Labour Market Research Research Articles

Current labor market in the EU and Ukraine: trends, problems, forecasting and solutions

The labor market is one of the economy changing components, it is quite similar to the market for goods and services, but instead of the demand and supply of goods, there is a demand and supply of labor, knowledge, skills and abilities that are supplied by the employee. The EU, in turn, is known for its openness to immigrants and the employment of third-country nationals. This creates new opportunities and challenges for workers and employers. Labor market research helps to understand the impact of immigration on labor markets. Covid-19 has actually become that springboard on the way to changes in the economies and labor markets of countries around the world. Transformations and changes that were just emerging until 2020 (this may safely include digitalization, automation, the spread of remote employment, etc.) will further intensify under the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war and lead to a significant redistribution of workers between sectors. In general, labor market research in the EU and Ukraine helps countries to understand and respond to various challenges and opportunities related to employment, labor migration, economic development and social policy. The purpose of our work is to identify trends and problems that exist at the present stage of development of the labor market, as well as to forecast the further development of the labor market at the level of the European Union and Ukraine

Beyond the mind: Understanding the influence of mental health on youth NEET status in Europe-A systematic literature review.

In the fields of labor market and education research, there is a vast interest in mental health factors affecting unsuccessful school-to-work transitions, dropout from school and labor market disconnections for young people. Young people who are not in employment, education or training are conceived of as NEET. To get an overview we conducted a systematic review of the present literature on the influence of mental health on the likelihood of becoming NEET in Europe. A Systematic literature search was conducted in four databases on February 21, 2023, with an update on January 15, 2024. 33,314 articles were screened whereas 41 studies involving 8,914,123 individuals were included. Poor mental health such as attention deficit hyperactive disorder, autism, depression, borderline, and psychosis during childhood and adolescence is strongly associated with becoming NEET. Mental health issues, whether mild or severe, heighten significant the risk of adverse education and employment outcomes in early adulthood, extending to young individuals with personality disorders, borderline personality disorder, and psychoses. These observations inform early intervention strategies for children and young people grappling with mental health challenges. Timely treatment is essential. Future research should focus on the gap in research like specific disorders such as eating disorders and anxiety.

Test-based measurement of skill mismatch: a validation of five different measurement approaches using the NEPS

Skill mismatch is a key indicator of labour market research that has received significant attention. To date, various approaches of test-based measurement of skill mismatch have been used in research, generating differing results. However, it remains unclear which method is the most valid for measuring skill mismatch. This study provides a comparative validation of five commonly used approaches to test-based measurement of skill mismatches in reading and mathematics to detect the most valid method. Drawing on the 2016 wave of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) Adult Cohort, I find significantly varying distributions for the different measurement approaches, and highly valid skill mismatch measures for the statistical and the mixed approach. Overall, the mixed approach emerges as the most valid method. The findings highlight the critical importance of measurement approaches in skill mismatch research.

Strategies for surveying platform workers: lessons from a Belgian case study

AbstractJob quality among platform workers has been high on labour market researchers’ agendas. Nevertheless, many report difficulties in collecting data for this group of workers. Platform workers meet many of the criteria of hard-to-survey populations. The aim of this paper is to evaluate whether purposive, non-probability sampling can provide a good strategy for collecting information on the job quality of platform workers through an internet survey (SEAD Platform Survey). The study on which this paper is based, employed different strategies by dividing platform workers into categories based on type of activity. Sampling techniques were adapted to each category and included referral, social media advertisements, (virtual) convenience sampling and a web panel. Despite the cost and labor intensity of these non-probability sampling techniques, a sizeable sample (N = 490) of platform workers was collected. Moreover, the SEAD Platform Survey showed very similar characteristics to previous probability samples within the study population (LFS Module platform work, COLLEEM II, and the ETUI IPWS). Researchers focusing on (other) hard-to-survey (worker) populations can learn from this endeavor, showing that when there is little to no opportunity for probability sampling, purposive, non-probability sampling techniques can offer a good alternative to reach a rich, statistical resource.

