Active Labour Market Research Articles

Inflationary dynamics of labour market activity: Evidence from the Czech Republic

This paper provides an in-depth investigation into the intricacy of inflation dynamics in the Czech Republic, with particular emphasis on the influence exerted by labor market activity. The research employed principal component analysis and the local projections methodology proposed by Jorda (2005) in the context of the Phillips curve framework, followed by the extension of the analysis via the introduction of a nuanced state dependence dimension that recognizes that the impact of labor market activity on inflation may be contingent upon the broader economic situation. Our findings revealed the statistically significant impact of labor market activity on inflation. Specifically, a one standard deviation increase in the labor market activity component leads to an accumulated increase in inflation of approximately 3 percentage points over a three-year horizon. Our non-linear model uncovered the pivotal interaction between state dependence and the impact on inflation. The findings revealed that during expansionary periods, labor market pressures can be effectively managed for a limited period, albeit with a slight escalation in prices. However, over an extended period, the labor market is susceptible to encountering constraints that lead to markedly higher inflation rates - almost twice as high as those observed during recessionary periods. We subjected our benchmark results to extensive robustness verification.

Bridging the Gender Gap in NEET Risk: Institutional Influences on NEET Status in Different Age Groups

Utilizing the Survey of Adult Skills from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and the OECD database, this study investigates the role of gender inequality and public social spending in the gender gap in Not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET) risk across various age cohorts. The research identifies a concentration of female NEETs aged 25 to 34 in nations with more pronounced gender employment gaps, whereas such disparities were not evident among the 15 to 24 age groups. In exploring the role of public social spending as a mitigating factor for the gender-based NEET rate gap, the study underscores that investments in education, labor market activation, and early childhood education serve as key factors in reducing gender discrepancies in the likelihood of NEET status.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Family Economic Well-being: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances

The COVID-19 pandemic caused severe disruptions to the U.S. labor market and economic activity. We establish connections between family experiences of the pandemic, their income under normal conditions, and their later economic well-being using the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances. By their interview, one-third of families experienced net employment declines, one-third had teleworked, and one-fifth had significant COVID-19-related health events. These experiences strongly reflected families’ positions in the income distribution, with lower-income families bearing the brunt. They also tightly predict income and wealth after the initial disruptions, signifying that the pandemic economy likely amplified pre-pandemic differences and fostered new divides.

What Works for the Youth: Analysis of Youth Employment Policies in Rwanda

In Rwanda, over 75 percent of youth are not in education, employment and training (NEET). These are mostly absorbed in the informal sector that provides little or no protection to workers against shocks, and are prone to several socio-economic, technical, and financial constraints. Through desk review of existing policies and studies, key informant interviews (KIIs), and focus group discussions (FGDs), this study reviews and analyzes the existing youth employment policies (YEPs) and interventions with intent to identify the hurdles and outcomes of the actual implementation of these YEPs in Rwanda. Youths aged 18 to 30, policy makers, policy implementers, and implementing partners were the key target respondents. The study finds a multitude of YEPs and interventions to promote youth education and skilling, entrepreneurship, and business development funding; though most of them are more focused on supply than demand-side of the labor market, with limited vulnerable youth inclusivity. Common hurdles encountered during implementation of YEPs include: poor coordination among the vast YEPs causing monitoring challenges both at national and district level, and duplication of services. Difficulty to integrate education and skilling into decent youth employment, matching labor laws with youth welfare, cultural bias limiting young women from participating in some labor market activities, funding gaps, and limited youth engagement during program design. Addressing these challenges requires a well-coordinated stakeholder engagement, and strong collaboration between the public and private sector, as well as civil society organizations.

