Labour Market Performance Research Articles

The use of credit cards among low- and middle-income individuals in Colombia and the channels of monetary policy

Data for a retail credit card, which enables customers to finance purchases of semi-durable and non-durable goods, are used to show the way in which monetary policy and other interest rates affect the credit limits, the probability of use, and the value of purchases. This credit card, targeted at low- and middle-income individuals, is held by a quarter of employed labour force in Bogotá. Permanent and transitory incomes play an intuitive role in these three dimensions of the credit card. Credit limits are determined by the intervention interest rate, which supports the presence of the lending channel. The probability of use is determined by the usury interest rate while monthly purchases are affected by the interest rate charged by the financial institution and the usury interest rate, both indicative of the broad credit channel. Interestingly, after considering the customer’s observable characteristics, macroeconomic environment matters, mainly the labour market performance.

O EFEITO DA EXPANSÃO DOS INSTITUTOS E DAS UNIVERSIDADES FEDERAIS SOBRE O MERCADO DE TRABALHO

Este estudo avalia o impacto da expansão, entre 2000 e 2010, das universidadese dos institutos federais de educação sobre a performance do mercado de trabalhodos municípios brasileiros contemplados. Especificamente, avalia-se o efeito sobreas taxas de atividade, ocupação e formalização da mão de obra e sobre indicadoresde empreendedorismo. Utilizam-se os dados dos censos demográficos de 2000 e 2010,assim como as informações do Sistema Integrado de Monitoramento, Execução e Controledo Ministério da Educação (Simec) para montagem de um painel de municípios.A estratégia empírica adotada é o método de diferença em diferenças com uma especificaçãoeconométrica capaz de acomodar a presença de sinergia entre a expansãoconcomitante das duas instituições. Há evidências positivas de impacto e sinergias sobrea taxa de ocupação e a formalização dos postos de trabalho.

Efficiency and Distributional Effects of the Two-Tracked Labour Market Institutions in Albania

This study examines the efficiency and distributional effects of selected labour market institutions in Albania, a rather under-researched country. An initial overview of the post-communist developments articulates why Albania has the poorest labour market performance among other South East European countries. Using a set of mixed qualitative and descriptive quantitative methods we find evidence of inefficient segmental effects and a predatory structure of labour market institutions which noticeably diverge from the efficient institutions point of reference. The institutional/welfare regime at the cross-national level points out at a relationship between the labour market institutional framework and labour market performance, as measured by unemployment. At the country level, a disproportional relationship between the ‘de jure’ labour market regulation and unemployment is identified, which is also moderated by the interaction between labour market and economic institutions.

Recent trends in the gender gap in the labor market in the Philippines

We use linear and nonlinear decomposition methods to explore recent trends in male-female differentials in labor market performance in the Philippines. Using the 2018 Labor Force Survey, we calculate an unadjusted wage gap of 5.77 percent, an employment rate gap of 0.36 percentage points, and a labor force participation rate gap of 19 percentage points. We provide further context by showing the evolution of these figures over time (2002-2018), which indicates that women generally perform worse in the labor market than men as measured by the pay gap and the gap in labor force participation ( LFP ). The decomposition exercise reveals that the pay and LFP -rate differentials are largely due to women receiving lower returns to their observable characteristics relative to men. The gender gap in employment status is not significant. JEL classification: J16, J21, J71

Human Capital and Labour Market Performance of Muslim Women in Australia

This article examines the labour-market performance of Muslim women in Australia. It examines whether Muslim women face a penalty due to their religion. This study analyses data obtained from the 2011 Australian Census, and found that Muslim women were less likely to participate in the labour market and less likely to obtain managerial jobs. However, the results of this study show that Muslim women are as likely to be employed as are the majority group. Human capital factors explained the difference between the groups in the case of employment, thus refuting religious discrimination as an explanation for this difference. However, the study also suggests that the lack of differences in employment should be examined further as it might be masking other forms of disadvantages, e.g. overqualification. The results also show that qualifications have a positive impact on all labour market outcomes and by and large operate similarly among all groups.

Does Government Size Explain Unemployment in MENA Countries?