მოქნილი მუშაობის ფორმატი და დასაქმებულთა შრომის პროდუქტიულობა

Presented article examines the post-Covid-19 global pandemic work situation, which has become a new opportunity for flexible and crisis-ready organizations and institutions after the challenges experienced during the pandemic. Based on the review of international literature, the features of the post-pandemic work situation were analyzed and new opportunities in the post-pandemic work era were identified. Based on the review of existing practice and international literature, as a result of the obtained data, modern and current methods of work forms were determined, such as the transition to a completely remote work format and only working away from the workplace and working hybridly, which implies a mixed form of work and can work both at the workplace and away from the workplace. As a result of the aforementioned forms of work, the creation of new jobs has become easier and employment in several places at the same time has become available. The created situation has improved the socio-economic condition of the citizen, and the state has increased the labor force resource. The article explains the advantages and disadvantages of modern methods of work forms and generalizes them in relation to the existing international practice. The results of the study will be of interest to employers facing the challenges created by the global pandemic, to industry specialists and individual experts, however, the attitudes and needs of employees towards modern work methods are a separate subject of research, since the part of the workforce of the labor market is not fully capable of actively using modern digital technologies. The article will be of interest to scientists, public and private organizations, employers, and experts working on labor market research and employment issues.

Web Mining of Online Resources for German Labor Market Research and Education: Finding the Ground Truth?

The labor market is highly dependent on vocational and academic education, training, retraining, and further education in order to master challenges such as advancing digitalization and sustainability. Further training is a key factor in ensuring a qualified workforce, the employability of all employees, and, thus, national competitiveness and innovation. In the contribution at hand, we explore an innovative way to derive knowledge about learning pathways by connecting the dots from different data sources of the German labor market. In particular, we focus on the web mining of online resources for German labor market research and education, such as online advertisements, information portals, and official government websites. A key question for working with different data sources is how to find the ground truth and common data structures that can be used to make the data interoperable. We discuss how to classify and summarize web data from different platforms and which methods can be used for extracting data, entities and relationships from online resources on the German labor market to build a network of educational pathways. Our proposed solution is based on the classification of occupations (KldB) and related document codes (DKZ), and combines natural language processing and knowledge graph technologies. Our research provides the foundation for further investigation into educational pathways and linked data for labor market research. While our work focuses on German data, it is also useful for other German-speaking countries and could easily be extended to other languages such as English.

Transitions from Long-Term Unemployment to Employment

As labour market research has shown, social networks heavily impact the likelihood of gaining employment. In Germany, factors such as low qualifications, illness, age over 50, immigrant background, language deficits, and care obligations, particularly when combined, hinder job transitions and induce long-term unemployment. Nevertheless, some long-term unemployed individuals can secure jobs and forgo social benefits, seemingly against all odds. To investigate the transition-to-work process and its relationship with information, network compositions, and individual agency, we conducted a qualitative survey supplemented by problem-centred biographical interviews, employing software-based network tools. The results revealed that adopting a process-oriented approach was crucial for understanding the utilization of networks to address long-term unemployment. To encourage future network approaches in investigating labour market transitions, three key aspects appear valuable. First, the development of individual agency within stable living conditions, the contribution of alteri within the network, and information transfer for labour market orientation, including factors contributing to translating information, motivation, and orientation into employment activities. This three-step analysis moves beyond traditional approaches examining factors such as network density and the frequency of interactions or simply distinguishing strong from weak ties, by emphasising relational diachronic perspectives and respecting individual life course trajectories.

