Labour Market Performance Research Articles

The effects and challenges of vocational training in Korea

ABSTRACTThis paper explores whether training programs were effective in improving labor market performance of individuals, in particular wages and employment probability, in South Korea. The regression analyses using the data from Korean respondents in the Program for the International Assessment of Adults Competencies (PIAAC) survey show the strong positive effects of vocational training programs on earnings as well as on employment probability of individuals, while controlling for education, experience, and literacy skills as a proxy for unobserved ability, as well as occupation and industry. Moreover, the effects of job-training tend to be larger in older cohorts. These results suggest that against challenges posed by rapidly aging population and emergence of technological breakthroughs, Korea should promote vocational training activities and life-long learning programs, especially to the elderly.

A Comparative Analysis of the Labor Market Performance of University-Educated Immigrants in Australia, Canada, and the United States: Does Policy Matter?

We examine data from Australia, Canada, and the United States to assess the potential for immigrant screening policies to influence the labor market performance of skilled immigrants. Our estimates...

Influence of Employment Preparation Capability on First Labor Market Performance by Location of University

Influence of Employment Preparation Capability on First Labor Market Performance by Location of University 의 이용 수, 등재여부, 발행기관, 저자, 초록, 목차, 참고문헌 등 논문에 관한 다양한 정보 및 관련논문 목록과 논문의 분야별 BEST, NEW 논문 목록을 확인 하실 수 있습니다.

Labor Market Institutions and Performance Economic Within Trial Labor Market Models: Flexibility, Rigidity, and Flexicurity

The purpose of this article is to identify economic performance through three labor market models (flexibility, rigidity, and flexicurity) that result from the effect of the labor market regulation. After conducting a comparative analysis of the flexibility, rigidity, and flexicurity models of the labor market using a feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) applied to 18 organisation for economic co-operation and development (OECD) countries for the period between 2005 and 2013, we reached the following results. First, the effect of the labor market regulation on the unemployment rate appears to be particularly important for demographic groups (women and young people) on the flexible labor market. The union density and bargaining coverage seem to have the best results in the unemployment rate on the flexible market. More coordinated collective bargaining appears to reduce unemployment on the rigid labor market compared with the flexible one. However, our results are opposed to the neoclassical assertions which suggest that women are excluded from the permanent employment when a strict employment protection legislation (EPL) is excised. We also show that the replacement rate, the duration of unemployment benefits, the active labor market policies, permanent immigration inflows, and the tax wedge seem to have the best results on the flexible labor market, while the other variables have mixed effects on the different models of the labor market. These findings can provide policy makers and regulators with a better understanding of the performance of the flexible labor market and its behavior in the face of labor market institutions and adverse economic shocks. In fact, the government should liberalize strict labor laws.

Labor Market Performance in OECD Countries: The Role of Institutional Interdependencies

ABSTRACTReducing rigidity in labor markets is key to lowering unemployment. Theoretical models suggest that the impact of such reforms depends on the country-specific regulatory framework. We test this hypothesis by estimating the impact of changes in six categories of regulation conditional on the country-specific regulatory environment for 26 OECD countries. We overcome problems of modeling a large set of institutional interdependencies by applying a machine learning type model selection approach. We provide evidence for the existence of higher-order institutional interdependencies. We further document that especially for changes in employment protection and the unemployment benefit system the impact on unemployment is mixed across countries.

Examining the Relationship Between 2-year College Entry and Baccalaureate Aspirants’ Academic and Labor Market Outcomes: Impacts, Heterogeneity, and Mechanisms

Using the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), this paper analyzes students’ baccalaureate attainment and early labor market performance, comparing 2-year college and 4-year institution entrants and exploring the potential heterogeneous treatment effects of initiating one’s college experience in a 2-year college by individual pre-college academic preparation. Utilizing propensity score matching on a rich set of student demographic characteristics, academic and high school attributes, we find that 2-year college entry sharply reduces baccalaureate aspirants’ likelihood of earning a baccalaureate, and such negative effects are particularly pronounced for students in the highest quartile of pre-college math ability. In terms of labor market outcomes, female 2-year college entrants are less likely to gain full-time employment, as compared to their female 4-year institution counterparts. We also examine various mechanisms that may hinder 2-year college entrants’ baccalaureate completion, including the impact of 2-year college attendance on early academic progress, challenges of the transfer process, loss of credits at the point of transfer, and post-transfer academic shock. Our results provide suggestive evidence in support of all four mechanisms.

