Labor Market Inequality Research Articles

Migration and Economic Development: The Role of Migrant Flows in Shaping Turkey’s Emerging Economy and Uncovering Hidden Conflicts and Challenges

This research examines the economic impact of migration on Turkey's emerging economy, with a particular focus on the contributions of migrant remittances, labor market dynamics, and the socio-political challenges associated with large-scale migrant flows. By employing econometric models and field research, the study explores the relationship between remittance inflows and key economic indicators such as GDP growth, employment rates, and poverty reduction. Additionally, the research uncovers hidden conflicts and social tensions that arise from migration, including labor market inequalities and integration challenges faced by both migrants and Turkish workers. The project evaluates government policies, such as the EU-Turkey refugee agreement, and their effects on economic development and social stability. Field research in migrant-receiving communities reveals the complexities of labor competition and the social dynamics created by migrant dependency in sectors such as agriculture and construction. Findings highlight the need for inclusive migration policies that balance the economic benefits of remittances with the social integration challenges faced by migrant populations. This study also advocates for stronger labor protections and regulatory reforms to mitigate tensions and reduce exploitation in low-wage sectors. The research contributes to the broader understanding of migration’s role in shaping Turkey’s economy and provides insights for policymakers seeking to address both the economic and social dimensions of migration.

An Analysis of Wage Determinants and Gender Wage Inequality in the Daily Labor Market of Bangladesh: A Quantile Regression Approach

An Analysis of Wage Determinants and Gender Wage Inequality in the Daily Labor Market of Bangladesh: A Quantile Regression Approach

The double disadvantage faced by adolescents from low socioeconomic backgrounds with mental health problems affects earnings up to mid-life

Early childhood socioeconomic disadvantage and mental health problems are both important determinants of adult social and economic experiences, but little is known about how they interact in this respect. We aimed to assess whether poor mental health in adolescence exacerbates labour market inequalities originating from low socioeconomic status (SES) in childhood. We use a birth cohort of individuals born in 1958 in England and follow their employment experiences and cumulative earnings up to age 55. We proxy low SES in childhood with father's occupational class at the time the respondent was aged 11, and use caregiver (usually, parent) ratings of the Rutter inventory at age 16 to identify mental health problems in adolescence. We fit ordinary least squares (OLS) models to estimate the effect of growing up in a low-SES family and experiencing mental health problems (conduct or emotional problems) in adolescence on cumulative earnings (log-transformed). We use an interaction term to test whether the association between mental health problems (conduct and emotional separately) and earnings differed by socioeconomic group. Individuals who experienced conduct problems in adolescence had lower cumulative earnings and employment levels up to age of 55. Moreover, the association between mental health problems and cumulative earnings was higher among individuals who also experienced low SES in childhood. Families from a higher socioeconomic group may have more effective means to counteract the adverse impacts of adolescent mental health problems, likely due to broader access to resources, support systems and opportunities. This underscores the role of structural supports in addressing socioeconomic inequalities in mental health outcomes and their long-terms implications.

“Leave me out of it and raise my salary”: Invisible work in the labor market and the gender wage gap

While the literature shows that “invisible work” – work that is neither defined nor recognized as labor – persists in the workplace, its relation to labor market outcomes, especially wages, remains relatively underexplored. This study examines the connection between invisible work and wages through a gendered perspective. Utilizing mixed-methods sequential analysis, we conducted 12 group interviews with employed women and men in Israel, uncovering four types of invisible work: physical care work, emotion labor, administrative work, and teamwork. Subsequently, we surveyed a representative sample of the Israeli labor force (n = 964). Regression analyses revealed significant relations between three types of invisible work and wages: doing physical care work correlated negatively with wages for all, while performing emotion labor and administrative work rewarded men more than women. Insights from the interviews elucidated gendered mechanisms linking wages to each invisible work type. The study emphasizes the need for gender-sensitive measures to address labor market inequality.

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.

