Labor Economics Research Articles

Assessing students’ research competencies with the main focus on the level and direction of their development

Introduction. The article presents an analysis of approaches to the problem of effective assessment of university students’ research competencies. The purpose of the article is to reveal and demonstrate the results of adopting the inventory for assessing students’ research competencies, focusing on the level and direction of their development. Materials and Methods. The research is based on the application of a systematic approach and contextual methods in the assessment and development of university students’ research competencies. The authors applied comparative and retrospective analysis, systematization and generalization of existing approaches and methods for assessing students’ research competencies, which allowed them to develop and propose a content-based inventory. The empirical part of the study was conducted at the Department of Labor Economics and Personnel Management at Ural State University of Economics. More than 80 full-time students took part in the research by testing the inventory. The results of the empirical testing are presented using the tools of descriptive statistics, Spearman's correlation analysis, and Student's t-test determination. Results. Based on reviewing scholarly literature, the authors substantiate the importance of involving students in research activities and the development of research competencies (RC) as competitive advantages in the labor market. On the basis of generalization, a number of research approaches to the development and application of methods for assessing students’ RC are revealed. As a result, the authors present a six-component questionnaire for assessing research competencies as the basis of a comprehensive and personalized approach to the development of students’ potential, including: theoretical-information, cognitive, communicative, motivational-organizational, operational-activity and reflexive-prognostic components. The effectiveness of the inventory is proved by its content validity and the results of a two-stage approbation of the questionnaire in groups of students with and without research experience. The results of empirical testing of the inventory confirm that with comprehensive, contextual and systematic approaches to the assessment of research competencies containing personal recommendations for their development, the indicators for all 6 components of RC increase. Conclusions. The study concludes that there are many approaches to the assessment of RC and each of the methods can be relevant to the research tasks in the case of complexity and consistency. The six-component inventory has passed the stage of content validation and has shown relevance to the tasks of assessing university student’ research competencies with the main focus on the level and direction of their development.

Labor cost stickiness and managerial decisions on human capital adjustment

PurposeOn the basis of labor economics theories, this study examines how adjustment in human capital accounts for labor cost stickiness.Design/methodology/approachThis study makes use of employee education level as a measure of the quality of human capital and relies on data from Chinese public firms to conduct the empirical test. This study focuses on two important components of labor cost changes: one corresponding to the adjustment in the number of employees (capacity adjustment) and another corresponding to the adjustment in the mix of employee education levels (quality adjustment).FindingsThis study reveals that labor cost changes driven by the adjustment of employee education level are sticky. This stickiness cannot be explained by the standard adjustment cost theory. This further shows that firms that actively adjust their employee quality during downturns experience improved future performance. The findings are robust to alternative measures and specifications.Originality/valueThis study provides new evidence for and insights into the cost behavior literature. Previous studies treat input resources in a homogenous way and focus on the effect of capacity adjustment. This study considers the heterogeneity of resources and examines three dimensions of salary cost adjustment: capacity, structure, and unit cost. In line with the economic theory of sticky costs proposed by Banker et al. (2013a), the study’s evidence sheds light on the additional underlying economic mechanisms driving cost stickiness behavior. Specifically, managers asymmetrically adjust both employee structure and average salaries, in addition to employee number. This study also adds to the existing knowledge of the consequences of managers' actions regarding cost behavior.

