Labor Market Outcomes Research Articles

Differential Impacts of Anticipated Success on Employment Outcomes Among Adults Who Stutter.

Stuttering is associated with disparities in labor market outcomes among young adults, but little is known about how labor market outcomes associated with stuttering change over time. Therefore, this study characterized longitudinal associations between stuttering and early life expectations, job satisfaction, receipt of employer-provided insurance benefits, and income. The analysis used data from three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, which contained 16,653 individuals aged 18-43 years interviewed over 18 years. First, regression models evaluated the likelihood of employment between people who stutter (PWS) and people who do not stutter (PWNS). Second, conditional on employment, two-stage likelihood models quantified differences in their job satisfaction, receipt of employer-provided insurance benefits, and earned income, controlling for age, sex, race, and household characteristics. Finally, the relationship between their reported education and income expectations and these employment outcomes was evaluated. Although stuttering was not related to the likelihood of working or receiving employer-provided benefits, PWS were 20%-22% (SE = 0.06-0.07) less likely to be satisfied with their jobs than PWNS, and dissatisfaction increased with age. Additionally, the odds of earning a higher income were significantly lower for PWS than for PWNS. PWS who anticipated attending college and earning a middle-class income were more likely to be satisfied with their jobs and earn a higher income. However, PWS were less likely to expect that they would earn a middle-class income (PWNS: 46.4%, PWS: 36.3%) or graduate from college (PWNS: 70.9%, PWS: 58.4%) compared to PWNS. Labor market inequities associated with stuttering persist and increase with age. PWS have significantly lower expectations for their likelihood of future success, and these expectations predict their future occupational outcomes.

Youth Employment Challenges and Opportunities in Pakistan: An Econometric Analysis

The involvement of young people in Pakistan's job market is the subject of this dissertation. This work highlights two main benefits of the research conducted using micro data. First, it breaks out the labor market behaviors of teenagers in Pakistan by age group. Then, using econometric approaches, it explains what variables influence youth work chances in Pakistan. According to the research, several young people start working at a young age, which may affect their future productivity and income. At the beginning of their professions, young people frequently have a higher unemployment rate; nevertheless, this number decreases with time. In addition, there were notable disparities in the labor market outcomes for male and female teenagers based on area. Unemployment rates for young women are higher than those for young men in several regions of the nation. Although young people in Baluchistan are more prepared to enter labor than their counterparts in other regions, the study's main conclusion shows that their employment prospects are poorer. Several characteristics, the findings of a logistic regression analysis demonstrate that the job chances of youth in Pakistan are highly impacted by age, gender, marital status, emigration, geography, educational achievement, and family characteristics. In addition, studies show that Pakistani teenagers are a heterogeneous group, reflecting a wide variety of personal traits and perspectives on employment that are influenced by their home context. Policymakers should see Pakistani youth as something other than a monolithic entity. Unemployment is a problem in Pakistan due to several factors.

Unintended consequences of maternity leave entitlements on female labor market outcomes in China

This study provides the first empirical evidence of the impact of maternity leave entitlements on labor market outcomes for women of childbearing age in urban China. We exploit a reform during which approximately two-thirds of the provinces in China extended their leave entitlements from 2014 to 2016 and employ a triple-difference strategy to deal with the identification. The results suggest unintended effects, as leave entitlement extensions led to a reduction in the likelihood of working, formal employment, and wage for women of childbearing age relative to their counterparts. We further establish that greater reliance on employer liability may be the main mechanism behind the unintended effects, highlighting the importance of payment schemes. This study provides novel evidence and mechanisms for the labor market effect of maternity leave in women of childbearing age and provides new insights for maternity leave related policy designs.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labour market outcomes of Indigenous persons living off-reserve in Canada