Ageing risks in four Asian Tigers: global health crisis and implications for productive welfare regimes

PurposeThis article focuses on the continuity and changes in the Productive Welfare Regimes and investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic and population ageing can influence the established systems in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.Design/methodology/approachOur research is based on document review, investigating intricate situations with numerous aspects and providing an excellent opportunity for innovation and examining theoretical presumptions in welfare regime theory, as well as exploring the complicated policy trajectories that varies among cases.FindingsOur findings reveal that social policy responses to COVID-19 have been characterized by adopting the market-conforming role of social policy for the elderly. This is shown by many policy measures focusing on self-sufficiency and an active labour market, signalling that the COVID-19 pandemic and population ageing pressure here are viewed as an economic issue over social rights. The economic-first was adopted to maintain their proximity to the global economy as key sources of their social policy development. We can conclude by emphasizing that the responses to COVID-19 have exposed deficiencies in certain existing social policies. Yet, they have not been sufficient to catalyse substantial policy changes across domains where such change had not already been initiated, thus allowing welfare regimes to remain within productivist boundaries.Originality/valueThis study responds to the current debate on the welfare regime continuity and adaptation in East Asia and suggests a new perspective of policy process in the times of insecurity.

Parental allowance increase and labor supply: Evidence from a Czech reform

We study the effect of a substantial increase (36%) in parental allowance, a universal basic income-type benefit, on the labor supply of parents of young children in the Czech Republic. Parental allowance does not preclude labor market activity, which allows us to estimate the income effect. We find that the reform resulted in a 4.8 percentage point (11%) decrease in labor market participation of mothers of young children. Mothers with only one child (7.8 p.p., 20%) and university-educated mothers (17 p.p., 32%) reacted particularly strongly. The percentage reduction in hours worked was virtually identical to that in labor force participation. We argue that the sizeable labor supply reduction was driven by the option to extend the parental allowance period, which enabled mothers to postpone their return to work. We find no effect on the labor supply of fathers of young children.

The Summer Drop in Female Employment

Abstract We provide the first systematic account of summer declines in women's labor market activity. From May to July, US women's employment-to-population ratio declines 1.1pp, whereas men's rises; women's hours worked fall 9.8%, twice the decline among men. School closures for summer break provide a unifying explanation. The summer drop aligns with cross-state differences in school closure timing, is concentrated among mothers with young school-aged children, and coincides with increased time spent on childcare. Gender differences both within and across jobs explain gender gaps in summer exits from employment. Women's summer work interruptions contribute to gender gaps in pay.

The principle of adequate social protection in the European Pillar of Social Rights: Assessing the instruments used to realise its potential

Improving the social security protection of atypical workers has been high on the EU agenda in recent years. With the adoption of the European Pillar of Social Rights in 2017, the EU wished to break away from a decade of austerity measures. The EU further developed the right to adequate social protection in the Pillar through the Recommendation on access to social protection for workers and the self-employed. This instrument urges EU Member States to ensure adequate access to social protection for workers, regardless of their employment relationship, and the self-employed. As part of the EU's recovery strategy during and after the Covid-19 crisis, several financial instruments were developed to support EU Member States. Through the Temporary Support to Mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency, EU Member States received support for job retention schemes. The EU also adopted the Recovery Resilience Facility, which provided grants and loans. Another support instrument was the European Social Fund Plus. This article discusses those recent EU initiatives, focusing on unemployment and the protection of atypical workers and the self-employed. With the introduction of the European Employment Strategy (1997), a closer link was made at EU level between unemployment, increasing labour market participation and activation measures. Less attention was paid to ensuring adequate unemployment protection. In recent years, however, it appears that the EU has been playing an increasing role in providing funding for temporary support and in introducing changes to EU Member States’ policies.