Occupation Growth, Skill Prices, and Wage Inequality

Previous articleNext article No AccessOccupation Growth, Skill Prices, and Wage InequalityMichael J. Böhm, Hans-Martin von Gaudecker, and Felix SchranMichael J. Böhm Search for more articles by this author , Hans-Martin von Gaudecker Search for more articles by this author , and Felix Schran Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Labor Economics Just Accepted Published for the Society of Labor Economists, Economics Research Center/ NORC Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/722084 Views: 123Total views on this site Citations: 2Citations are reported from Crossref HistoryAccepted July 27, 2022 PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Eduard Storm On the measurement of tasks: does expert data get it right?, Journal for Labour Market Research 57, no.11 (Feb 2023).https://doi.org/10.1186/s12651-023-00332-zMichael J Böhm, Daniel Metzger, Per Strömberg “Since You’re So Rich, You Must Be Really Smart”: Talent, Rent Sharing, and the Finance Wage Premium, The Review of Economic Studies 67 (Dec 2022).https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdac079

Income and Education Affect Prognosis and Treatment in Symptomatic Myeloma: A Population-Based Study on 8672 Multiple Myeloma Patients Diagnosed 2008-2021 from the Swedish Myeloma Registry

Introduction While survival in myeloma has improved with new treatment modalities, a substantial variation in mortality remains. This variation cannot entirely be explained by differences in known prognostic factors, such as age and genetic risk group. A link between socioeconomic factors and prognosis has gained attention during recent years, but most studies derive from populations with unequal access to health care. We tested whether income and education affects myeloma treatment and survival also in a country where nearly all health care is publicly funded. Materials and methods Study population The study base included all Swedish patients with symptomatic myeloma diagnosed between 2008 and 2021 (n=8672) and included in the Swedish Myeloma Registry. Data on stem cell transplants (HSCT) were retrieved from the 1-year follow-up form in the myeloma register. Data on lenalidomide, pomalidomide, and melphalan treatment were retrieved from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. Data on comorbidities were retrieved from the Swedish Patient Register and the Swedish Cancer Register and Charlson comorbidity index was constructed based on diagnoses registered within five years preceding myeloma diagnosis. Data on socioeconomic conditions were retrieved from the Integrated Database for Labor Market Research (LISA), held by Statistics Sweden. Education level was divided into three categories; primary school only (≤9 years), some college or university (≥13 years), or anything between these two (10-12 years). To avoid undue effect of outliers, personal and family income were grouped into highest quartile, lowest quartile and those in-between. Patients were followed in Swedish population statistics until death, permanent emigration or 31 st December 2022. Statistical analysis Analyses on overall survival were performed with Kaplan-Meier plots and with Cox proportional hazards models, yielding hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) as measures of relative risk of death. Differences in treatment were assessed by Poisson regression. All p-values were two-sided and a value below 0.05 was considered statistically significant. All analyses were performed with SAS 9.4 statistical software (SAS Inc., Cary, NC). Ethical considerations The study has been approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (2020-01729). All data were anonymized before analyses. Results Median survival was doubled in patients with higher education, compared with patients with primary school only (6.0 years vs 3.0 years). Similarly, patients in the highest family income quartile had a median survival of 7.5 years, compared to 2.8 years among patients from the lowest quartile (Figure 1). The survival differences were to some degree explained by differences at baseline, in particular age at diagnosis. In a multivariable proportional hazards regression, with adjustments for age group, sex, year of diagnosis and comorbidity index, low income patients had 40% higher risk of death than high income patients (HR 1.6, 95% CI 1.5-1.8) and patients with primary school only had 30% higher risk of death compared to patients with higher education (HR=1.4, 95% CI=1.3-1.5), p<0.0001 for both analyses. Patients with the highest family incomes were also more likely to have been treated with a stem cell transplant, a lenalidomide containing regimen, or a pomalidomide containing regimen, while patients with the lowest family incomes were more often treated with melphalan-prednisone based regimens (Table 1). Discussion Education and private economy are correlated with survival in myeloma, even in a country where the cost of health care is covered almost completely by taxes. The differences are not explained by age and comorbidities alone. Our data also suggest that doctors' choices of myeloma treatment are influenced by socioeconomic factors. The data indicate that myeloma survival could increase with more than a year if we could achieve the same results for all patients as we do with the wealthiest and most educated quartile.

