Labor Mobility Research Articles

Transborder spillover effects of poverty on crime: Applying spatial econometric models to Chinese data

“Poverty is the mother of crime”, but existing literature has not yet analyzed the effect of local poverty on crimes in other jurisdictions. Based on 1992–2012 provincial data from China, this paper examines the transborder effects of poverty on crimes, by estimating spatial econometric models. Poverty is found to not only increase local crime, but also raise crime rates in other provinces. This spillover effect is more pronounced between provinces with close geographical proximity, high labor mobility and high dialect similarity. In addition, we compare the effects of increased police spending versus Dibao on poverty-related local and transborder crimes, finding that both can reduce poverty-related local crimes, but only Dibao can reduce poverty-related transborder crimes. The main policy implications of this paper are twofold. First, poverty alleviation can address both the symptoms and the root causes of local and external crimes, with broader and lasting effects than raising police spending. Thus, cross-border resource transfers shall target poverty alleviation; Second, poverty alleviation is not only a concern of the poor areas, but also a challenge for relatively developed areas in terms of crime governance.

The effect of housing prices on tourism employment: Evidence from China

This study highlights the importance of the relationship between housing prices and tourism labour mobility. This study uses dynamic panel threshold approach to examine the nonlinear effect of housing prices on tourism labour mobility in Chinese mainland during the years 2000-2021. The empirical results show that rising housing prices are positively associated with tourism and its subsectors’ employment across different levels of housing prices. At the regional level, there exists regional heterogeneity of housing price affecting labour mobility within tourism industry and its subsectors in Eastern, Central and Western regions. Lastly, further discussion and policy suggestion are provided.

Noncompete agreements in a rigid labor market: the case of Italy

Abstract Noncompete agreements limiting the mobility of workers have been found to be widespread in the United States, a flexible and lightly regulated labor market. We explore the use of noncompete agreements in a rigid and highly regulated labor market, where labor mobility is low, and the labor market is highly regulated via legislation and collective bargaining. Based on a novel survey of Italian workers and an analysis of the regulatory framework, our study shows how trends and patterns in the use of noncompete agreements are not specific to a flexible labor market. Even in a rigid and highly regulated labor market, noncompete agreements are widespread, and often do not comply with the minimum legal requirements, and yet workers are not aware of their enforceability. This suggests that institutions and labor market regulations are not enough per se, especially when targeted groups are not properly informed, and incentives to comply are minimal.

Vast Workshop and Laboratory: Labor and Refugees to the Bohemian Lands and Czechoslovakia, 1914–39

AbstractAs a part of the conversation in the forum “Austria and the Czech Republic as Immigration Countries: Transnational Labor Migration in Historical Comparison” this article revisits the history of refugees in the Bohemian Lands and Czechoslovakia, from World War I until the occupation by Nazi Germany in 1939. Taking stock of existing research, it suggests alternative lines of thinking about the management of migrants' labor and contributes to the wider discussion about how to conceptually combine refugee studies and research on labor migration. For analytical purposes, it focuses on three distinct state approaches to managing refugee labor that often existed in parallel: mobilization of refugee labor in a crisis situation, the support of labor as a pathway to future citizenship, and the denial of work as a sign of statelessness. These three approaches show how refugees' work impacted their status, communicated ideas about the future, and reproduced hierarchies defined by ethnicity, class, or political persuasion.

The nexus between labour mobility and innovation: an empirical analysis

The nexus between labour mobility and innovation: an empirical analysis

The evolution of the migration industry – how have employers been supported in sourcing their workforce?