Do We Need Free Money? On the Debate about Universal Basic Income

In this article, the author proposes that instead of asking whether a universal basic income is a chance for Russia, we should think about another question: do we need it?
 The idea of a universal basic income (UBI), understood as an unconditional monthly cash payment provided to everyone and proclaimed as a response to the problem of poverty and technological unemployment in the era of digitalisation and robotisation, is the subject of discussion of the results of a collective study conducted under the leadership of a prominent specialist in the field of labour economics, level and quality of life of the population V. N. Bobkova. Having considered the main theoretical and methodological provisions of UBI, its advantages and disadvantages, having analysed country experiments on the introduction of UBI, interviewing experts and the population about the prospects for introducing UBI in Russia, having analysed the macroeconomic consequences based on an expert simulation dynamic model, the researchers answered affirmatively to the question posed “Universal basic income: a chance for Russia?” and believe that the transition to UBI in the country can be carried out gradually, through various transitional forms.
 First, the main arguments made in favour of introducing a UBI are false. The prediction that jobs will disappear in the future due to technological change is wildly exaggerated. There are doubts that UBI will be fair and can combat poverty and inequality. There is little reason to believe that a UBI is a better alternative to the current welfare system. Secondly, no one can accurately answer what the consequences of implementing UBI will be. Conclusions about its benefits are based on the results of country experiments and microsimulation modelling. However, these approaches suffer from a number of shortcomings and remain suggestive rather than evidence-based. This article raises the question of whether it would be better to wait for other countries to try UBI first to better understand its advantages and disadvantages. Thirdly, the author argues that the introduction of a UBI is not the only way to solve problems in the social security system and the labour market, and suggests alternative directions for socio-economic policy.

Transformation of the Employment Structure of the Population in the Regions of the Russian Federation

The subject of the work is the regional development of the subjects of the Russian Federation, the topic is the classification and typology of regions as a method of analysis, forecasting and development of measures of state regulation of the economy, the purpose is the classification of regions by indicators of economic efficiency and characteristics of the structure of employment in the economy. The theoretical basis for the article is the domestic literature on spatial analysis and typology of regions, the author's methodology of the quality index of structural shifts– ICS, the practical basis is the methods of analyzing statistical series, forming tables, diagrams and cartograms in Excel, statistical data of the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat). The classification of the subjects of the Russian Federation according to the indicator of gross regional product (GRP) per 1 employed in the economy, which is interpreted as the level of labor productivity (production efficiency). A description of the classification results is proposed, including brief characteristics of the employment structure of regions typical for each of the selected groups. The results obtained can be used in scientific work, as well as for teaching courses in population geography, regional economics, labor economics in higher educational institutions. In the future, the research program on the socio-economic typology of regions can be continued as a method of monitoring the situation and a basis for developing recommendations on state regulation of the economy. The goal of such regulation should be to equalize the conditions of economic activity and social development of the population across the country.

Тtransformation of social-labor relations under the influence of digitalization of the economy

The article examines the essence of the concept of «transformation of social and labor relations» and the nature of the influence of digitalization of the economy on it; directions of the changes in labor activity in the conditions of formation of an information-network economy are identified; changes in the forms of employment in the context of formation of the «gig economy» sector are substantiated; features of the functioning of digital platforms as a new type of basic economic institution and scale of the influence of digital technologies on labor activity are identified; contours of the changes in the formation of labor costs as a consequence of a change in the owners of the means of production are outlined; the essence of digital capital has been explored; multidirectional nature of the processes that shape the demand and supply of labor in the domestic labor market has been studied and substantiated. Based on the theories of transformation of systems and labor economics, the concept of «transformation of labor activity» is defined as changes in social and labor relations that arise in the process of creating new value and reproduction of labor force. It is proposed to distinguish two levels of research into the transformation of work activity under the influence of digital technologies, namely: a general for economic environment and a specific for labor market that made it possible to further determine the directions of its changes using the abstraction method. For the first level, which identifies the determinants of general shifts in the economic environment, it is proposed to highlight such features as: transition from an industrial-market to an information-network economy; formation of the gig economy; formation of digital platforms. For the second level, which is specific to labor market, the signs of transformation processes are: creating conditions for growth of the organic structure of capital; changes in the formation of labor cost components; formation of digital capital; multidirectional character of the processes that shape supply and demand in the labor market. The blocks by which it is advisable to study the effectiveness of using digital platforms may be: production costs; quality of products, works, services; use of working time; level and quality of electronic commerce; level of economic relations; quality of access to information.