The recent COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on the labour force activity of many, but the effect of the crisis on the labour market outcomes of Indigenous peoples in Canada is relatively understudied. Using data from the master files of the Canadian Labour Force Survey (LFS), this analysis first considers the relative probability of four mutually exclusive labour force states: employed; unemployed; not in the labour force, but not discouraged; and not in the labour force due to being a discouraged worker. Differences in hours worked as well as earnings comparing Indigenous and non-Indigenous workers are then examined. The findings reveal that, regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic, Indigenous Canadians were relatively more likely to be either unemployed or not in the labour force (including being a discouraged worker) than to be employed as compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. Indigenous workers earned roughly 3 percent less than their non-Indigenous counterparts. The earnings penalty experienced by Indigenous workers, was slightly smaller at the bottom of the wage distribution at 2 percent, increasing to roughly 3.3 percent at the top 90th percentile of the earnings function. During the COVID-19 period, while the risk of unemployment was lower for Indigenous persons, the risk of being a discouraged worker was even higher for Indigenous Canadians during the pandemic. Using an ad-hoc supplement to the LFS conducted by Statistics Canada in response to the pandemic, this study finds that Indigenous respondents were less likely than non-Indigenous respondents to either work from home or receive any form of Canada relief benefit from April 2020 to October 2021. The implications of these findings suggest a role for policy makers to improve access to funding supports for Indigenous workers and students seeking to pursue higher education to improve labour market outcomes. Additionally, employers play an important role in ensuring that Indigenous workers have fair access to job opportunities.

Nurse practitioner oversight ratios and labor market outcomes

AbstractNurse practitioners are important to the US healthcare system; however, many states impose physician oversight ratios, which limit the number of NPs a physician may supervise. In this study, we evaluate the effect of eliminating physician oversight ratios on the supply of NPs by conducting case studies of three states—New York, Nevada, and Pennsylvania—using synthetic control and related approaches. Surprisingly, we find that eliminating oversight ratios had little effect on the labor supply of NPs. For New York, we also analyze the effects of eliminating oversight ratios on wages and hours worked and again find null results.

Postsecondary pathways and graduate earnings: does transfer make cents?

ABSTRACT Post-secondary education (PSE) experienced explosive growth and diversification over the past century, affording students a range of increasingly complex pathways that they can travel to acquire a credential. In various jurisdictions, governments have made significant investments to facilitate student uptake of unconventional transfer pathways that involve stops at multiple institutions. But, there has been limited effort to understand the impact of travelling these unconventional pathways on graduate labour market outcomes. Moreover, existing studies across many jurisdictions typically lack access to detailed measures of academic performance, demographics, and other pertinent controls that could explain the relationship between PSE pathway uptake and labour market outcomes. Through this study we model this relationship by drawing on a large custom linkage between student records from the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and three large administrative datasets housed in Statistics Canada’s Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Linkage Platform (ELMLP). This linkage offers census-level coverage of the population of interest and allows us to longitudinally track students from their Grade 9 year at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), into and through Ontario PSE, and then as they enter the labour market. Our analyses unearth a series of pathway-based earnings disparities that prove robust to available controls. We elaborate on the implications of these findings for policymakers and draw attention to their relevance for scholars interested in school-to-work transitions in Canada and abroad.

How Do You Say Your Name? Difficult-to-Pronounce Names and Labor Market Outcomes

We test for labor market discrimination based on an understudied characteristic: name fluency. Analysis of recent economics PhD job candidates indicates that name difficulty is negatively related to the probability of landing an academic or tenure-track position and research productivity of initial institutional placement. Discrimination due to name fluency is also found using experimental data from prior audit studies. Within samples of African Americans (Bertrand and Mullainathan 2004) and ethnic immigrants (Oreopoulos 2011), job applicants with less fluent names experience lower callback rates, and name complexity explains roughly between 10 and 50 percent of ethnic name penalties. The results are primarily driven by candidates with weaker résumés, suggesting that cognitive biases may contribute to the penalty of having a difficult-to-pronounce name. (JEL A11, J15, J23, J44, J71)

Teen parent trap? The education and labor implications of motherhood and fatherhood during the transition from adolescence to Adulthood in Cebu, the Philippines

For both males and females, adolescent parenthood can affect human capital investments and labor market choices during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. However, only scant evidence exists on the educational and labor implications of adolescent motherhood in developing countries and there is none on adolescent fatherhood. Using fixed effects, linear, and hazard models on a matched sample, we examine the association between early parenthood and education and labor market outcomes for a cohort of adolescents using longitudinal data from Cebu, the Philippines. While we find that early parenthood is associated with poorer educational outcomes for both teen mothers and fathers, the association is stronger for mothers. Upon becoming parents, labor market participation reduces for teen mothers but increases for teen fathers. Teen parents (both mothers and fathers) face a higher hazard of leaving school early, but teen fathers exhibit a substantially higher hazard of entering the labor market earlier. In young adulthood, conditional on working, both teen mothers and fathers are more likely to be informally employed. This paper highlights the potential gains from delaying first childbirth for adolescent males and females.

