Labor Market Experience Research Articles

A developer’s perspective on CEIAG

This article is an exploration of the role online Labour Market Experience (LME) plays in challenging stereotypes and the construction of personal narrative in YR 7 and 8 students at school. Classroom and small group debate provides an invaluable opportunity to develop career related thinking in young people ahead of more focused one to one guidance and refined skills exploration work.

Political Patronage and the Labour Market Experience of High-Skilled Workers: Mixed Methods Evidence from Sierra Leone

Political Patronage and the Labour Market Experience of High-Skilled Workers: Mixed Methods Evidence from Sierra Leone

Education and Geographical Mobility: The Role of the Job Surplus

Better educated workers accept many more long-distance job offers, and relocate quicker following local shocks. I attribute this to a fundamental feature of their labor market experience, unrelated to geography: large returns to job match quality. If a good offer happens to originate from far away, the match surplus is then more likely to justify the cost of moving. This “lubricates” labor markets spatially. Using wage transition data (and a jobs ladder model), I show this can explain the bulk of mobility differentials. These differentials can be closed by subsidizing long-distance matches, and I quantify the cost of doing so. (JEL I26, J24, J41, J61, R23)

Curriculum approaches to strengthening student employability and improving graduate outcomes in the STM disciplines

ABSTRACT In Australia and elsewhere, curriculum improvements are needed to improve the development of Science, Technology and Mathematics (STM) graduates for future work and careers. Several studies document significant STM student attrition, poor graduate preparedness for work, relatively weak employment rates post-graduation, and mismatched expectations of graduate capabilities by employers. The inclusion of work-integrated learning (WIL) activities within curricula can better prepare students for relevant employment by bridging discipline-specific teaching with work practices. Traditionally, access to WIL has been limited for STM Bachelor students and a better understanding of WIL’s benefits and impact is needed to refine and extend STM WIL curricula for different disciplines and cohorts. Through the lens of personal capital resources, this article reports on the perspectives of 34,000 recent Bachelor graduates of Australian STM degrees on their participation in WIL and its impact on their perceived employability and transition to work. Findings indicated differences in engagement in WIL across STM disciplines and underrepresented student groups, yet consistent benefits of WIL on preparedness for work and graduate employment. The study provides valuable insights on gaps in WIL provision and potential ways to improve WIL offerings that support the development of future-capable STM graduates with positive labour market experiences.

Family background, education, and earnings: the limited value of “test-score transmission”

AbstractThis paper investigates the relationship between the inter-generational transmission of educational achievement (“test-score transmission”) and the inter-generational transmission of higher earnings (“income transmission”). We use administrative data from Israel to track the evolution of education and earnings gaps between “second-generation” (SG) students, whose parents have some tertiary education, and “first-generation” (FG) students, whose parents have none. We find that SG students achieve much better results on the screening tests that regulate access to selective tertiary education than FG students with similar eighth-grade test scores. Consequently, they enjoy greater access to the most selective tertiary degree programs, crowding out FG students with higher eighth-grade achievement. Yet this advantage does not manifest itself in earnings differentials at age 29, similarly conditioned on eighth-grade achievement, which are not statistically significant, and we find no evidence that these patterns are driven by SG students choosing study fields with steeper earnings curves. We find evidence of two mechanisms that mediate the relationship between achievement gains and earnings: FG students compensate for fewer options in tertiary education by accumulating more labor market experience; and SG students are more likely to forgo higher earnings for non-pecuniary benefits in employment, particularly by choosing public-sector employment.

“It's kinda like a sick joke”: Young people, labor market experiences, and the COVID‐19 pandemic

“It's kinda like a sick joke”: Young people, labor market experiences, and the <scp>COVID‐19</scp> pandemic

University degree benefits and labour market experiences of non-traditional graduates in Uganda

Studies on the transition from university to the workforce have revealed that non-traditional students (NTS) often face more challenges, including discrimination and a higher likelihood of securing lower-quality jobs compared to traditional students. Despite these findings, there is a scarcity of studies examining the specific benefits NTS derive from obtaining a university degree and their labour market experiences including their future career plans. Moreover, many studies do not deeply explore these issues from the perspectives of disadvantaged graduate groups. Drawing on Bourdieu’s notion of capital and current discourses on graduate employment opportunities, this paper uses the perspectives of non-traditional graduates (NTG) to discuss the benefits of obtaining a university degree, their labour market experiences, and their future career plans within the context of Uganda. The benefits were found to be social, economic, personal, and professional, with notable overlap between social and personal benefits, revealing tensions between individualism and collectivism in Ugandan society. Various factors were found to positively and negatively shape NTG’s labour market experiences, with further training and self-employment being key aspects of their future career plans. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for understanding the intersection of education, labour market dynamics, and societal values.