The Local Labor Market Effect of Relaxing Internal Migration Restrictions: Evidence from China

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Local Labor Market Effect of Relaxing Internal-Migration Restrictions: Evidence from ChinaLei An, Yu Qin, Jing Wu, and Wei YouLei An Search for more articles by this author , Yu Qin Search for more articles by this author , Jing Wu Search for more articles by this author , and Wei You 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/10.1086/722620 Views: 201Total views on this site HistoryAccepted September 21, 2022 PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

63rd Annual Indian Society of Labour Economics Conference: A Report

63rd Annual Indian Society of Labour Economics Conference: A Report

Monopsony in spatial equilibrium

An emerging labor economics literature examines the consequences of firms exercising market power in local labor markets. The extent of this market power is likely to vary across local labor markets. In choosing what local labor market to live and work in, workers tradeoff wages, house prices and local amenities. Building on the Rosen/Roback spatial equilibrium model, we investigate how the existence of local monopsony power affects the cross-sectional spatial distribution of house prices across cities. We find that house prices decline with increases in the employment concentration in the local market. For renters, this offsets roughly 70 percent of the estimated monopsony wage effect and shifts part of the costs of monopsony to homeowners. We find evidence that collective bargaining and minimum wages limit the extent of capitalization of monopsony power into house prices.

Under- or overexpansion of education? Trends in qualification mismatch in the United Kingdom and Germany, 1984–2017

Prominent theoretical positions in sociology and labor economics disagree whether educational expansion has outstripped the demand for qualified labor (overexpansion), or whether economies face a skill shortage despite increases in education (underexpansion). Focusing on the United Kingdom and West Germany, two countries with dissimilar skill formation institutions, patterns of expansion, and labor markets, this paper asks to what degree expansion of education has been absorbed. I point out shortcomings of wage-centered analyses and develop an approach that focuses on trends in self-assessed over- and underqualification. Using repeated surveys among workers and official labor market statistics, I estimate regression models that link the cohort-level expansion of education to the cohort-level prevalence of mismatch. Results suggest overexpansion in the United Kingdom, with overqualification increasing and underqualification decreasing over historical times and cohorts. West Germany, on the other hand, shows signs of underexpansion. While dominant theoretical accounts focus on the under-/overexpansion of tertiary education, my results show that mismatch-dynamics in both contexts are strongest for workers without university degrees.

“Pseudo-Contracted” Workers as a Means of Bypassing Labour Law in Greece

The aim of this article is to investigate two external flexible forms of employment—the leasing of workers through Temporary Work Agencies (TWAs) and the contracted workers employed through Business Service Providers (contractors). Undoubtedly, these two forms of employment are complex and often give rise to confusion. First, this article reviews the characteristics of these types of workers and the operation of these businesses. Second, it presents the results of a mixed method of empirical research (quantitative and qualitative) regarding contracted workers. Our sample was 365 contracted workers from the cities of Athens, Thessaloniki and Patras, Greece. In particular, quantitative research is conducted using a methodology called RDS (Respondent Driven Sampling) that is innovative in the field of labour economics and labour relations. Some significant findings of our qualitative research are used to improve, extend, and interpret the quantitative results. Our research proves that contracted workers, who are employed at the premises of the banks, are leased workers, and the contracting undertakings usually operate unlawfully as TWAs. Our research proves that Banks in Greece are using “pseudo-contracting” to circumvent the European Directive 2008/104/EC and the Greek Laws 4052/2012 and 4254/2014, both of which provide institutional protection to workers leased through TWAs. In more detail, the relevant European Directive and the Greek Law 4052/2012 provide salary equality and equal labour rights for the leased workers in Greece and the EU, when they share the same qualifications as the permanent employees of the user undertakings. The employers’ aim in adopting this policy is mainly to pay lower salaries to contracted workers, who in practice have the characteristics of leased workers.