Perverse Incentives? Labor Market Regulation and Performance in the Public Sector

We test the link between labor market regulations and job performance in the public sector using a novel outcome variable, namely, the number of days it takes the postal service to return letters sent to nonexistent foreign addresses, a measure that we argue is an excellent proxy for job performance. We find a positive and statistically significant link between these two variables, regardless of the labor regulation measure employed, changes in specification, and even unlikely endogeneity considerations, which suggest that this finding may be causal.

Labor Mobility in a Monetary Union

We study macroeconomic dynamics and optimal monetary policy in an economy with cyclical labor flows across two distinct regions sharing trade links and a common monetary framework. In our New Keynesian DSGE model with search and matching frictions, migration flows are driven by fluctuations in the relative labor market performance across the monetary union. The optimizing monetary policymaker shows greater flexibility in inflation targeting when labor is mobile by leaning somewhat against deviations of migration flows from efficient benchmarks. But strict inflation targeting remains close to optimal. For a given monetary policy, labor mobility facilitates macroeconomic adjustments by reducing efficiency gaps in regional labor markets. Internal migration therefore reduces the welfare costs of following simple suboptimal monetary policy rules in a monetary union.

Are cadre offspring in the fast lane? Evidence from the labour market for college graduates in China

ABSTRACTThis paper studies the impact of having a cadre parent on the labour market performance and channels of the intergenerational transference. Using a recent data set, we find that college graduates with a cadre parent earn a wage premium of 4.46% more than those who do not. They also demonstrate advantages in obtaining a household registration (hukou), entering high-level occupations, and achieving job satisfaction. In the discussion on channels, we first show that aggressive self-investment serves as one potential channel but can only explain limited amount of the premiums. To test the other channel – interpersonal network (guanxi), we provide evidence that cadre offspring demonstrate more extensive family network resource and information advantage when searching for jobs. This channel is also supported by the finding that working closer to parents geographically or institutionally would enhance the effect of having a cadre parent.

Labor Market Returns to Education and English Language Skills in the People's Republic of China: An Update

We reexamine the economic returns to education in the People's Republic of China (PRC) using data from the Chinese General Social Survey 2010. We find that the conventional ordinary least squares estimate of wage returns to schooling is 7.8%, while the instrumental variable estimate is 20.9%. The gains from schooling rise sharply with higher levels of education. The estimated returns are 12.2% in urban provinces and 10.7% in coastal provinces, higher than in rural and inland areas. In addition, the wage premium for workers with good English skills (speaking and listening) is 30%. These results are robust to controls for height, body mass index, and English language skills, and to corrections for sample selection bias. Our findings, together with a critical review of existing studies, confirm the growing significance of human capital as a determinant of labor market performance in postreform PRC.

Director networks, turnover, and appointments

AbstractThis paper analyzes the labor market (turnover and appointments) of executive and non‐executive directors by means of social network methodology. We find that directors with strong networks are able to obtain labor market information that enables them to leave their firm more easily for better opportunities. Networks also mitigate information asymmetry problems of external director appointments. Furthermore, the strong impact of indirect connections is in line with the ‘strength of the weak ties’ theory. The fact that direct connections are less important signifies that the connections to people that are close and local are likely to convey redundant information, whereas connections to distant individuals are more efficient in terms of information acquisition and labor market performance improvement.

Migration Policy and Immigrants’ Labor Market Performance

This article studies whether migration policy is a suitable tool to improve the inefficient use of immigrants’ human capital. This line of investigation complements the traditional analysis of migration policy as a tool to manage labor supply. The effect of migration policy is studied, using a policy change that occurred in Australia in the late 1990s that tightened the selection applied to certain economic immigrants. The empirical analysis, based on data collected by the Longitudinal Survey of Migrants to Australia, confirms that the policy change raised, on average, the human capital of the affected group. It also, however, consistently reveals that the change had no detectable impact on indicators measuring immigrants’ skill utilization. This result suggests that migration policy, by itself, may not be best suited to address issues related to the efficient use of foreign talent in the labor market. Better coordination with employment policy may alleviate this problem. Additional research on migration policy’s effect on efficiency-related issues is also called for.