CLUB CONVERGENCE OF REAL WAGES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

This study analyzes real wage convergence within the European Union, scrutinizing it on both regional and national scales. It questions the prevalent notion that open labor movement within the EU naturally leads to wage parity. Using a flexible log t regression and clustering algorithm, the research uncovers a lack of real wage convergence across all EU countries and regions. Instead, it identifies distinct convergence clubs based on real wages, delineated as core versus peripheral countries, and further divided into four regional categories. These findings suggest the existence of significant differences between the core and peripheral countries, hindering wage equalization. Clubs converge to different steady states which yield substantially different average real wages. At the national level, the formation of these wage-based clubs is influenced by the output gap and unemployment benefits, competitiveness and labor productivity, trade integration, and partly by human capital and development level. This study's results are robust and consistent with economic theories concerning real wage determinants. On the regional front, the analysis reveals a complex interplay of multiple variables affecting club formation, with no significant distinctions between certain club pairings. The findings highlight the complex dynamics of wage convergence in the EU, influenced by both economic and non-economic factors. The differences between core and peripheral EU countries are still strong and affect labor market outcomes and real wage convergence.

JUE Insight: The labor market effects of place-based policies: Evidence from England’s Neighbourhood Renewal Fund

Neighbourhood renewal programs are a type of place-based policy that aim to revive underperforming localities. The literature on place-based policies has found mixed results regarding their effects on local labor market outcomes, but there are relatively few studies of policies that aim to improve local labor supply. In this paper we examine the labor market effects of the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, which targeted 88 of the most deprived areas in England during the early 2000s as part of the Labour government’s National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal. The fund disbursed almost £3 billion for spending on community safety, education, healthcare and worklessness, with supply-side interventions making up the bulk of the program’s spending on worklessness. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find statistically significant impacts on local employment. Our results suggest that policy interventions to improve local labor supply can be a successful strategy for neighborhood renewal.

Labor market impacts of eco-development initiatives in protected areas

Eco-development seeks to balance economic development with biodiversity conservation, enhancing the effectiveness of protected area management. This paper examines the labor market impacts of eco-development initiatives implemented in the protected areas of the Western Ghats, India, a significant biodiversity hotspot facing intense socio-economic pressures. Our findings show that eco-development has substantially altered labor market outcomes in villages within and surrounding protected areas, resulting in a higher share of non-farm employment. This shift is marked by a reduction in year-round work and an increase in seasonal employment. These effects appear to stem from the specific types of jobs created by eco-development and the changes in land use patterns it promotes, such as a higher proportion of forested land and increased reliance on rainfed agriculture over irrigated farming. Descriptive evidence also suggests that, despite improvements in literacy, the affected villages experience lower consumption levels and higher poverty rates.