Senior citizens' intrinsic and extrinsic work motivation

PurposeIt is important to understand why some workers prolong their working life even though they are entitled to statutory pension benefits. This paper aims to investigate whether senior workers are motivated by external factors such as pay and social expectations (extrinsic motivation) or are primarily motivated by internal factors such as job satisfaction (intrinsic motivation). This is a central question for policymakers and social partners when it comes to the design of public pension systems and work organisation.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a combined longitudinal administrative data and an own-designed postal survey to ask individuals aged 65–76 years to describe their work motivation. Based on the answers, this study constructs an index of autonomous motivation (AM) where a value of zero implies only extrinsic motivation and a value of one implies only intrinsic motivation. The values between zero and one thus imply various grades of AM, where higher values signal motivation that is more autonomous and hence a higher degree of intrinsic work motivation.FindingsThe results of the statistical analysis show that the extent of intrinsic motivation is higher among senior workers who retired aged 65 years or older compared to those who retired at 65 years or younger. In addition, this study found that the degree of intrinsic work motivation among senior workers decreases when they face economic and financial constraints. It also found that intrinsic motivation is more prevalent among high-skilled workers.Research limitations/implicationsThis study shows that individuals who continue to work after 65 are mostly motivated by the satisfaction they derive from their job. Job satisfaction is strongly related to skill level, job quality, job content and job autonomy. Results indicate that job quality and commitment to work are essential elements for motivating seniors to postpone retirement.Originality/valueThis study contributes to this literature by applying a multidisciplinary approach from organisational psychology and labour economics that considers the potential importance of intrinsic motivation to work after standard retirement age. The authors think that this approach enhances the understanding of the mechanisms behind the lengthening of working life. Finally, this study suggests a simple, but efficient way of empirically measuring the extent of intrinsic motivation among workers.

Social guarantees for cross-border and seasonal workers in Europe during COVID-19 and other global crises

Globalization has intensified international migration, which is a powerful driver and an important factor of political, economic, social, and demographic changes in the countries of the world economy. The decision to migrate is mainly based on economic motives, but a migrant's choice of destination country is often determined by personal factors, which in modern conditions are formed under the influence of the system of social ties. Almost all countries of the world are now involved in international labour migration, and it has become increasingly widespread, resulting in many new problems for both states and the world community as a whole. The issue of protecting the rights of labour migrants in the EU is of particular relevance. The purpose of this study is to highlight the protection of labour migrants in the context of COVID-19 and other global crises. The article uses some general scientific methods (analysis and synthesis, deduction, induction, forecasting), as well as special legal scientific methods, including historical, formal legal, structural, and functional. As a result, the article examines measures and policies adopted by the countries of the European Union to improve the social protection of cross-border and seasonal workers during the crisis, as well as recommendations for further steps in this direction. The article provides a narrative analysis of social guarantees for cross-border and seasonal workers in Europe during the global crisis, which can be positioned for research in international labor law, social sciences, migration studies and economics.

How does globalization affect female employment?: A Panel CS-ARDL analysis for transition countries.

Globalization is considered as a process of development for a country procured from the exchange of human capital, technology, and culture, along with many other economic, financial, and cultural factors at the international level. A wide range of studies in labor economics indicate that globalization and female employment are positively associated as job opportunities are enhanced for both males and females. However, others suggest that as opposed to males, once job opportunities increase, job market becomes more competitive in an unfavorable manner for females. This study intends to examine how globalization process affects female employment in transition countries over the period of 23 years from 1995 to 2017. To do this, a panel data consisting of a selected group of 21 transition countries are utilized in the analysis for which the Cross-Sectionally Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag model (CS-ARDL) is employed. Our results suggest that globalization is inversely related to female employment in the long run, which in turn suggests that globalization might create obstacles among females if policymakers do not provide any optimal policies to keep the labor market dynamics stable during the globalization process.