Devaluation for whom? Feminization and wages in an economically polarized labor market, 2003–2019

Abstract Scholars have found that as the proportion of female workers in an occupation grows, wages generally decline. Yet, we know little about how this gender inequality intersects with other labor market inequalities. This study evaluates the feminization-wage relationship of an increasingly economically polarized post-2000 US labor market. First, I hypothesize that the negative effect of feminization on wages has diminished in high-skilled occupations due to the declining prejudice against (highly educated) women and increasing requirements for higher education, which functions as a form of social closure. Second, because of the increasing demand for “people skills” in higher-skilled occupations and their association with women, workers in higher-skilled occupations that require these skills may experience positive effects of feminization on wages. Not all people skills, however, are associated with women and similarly rewarded. Thus, I examine three people skills—persuasion, managerial, and sociability—that have different gender stereotypes. I test hypotheses using occupational-level fixed-effects models with individual-level data from the American Community Survey 2003–2019 (N = 15,996,526) and time-varying occupational-level data from the Occupational Information Network 2003–2019 (N = 460). Results show that for workers in occupations requiring more than sixteen years of education, feminization corresponds with higher wages. Additionally, the positive feminization-wage relationship is larger in occupations with a high demand for a gender-neutral people skill, persuasion. This moderation effect is not found for sociability and managerial skills, which are associated with women and men, respectively. This study calls for greater attention to how labor market polarization has shaped gender inequality.

Racial and Gender Inequality in the Brazilian Labor Market

Racial and Gender Inequality in the Brazilian Labor Market

Multidimensional heterogeneity and matching in a frictional labor market — An application to polarization

This paper examines the role that changes in production technology, namely computerization, have played on labor market inequality in the US from the late 1980s to the 2010s. It also demonstrates that such technological change is consistent with the timing of labor market polarization in the US, including the end of the decline in 50/10 wage percentile ratio and the slowdown of employment growth in high-wage jobs from the 2000s. The paper does so using a model with two key ingredients: 1) directed search and 2) two-sided multidimensional heterogeneity. Calibration results show that the complementarity between a workers’ cognitive skills and the cognitive task intensity of jobs increased while that between manual skill and tasks did not. The full model can fully account for the rise and fall of the 90/50 and 50/10 wage percentile ratios respectively. It also generates 72.6 percent of the rise in employment share of high-paying jobs relative to middling jobs and 69 percent of the fall in employment share of middling jobs relative to low-paying jobs. The paper suggests that the end of the decline in the 50/10 wage ratio may be due to rank-switching between workers across the wage distribution from the 2000s, while the slowdown of employment growth in high-wage jobs may result from the trade-off between the returns to applying for high-wage jobs and the likelihood of being hired.

Labour market inequality

Abstract Wage and earnings inequality has been on the rise in the United Kingdom (UK) since the late 1970s/early 1980s, and with faster increases than comparator countries, it is now one of the countries with the highest levels of wage and earnings inequality in the developed world. Labour market inequality arises in various forms: inequalities in employment opportunities, wages, and hours worked, but also in other dimensions of employment, such as job security. This article considers key factors that have shaped labour market inequality in the UK over the last four decades, with a focus on technological changes and skill demand, labour market institutions, and contract regulation.

Ethnic and racial inequality in the UK: a comment from a German perspective

Abstract I discuss findings from the article by Mirza and Warwick from a German perspective and focus on gender differences in labour market inequality, ethnic and racial inequality in tertiary education and the role of discrimination in explaining inequality. With respect to the labour market, what is most puzzling is that members of minority groups experience more upward mobility than comparable natives but are unable to translate this advantage into similar labour market success. In Germany, success in the educational system and on the labour market are closely linked. Findings on tertiary education are more in line with what we see in Germany, namely that members of minority groups are more likely than natives to move on to university but have higher dropout rates. The article’s findings on discrimination reveal that comparatively larger ‘unexplained gaps’ remain in analyses on ethnic and racial inequality, especially for ‘visible’ minority groups, than we see in Germany.