Two birds, one stone: minimum wage and child labor

PurposeThis paper investigates the impact of quasi-exogenous and substantial increases in the minimum wage on child labor outcomes in Türkiye. The study aims to provide empirical evidence on how minimum wage policies affect child labor outcomes in a developing country context, with a focus on gender and age differences. It seeks to understand whether minimum wage increases lead to a reduction in child labor and whether the impact is different for various demographic groups.Design/methodology/approachThe research employs a difference-in-differences methodology using data from the 2012 and 2019 Child Labor Force Survey in Türkiye. The treatment group consists of children from households with minimum wage earners, while the control group comprises children from other households. Various labor market outcomes are analyzed, and robustness checks are performed.FindingsOur findings indicate that while the overall effect of minimum wage increases on child labor is statistically insignificant, there are notable heterogeneous impacts across different demographic groups and employment sectors. Specifically, we observe a significant reduction in the employment probability of girls under the age of 15 and unpaid family workers. Additionally, the likelihood of younger children being wage earners decreases, and the minimum wage increase reduces employment in the agriculture and services sectors for certain subgroups. The impact is also more limited for children in single-adult-worker households.Social implicationsThese results underscore the varying effects of minimum wage policies on child labor and highlight the importance of considering demographic and sectoral differences in policy formulation. Policymakers should complement such policies with income-generating programs and targeted education initiatives to address child labor issues more comprehensively and sustainably.Originality/valueThis study fills a critical gap in the limited international literature on the causal effects of minimum wage policies on child labor incidence. One notable exception, Menon and van der Meulen Rodgers (2018) have explored the impact of minimum wage on child labor in India using regional variation, our study uniquely analyzes the effects at the household level in Türkiye. This approach provides valuable insights into how minimum wage changes affect child labor outcomes in a developing economy context with a high prevalence of minimum wage earners. It also contributes to the broader economic understanding of child labor and household income dynamics.

Labour Market Disadvantages of Citizens with a Migration Background in Belgium: A Systematic Review

AbstractLabour markets struggle to be inclusive, while diversity is increasing. This literature review examines labour market challenges faced by first- and second-generation migrants in Belgium. We systematically review articles published between 2010 and 2023 in the Web of Science Core Collection to delineate underlying mechanisms, associated solutions, policy recommendations and literature gaps. The literature reveals that individuals with a migration background generally experience poorer labour market outcomes than natives. These outcomes vary based on specific origin and gender and persist from the first into the second generation. The mechanisms underlying these poorer outcomes are discrimination, individual preferences, and human and social capital differences. Recommendations for employers include implementing standardised hiring procedures and fostering awareness of discrimination among recruiters. On the employee side, investing in human capital, increasing labour market knowledge, and having competencies formally recognised can help to narrow employment gaps. Our review also advocates for policy refinement to combat biases and suggests that alternative pathways to attaining employment, such as self-employment and volunteering, are promising areas for future research.

A Firm of One's Own: Experimental Evidence on Credit Constraints and Occupational Choice

Abstract We evaluate two interventions targeting young women in Nairobi, Kenya. The first is a multifaceted program involving vocational training, in-kind transfers of physical capital, and ongoing mentoring. The second is an unrestricted cash grant. Both interventions shift women into self-employment, and impacts persist after six years. Both programs also increase income in the short-term, but those effects disappear over time. Though the two treatments have similar impacts on labor market outcomes, women in the multifaceted program report significantly higher wellbeing six years after treatment relative to both women in the control group and those who received the grants.

Long-Run Effects of Childhood Exposure to Medical Marijuana Laws on Education and Labor Market Outcomes

Long-Run Effects of Childhood Exposure to Medical Marijuana Laws on Education and Labor Market Outcomes

Women’s Economic Participation, Time Use, and Access to Childcare in Urban Bangladesh

This study documents the labor market outcomes and time-use patterns of women in urban Bangladesh. Using survey data collected in 2018 in low-income neighborhoods of Dhaka, the paper finds that women with children aged 0–5 years have lower likelihood of labor market participation, lower likelihood of being employed, and lower likelihood of being an earner, compared to women with no children and women with children aged 6 years or older. While all mothers of young children face a labor market penalty, those who have young children but have no access to childcare support face the largest penalty. Time-use patterns indicate that mothers of young children generally spend less time on market work and more time on unpaid work, compared to those without children or with older children. When mothers have access to childcare support, they tend to spend more time on market work than those without childcare support, yet still devote the same amount of time to unpaid work as mothers without childcare support. They are also equally likely to perform childcare as a secondary activity, which could impact both their productivity and the quality of care they provide.