A guide to estimating the canonical income process in quasidifferences

AbstractThe canonical income process, including autoregressive, transitory, and fixed effect components, is routinely used in macro and labor economics. We provide a guide for its estimation using quasidifferences, cataloging biases in the estimated parameters for various $N$ , $T$ , initial conditions, and weighting schemes. Using Danish administrative data on male earnings, estimation in quasidifferences yields divergent estimates of the autoregressive parameter for different weighting schemes, which conforms to our simulation results when the variance of transitory shocks is higher than that of persistent shocks, true persistence is high, and the persistent component’s variance in the first sample year is nonzero. We further apply quasidifferences to the data from a calibrated lifecycle model and find significant biases in the persistence of shocks and their insurance. Estimation of the income process using quasidifferences is reliable only when the variance of persistent shocks is higher than that of transitory shocks and the moments are equally weighted.

Regional labour market: A method for research

Turbulent socioeconomic environment significantly affects the state and dynamics of the regional labour market. The paper develops and tests a methodological toolkit for assessing the state of a regional labour market allowing for the main socioeconomic trends – digitalisation and innovative development of the economy. Labour economics constitutes the methodological basis of the research. Methods of economic statistical and content analysis were used. The evidence is the 2021 data of the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation concerning the labour markets of the Central Black Earth economic region of Russia, which comprises Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk and Tambov oblasts. The suggested method for investigating the state of the regional labour market takes into account the impact of digitalisation and innovative development processes on the latter. Testing the method at the case of the Central Black Earth economic region revealed that the regions’ labour markets appreciably lag behind other subjects of the Russian Federation in terms of wages and encounter labour shortages against rather low rates of digital transformation and innovative development in their economies. The paper formulates recommendations for all parties of the social partnership, which suggest boosting the investment attractiveness of regions; creating high-productive jobs; spurring the activities of trade unions and associations; retaining the youth in the regions; increasing the efficiency of career guidance; attracting labour migrants, first and foremost, from other Russian regions due to improvements in economic, social and household infrastructure; promoting competencies of citizens of pre-retirement age and retired citizens; creating conditions for acceleration of digital transformation as well as expanding regions’ innovation activities.

HR qualification life path

The article presents the results of a study of the life path of qualifications in the field of personnel management, both at the level of individual employees, and in a historical perspective from the moment the function of personnel management was allocated, to the present, when it was segmented into specific areas, and is already normatively fixed in various professional standards, regulating professional activities in the field of work with personnel, as well as for the future, through an assessment of trends that can influence the function, as well as the results of foresights conducted with experts. The main research methods were retrospective analysis, analysis of documents (professional standards), analysis of HeadHunter.ru data. The study showed that professional activity in the field of personnel management has undergone significant changes over the past 30 years, transformed from personnel work to work with personnel, with the allocation of 2 basic areas: personnel development and labor economics. At the same time, the normative directions for the development of the profession have not yet been fixed. The system of professional standards in use is insufficient or not fully used by employers. Considering the results of the analysis, recommendations were made for employers on the development of the direction in the organization, the data was used in monitoring the labor market in the “HR management” sector, conducted for the SEC on personnel management in 2022.

Museum and Visitor Interaction and Feedback Orchestration Enabled by Labor Economics

In this article, we address the problem of modeling and orchestrating the interactions between a museum and its visitors, viewing the system as a cyber–physical–social system (CPSS). In particular, the museum operator provides monetary rewards to the visitors in exchange for their contributions, which are expressed as their total number of provided feedback evaluations of visited exhibits over their touring time. The interactions among the museum operator and visitors are captured in appropriately designed utility functions following the principles of labor economics, while the visitors’ behavioral characteristics are utilized to define their unique types. Under such a setting and formulation, the goal of the museum operator is to optimize their profit and benefits while jointly satisfying the visitors’ quality of experience prerequisites as reflected via their utility functions. The corresponding optimization problem is treated and solved under the general and realistic cases of incomplete information, wherein the museum operator estimates the visitors’ types probabilistically. The resulting outcome, referred to as the “optimal contract”, jointly determines the visitors’ optimal contributions, as well as the museum operator’s optimal amount of personalized rewards provided to each visitor. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated through modeling and simulation, and detailed numerical results are presented to demonstrate the key benefits of the proposed optimization approach versus either type-agnostic or heuristic alternatives.