Unemployment Duration and Its Covariates: Evidence From Selected Regions in Ghana

This study examines individual-specific covariates of unemployment duration, with evidence from four administrative regions of Ghana. It employs primary data and semi-parametric Cox regression and Cox proportional hazard models, underpinned by job search and human capital theories. This study is distinct from other unemployment-related studies in Ghana in that it highlights how individual characteristics affect their employability and unemployment spells. The study concludes that age, locality, social networks, alternative income sources, migration, and education are significant factors influencing unemployment duration in Ghana. Also, migration status and education are jointly associated with shorter unemployment duration. The study encourages young people to take up voluntary services and other forms of industry attachments to build labor market experience. Again, the government should develop and implement a policy on industrial attachment and internship programs for tertiary students. Individuals should build and effectively utilize their social networks. Individuals who receive financial support while unemployed should leverage such income to intensify their job search efforts and activities. Moreover, individuals should take advantage of the opportunities created in the educational sector to upgrade their educational levels. The study further encourages job seekers with higher education to migrate as part of their job search efforts and activities. The study sets the springboard for further studies to be conducted on employment duration in Ghana but using longitudinal data and national survey data.

Dynamics in the heritability of leadership role occupancy: Evidence from a three-wave twin sample

Studies show that genetics matter in who becomes a leader. However, we know little about the dynamic properties of the heritability of leadership emergence or how genetics might interact with environmental conditions to shape leadership emergence. We track leadership role occupancy at three time points among a cohort of 1,079 Danish twin pairs over ten years. Our results suggest that genetics matter less when the cohort is young and increase over time as the cohort grows older. We argue that labor market entry costs coupled with free access to education constrain the effect of genetics in the cohort during early adulthood, suggesting differing effects of the environment on genetic expression as the cohort ages. Sorting based on individual predisposition towards leadership likely strengthens as the cohort grows older and gains labor market experience. This result implies that we should not view the effect of genes on leadership role occupancy as static and that environmental experiences could disproportionately affect critical early leadership advancement. Our study reinforces calls to consider dynamic properties such as gene x environment interactions to advance our broader understanding of leadership’s biology.

Exploring Economic &amp; Workforce Development Alignment: A Content Analysis of California’s Community College Baccalaureate Program Applications

Objective: Community college baccalaureate (CCB) programs are expanding across the nation, particularly in California—home of the largest and most ethnically/racially diverse community college system in the nation. CCB programs provide many benefits, two of which include providing an accessible and affordable pathway towards baccalaureate attainment, and also meeting economic and workforce development (EWD) goals, particularly for students from historically minoritized communities. While the community colleges of the United States have historically provided accessible education that aligns with EWD, more can be learned about the strategies these institutions use to do so. Methods: Using a content analysis methodology, we examined the application proposals of the first 15 approved CCB programs in California to understand how these community colleges as aligned with EWD. Results: The findings we generated suggest that the first 15 approved California CCB colleges (1) utilized varied information and sources to understand their labor market conditions, (2) rarely acknowledged how their CCB programs would address student inequities in the labor market, and (3) were limited in articulating the specific practices, structures, and systems they would implement to be EWD-aligned. Conclusion: Policymakers, practitioners, and researchers can help ensure successful EWD alignment and equity by improving data systems to better understand labor market conditions, conducting more quantitative and qualitative research to capture students’ labor market experiences and outcomes, and comprehensively aligning college- and career-related practices, programs, structures, and systems.