ABSTRACT The migration industry consists of actors and organisations (e.g. agents, brokers, agencies, corporations) through which migration is facilitated, organised, and accelerated. Although the migration industry gained prominence in the late 20th century within labour mobility, it has relatively rarely been the subject of historical analysis. This historiographical essay argues that employers’ needs and demands for foreign workers, often ad-hoc, have triggered the emergence and development of the migration industry. Rooted in modern historical debates on labour migration, this essay aims to critically assess various forms of cooperation between employers and commercial actors worldwide and place those strategies within the migration industry. Inspired by dichotomous approach to capturing the relationships identified between employers and actors in the migration industry (i.e. agents and partners), this essay investigates the larger spectrum of types of relationships that have taken place historically. We argue that since the mid-19th century, we have witnessed an evolution of these relationships: from acting as a provider of labour (supplier or agent) to a greater professionalisation and consolidation of the relationship between employers and actors in the migration industry (partners and then allies).

Environmental regulation, outward foreign direct investment, and China’s green total factor productivity

AbstractIncreasing green total factor productivity (GTFP) is currently the primary goal of sustainable development worldwide. GTFP not only reflects the efficiency of economic expansion but also encompasses resource consumption and pollution. This research enhances the current understanding of GTFP by indicating that aside from reverse technology spillovers, labor mobility, and changes in industrial structure, additional factors, such as environmental regulations, exert a dynamic function in shaping the influence of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) on the GTFP of the home nation. The empirical findings indicate that OFDI has a single threshold effect on GTFP, and the negative effect increases with the reinforcing of environmental control. The main impact comes from home country’s changes in green technology (GTC) rather than changes in green efficiency. Additionally, environmental regulation has a positive moderating effect on OFDI, the moderating effect of environmental regulation in western regions is more pronounced in promoting the home country’s GTC. It is imperative to take into account regional variations and devise distinct policies for eastern, central, and western regions.

Beyond Words

Beyond Words

Measurement and Influencing Factors of Regional Economic Resilience in China

The COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 has underscored the paramount importance of regional economies’ capacities to withstand and adapt to external shocks. Enhancing regional economic resilience and mitigating the adverse impacts on both the economy and society have emerged as critical imperatives for ensuring the sustainable development and transformation of the national economy. This paper employs an improved counterfactual method to measure the economic resilience index across 31 Chinese provinces and cities from 2001 to 2021, coupled with empirical analysis using a dynamic panel model to identify the influencing factors of regional economic resilience. Building upon this foundation, the study delves into the heterogeneous effects of various factors and different degrees of marketization on economic resilience across different regions. Research Findings: (1) There has been a significant improvement in the economic resilience levels of China’s 31 provinces, with differences in economic resilience between regions far exceeding those in economic development levels, indicating substantial internal regional disparities. (2) Factors such as the marketization index, industrial structure, level of informatization, labor force size, labor quality, innovation capacity, and degree of government intervention all impact regional economic resilience and exhibit regional heterogeneity. Policy Recommendations: (1) It is crucial to address regional disparities while formulating regional development strategies and enhancing regional economic resilience. (2) Regions should accelerate market-oriented reforms, promote rational labor mobility, strengthen investment in human capital, foster innovation, and adjust the degree of intervention.

Planned expansion of transportation infrastructure in Brazil has implications for the pattern of agricultural production and carbon emissions

High transportation costs have been a barrier to the expansion of agriculture in the interior of Brazil. To reduce transportation costs, Brazil launched the National Logistics Plan, aiming to expand its railway network by up to 91 % by 2035. Such a large-scale infrastructure investment raises concerns about its economic and environmental consequences. By combining geospatial estimation of transportation cost with a grid-resolving, multi-scale economic model that bridges fine-scale crop production with its trade and demand from national and global perspectives, we explore impacts of transportation infrastructure expansion on agricultural production, land use changes, and carbon emissions both locally and nationally in Brazil. We find that globally, the impacts on output and land use changes are small. However, within Brazil, the plan's primary impacts are impressive. PNL2035 results in the reduction of transportation costs by 8–23 % across states (depending on expansion's extent) in the interior Cerrado biome. This results in cropland expansion and increases in terrestrial carbon emissions in the Cerrado region. However, the increase in terrestrial carbon emissions in the Cerrado is offset by spillover effects elsewhere in Brazil, as crop production shifts away from the Southeast-South regions and accompanying change in the mix of transportation mode for farm products from roadway to more emission-efficient railway. Furthermore, we argue that the transportation infrastructure's impact on the enhanced mobility of labor and other agricultural inputs would further accentuate the regional shift in agricultural production and contribute to carbon emission mitigation. Upon its completion, PNL2035 is expected to result in the reduction of net national emissions by 1.8–30.7 million metric ton of CO2-equivalent, depending on the impacts on labor and purchased input mobility. We conclude that the omission of spillover effects due to infrastructure expansion can lead to misleading assessments of transport policies.