Impacts of COVID-19 on Physician Labour Market Activities

Le fait de comprendre les changements à la main-d’œuvre en médecine pendant la pandémie de COVID-19 éclaire la planification des effectifs médicaux. À l'aide de données représentatives canadiennes, les auteurs ont observé une réduction des heures de travail pendant la première vague. Toutefois, les heures n’étaient pas différentes des normes prépandémiques lors des vagues subséquentes. Les réductions étaient concentrées chez les médecins de famille communautaires et les spécialistes, tandis qu'en moyenne, les médecins hospitaliers ont maintenu leurs heures prépandémiques. Notamment, les hommes et les femmes ont présenté des diminutions indifférenciables sur le plan statistique, mais légèrement plus marquées chez les hommes. Sauf chez les parents monoparentaux ayant des enfants, dont les heures n'ont pas diminué, les réductions observées étaient très semblables, compte tenu de la situation conjugale et chez les femmes et les hommes ayant ou non des enfants, même si ceux-ci étaient très jeunes. La situation d'immigration n'avait pas d'incidence sur la diminution des heures. Les médecins de plus de 60 ans ont réduit leurs heures davantage que les plus jeunes. Sous réserve de certaines variations, des tendances semblables ont été observées à l’égard des absences. Aucune donnée probante n'a soutenu la susceptibilité des médecins à arrêter d'exercer pendant la pandémie.

Educational Expansion as a Driver of Longer Working Lives?

This study investigates the contribution of educational expansion to changes in labour force participation among Europeans aged 55-74 between 2000 and 2019, while accounting for changes in educational inequalities in labour market activity. We use data from the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) for 26 countries and Kitagawa-Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition methods to analyse the extent to which changes in the education structure may account for rises in labour force participation rates among older workers in these countries, and the degree to which returns to education have changed. Overall, we found that educational expansion is positively associated with increases in labour force participation, albeit with substantial cross-country variation in the scale of this association. A driving factor was the decrease in the share of the population with low education levels, followed by an increase in the share of those with high education levels. While activity rates rose in most countries and among all levels of education, the largest increases were observed among people with a medium level of education. Activity rates of low-educated older workers, especially women, grew at a substantially lower pace in some countries, exacerbating educational inequalities in labour force participation at older ages. The study suggests that educational expansion has been a driver of longer working lives in Europe. However, it also indicates that changes in health, working conditions and age norms at the microlevel, as well as pension and labour market reforms at the macrolevel, can be assumed to have played a dominant role in countries where increases in labour force participation were the most significant.

Unburdening care: Exploring modes of care through post‐productivist thought and Australian parliamentary inquiry representations

AbstractResearch on care increasingly emphasises the “care‐less” or “uncaring” nature of state‐coordinated interventions imposed on marginalised communities. However, these perspectives tend to eliminate discussions about modes of care (Fox, Critical Social Policy, 15, 1995, 107) or the ways in which care is differentially experienced and performed. This paper argues for scholars to think multimodally about care, proposing a typology of four different modes of care: care‐as‐gift, ‐burden, ‐control and ‐cure. The paper makes a case for locating these modes of care within a post‐capitalist political horizon to respond to the demand to “unburden care.” That is, the political demand to provide the economic and social conditions that best enable caregiving and reduce gendered pressures on caregivers. The paper develops these arguments through the post‐productivist thought of Kathi Weeks (2011, The problem with work: feminism, marxism, antiwork politics, and postwork imaginaries. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press) and a critical discursive examination of care representations made by submitters to two parliamentary inquiries into the Australian “pre‐employment” programme ParentsNext—a labour market activation programme that targets single‐parent caregivers “at risk of welfare dependency.” The paper contributes a critical and multimodal approach to better conceptualise competing framings of care's value and the ways in which the state can (un)burden caregiving.

The Local Regression Approach as a Tool to Improve Place-Based Policies: The Case of Molise (Southern Italy)

The implementation of place-based policies entails the construction of intervention areas (spatially contiguous areas in which the policies are adopted). Many approaches can be adopted for the definition of such areas. This paper reflects on the use of geographically weighted regression (GWR) models as a tool capable of supporting the definition process. The case study concerns Molise, a region in Southern Italy particularly affected by persistent and deep-rooted processes of depopulation. The dependent variable is the average annual rate of population change of municipalities of Molise across the 2011–2019. The independent variables are related to socio-economic profiles of each municipality. The results, contextualised using a broad overview of the Italian case, show that a key variable in the demographic dynamics of the municipalities of Molise is the labour market activity rate of women and that this variable drives a spatial instability that cannot be detected using global approaches and models. This proves the urgent need to expand the use of local thinking for the benefit of both applied demography and society.

