Labour Market Performance Research Articles

How employees are affected by working in R&D-investing firms

ABSTRACT Investments in research and development (R&D) are essential for firm success, but how does the experience of working for R&D-investing firms affect individual performance in the labour market? Combining a biennial survey series on R&D investments with a longitudinal matched employer-employee dataset from Statistics Sweden, this study examines the labour market performance of workers in R&D-investing versus non-investing firms. Results show that, on average, highly skilled employees from R&D-investing firms perform better than those from non-investing firms when they switch jobs. This includes higher wage growth and higher probability of career progression. Among this group of employees, no particular interest in entrepreneurial ventures was found. Results of this study strengthen current knowledge of the effects of R&D and provide important implications for policies.

Exploring economic assimilation of immigrants and their descendants in France: recent insights

ABSTRACT This paper examines the labour market performances of immigrants and their descendants in France by applying a series of empirical Tobit II models on a recent TeO2 database. Our work questions the labour market participation and wage disparities of these groups compared to native-born individuals by controlling different individual attributes, such as gender and educational level, and job characteristics, such as the firm size or the type of job. It also introduces information on ethnic origins and location. Our study provides crucial insights into the labour market performances of immigrants and their descendants in France. It reveals that disparities manifest primarily in labour market participation rather than wages. It also underscores that high-skilled workers’ wages do not converge as immigrants consistently yield lower returns on education than natives. Our findings underscore the heterogeneity within the immigrant group based on origins criteria. The performances of immigrants with African and Northern-African origins are lower than those of other groups of immigrants.

Prediction of the Effectiveness of Deferred Retirement in the Labor Market Performance in China

Abstract: The analytical document touching upon the prospects of how delaying retirement affects labor market ability in China reveals some crucial information about the implications of the retirement age policy modifications. This test may indicate that the retirement age raise would be a huge factor in China's labor market status, such as employment level and national pension funds. Apart from this, the paper is a reminder for the authorities to have a broad policy discussion on diverse fiscal consequences that different retirement age policies may cause like wage inflexibility, disposable labor issues, and the aging population. These results demonstrate that the simulation should be considered for its interplay with individuals' lives as well as for the macro economy. To scrutinize the efficacy of postponing retirement within China's employment market performance, it's critical to deploy some economic theories. The first method involves the insights from both the Beveridge curve and job creation curve to dissect the nuances of job turnover rates, opportunities for finding new jobs, and their influence on unemployment figures. Delving deeper into pension fund ramifications necessitates assessing the shift from Defined Contribution (DC) schemes towards Defined Benefit (DB) plans, while also taking stock of how dependency ratios come into play. Moreover, gauging effects on incremental labor productivity alongside capital-to-labor ratio calls for an expansive view that considers changes across various industrial sectors and their broader consequences on the labor market as a whole.

Understanding the complexities of technological penetration and globalisation on labour market performance: The role of complementary policies

Understanding the impact of technological penetration and globalisation on wage differentials and employment is crucial for developing countries aiming for sustainable economic growth and reduced unemployment rates. This study investigates these effects in the Southern African Development Community. It also examines the role of complementary policies, such as financial development and human capital, and their interactive effects with technological penetration on wages and employment. The study employs panel fully modified least squares, dynamic least squares, and Driscoll-Kraay's standard error as a robustness check. Results indicate that technological penetration, financial development, and the interactive effect of human capital and technological penetration negatively affect employment. Conversely, globalisation and the interactive effect of financial development and technological penetration positively influence employment. Technological penetration is insignificant in the wage equation, while human capital, globalisation, and financial development are associated with wage increases. The interactive effect of technological penetration and human capital is not significant, and the interactive effect of financial development and technological penetration negatively impacts wages. Based on the findings, the study recommends enhancing financial development and human capital while carefully managing technological integration to navigate the complexities of technological and global economic integration to maximise employment and wage benefits.