Labour market inequality: a comparative political economy perspective

Abstract Large and rising earnings and employment inequalities in countries such as the USA and the UK pose fundamental questions for social scientists and challenges for policymakers. Mainstream economists have explained these outcomes mainly in terms of competitive market forces, particularly the mismatch between technology-driven demands for skills and those supplied by workers. In contrast, political economy perspectives focus on employer–employee bargaining power, driven by the monopsony power of firms and declining institutional and policy protections for workers. We critically assess the evidence on the education wage premium and employment polarization used to support the competitive market explanation for US wage inequality. We then show that the incidence of decent pay for young less-educated workers varies sharply across similarly rich countries and that new indices of institutional bargaining power closely correspond to differences in pay distributions but are uncorrelated with conventional measures of employment performance. We conclude that well-designed institutional and policy changes can substantially promote shared growth and the well-being of working families.

Market power and labour market inequality

Abstract I discuss how firms contribute to inequality in the UK as laid out in the article in this collection by De Loecker, Obermeier and Van Reenen. As in other economies around the world, the UK has seen a rise in market power since 1980 leading to an increase in inequality of firm sizes. While firm inequality per se is not harmful, when it is driven by market power, it does have major implications for the labour market. This commentary examines the effect of the firm size distribution and market power on the labour share, declining labour dynamism and wage inequality. I also outline policy responses that reduce inequality and increase economy-wide well-being.

Labour market inequality in France and in the UK

Abstract This commentary shows that a high minimum wage, a rigid grid of minimum wages negotiated at central or sectoral level and legislation ensuring job stability for employees on permanent contracts have enabled France to contain wage inequalities. On the other hand, there is a low employment rate and a high unemployment rate that create significant inequalities in access to employment and a high poverty rate before taxes and transfers.

The German transfer system for the working-age population: design, changes and consequences

Abstract In this commentary, we use the example of the German transfer system and its recent changes to assess consequences of benefit design for social inequalities in times of changing labour markets. Based on the rich literature on the so-called ‘Hartz-IV reforms’ in the early 2000s, we argue that while producing winners and losers, the immediate consequences of benefit reforms in Germany for the generosity of transfers were modest. However, the reforms did change some of the basic design principles of the transfer system. While it is still debated to what extent the reforms of the transfer system can explain the combination of decreasing unemployment and increasing labour market inequalities, they certainly modified the institutional context in a way that fundamentally altered the preconditions for the politics of combating inequality. Thus, the German experience offers an interesting example for assessing both intended and unintended consequences of benefit reforms.

Deepening Labor Market Inequalities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Turkey

This article investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the labor market in Turkey, using a unique dataset collected via face-to-face interviews in the fall of 2020. In a developing country where labor market gaps are already stark, the study shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing vulnerabilities in labor markets. Results indicate that women, low-educated individuals, parents, self-employed, and informal sector employees were at greater risk of worsened labor market outcomes. Moreover, the individuals at the intersection of these vulnerabilities suffered more. These findings suggest that the labor market policies introduced at the onset of the pandemic remained limited in protecting the jobs of vulnerable groups. HIGHLIGHTS COVID-19 magnified existing inequalities in the labor market in Turkey. The intersection between gender, education, and parenthood shaped the labor outcomes. Women without a high school degree and with children were the most vulnerable. Low-educated parents in particular were more likely to face income and job loss. Informally employed and the self-employed were more likely to suffer income losses.

Inequality and spatial mismatch in the urban labor market: Evidence for the Curitiba metropolitan region, Brazil

Accessibility plays a fundamental role in improving urban economic equity, especially for disadvantaged communities. In many metropolitan areas of Brazil, accessibility relies on infrastructure unequally distributed, creating barriers to access opportunities in the urban labor market. This paper aims to identify sources of spatial mismatch and measure its effects on the labor market of the Curitiba Metropolitan Region (CMR), in Brazil. First, we measured the spatial imbalances of households and jobs by income classes and their effects on the spatial dissimilarity of accessibility to job opportunities. Second, we use econometric tools to evaluate how accessibility to the formal job sector affects individual earnings in the CMR labor market by wage quartile. We find evidence of strong spatial segregation for the poorest individuals from public transit network and from the formal job sector. The econometric results show there was roughly no accessibility premium for individual earnings for the poorest workers and positive effects for the richest workers in the CMR labor market. This set of empirical evidence suggest a spatial concentration of urban amenities that enhance economic inequality for the CMR.