Transformation of Human Capital as a Driver of Innovative Economy

The purpose of this study was to identify key factors that have a significant impact on the level of high-tech production in the region and the development of human capital in seven countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia. A comprehensive literature analysis was carried out to achieve this goal, including data from several countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia, including demographic data, education levels, labor market indicators, health indicators, and research activities. The authors constructed a model of multiple spatial regression, including seven spatial objects and a 5-time series. A qualitative model of cumulative panel regression without signs of multicollinearity was obtained as a result of the step-by-step elimination of collinear and nonessential variables. The results of the study revealed three key factors that are closely and directly related to the level of production of high-tech products. Two relate to the education sector – "the number of university graduates in the field of science and technology", and "the number of researchers per 1 million inhabitants" and one indicator characterizes the labor market – "the employment level in the economy". The authors did not identify a close relationship between the level of high-tech production and economic factors, such as cost and productivity, which contradicts the results of other research and requires more careful study. The results of the research can be useful in the development of measures to promote human capital and innovation policy of the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia.
 
 Received: 7 September 2023 / Accepted: 19 October 2023 / Published: 5 November 2023

Strangely Hesitant about Anti-Blackness: A Comment on Quadlin and Montgomery

We raise concerns about Quadlin and Montgomery’s Social Psychology Quarterly article, “When a Name Gives You Pause,” a study of whether racialized names affect the time to dog adoption in a county shelter. Our comment is guided by the recent insistence of American Sociological Association leadership for greater critical introspection in sociological research. First, the study is ahistorical by overlooking histories of human-animal relations and naming in the construction of anti-Blackness. Second, the study is acontextual by contorting labor market research and color-blind perspectives in a manner that directs undue attention to the treatment of dogs without specifying the concrete disadvantages for Black people. The study’s narrow focus on adopters misrepresents organizational factors within animal shelters. These various oversights invest Quadlin and Montgomery’s article in a whiteness-centered sociological tradition. We urge divesting from this tradition and conclude with a call for sociology to be more educative and reflexive.

8.N. Round table: Circular migration of the health and care workforce: how can we design sustainable policies?

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated mobility-related challenges, leading to a health workforce which is oftentimes exhausted - physically and mentally. Various global responses - such as the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Strategy on human resources for health: Workforce 2030 - include policies related to migration and emigration among the package of measures aimed at maintaining the pool of qualified health professionals. For post-pandemic national health systems worldwide, the need to innovate on attracting, retaining and motivating health professionals is more acute than ever. As such, our session stemmed from the observation that little evidence exists on the extent to which circular migration would work in practice. Circular migration - the situation in which health professionals are using their knowledge and skills gained abroad, in their home country - has been presented as a particularly effective, equity-promoting measure to mitigate HWF migration. In theory, circular migration would present a so-called “triple win” - for the sending country, for the destination country and for the individual health workers. However, among all mechanisms aimed at HWF retention and motivation - including financial and non-financial incentives, skill mix innovations etc. - circular migration seems to be the least field-tested. Objectives Learning objective 1: Appraise the value of circular migration as a mechanism to address HWF mobility challenges, based on research data; Learning objective 2: Assess critically the role of multi-stakeholder approaches that would make circular migration more effective in practice; Learning objective 3: Formulate areas of further enquiry that promote shared learning on circular migration globally. By engaging outstanding professionals in the health workforce field, the session will provide scientifically-sound and geographically diverse perspectives on how to best use circular migration in health systems, thus filling the knowledge gaps mentioned above. The session will allow for a panel discussion based on four presentations delivered by the invited speakers, based on a health labour market approach. Their contributions will focus on a mix of evidence & practice and policy related to circular migration. The above-mentioned presentations and the subsequent discussion initiated will add to the very limited knowledge on circular migration in practice. With this session, we are advancing work that pays greater attention to the “human face” of health workforce mobility and migration, addressing the needs and wishes of healthcare workers and ‘humanising’ health labour market policy and research. We address gender-based inequalities and discrimination in the health workforce and consider the intersectionality of inequalities (gender, race/ethnicity, age, class/professional status) in the migrant health workforce, where women often experience a ‘double jeopardy’ of gender and race/ethnicity. Key messages • Health and care workforce circular migration must be understood and accepted in a manner that take into account current complex migration patterns. • Policies involving circular migration of the health and care workforce need to be designed and assessed by promoting an understanding of the human face of the workforce. Speakers/Panelists Tomas Zapata WHO/Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark Gareth Rees Universidad ESAN, Lima, Peru Aaron Poppleton School of Medicine, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK Ligia Paina Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA Ellen Kuhlmann University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany

Concept of human capital in the context of innovative development and its place in the system of related economic categories

Despite its relatively short history, the concept of human capital has evolved into a significant number of different definitions, affecting an increasing number of elements that are inherent in the work of a modern person. The growing importance of human capital in the accumulation of national wealth, the general trends in the humanization of economic science, the peculiarities of labor characteristic of the innovative economy, led to the emergence of new elements describing a person's labor activity and labor opportunities, and the entry into circulation of a number of seemingly overlapping related categories that complemented the already existing conceptual and categorical apparatus in this area. The purpose of the article is to distinguish the main concepts developed by economic theory that characterize human labor capabilities, as well as to determine the place of the category human capital in the system of these related categories. Special attention is paid to new concepts that have arisen as a result of setting the tasks of innovative development. The result of the study is the systematization of the concepts considered in a general terminological field. Such systematization seems necessary both for theoretical clarification of the conceptual apparatus of labor market research, employment, accumulation of human resources, and for practical application in the field of state policy to improve the national education system and labor market regulation in the context of innovative development.

Employment in a post-colonial society – The case of Greenland

In the fields of labour market research and industrial relations research, there is increasing interest in post-colonial societies and the labour market outcomes of indigenous peoples. However, existing research has generally underexplored the Greenlandic labour market. This is particularly true for factors associated with the Greenlandic Inuit population's employment outcomes. In this article, we investigate barriers and potentials for labour market participation in Greenland, focusing on individual-level factors that promote or inhibit the likelihood of being employed. We use a unique, nationally representative survey of the working-age population and explore these factors through a series of logistic regression analyses. We find that educational attainment, positive self-assessed health, and the number of people in the household were positively related to employment. Our most important findings and contributions are that respondents who answered the survey in Greenlandic were less likely to be employed compared to those who answered it in Danish. Furthermore, if a respondent was born in Greenland, compared to being born in Denmark, it lowers the likelihood of being employed. We interpret this disparity as evidence of an ethnically segregated labour market with indications of discrimination.

Vocational Education and Training Data in Twitter: Making German Twitter Data Interoperable

ABSTRACTThere are many valuable insights on jobs and professions in different sectors of society based on their imminent and ascribed characteristics. Studying such characteristics traditionally was done by action research, surveys, questionnaires, etc. which typically take much time and resources to be concluded. In this study we examine vocational education and training data on Twitter. While we present a generic framework to retrieve, process and analyze tweets, we will discuss two research questions from computational social science: First, how can we make Twitter data interoperable to other available resources, e.g. classifications of occupations, tools and skills? Second, do we have enough data to process job collocational prestige analysis on a geographical basis? This presents a novel approach towards labor market research, making novel data interoperable which has not been considered in previous literature. Our approach and pipeline is generic and could be easily extended to other languages. It also contributes to prestige research by widening the question of ascribed prestige to the question how information on occupations is collocated and what these contextualisations tell us about how occupations are seen.

Asian Americans and Income Inequality: Disparities Between and Within Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Groups

Asian Americans nearing economic parity with White individuals is unique, particularly given the historical and contemporary disadvantaged position of other racial minorities in the U.S. labor market. While there is growing literature exploring how Asian Americans are reshaping the labor force, most of these studies categorize them as a homogenous group, failing to recognize social, cultural, and historical diversities within the community. Using the Current Population Survey, we investigate income disparity trends across ethnic groups and gender. Results show that Asian American men and women have high income levels compared to other racial minority groups. However, these perceived advantages reinforce racial stereotypes and mask income variations within these groups and across genders. We find a widening gender income gap over recent years for Asian ethnic groups, highlighting how race and gender interact to shape their labor-market experiences. We conclude by discussing the implications for future studies in labor-market research.