East-West gap of the labor market performance for youth graduates in Busan

East-West gap of the labor market performance for youth graduates in Busan

Education, age and skills: An analysis using PIAAC data

AbstractThe main aim of this article is to analyse the change of adult skills, as captured by cognitive skills assessed in PIAAC, across age cohorts, taking into account that the quality of schooling may change from one cohort to another. We estimate a model that relates numeracy and literacy skills to age, schooling, gender and variables related to both family background and labour market performance. The specification allows us to control for changes in the efficiency of the transformation of schooling into skills when drawing age‐skill profiles. Our results show that the effect of ageing on skills, once isolated from cohort effects related to schooling, decreases monotonically across consecutive cohorts. The change of the efficiency of the transformation of schooling into both numeracy and literacy skills shows a remarkably similar pattern. Nonetheless, this change differs substantially between education levels, with the efficiency of the transformation of schooling into skills showing a steadier profile for intermediate than for higher education. Finally, empirical evidence is provided for the decomposition of the differences in the skill levels of the older vs. the prime age generations. The results suggest that the progressive expansion of schooling across younger generations partially offsets the negative effect of the irrepressible ageing of society on skills.

Labor Market Integration of Skilled Immigrants

This study examined the labor market integration of skilled immigrants in Israel. It delineated the main dimensions of labor market integration in terms of income from work, employment conditions, and work autonomy. A new measure of labor market performance was developed, and the reliability of this measure was supported for different population groups. The study developed a path model of immigrants’ integration explaining how social adaptation affects labor market integration of skilled immigrants of different origin. Based on data from the 2016 Social Survey administered by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, labor market integration of immigrants from Europe and America, and the Former Soviet Union (FSU) was examined. A structural equation model was estimated. The study found that all dimensions of labor market performance were positively related to one another. Social adaptation contributed to labor market integration of immigrants, but its effects differed across the groups. Immigrants fully integrated after 25 years of living in Israel regardless of their origin; immigrants from Europe and America integrated quicker in terms of both pecuniary and non-pecuniary dimensions of labor market performance than FSU immigrants did.

Does Integration Policy Integrate? The Employment Effects of Sweden's 2010 Reform of the Introduction Program

Sweden, like many other European countries, has seen a surge in refugee immigrants over recent years, which raises a concern about the labour market integration of these newcomers. This paper investigates whether integration policy may improve refugees' labour market performance. Specifically, we examine the employment effects of the 2010 reform of the introduction program (known as IP), and how the effects vary depending on refugees' educational attainment. Given that the eligibility for the new IP was exogenously determined by whether the refugee status was granted before or after December 1, 2010, we identify the employment effects by comparing those who participated in the new IP (treatment group), with those who participated in the old IP (control group). Using a triple difference method, we find positive employment effects of the new IP that exacerbate over time. The effects are significant and identical for male refugees, regardless of educational attainment; in contrast, the effects of program participation for refugee women vary by education level, and are greater for high-educated women than that for the low-educated counterparts.

Impacts of Labor Market Institutions and Demographic Factors on Labor Markets in Latin America

This paper documents recent labor market performance in the Latin American region. The paper shows that unemployment, informality, and inequality have been falling over the past two decades, though still remain high. By contrast, productivity has remained stubbornly low. The paper, then, turns to the potential impacts of various labor market institutions, including employment protection legislation (EPL), minimum wages (MW), payroll taxes, unemployment insurance (UI) and collective bargaining, as well as the impacts of demographic changes on labor market performance. The paper relies on evidence from carefully conducted studies based on micro-data for countries in the region and for other countries with similar income levels to draw conclusions on the impact of labor market institutions and demographic factors on unemployment, informality, inequality and productivity. The decreases in unemployment and informality can be partly explained by the reduced strictness of EPL and payroll taxes, but also by the increased shares of more educated and older workers. By contrast, the fall in inequality starting in 2002 can be explained by a combination of binding MW throughout most of the region and, to a lesser extent, by the introduction of UI systems in some countries and the role of unions in countries with moderate unionization rates. Falling inequality can also be explained by the fall in the returns to skill associated with increased share of more educated and older workers.