Economists typically believe that government size is an integral determinant of labor market efficiency. Therefore, it is important in practical and theoretical terms to understand the impact of government size on the unemployment rate. Recent empirical studies indicate the negative impact of government size on labor market performance. This paper explores the relationship between government size and the unemployment rate in seventeen MENA countries during the period 2003 – 2017 using seemingly unrelated regression models (SURs). The research found a statistically significant negative effect of government size on the labor market. It also found that total government expenditure as well as investment expenditure play a dampening role on the labor market. Causality tests indicate that there is significant two-way causal relationship between government size and the unemployment rate. But the dynamic analysis of causality indicates one-direction causality from the unemployment rate to government size. The proper policy must therefore start with addressing unemployment in MENA countries, one of whose tools is government sizing.

Effectiveness of public university expansion in Brazil: comparison between the situation of graduated and dropout students

Abstract Starting in 2007 with the implementation of the Support Program to Restructure and Expansion Plans of Federal Universities (Reuni, acronym in Portuguese), Brazil doubled the number of admissions in public higher education within a decade, while also making the admissions process more inclusive. However, this rapid expansion has led to criticism regarding the loss of quality in public higher education. The objective of this study is to compare the labor market performances of successful graduated and dropout students who majored in four disciplines that encompass this expansion policy. The nonparametric Binomial and Mann-Whitney tests were used to compare the performances of the groups of students who had successfully graduated and those who had dropped out of their courses at the Planaltina campus of the University of Brasilia (UnB-FUP). The performance of the graduated students in our sample was worrisome, as our results show that there is a high number of unemployed students and, that among those employed, few work in the area they majored in, raising doubts about the effectiveness of the policy to expand the number of admissions in higher education held in Brazil.

Spatial Analyses of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: Its Responsiveness to Labor Market Performance and Policies during the 2008 Recession

The major economic downturn of the Great Recession led many families with children to depend on cash assistance from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. In order to capture TANF caseload growth rates relative to their labor market performance, we developed a responsiveness index which revealed that many of the western and midwestern states were quite responsive to the recession. Using Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) tools, we found the presence of strong spatial clusters in unemployment rate and in TANF maximum aid. Several states in the western region were surrounded by neighboring states with higher growth in unemployment rate changes than the national average based on ‘Rook Contiguity’ weight matrix. The presence of High-High clusters of the level of TANF benefits was found in Northeastern states whereas the presence of Low-Low spatial clusters was found primarily in Southern states. The present study’s findings have confirmed the idea that spatial analyses can be useful for policy research. In the era of evidence-based policy making, the role of spatial analyses is bound to expand.

US AND UK LABOUR MARKETS BEFORE AND DURING THE COVID-19 CRASH

We examine labour market performance in the US and the UK prior to the onset of the Covid-19 crash. We then track the changes that have occurred in the months and days from the beginning of March 2020 using what we call the Economics of Walking About (EWA) that shows a collapse twenty times faster and much deeper than the Great Recession. We examine unemployment insurance claims by state by day in the US as well as weekly national data. We track the distributional impact of the shock and show that already it is hitting the most vulnerable groups who are least able to work from home the hardest – the young, the least educated and minorities. We have no official labour market data for the UK past January but see evidence that job placements have fallen sharply. We report findings from an online poll fielded from 11–16 April 2020 showing that a third of workers in Canada and the US report that they have lost at least half of their income due to the Covid-19 crisis, compared with a quarter in the UK and 45 per cent in China. We estimate that the unemployment rate in the US is around 20 per cent in April. It is hard to know what it is in the UK given the paucity of data, but it has gone up a lot.

전문대 입학생의 일반대학 진학 여부에 따른 장기적 노동시장 성과 차이에 대한 연구

본 연구는 한국교육고용패널조사(KEEP) 데이터를 활용하여 전문대학 진학 경험이 있는 학생 중 전문대학 최종 졸업생과 편입 또는 신입학을 통해 일반대학을 최종적으로 졸업한 학생들의 장기적 노동시장 성과를 비교하기 위해 진행되었다. 본 연구는 전문대학에 입학한 적이 있는 KEEP의 고등학교 3학년 코호트 805명, 중학교 3학년 코호트 669명을 합친 1,474명을 분석에 포함하였으며, 일반최소자승모형(Ordinary Least Square)과 로지스틱 회귀분석방법, 경향점수매칭법을 활용하였다. 분석 결과, 12차년도 시점에서의 전문대학 진학 후 일반대학 최종 졸업자 집단과 전문대학 졸업자 집단의 취업여부에는 유의미한 차이는 없었으나, 월평균 임금에 있어서는 일반대학을 최종 졸업을 한 사람일수록 전문대학만을 졸업한 사람보다 높게 나타났다. 일-전공 일치도에 있어서도 일반대학 최종 졸업자가 전문대학 졸업자보다 더 높은 수준을 보였다. 하지만 직업 만족도로 살펴본 일자리의 질은 집단 간 차이가 없는 것으로 드러났다. 계열별 차이 분석에서는 일반대학 진학자들의 계열 간 월평균 임금 차이가 유의미하지 않은 것으로 나타났다.