Migrants’ Role in Shaping Unemployment Duration and Labour Market Performance in a Sustainable Perspective: Empirical Evidence from Romania

Migrants’ Role in Shaping Unemployment Duration and Labour Market Performance in a Sustainable Perspective: Empirical Evidence from Romania

Unraveling the Productivity Paradox: Evidence for Germany

Abstract Despite massive digitization efforts, the German economy has experienced a marked slowdown in its productivity growth. This paper empirically analyzes three prominent explanations for this development. First, using a novel quarterly utilization-adjusted total factor productivity measure for the German economy, we find that the slowdown in U.S. productivity growth since the mid-2000s had only a negligible impact on the German productivity trend. Second, the structural shift towards services in the German economy explains a sizeable share of the weaker aggregate productivity gains. This transformation process is associated with a strong labor market performance. And third, employing a novel identification procedure, we show that technological progress in the German information and communication technology (ICT) producing sector stimulates both, aggregate output and employment growth. Its effect on aggregate productivity is, however, small.

Quantifying the productivity effects of education-job mismatch: a cross-country analysis

ABSTRACT This study addresses the relationship between education-job mismatch and aggregate labor market performance in a cross-country setting. We examine the effect of education-job mismatch on aggregate productivity across 15 countries using data from the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). We measure mismatch levels and compute their incidence across countries. Next, the paper develops a model linking mismatch to aggregate productivity. In the model the allocation of labor across the types of mismatch is derived from the endogenous process. The findings show that reducing mismatch results in increases in output per capita. This provides evidence for an important role of the allocation of workers according to jobs that match their fields of study and qualification levels not only for individual earnings but also for aggregate outcomes.

The intervention of local public authorities and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania: a subnational analysis.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a strong territorial dimension, with a highly asymmetric impact among Romanian counties, depending on pre-existing vulnerabilities, regions' economic structure, exposure to global value chains, specialization, and overall ability to shift a large share of employees to remote working. The aim of this paper is to assess the role of Romanian local authorities during this unprecedented global medical emergency by capturing the changes of public spending at the local level between 2010 and 2021 and amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and to identify clusters of Romanian counties that shared similar characteristics in this period, using a panel data quantitative model and hierarchical cluster analysis. Our empirical analysis shows that between 2010-2021, the impact of social assistance expenditures was higher than public investment (capital spending and EU funds) on the GDP per capita at county level. Additionally, based on various macroeconomic and structural indicators (health, labour market performance, economic development, entrepreneurship, and both local public revenues and several types of expenditures), we determined seven clusters of counties. The research contributes to the discussion regarding the increase of economic resilience but also to the evidence-based public policies implementation at local level.

Homeownership, the unemployed and financial hardship

We follow 3,826 Australian unemployed persons, approximately half of whom are homeowners. We conduct a matching analysis and find that homeownership reduces both experienced and perceived financial hardship. Building on recent findings in the literature that the presence of financial hardship deteriorates job search quality (i.e., stressors like financial hardship lead to the adoption of haphazard rather than focused job search strategies), we introduce financial hardship as a novel channel through which homeownership affects labour market outcomes of the unemployed. In our matching analysis, we include historical labour market performance and personality traits linked to mobility preferences, to address endogeneity. We also confirm that homeownership reduces residential mobility and increases neighbourhood social capital but find no effect on reservation wages of the unemployed. Considering declining homeownership rates across the OECD in recent years, our findings are both timely and imperative to understand the effect of homeownership on labour market outcomes of the unemployed.

Comparing labor market performance of vocational and general school graduates in Indonesia: insights from stable and crisis conditions

This study seeks to investigate the association between distinct tracks of secondary education—namely, vocational school (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan, SMK) and general school (Sekolah Menengah Atas, SMA)—and two key labor market outcomes: the duration required for graduates to attain their initial employment and their resilience in the face of pandemic, as measured by changes in average monthly income. While the former sheds light on the outcome under typical circumstances, the latter offers valuable insights into the outcome during periods of crisis. Focused on Indonesia, this research employs Heckman two-step model alongside ordinary least square (OLS) for the first outcome and ordered probit regression for the second. The research draws upon data extracted from the 2021 National Labor Force Survey (Survey Angkatan Kerja Nasional, SAKERNAS). Our results suggest that SMK provides an advantage in securing initial employment compared to SMA, with SMK graduates entering the workforce earlier than their counterparts. Moreover, in terms of resilience during the pandemic, as evidenced by changes in income, SMK graduates exhibit greater resilience, with a higher likelihood of maintaining or even increasing their income compared to SMA graduates. These findings offer valuable implications for both theoretical understanding and practical considerations.