Beyond the precariat: Trajectories of precarious work and its determinants in South Korea

AbstractThis study examines the evolving patterns of precarious work in South Korea over a 20‐year period, challenging conventional understandings of labour market segmentation and class formation. Using group‐based trajectory modelling on Korean Labour and Income Panel Study data (2002–2021), we identify five distinct trajectories of labour market experiences. Our findings reveal that 34.4% of the sample, categorised into persistently high precariousness and persistent precariousness groups, provides evidence for an emerging, heterogeneous precariat class. This new class formation transcends traditional occupational boundaries and challenges existing class theories. Multinomial logistic regression shows that low‐skilled service workers and women are more likely to belong to precarious groups. Our study contributes by (1) providing empirical evidence for a diverse precariat class, (2) demonstrating the need for a multidimensional approach to precarious work, and (3) highlighting the dynamic nature of precarious work over time. We argue for bringing class discussion back into labour market inequality analysis through a new theoretical framework that synthesises traditional class theory with contemporary precariat discourse, offering insights for policy and theoretical development in understanding modern labour markets.

The impact of liminal legal status on labor market experiences: a comparative study of Sudanese asylum seekers and refugees in Israel

ABSTRACT This article examines the labor market experiences of Sudanese forced migrants in Israel under prolonged temporary legal status. It underscores how regulatory and legal frameworks, particularly the mechanism of institutional ambiguity as a form of legal violence, shape migrants’ socioeconomic outcomes. Employing a mixed-methods approach and comparative analysis, the study adopts Menjívar’s, C. (2006. “Liminal legality: Salvadoran and Guatemalan immigrants’ lives in the United States.” American Journal of Sociology 111 (4): 999–1037) concept of ‘liminal legality’ as an analytical lens to compare the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees. The findings reveal significant disparities between these two groups in employment patterns, wages, and exposure to exploitative working conditions, primarily driven by differences in legal status . Asylum seekers are disproportionately relegated to unskilled, precarious jobs at the bottom of the employment ladder, facing heightened vulnerability to exploitative working conditions. Refugees, despite their relatively ‘premium’ status, also encounter significant constraints in labor market participation, reflecting their confinement to the secondary labor market. By highlighting these disparities, this article advances our knowledge of how positions along the continuum of liminal legality shapes employment outcomes among forced migrants. It also contributes to the broader discourse on socio-political and legal barriers that hinder migrant integration.

The Toxic Mix of Multiculturalism and Medicine: The Credentialing and Professional-Entry Experience for Persons of African Descent

This essay is based on a case study of international medical graduates (IMGs) in Canada who migrated from sub-Saharan Africa. The chapter examines how narratives of race are situated and deployed in the field of medicine and can produce some aversive social–psychological landscapes in the credentialing and the professional-entry process as it relates to persons of African descent. It will show that, often without predetermination or intent, professionals of African descent in Canada are highly susceptible to implicit racial associations and implicit racial stereotyping in relation to evaluations of character, credentials, and culture. The article exposes some of the critical intersections of common experience, such as: (a) cultural deficit bias—Whiteness as an institutionalized cultural capital attribute; (b) confirmation bias—reaching a negative conclusion and working backwards to find evidence to support it; (c) repurposed sub-Saharan Blackness stereotypes—binary forms of techno-scamming and fraud; and (d) biased deception judgement—where the accuracy of deception judgements deteriorates when made across cultures. These social psychological phenomena result in significantly disproportionate returns on their foreign education and labour market experience for Black medical professionals that require decisive efforts in changing the narratives.

Children's living arrangements and labor market outcomes of divorced mothers in Wisconsin

AbstractObjectiveThis paper examines the way divorced mothers' long‐run employment, long‐run earnings, and subjective experiences of work–family conflict differ by children's postdivorce living arrangements.BackgroundChildren's living arrangements are an important—and somewhat overlooked—determinant of mothers' postdivorce economic outcomes. Parenting commitments and resource availability tied to the amount of time children spend in residence can impact mothers' experiences of work–family conflict and consequent employment.MethodThe paper uses linked administrative and survey data for divorced parents in Wisconsin. It applies a mixed‐methods approach, first using multivariate regression models to control for baseline characteristics in exploring mothers' labor market outcomes and experiences of work–family conflict, and subsequently performing content analysis on open‐ended survey responses to enhance the findings from the quantitative analysis.ResultsMothers with shared physical custody are 5% more likely to report being employed in the long run, experience 6% less work–family conflict, and show larger increases in long‐term earnings than mothers who have sole physical custody of their children. However, the higher long‐term earnings of shared placement mothers cannot be attributed to lower work–family conflict.ConclusionShared placement mothers enjoy a labor market advantage in the long term after divorce, but more research is needed to understand the mechanisms behind this relationship.ImplicationsPublic policy encouraging shared placement can be beneficial for divorced mothers' economic outcomes.