Disability, employment and welfare reform: A comparative analysis of Australia and Denmark

AbstractFrom the poor‐relief tradition to the social citizenship‐based development of the welfare state, the question of available social supports for people with disability has been one of the central issues of welfare reform agendas. Under the increasing influence of neoliberal rationalities, many welfare states have engaged in the redefinition of capacity and incapacity to work in an attempt to manage the fiscal cost of a growing number of people on disability pension and work incapacity benefits. These reconfigurations of income transfers have significant implications for the social and economic participation of people with disability. This article seeks to build knowledge about the policy implications of these changes by comparing recent disability policies in two very different welfare states—Australia and Denmark—who have contrasting approaches to activation measures concerning people with disability. This article examines how these welfare states have reconfigured the meaning of disability, thereby either restricting further or relaxing the conditions of labour market activation. Through these two cases, we argue that there is a case for labour market participation insofar as rights to work through improved employment opportunities take precedence over punitive regimes that reduce access to income support.

Educational attainment as a predictor of poverty and social exclusion: Empirical analysis of Serbian case

This study examines the impact of education on the risk of poverty and social exclusion in a single-country framework. Relying on household and individual level data from the annual EU-SILC survey obtained in Serbia in 2020, we estimate the market and non-market benefits of education in the context of combating poverty and social exclusion in developing countries. Based on a representative sample of the adult population in Serbia, we explore to what extent the risk of poverty and social exclusion can be predicted by the levels of educational attainment. Econometric estimations indicate that educational underachievement acts as a significant driver of poverty and social exclusion. Probit regression analysis indicates that the risk of experiencing poverty and social exclusion decreases substantially with higher education levels. We include three model specifications that calculate the predicted probability of being at risk of poverty, severely materially deprived and exposed to combined risks. Holding other predictors constant, the decrease in poverty and social exclusion probability attributed to a one level increase in educational attainment amounts up to 7.96% (for unemployed women with only primary education). The analysis confirms that the highest gains from schooling are materialized for the categories of respondents who are not active in the labor market and those with the lowest levels of educational attainment. Besides this, self-perceived health and labor market activity significantly affect the risk of poverty, material deprivation and social exclusion. The impact of age differs across our model specifications, indicating that age increases the probability of severe material deprivation and the combined risk of poverty and deprivation, while older age appears to go in hand with a lower risk of poverty itself. These results offer relevant information that should be considered when determining the optimal level of social investment in education.

Participation of Female Workforce in the Construction Sector in Sri Lanka: Challenges and Policy Implications

It is widely accepted that women do not have equal rights and status, particularly in developing nations. The various theoretical and empirical studies show gender inequalities in salaries, earnings, income and pay scales, and the construction sector is no exception. This study highlighted potential areas for women in the construction sector labour market by analyzing market and employment related trends and requirements on the demand and supply sides. Further, the study identified the challenges and necessary policy implications for enhancing female labour force participation in the construction sector in Sri Lanka. Many female workforces believe that developing a critical mass of women in different occupations in the construction sector would encourage more women to enter the business. Many studies have shown that since women have poor levels of skills and are either not given or unaware of skill upgrading opportunities, they are unable to enter or flourish in construction-related industries. In addition, interruptions in careers, limitations on flexible working hours, engaging in precarious work due to household responsibilities, and the gender pay gap are some other important factors that limit labour market activities by women, thus lowering social protection coverage for females. Besides socio-cultural and religious barriers, the data also revealed that women face sexual harassment, which discourages them from continuing their jobs in the construction sector for a long time.

Estimating Public Economic Gains from Early Breast Cancer and Curative Treatment: A Case Study in Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (HER-2) Positive Targeted Therapies.