Factors in a Sustainable Labor Market: Evidence from New College Graduates’ Initial Job Placement in Korea

Young Koreans have been experiencing stress and employment barriers due to progressively worsening employment issues since the late 1990s. College graduates spend excessive amounts of time job hunting, necessitating institutional and policy measures to improve their initial labor-market performance. We, therefore, attempt to empirically analyze the relevant factors. Focusing on sustainable job quality, company size, wages, and satisfaction levels for students’ first jobs after graduation, and we specifically use college education quality and graduates’ employment-preparation activities as independent variables and initial labor-market performance as a dependent variable. First, we measure education quality using vocational education and training, satisfaction with college education, and studying a language abroad. We find that they are positively associated with new graduates’ initial labor-market performance. Second, we measure employment preparation activities using internship experience, certificates obtained, and scores on standardized English exams. Internship experiences are positively associated with new graduates’ initial labor-market performance. These findings suggest that the Korean government should focus on establishing a sustainable labor market for new graduates and offer specific, diverse support programs to improve employment among young Koreans.

Early labor market outcomes of university graduates: Does time to degree matter?

Using university administrative and survey data drawn from the AlmaLaurea Consortium, we analyze the effect of time to degree on the early labor market performance of Italian graduates. The empirical strategy allows identifying separately the impact of elapsed time to degree on the transition from university to work and on earnings from other determinants specific to the academic path completed. Findings suggest that delayed graduation reduces the employment probability (0.8% points for each year of delay), and this effect is still persistent five years after graduation. Once employed, graduates not completing their degree within the minimum period are also penalized in their net monthly earnings, even five years after graduation. The most penalized groups are women and graduates in non-scientific fields.

The comparative analysis of the industrial relations systems in Europe

AbstractThis article aims to quantify the institutional similarities between industrial relations systems in 11 Central and Eastern European countries (CEE11), on the one hand and each of the four models of capitalism in Western Europe identified by Amable [2003], on the other hand. The comparative analysis was performed on the basis of six variables. Three of them represent inputs or institutional determinants of industrial relations. Another three variables represent outputs or the labor market performance. For each variable, the similarity coefficients between CEE11 countries and four reference EU15 economies representing Western European models of capitalism were calculated. Based on these coefficients, the hexagons of similarity were built.The analyses led us to some general observations. In 2005, most of the countries in the region developed industrial relations systems similar to the continental model, what can be interpreted as a strategy to meet the requirements imposed on these countries in the process of European integration. After accession, most of the countries abandoned “social partnership” ship and started the cruises to the Anglo-Saxon model.

MALAYSIAN ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMME (ETP) AND PATTERN OF JOB FLOWS IN MANUFACTURING SECTOR: 2005-2015

Economic transformation is vital for a country. In addition to helping to boost the economy, economic restructuring also affects market workers especially in terms of unemployment. However, the unemployment rate in Malaysia at an average of 3 per cent annually reflects that the restructuring has not to affect labour. Therefore, this study aims to study the pattern of job flow due to economic transformation undertaken by the Malaysian government in 2010. Descriptive analysis shows that there exists job reallocation in the Malaysian manufacturing sector from 2005 to 2015, and it was dominated by the pattern of job creation rather than job destruction, for the whole manufacturing sector or at the technological level. Based on the results of this study, this paper proposes the Malaysian government and policymakers to consider other methods, as well as the unemployment rate to analyse the labour market performance. This study proposes the use of job flow method as one of the labour market indicators in the economy.