What does neo-classic economics get wrong? Social policy, labour market dualisation, and labour reallocation

The literature commonly assumes that social policy hinders labour mobility and reallocation across jobs and sectors. Particularly neo-classical economics posits that there is a trade-off between ‘security’ (social policy) and ‘efficiency’ (labour reallocation and employing workers in jobs where they are most productive). In a sample of 12 OECD countries between 2000 and 2008, this article shows that, as opposed to the common trade-off assumption, social policy supports greater labour reallocation across sectors. Furthermore, labour market dualisation as a result of the growth of ‘cheap labour’ reduces labour mobility across jobs and sectors. A higher share of ‘cheap labour’, defined as workers in low-paid jobs with little or no protection, segregates the labour market between ‘undesirable’ sectors (where cheap labour is employed) and desirable sectors (where wages are higher, and social protection is more expansive). This segregation impedes movement across sectors due to the fear of falling into an ‘undesirable’ sector. The social policy provides a safety net and helps bridge the labour market divide across sectors and hence positively contributes to inter-sectoral mobility.

Impact of high-speed rail on the mismatch of labor and industry allocations: Evidence from Chinese cities in 2000-2019

The uneven development of China can be reflected by the mismatch of labor and industry distributions (MLIS) in terms of spatial structure. Industries usually agglomerate in large cities where a strict household registration system causing high barriers with respect to population and labor entry. Infrastructures that reduce the cost of labor and technology mobility, as represented by high-speed rail (HSR), are possible improvement to regulate such distortions as the two agglomerated into opposite directions. This paper focuses on the impact of HSR on MLIS using a large panel dataset comprising 285 Chinese cities in 2000–2019. A difference-in-difference analysis is introduced to carried out empirical analyses. This paper finds that HSR can significantly mitigate the MLIS in prefecture level cities, but not in cities above prefecture level. The heterogeneous effects of HSR are then discussed with respect to industries and MLIS types. Further mechanism tests show that HSR’s mitigating effect on MLIS comes from the employment effect and the innovation effect. Finally, policy recommendations are provided on HSR investment to improve China's uneven development from the perspective of synergy labor and industry distributions.

How Climate Change Affects Labor Mobility: Empirical Evidence from the CLDS

ABSTRACT Regional climate conditions have become a key factor that is exacerbating the process of China’s labor spatial mobility. In contrast to previous research based on mixed cross-sectional data and floating population sample selection, this study uses unbalanced panel data from the China Labor Force Dynamic Survey (CLDS) from 2014 to 2018 and a regional temperature dataset to examine the impact of climate change on inter-provincial and municipal labor mobility outflow from the perspective of local household registration, and further investigates regional reallocation and stock effects of labor related to climate change. The findings reveal four relevant results. First, after eliminating the influence bias of individual fixed effects, the labor force outflow effect of climate change across regions is significantly smaller than that found in previous research, at only one-fifth of existing research conclusions. Second, the mechanism analysis shows that temperature can affect labor mobility through individual health, happiness and government environmental regulation. Third, the impact of climate change on labor mobility has significant heterogeneity. Labor flows from underdeveloped regions to developed areas and from the central and western regions to the eastern region, and climate change has a greater impact for workers with higher education levels. In addition, climate change has a greater impact on workers with higher family incomes and family age structures. Fourth, the impact of climate change on labor mobility exhibits temperature-based threshold effects. This study provides a new perspective for understanding the impact of climate change on labor mobility, offering valuable policy support for guiding the rational flow of labor and urban managers’ formulation of strategically targeted measures.