Cancer diagnosis influences the choices that patients make regarding current and future labor market activity. These choices have implications for governments based on resulting changes in taxes paid and benefits received. In this analysis we explore how human growth receptor 2 (HER2)-positive residual invasive breast cancer and different treatments influence government accounts excluding health costs. HER2-positive early breast cancer (eBC) health states from a published disease model were used to establish likelihood of working and wage impact at different stages of disease. The indirect productivity losses for an average woman aged 49years were translated into fiscal consequences to government by applying an established government perspective-modeling framework. The fiscal projections (discounted) include gross tax revenue by disease stage, government transfer costs related to time off work and early retirement ,and net fiscal balance (e.g., gross taxes-transfers) in three countries Canada, Portugal, and Brazil. The net fiscal balance in Canada for a healthy woman was C$109,551 compared with a HER2-positive eBC woman treated with trastuzumab emtansine (C$69,767) or trastuzumab (C$62,971). A similar pattern was observed in the three countries but reflecting the overall tax burden in each country, labor force activity, and available public benefits. Age at diagnosis was an important determinant of the likely net fiscal balance, as this influences the remaining working years. Women diagnosed with HER2-positive eBC were estimated to pay less lifetime gross taxes and receive more in sickness benefits compared with healthy women. Treatments that improve outcomes are likely to offer fiscal gains for government from improved work force participation.

From segmentalist to liberal skill formation system: A comparative analysis of labour market activation policies in Japan and South Korea

Abstract This study provides a comparative analysis of the evolution of skill formation systems in Japan and South Korea, considering the nuances in active labour market policies (ALMPs) and institutional transformations in the post-industrial landscape. Both nations initially adopted segmentalist skill formation systems; however, they now exhibit divergent paths. Korea, in particular, has undergone institutional changes from segmentalist to a liberal skill formation system, with firms reducing their involvement in skill formation, resulting in a pronounced skill formation gap. Firms have curtailed their role in skill formation in alignment with environmental changes, and ALMPs have primarily centred on job creation for the elderly and small- and medium-sized enterprise employment subsidies. Conversely, Japan has maintained consistent policy approaches despite similar environmental changes. This study highlights that these divergent trajectories are rooted in the different stages of institutional maturity established during industrialization.

Informal Network as a Coping Strategy in the Climate–Livestock Relationship

Traditions and culture affect decisions in many daily life aspects, including family, labor market, business, and social life activities. The focus of this article is on Uzbekistan, a country that has a legacy of the Soviet past but also maintains its own traditions. Specifically, we focus on an informal network of people with common interests, known as the gap. In this article we examine whether households participating in the gap react to adverse shocks differently compared to households that do not belong to this network. We focus on the impact of climate shocks, one of the most prominent problems in Uzbekistan. In particular, we study whether climate conditions lead to differences in livestock assets across households in Uzbekistan and explore the climate–livestock relationship for members and non-members of the gap. The results suggest that households participating in the gap are more risk averse compared to other households. That is, in a place with a high risk of climate shocks, the gap members have lower livestock assets. At the same time, if in a current year, weather conditions improve—that is, there is more rainfall—members of the gap are able to increase their livestock assets in comparison with non-members.

Employable beneficiaries of conditional cash assistance in Kazakhstan: labor market statuses and activation measures

Employable beneficiaries of conditional cash assistance in Kazakhstan: labor market statuses and activation measures

Migration and the emergence of refugees from ukraine: scientific approaches and methodical tools to eliminate negative consequences

Migration and emergence of a significant number of refugees from Ukraine result in structural deformations in the labor market, depopulation of settlements, economic imbalances, and hindered economic growth. These challenges are unprecedented and constantly worsening, stressing the need for an in-depth analysis of migration patterns, alterations in the labor market, settlement systems, and economic activities. The scientific basis for comprehending the short- and long-term impacts of migration and creating effective guidelines for managing it have not been thoroughly investigated. The objective of this article is to examine the migration processes and devise theoretical and practical methods to curb its unfavorable outcomes. Several strategic prerequisites for the return and reintegration of migrants must be established, alongside outlining the potential for their future socio-economic status.