Protection of Honor and Dignity in Labor Relations

In the article we examined one of the current problems, the problem of protecting the honor and dignity of workers during their working life. A certain difficulty arises in applying this principle in practice; employers are increasingly restricting the rights and freedoms of employees. Gender discrimination is unacceptable, since a person’s biological characteristics should not be a determining factor when hiring. The solution to the problems of gender inequality in the Russian labor market should be carried out gradually, starting with recognition at the state level of the existence of this problem. We believe that this problem has existed for a long time and is inherent in every team, therefore it is imperative to develop effective means of protection not only at the legislative level, but also at the local level, which can consider the characteristics of all aspects of labor relations.

Long-term health conditions and UK labour market outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Long-term health conditions can affect labour market outcomes. COVID-19 may have increased labour market inequalities, e.g. due to restricted opportunities for clinically vulnerable people. Evaluating COVID-19's impact could help target support. To quantify the effect of several long-term conditions on UK labour market outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic and compare them to pre-pandemic outcomes. The Understanding Society COVID-19 survey collected responses from around 20,000 UK residents in nine waves from April 2020-September 2021. Participants employed in January/February 2020 with a variety of long-term conditions were matched with people without the condition but with similar baseline characteristics. Models estimated probability of employment, hours worked and earnings. We compared these results with results from a two-year pre-pandemic period. We also modelled probability of furlough and home-working frequency during COVID-19. Most conditions (asthma, arthritis, emotional/nervous/psychiatric problems, vascular/pulmonary/liver conditions, epilepsy) were associated with reduced employment probability and/or hours worked during COVID-19, but not pre-pandemic. Furlough was more likely for people with pulmonary conditions. People with arthritis and cancer were slower to return to in-person working. Few effects were seen for earnings. COVID-19 had a disproportionate impact on people with long-term conditions' labour market outcomes.

Broken Ladders? Labour Market Inequality in Indonesia and India

This paper examines labour market inequality in Indonesia and India, using a common conceptual approach that draws on a job ladder framework. In the framework, I differentiate between self-employment and wage-informal employment and between formal, upper-tier informal and lower-tier informal employment. I find that Indonesia and India both have job ladders that are narrow at the top and broad at the bottom, with the share of workers in lower-tier informal jobs significantly exceeding the share of workers in upper informal and formal employment. However, more people are in formal wage-employment in Indonesia than in India. Unlike in Indonesia, where the share of wage-employment in total employment increased from 2001 to 2020, the corresponding share in India was relatively constant from 1988 to 2022. Sharp disparities are evident in the earnings of workers in different tiers of the labour market in Indonesia and India, and evidence of convergence in earnings is limited between lower-tier informal workers and formal workers, at least in Indonesia. I also find that females and less-educated workers occupy the lower tiers of the labour markets in the two countries.

Adding experiments to the classical survey-interview mix: A three-method design for supporting micro-to-macro explanations in sociology

The aim of this programmatic article is to spell out a three-method design for supporting micro-to-macro explanations based on social mechanisms. In this design, the experimental method is called on to strengthen the explanatory basis of the common survey-interview mix, against the background of growing interest in causal inference and experimentation across the social sciences. The proposal is articulated through the specific problem of the contribution of discrimination (micro process) to the generation of inequalities in mental health (macro outcome) between culturally stigmatized and non-stigmatized groups (macro predictor). The article motivates the research problem and the three-method design, offering a detailed discussion of the limitations of survey-based measures of perceived discrimination. Drawing on the literature on mixed methods, the relationships between the survey, the interview-based study and the field experiment are analyzed in terms of triangulation, development, and complementarity. The broader applicability of the proposed three-method design is illustrated with examples from the distinct fields of civic engagement and labor market inequalities.