Skill the low-skilled: the knowledge-driven stepwise migration of Vietnamese workers in South China

This article investigates the interplay between knowledge acquisition and the stepwise migration trajectories of low-skilled Vietnamese workers in China. Utilizing a rich array of data garnered from face-to-face interviews, customized surveys, on-site observations, media narratives, and an archival review of government regulations in Guangxi—a province bordering Vietnam—and in Guangdong, a non-adjacent province, this study proposes an analytical framework, skill-driven migration, to highlight the synergy between the pre-migratory socio-demographic attributes of migrants and the circumstances prevailing in both the places of origin and destination which orchestrates distinct job allocations and skill augmentation avenues. Notably, our study underscores that the competencies acquired in manufacturing employments potentially broaden the horizon of destinations for migrants in their subsequent stepwise migration endeavors. This phenomenon, in turn, poses intricate immigration management quandaries for newly emerged destination nations like China, spotlighting a nuanced dimension of labor mobility and policy frameworks in the evolving regional economic integration. Last, our findings challenge the conventional dichotomy of high-skilled and low-skilled categories of labor migration, as well as the dichotomy of explicit-tacit knowledge.

Gender imbalance in the labor market: causes and features

The article examines current research on labor mobility and gender inequality in the labor market: occupational segregation, unequal pay and the «maternity penalty». The study of the impact of gender stereotypes, social foundations, choice of educational path and professional environment on wage disparities between women and men was conducted. Wage imbalances are widespread around the world and affect the majority of economic sectors and employment types. In Russia data on the gender pay gap varies widely by region, economic sector and occupational group, and where male employment prevails, the rate of disparity is often higher. The recommendations from international organizations on equalizing women and men in labor rights are given.

ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ СХЕМ ТРУДОВОЇ МІГРАЦІЇ ТА ЇЇ СОЦІАЛЬНО-ЕКОНОМІЧНИХ НАСЛІДКІВ В УЗБЕКИСТАНІ

Formulation of the problem. Labor migration has emerged as a significant socioeconomic phenomenon in Uzbekistan, impacting both the sending regions within the country and the receiving countries abroad. This research paper aims to analyze the patterns of labor migration within Uzbekistan and to other countries, while also assessing its socioeconomic implications. The purpose of the article is to analyze and evaluate the schemes of labor migration in Uzbekistan, taking into account their socio-economic consequences, as well as studying the volume of labor migration, the main directions and motivations of migrants, determining the impact of this phenomenon on the economy, the labor market, the social sphere and other aspects of public life in Uzbekistan. The object of the study is labor migration schemes and their socio-economic consequences in the context of Uzbekistan. The methodological basis and information base of the research are current scientific and applied research, statistical information. The article uses a number of methods, including analysis, synthesis, comparison and generalization. The main hypothesis of the study is that the analysis of labor migration schemes and their consequences will reveal the key factors that influence this process and its impact on the economy, the labor market, the social sphere and other aspects of public life in Uzbekistan. We assume that such an analysis will allow us to develop effective strategies and policies to optimize labor migration in order to ensure sustainable socio-economic development of the country. Presenting main material. The study utilizes a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative analysis of labor migration data and qualitative interviews with migrants and relevant stakeholders. By understanding the drivers and consequences of labor migration, this research provides valuable insights for policymakers to design effective strategies that maximize the benefits and minimize the challenges associated with labor mobility. The originality and practical significance of the study lies in a comprehensive approach to the analysis of labor migration schemes and its socio-economic consequences in the context of Uzbekistan, new insights into the relationship between labor migration and the country's development, revealing the peculiarities of this phenomenon in the Uzbek context. The practical significance of this article is that it can serve as a basis for the development of effective strategies and policies for the management of labor migration in Uzbekistan. Conclusions of the study can be useful for governmental and non-governmental organizations dealing with issues of migration and socio-economic development. The findings of the study indicate the need to develop comprehensive programs to support migrants, as well as the need to reform the labor migration management system in Uzbekistan in order to ensure sustainable development of the country and improve the quality of life of migrants and their families.