Internal university labor market: problem, inevitability or expediency?

There are 2 strategic vectors of human resource management: an open or closed model. The reasons for the development or rooting of a closed model (the internal labor market) we explain by two groups of basic conditions (factors): the specifics of the external environment and the business model of the organization. Each of the conditions determines the need to attract workers with specific characteristics.The article is devoted to the study of the influence of these factors on the creation of internal labor markets in universities. The methodological framework of the study is based on human resource management and labor economics. The specificity of the business model of the university is due to the multifunctionality of its target efficiency, the complexity of the hierarchy, and the special characteristics of the goods. Also, the reasons for the emergence of closed models of human resource management are associated with bilateral and quasi-market relations in the higher education. Together, these factors explain the emergence of a special type of internal labor market. Its key characteristics are an indirect system for assessing the level of professor’s qualifications; self-selection and inbreeding as the unique institutions; implicit individual contracts as a by-product of the hidden career and the working time elasticity. In Russian universities, internal labor markets are a non-alternative model of human resource management due to the underdevelopment of infrastructure, as well as an imbalance in supply and demand in the external labor market. It is shown that the functioning of such a model will be relatively expedient when building the effective work of a university in a loose coupling net of national and international academic community.

Assessing proxies of knowledge and difficulty with rubric‐based instruments

AbstractThe fields of psychometrics, economic education, and education have developed statistically‐valid methods of assessing knowledge and learning. These methods include item response theory, value‐added learning models, and disaggregated learning. These methods, however, focus on multiple‐choice or single response assessments. Faculty and administrators routinely assess knowledge through papers, thesis presentations, or other demonstrations of knowledge assessed with rubric rows. This paper presents a statistical approach to estimating a proxy for student ability and rubric row difficulty. Moreover, we have developed software so that practitioners can more easily apply this method to their instruments. This approach can be used in researching education treatment effects, practitioners measuring learning outcomes in their own classrooms, or estimating knowledge for administrative assessment. As an example, we have applied these new methods to projects in a large Labor Economics course at a public university.

WOMEN’S EMPLOYMENT IN AVIATION: THE CASE OF UNITED STATES (USA)

Employment is a really serious issue in that it can create an economic disruption if it is not dealt with correctly. The wrong solution for employment causes similar results. For this reason, it is important for both the economies of the country and the sector in question to solve the employment problem completely and correctly. In this context, an employment policy should be produced for the aviation sector as well as others. Employment policies should be determined in such a way that both the labour force and qualification need to increase. However, these policies should be in the direction of improving existing policies rather than a radical change. For instance, women’s employment is available in many economies. Therefore, this policy should not be radically changed; on the contrary, it should be in the form of improving existing policies. Within this scope, ignoring women while forming employment policy may have several economic and financial consequences. However, certain factors affect women's employment. These factors can be expressed as follows: the glass ceiling syndrome, the queen bee syndrome, marital status and age, educational status, mobbing and sexual harassment, and wage inequality. In this study, women's employment data are extracted from the USA labour force statistics. The data were subjected to evaluation by the content analysis method. With this method, lots of the data and information independent of one another are examined deeply. By this way general trends can be determined clearly. Therefore, the data in this study are examined within the scope of labour economics. This study concludes that women's employment in the USA aviation market follows a positive course, but this is not enough. To eliminate the insufficiency, a number of economic and financial proposals need to be implemented.