Early Labor Market Prospects and Family Formation

We use quasi-random variation in graduation years during the onset of a very deep national recession to study the relationship between early labor market conditions and young females' family formation outcomes. A policy-pilot affecting the length of upper-secondary vocational tracks allows us to compare females who graduated into the onset of the Swedish financial crisis of the 1990s to those graduating during the final phase of the preceding economic boom while netting out the main effect of the policy. We find pronounced, but short-lived, negative labor market effects from early exposure to the recession for low-grade students in particular. In contrast, we document very long-lasting effects on family formation outcomes, again concentrated among low-grade students. Young women who graduated into the recession because of the policy-pilot formed their first stable partnerships earlier and had their first children earlier. Their partners had lower grades, which we show to be a strong predictor of divorce, and worse labor market performance. Divorces were more prevalent and the ensuing increase in single motherhood was long-lasting. These negative effects on marital stability generated persistent increases in the use of welfare benefits despite the short-lived impact on labor market outcomes. The results suggest that young women respond to early labor market prospects by changing the quality threshold for entering into family formation, a process which affects the frequency of welfare-dependent single mothers during more than a decade thereafter.

The Effect of Non-cognitive Skill on Employability

본 연구에서는 구직기간과 근속기간에 미치는 비인지적 요인의 영향을 살펴보았다. 한국노동연구원의 노동패널 18차 삶의 인식에 대한 부가조사자료에는 개인의 비인지적 특성을 묻는 질문문항이 들어있다. 노동패널자료를 사용하여 big5 성격특성과 통제소재 변인에 대한 내적일치도를 살펴보고, 분석방법으로는 구직기간과 근속기간 등 절단(censored)이 있는 표본을 포함하고 있는 자료의 분석에 적합한 비례위험해저드모형을 사용하였다. 추정결과 성격특성과 통재소재 등 비인지적 요인이 개인의 노동시장 성과에 영향을 미치는 것을 확인하였다. 구직기간 분석에서 성격요인 중 성실성이 성인구직자의 구직기간을 길게 하여 실업탈출률을 낮추는 것으로 나타났다. 이는 실업과 같은 불확실한 상황에서는 성실성으로 표현되는 신중함이 구직에 필요한 정보해석을 잘못하거나 왜곡할 수 있고, 결단성의 결여로 실업탈출에 제약이 되는 것으로 보인다. 근속기간 분석에서는 내적통재 소재자의 경우 근속기간이 길어 직장이탈가능성이 낮았다. 내적통재소재자는 내가 열심히 하면 조직에서 성공과 승진이 가능하다고 믿는 경향이 강하기 때문에 조직에 의해 더 선호될 수 있으며, 내적통제 경향이 강할수록 스스로의 행동에 대한 동기부여와 자제심이 크기 때문에 한 직장에 오래 머물 수 있는 요인이 되는 것으로 보인다.In this study, we examined the effect of non-cognitive factors on job tenure and tenure using KLIPS. We examine the internal consistency of the big5 personality trait and of the locus of control, and use the parameterized proportional hazards model. As a result, we confirmed that non-cognitive skill such as personality traits and locus of control affect individual labor market performance. Conscientiousness has shown that the job seeking period of adult job seekers is lengthened, thereby lowering the unemployment rate. It can be understood that high attentiveness under uncertainty can misinterpret information, and that lack of decision restricts escape from unemployment. In the tenure analysis, people with internal locus of control tendency were less likely to leave the job due to longer tenure. Those who have internal control can not only be preferred by the organization but also the internal control tendency seems to be the factor that maintains the long-term job because of the motivation and self-control of their actions.

대졸 청년층의 노동시장 성과 결정요인 : 대학 재학 중 노동경험을 중심으로

대졸 청년층의 노동시장 성과 결정요인 : 대학 재학 중 노동경험을 중심으로