Exploring skill distribution tails through stochastic dominance

SummaryLocation choices of differently skilled workers are analyzed in previous work on labor mobility, which proposes a model that suggests thicker tails in the skill distributions of large cities. This paper replicates the empirical findings of this work by using quantile regression and density plots as employed in the existing study, while also suggesting an alternative testing method for thick tails in the form of an initial stochastic dominance test. The test reveals clear evidence of a thicker lower tail, but the results are less clear for the upper tail, which raises some questions on how to best handle extreme upper tails of skill distributions.

Labour mobility, short-time work and working from home: establishments' behaviour during the COVID-19 crisis

PurposeWe enquire whether short-time work (STW) avoids firings as intended by policymakers and is associated with unintended side effects by subsidising some establishments and locking in some employees. Additionally, where it was feasible, establishments used working from home (WFH) to continue working without risking an increase in COVID-19 infections and allowing employed parents to care for children attending closed schools.Design/methodology/approachUsing 21 waves of German high-frequency establishment panel data collected during the COVID-19 crisis, we investigate how STW and WFH are associated with hirings, firings, resignations and excess labour turnover (or churning).FindingsOur results show the important influences of STW and working from home on employment dynamics during the pandemic. By means of STW, establishments are able to avoid an increase in involuntary layoffs and hiring decreases significantly. In contrast, WFH is associated with a rise in resignations, as can be expected from a theoretical perspective.Originality/valueWhile most of the literature on STW and WFH is unrelated and remains descriptive, we consider them in conjunction and conduct panel data analyses. We apply data and methods that allow for the dynamic pattern of STW and working from home during the pandemic. Furthermore, our data include relevant establishment-level variables, such as the existence of a works council, employee qualifications, establishment size, the degree to which the establishment was affected by the COVID-19 crisis, industry affiliation and a wave indicator for the period the survey was conducted.

JOB SATISFACTION AND LABOR MOBILITY OF IT-SPECIALISTS

The article discusses the issue of correlations between labour (territorial) and professional migrations of IT-specialists. This group of professionals is represented by highly qualified specialists who have justifiably high incomes and constantly enhance their professional qualification. This leads to their justifiable claims to better labour conditions, consequently, to labour mobility and changing job. Such labour mobility can be the cause of staff problems for IT companies. Transformation of professional mobility into labour mobility is explained by the level of job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is seen as conformity between workers’ claims and suggested labour conditions. The aim of this work is to identify factors of IT-professionals’ job satisfaction. The research is based on the methods of online survey and questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. As a result of the research, the factors for job satisfaction have been identified: the level of wages, opportunities for professional improvement, favorable relations in the team. The relationship between these factors and the level of professionalism (grade) of employees has been established. Managerial measures to increase satisfaction with the work of IT-specialists have been revealed: to provide constant training and individualization of professional strategies, to form a motivating intra-organizational environment of professional interaction.

Exploring the drivers of agricultural wages growth in China: A comprehensive framework utilizing input-output and structural decomposition methods.

This study explores the factors driving agricultural wages growth in China from 1981 to 2020. We propose a comprehensive framework that combines input-output analysis and structural decomposition analysis to investigate the drivers of agricultural wages growth from four perspectives: supply, demand, industrial linkages, and agricultural support policies. The findings indicate that changes in consumer demand, investment demand, and labor mobility play significant roles in driving the growth of agricultural wages in China. Additionally, agricultural support policies have contributed to an increase in agricultural wages to some extent. However, changes in industrial linkages negatively affect agricultural wages growth. A notable strength of this study lies in the methodology employed, which ensures a comprehensive and systematic analysis encompassing diverse factors rather than a restricted perspective.