Labor Market Experiences of US Veterans During COVID-19: Women’s Relative Advantage

Labor Market Experiences of US Veterans During COVID-19: Women’s Relative Advantage

On your marks, get set, go! Jumping the hurdles of employability development at an early career stage

This study draws on contributions from Social Cognitive Career Theory and Conservation of Resources theory to investigate how configurations of career barriers associated with gender and ethnicity influence the development of perceived employability. Our study with graduates surveyed before and two years after completing their degrees, shows that groups of graduates perceiving higher career barriers experience a significant decline in perceived employability during the early stage of their careers. In contrast, those perceiving fewer career hurdles report a more stable employability trajectory and have higher perceived employability two years after graduating. Our study contributes to the literature by showing that perceived employability does not necessarily increase with labor market experience but can instead remain stable or even decline depending on perceived career hindrances.

The legacy of immigration policies and employment exclusion: Assessing the relationship between employment exclusions and immigrant health

Restrictive federal and state immigration policies create conditions of employment exclusion that may negatively influence the health of immigrants. In particular, these policy effects are reflected in labor market and workplace experiences that determine the types of work and employment opportunities that immigrants are able to access and pursue. This study examines the relationship between both cumulative and individual measures of employment exclusion and self-rated health and psychological distress among Asian and Latino immigrants in California, and whether this relationship is modified by legal status. We used data from the Research on Immigrant Health and State Policy (RIGHTS) study (n = 2010). We used both multivariable logistic regression and linear regression models for our analyses. For cumulative models, labor market exclusion was associated with poor health (OR = 1.21, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.46). Workplace exclusion was also associated with poor self-rated health (OR = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.15, 1.82) and increased psychological distress (β = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.31, 1.07). For individual measures of employment exclusion, settling for a job – a labor market exclusion – and working in a dangerous job and experiencing wage theft – workplace exclusions – were associated with poor health and increased psychological distress. There was no evidence that the association between employment exclusions and health varied by legal status. These findings demonstrate that the combined effect of employment exclusions is detrimental to immigrant health. To improve population health, public health researchers should continue to interrogate the policy conditions at the federal, state, and local level that exclude immigrants from employment opportunities and workplace protections.

Politicians’ Labor Market Experiences across Party Families

Politicians’ Labor Market Experiences across Party Families

Cosmopolitan Paradox? The Labour Market Experiences of Newcomer Skilled Workers

Canada’s national narratives gesture to cosmopolitan ideals by celebrating the country as open and inclusive through the working of its immigration policy. Indeed, it has been suggested that Canada may be oriented toward a form of ‘rooted cosmopolitanism’. This vision stands at odds with the experiences of skilled migrants who often encounter hurdles in the labour market. In this paper, we probe the ‘cosmopolitan paradox’ and its implications. Through a qualitative case study of 36 skilled newcomers, we document their experiences as they attempt to enter the labour market encountering barriers that reassert national frames and ‘Canadian standards’. We argue that if Canada is to live up to the promise of a cosmopolitan ideal, the stratifications and exclusions that mark the lives of newcomers need to be addressed. It is not enough to attract increasing numbers of immigrants if they cannot become full members of the Canadian national community.

Economic and labour market impacts of migration in Austria: an agent-based modelling approach

This study examines the potential economic and labour market impacts of a hypothetical but plausible migration scenario of 250,000 new migrants inspired by Austria’s experience in 2015. Using the agent-based macroeconomic model developed by Poledna et al. (Eur Econ Rev, 151:104306, 2023. 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2022.104306, the study explores the detailed labour market outcomes for different groups in Austria’s population and the macroeconomic effects of the migration scenario. The analysis suggests that Austria’s economy and labour market have the potential to be resilient to the simulated migration influx. The results indicate a positive impact on GDP due to increased aggregate consumption and investment. The labour market experiences an increase in the unemployment rates of natives and previous migrants. In some industries, the increase in the unemployment rates is more significant, potentially indicating competition among different groups of migrants. This research provides insights for policymakers and stakeholders in Austria and other countries that may face the challenge of managing large-scale migration in the near future.