Social capital, human capital and ethnic occupational niches: an analysis of ethnic and gender inequalities in the Spanish labour market

This article analyses the role of different types of social capital in the integration of immigrants into the labour market of Catalonia (Spain), according to the geographical distribution and ethnic characteristics of immigrants’ contacts. It aims to test the role of social networks, human capital and the ethno-stratification of the labour market in immigrants’ labour market performance; and to contribute to understanding the often overlooked but complex interactions between these factors and gender inequalities. Results show that transnational ties constitute a weak resource in obtaining job benefits, that labour-intensive ethnic occupational niches confine immigrants to low-skilled positions to a great extent and that, even controlling for human capital and industrial sectors, having supportive links with native-born Spaniards has a positive effect on migrants’ occupational status. Finally, gendered differences are also evident in respect of returns on social capital, indicating that the sexually segregated occupational structure of the Spanish labour market makes social capital a weaker resource for women immigrants.

Regional inequality and labour precariousness: An empirical regional analysis for Brazil, Mexico and Equador

In this paper, we propose an index and a spatial panel model to measure the impact of precariousness on income inequalities at the subnational level in Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico. Using microdata from Household Surveys of each country, we estimate spatial panel models to capture the effects of labour precariousness on the regional income differences relative to the leader region of each country. The results show a link between regional inequalities and labour market performance indicators related to living and labour market conditions.

The Impact of Population Aging and Public Health Support on EU Labor Markets.

Population aging and public health expenditure mainly dedicated to older dependent persons present major challenges for the European Union (EU) Member States, with profound implications for their economies and labor markets. Sustainable economic development relies on a well-balanced workforce of young and older people. As this balance shifts in favor of older people, productivity tends to suffer, on the one hand, and the older group demands more from health services, on the other hand. These requisites tend to manifest differently within developed and developing EU countries. This research aimed to assess population aging impacts on labor market coordinates (employment rate, labor productivity), in the framework of several health dimensions (namely, health government expenditure, hospital services, healthy life years, perceived health) and other economic and social factors. The analytical approach consisted of applying structural equation models, Gaussian graphical models, and macroeconometric models (robust regression and panel corrected standard errors) to EU panel data for the years 1995–2017. The results show significant dissimilarities between developed and developing EU countries, suggesting the need for specific policies and strategies for the labor market integration of older people, jointly with public health expenditure, with implications for EU labor market performance.

The changing pattern of wage returns to education in post-reform China

This paper examines the labor market returns to schooling in China during 2010–2015 by using two rounds of the China General Social Survey data. While our OLS estimates based on Mincerian earnings function confirm the importance of human capital in China's post-reform economy, they highlight a number of important changes in the labor market performance of educated workers. The average returns to schooling have declined during the study period, albeit modestly. The fall in returns is much larger in urban locations, coastal regions and among women (from 10.4%, 9.9% and 7.8% in 2010 to 8.3%, 7.8% and 6.3% in 2015 respectively). Workers with university diplomas and good English language skills continue to enjoy a high wage return. These findings are unchanged regardless of model specifications and corrections for endogeneity bias using conventional as well as Lewbel instrumental variable approaches. We discuss the potential explanations for the observed changes and their policy implications.

The effect of educational technology on college students’ labor market performance

This paper presents some of the first evidence on the effect of information and communications technology (ICT) on college students’ labor market performance. Using a large, representative survey of college students in China, we examine outcomes before and after students were exposed to technology-aided instruction, compared with students who were not exposed to such instruction. The results indicate that the ICT program significantly increased students’ likelihood of obtaining a job offer in the labor market and the wage they were offered. The positive effect comes from students’ increased use of computers and the internet for job search. While most previous studies of the use of technology in education focus only on students’ academic achievement and find zero or negative effects, our study demonstrates that technology may be an effective tool for improving college students’ labor market performance, and that the potential benefits of technology might be underestimated if we focus only on test scores and ignore students’ career development.

Educational supply policies: distortions and labor market performance

Is it always worth implementing an open enrollment policy? And implementing policies that pursue equity in school supply? What is the impact of these two policies on the labor market? Do they produce efficient aggregate outcomes in both the labor and educational markets? This paper theoretically provides answers to these questions by studying the link between distortionary school supply policies and labor market performance. We build a two-sector labor market matching model, where the skilled segment of the economy is composed of workers who differ in the quality of the school they attended. We show the impact of government interventions to eliminate educational supply policy distortions within this theory. We demonstrate that both open enrollment and school equity policies have ambiguous effects on the labor market. Whenever their impact on the measure of workers choosing to become better educated is stronger than the additional school quality gains generated by the policy, the effects on the economy are negative. We also study the central planner solution, emphasizing the existing inefficiencies.