Polycystic ovary syndrome and labor market attachment in Swedish women

Abstract Background Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder in women of fertile age and is associated with several burdensome comorbidities. We use Swedish longitudinal register data to identify and compare clusters of employment trajectories among working age women, in order to investigate how PCOS affects labor market attachment. Data and Methods A cohort of 157,356 women born in 1975-1977 were followed annually between the ages of 30 and 39. Labor market states were constructed by combining detailed data on various types of earned income. PCOS was identified through national inpatient and outpatient registers. Sociodemographic covariates (civil status, region of origin, highest attained education, number of children) were measured at the age of 29 years. Sequence analysis was used to identify clusters of typical labor market trajectories. Multinomial logistic regression was employed to assess the associations between being diagnosed with PCOS and belonging to the identified clusters. Results Women with PCOS spent less time in employment and were more dependent on sickness benefits during the follow-up time than those without PCOS. Five clusters of trajectories were identified: stable employment, education into employment, labor market exclusion, continuous unstable position, long-term sickness. Compared to being in stable employment cluster, women diagnosed with PCOS were 97% more likely to experience long-term sickness (RRR (relative risk ratio): 1.97 [CI: 1.90-2.05]), and had 11% higher risk of belonging to education into employment (RRR: 1.11 [CI: 1.07-1.15]) and a 4% higher risk (RRR: 1.04 [CI: 1.00-1.09]) of experiencing labor market exclusion. The magnitude of the association increased for education into employment and labor market exclusion after adjusting for covariates. Conclusions PCOS can lead to disadvantaged labor market outcomes and better strategies are needed in order to prevent economic exclusion among women diagnosed with the condition. Key messages • PCOS leads to disadvantaged labor market outcomes. • Women with PCOS may experience economic exclusion.

The impact of Secure Communities on the labor market outcomes of immigrant women

AbstractThe United States deported nearly 400,000 unauthorized immigrants under the Secure Communities (SC) interior immigration enforcement program between 2008 and 2014. This paper uses variation in the intensity of deportations across immigrants’ country of origin and city of residence to assess the labor market consequences of SC on foreign‐born women. We find no effect on the total number of employed immigrant women, but both annual wages and the number of hours worked fell. Moreover, SC induced a shift toward occupations with lower average pay and education requirements, higher exposure to hazards, and less contact with others. This is consistent with a chilling effect in labor markets such that some foreign‐born women were willing to sacrifice better pay and working environments for the ability to avoid detection.

Foreign Workers and Remittance Outflow in Malaysia

This conceptual paper reviews foreign workers and remittance outflows in Malaysia. Foreign workers in Malaysia, who remit a portion of their earnings back home, play a crucial role in the country's economic development. With approximately 1.5 million foreign workers engaged in various sectors such as manufacturing, plantation, construction, and agriculture, Malaysia relies heavily on foreign labor. Predominantly, these workers come from Indonesia, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Factors such as Malaysia's economic performance, government recruitment policies addressing labor shortages, and cultural and geographical proximity influence why these workers choose Malaysia. Despite concerns that foreign workers might negatively impact short-term labor market outcomes by taking jobs from locals and suppressing wages, the evidence suggests their presence does not significantly harm these outcomes. However, the growing number of foreign workers has led to a notable increase in remittance outflows. Remittance outflows represent a transfer of capital from host countries to the workers' countries of origin. Among the ASEAN-5 countries, Malaysia has recorded the highest remittance outflows, surpassing inflows. While research on remittance flows has expanded, the focus has traditionally been on inflows, with outflows receiving less attention due to their relatively small impact on the macroeconomic indicators of sending countries. Existing literature indicates that remittance outflows can influence the economic growth and inflation of sending countries, including Malaysia, despite varied findings.

Poverty and Temporary Employment in Italy

AbstractThis paper explores the relationship between temporary employment and poverty in Italy by using 2016–2019 longitudinal EU-SILC data. We model both poverty and labour market outcomes and account for possible endogeneity of temporary employment in the poverty equation. We find that temporary employment reduces the risk of poverty whether compared with inactivity and unemployment. Temporary workers are more likely to stay in poverty with respect to their permanent counterpart. The different effect of permanent/temporary employment on the risk of poverty is more pronounced for householders than for partners, thereby stressing the leading role of the former in income formation. There is evidence of feedback effects from past poverty to current temporary employment. We also find significant genuine state dependence in both the processes of poverty and temporary employment. For the latter, we note the prevalence of a trapping effect into unstable jobs relationships, especially for householders. Finally, we stress the relatively weak role of social transfers in integrating labour income from temporary employment and therefore in breaking the detrimental effect of temporary work on poverty.