for shorter leave-taking implemented in 2001, but more consistently so by the introduction of Germany’s new 12-month earnings-related parental leave benefit programme in 2007. Respective behavioural changes are observable among both East and West German mothers despite long-standing differences in gender culture and availability of public childcare.

The Effects of Medicaid Earnings Limits on Earnings Growth among Poor Workers

Abstract Strict earnings limits for public health insurance eligibility may distort work incentives for low-earning workers. Since 1996, states may vary their parental Medicaid eligibility criteria independently of other assistance programs. The result is substantial variation across states and over time in the earnings thresholds to which workers must adhere to maintain eligibility. Utilizing this variation, I identify the effects of Medicaid earnings thresholds on labor force behavior of low-income single mothers, examining both static and dynamic patterns. I find some evidence that allocating government funds to increasing these thresholds could be used as a policy lever to help drive increased earnings among low-income women.

Regional variations in labor force behavior of women in Japan

This study uses cross-sectional data to investigate regional differences in women's participation in the labor market. Women's participation is high in the northern coastal region of Japan. This high rate of participation is caused by the fact that married women with children participate as regular full-time employees. Supply and demand factors explain part of the differences, but regional effects remain even after controlling for them. I attribute the high participation in the northern coastal region to long-standing norms regarding women's work.

Labor and consumption across the lifecycle

We propose new measures to summarize and compare age profiles of consumption and labor income. One measure is the lifetime support ratio or the ratio of effective lifetime labor to effective lifetime consumption. Two other measures measure the timing of work and consumption over the lifecycle. Using a highly stylized model we show how changes in these features of the lifecycle influence the standard of living that can be achieved. To illustrate the value of these measures we consider two practical applications. In the first we analyze the effect of increasing life expectancy on lifetime effective labor and consumption. We show that in longer life is leading to greater lifetime consumption but little response in lifetime labor supply. The exception to this generalization is in low income, high mortality countries where the gains in life expectancy are occurring at the working ages as well as the non-working ages. In the second application we consider whether the lifetime support ratio and the timing of consumption relative to labor income are influenced most by variation in life cycle patterns of work or lifecycle patterns of consumption. The answer depends on the level of development. In upper-middle income countries and high-income countries both are important. In these countries, then, effective policy should address both sides of the lifecycle – producing and consuming. In lower-income countries, however, only the age patterns of labor income appear to matter. Policies related to labor markets and labor force behavior appear to be critical under these circumstances.

Análisis histórico de la profesión de recursos humanos en Puerto Rico desde 1960 al 2000

Esta investigación examina el comportamiento de la fuerza laboral en la profesión de recursos humanos desde 1960 al 2000 en Puerto Rico. Se estudiaron las tendencias y el desarrollo de dicha fuerza laboral por género, estructura ocupacional, brecha salarial y cantidad de ofrecimientos académicos a nivel de educación superior. Los resultados del análisis demuestran que la profesión continúa en crecimiento entre ejecutivos, administrativos y gerentes, y sugieren la necesidad de promover estudios relacionados con la especialidad, así como determinar los factores que inciden en la brecha salarial, y generar estrategias de integración entre la oferta y la demanda.

Family proximity and the labor force status of women in Canada

In this paper, I examine the effect of family co-residence and proximity on the labor force participation and working hours of Canadian women. I find lower labor market attachment for married women without young children who co-reside with their mothers (those women most likely to care for their elderly mothers) and for married women with young children who live more than half a day away from their mothers (those women least likely to benefit from the availability of family provided childcare). I find no effect of proximity for single women with children on the extensive margin, but do find that they work fewer hours if they live far from their mothers. The results hold only for proximity to living mothers (as opposed to proximity to widowed fathers), suggesting that it is the mothers themselves, and not merely the home location, that drives the results. I incorporate IV estimation using province of birth and whether one was born in the same province of either parent to estimate proximity, and find consistent results. To the extent that the positive effect of close proximity is related to the availability of grandchild care, policies that impact the labor force behavior of grandmothers may also impact the labor force behavior of their daughters. Regional patterns in proximity suggest that national childcare and labor market policies may yield different results across the country.