Unemployment and monetary policy: a revisit and new job strategies

This paper revisits the natural unemployment rate and some studies of labor markets with search frictions that it has inspired. New job strategies being proposed suggest a need for an enhanced labor market research agenda, which looks at additional movements in the labor force. New directions in the conduct of monetary policy beyond concerns over dangers to banks and financial markets posed by interest-rate adjustment may follow as a matter of course in the context of newly emerged labor market policy.

ANALYSIS OF WAGE LEVELS DYNAMICS IN UKRAINE AND THE EU COUNTRIES AS A COMPONENT RESEARCH OF THE LABOUR MARKET CONDITIONS

At the present stage of deepening the processes of Ukraine's European integration, studies of the state and prospects of development of the labour markets of Ukraine and the European Union countries are becoming increasingly relevant, since in recent years, according to some indicators of the labour market functioning, there has been a process of their separation (structural divergence), which has disintegration potential. In particular, one of the structural factors of their divergence is the imbalance in the field of remuneration.The article is devoted to the study and analysis of the dynamics of wages in Ukraine and the European Union as one of the components of the labour market research process. To achieve this goal, the author used a number of general scientific andspecial research methods interrelated and consistently applied in the work: the method of abstraction, theoretical generalisation, analysis and synthesis, induction, graphical and analytical method (graphs of dynamic changes in indicators).Based on a review of the minimum wages in the European Union, it is determined that in 2022 the EU countries will be divided into three groups: with a national minimum wage of more than EUR 1,500 per month; with a national minimum wage above EUR 1,000 but below EUR 1,500 per month; and with a national minimum wage below EUR 1,000 per month.It is established that the EU labour market has gender and cross-country imbalances in remuneration, while the Ukrainian labour market has gender and regional imbalances. It is determined that there are a number of global problems in the labour market. In the area of remuneration, these include low levels of minimum and average wages, excessive differentiation in remuneration in different regions and sectors of the economy, high and growing wage arrears, lack of connection between wages and the level of employee's qualifications and performance, and the existence of shadow remuneration schemes. The labour market conditions in Ukraine are of a falling type, as they are characterised by an excess of demand over supply (a decrease in vacancies and an increase in the number of unemployed) and a decrease in market prices (the real wage index)

Measuring the unmeasurable: defining and rating precarity with the aid of EU-LFS data

Precarity has been established as a central theoretical issue in labour market research and numerous attempts have been made in the past to provide indicators that measure it. Precarity has also been present in political discourse and linked to specific new forms of employment (temporary, part-time, insecure, and atypical amongst others) and certain social groups often defined as vulnerable groups (youth, women, ethnic minorities). However, precarity still remains a phenomenon that needs to be quantified with the use of reliable data. The present paper aims at providing a methodology for measuring individuals that are in precarious employment with data drawn from the EU-Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS). Thus, it presents a way of identifying individuals in the core of precarity and others that belong to this set to a lesser degree. More specifically, four different levels of precarity are identified and the methodology is illustrated and tested for a specific case study, that of Greece. However, the proposed technique can be applied with no or minor modifications to other data sets of EU member states, where the common EU-LFS questionnaire is used. An effort is also made to recognise the socio-demographic characteristics of the individuals that are identified as being precarious belonging to the four levels of precarity and to specify their differences. The analysis yields that as we move from the fist level of weak precarity to the last one of strong precarity the individuals become younger, worse paid and better educated.

The Characteristics and Countermeasures of China's Population Migration

Since the reform and opening-up, population migration has become increasingly active, which not only meets the demand of labor shortage in inflow areas, but also drives the employment of labor in outflow areas. Population migration has become the focus of labor market research. Therefore, it is of great significance to accurately judge and grasp the changes in the characteristics of population migration. Based on the relevant economic theories and models of population migration, this paper analyzes the characteristics of China's population migration at this stage, and puts forward countermeasures against the problems that may be encountered.