Assortative mating, marital stability and the role of business cycles in the United States from 1968 to 2011

ABSTRACT The strong negative correlation between divorce and a wide range of outcomes in terms of well-being, health, education and labour market performance has been well documented in the literature. Economic conditions have been found to affect marital stability. Shared gains from marriage also depend on spouses’ characteristics such as age, education, ethnicity and religious beliefs. This paper examines the relationship between these spousal characteristics and the probability of dissolution while taking into account business cycle fluctuations. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics 1968–2011 for the United States and employing a duration modelling strategy, findings reveal that differences in educational attainment and ethnicity between spouses increase the hazard of marital dissolution. However similarity in religious beliefs and ethnicity reduce the risk of divorce. A period of economic growth improves marital stability. However, ethnic differences are a significant predictor of marital division, even in times of economic prosperity.

Effects and Channels of Smoking on College Students’ Labor Market Performance

This study investigates the impact of smoking on the labor market performance of college graduates, utilizing representative data from South Korea. To mitigate endogeneity concerns, we employ the average cigarette price during participants’ college years as an instrumental variable for smoking behaviors. The findings reveal a detrimental effect of smoking on the labor market outcomes of college students. Smokers are significantly less likely to secure employment, and if employed, they tend to earn lower salaries. Notably, these adverse effects are more pronounced among female students. Through a behavioral and human capital lens, we discern the mechanism by which smoking impairs labor market performance. While smoking may initially contribute to positive aspects such as enhanced social activities, subjective mental health, and psychological stability among college students, it is concurrently associated with lower academic achievement, impeding human capital accumulation. These results suggest that although smoking may yield short-term benefits, it undermines long-term human capital development. The implications advocate for governmental intervention to mitigate the negative consequences of youth smoking.

Relationship Between Sex-Specific Labor Market Performance and Breastfeeding Prevalence.

Prior research has explored the association between women's employment status and breastfeeding at the individual level, however; a notable gap in scholarly inquiry exists regarding the relationship between labor market performance and breastfeeding at the population level. The aim of this paper is to investigate the association between labor market performance and breastfeeding prevalence in the United States. This study is a cross-sectional analysis of the association between labor market performance and the prevalence of breastfeeding. Our analysis is conducted at the state level using data published up to late 2021 from the Current Population Survey and the National Immunization Survey. The first dataset was used to construct aggregate and sex-specific state level indicators of labor market performance for both males and females. The second dataset supplied the proportion of mothers breastfeeding for the corresponding birth cohort from each state. Higher average weekly hours worked by females in the year before giving birth was associated with a lower prevalence of breastfeeding, but employment rates among females did not significantly affect breastfeeding prevalence. Among males, current employment rates were positively associated with breastfeeding prevalence; however, no significant relationship was observed between breastfeeding prevalence and average weekly work hours worked. Sex-specific labor market performance may play a role in breastfeeding decisions and the timing of labor market performance relative to childbirth is important. Furthermore, these results highlight that employment rates and hours worked might be associated with child health through breastfeeding prevalence.

Is there a refugee gap? Evidence from over a century of Danish naturalizations

Abstract The “refugee gap”—the difference in the economic status of refugees relative to other migrants might be due to the experience of being a refugee or to government policy. In Denmark before the Second World War, refugees were not treated differently from other migrants, motivating our use of a database of the universe of Danish naturalizations between 1851 and 1960. We consider labor market performance and find that immigrants leaving conflicts fared no worse or even performed better than other migrants within this relatively homogeneous sample of those who attained citizenship. This suggests that refugees and other migrants might be given the same rights if policy aims to ensure economic success.

대졸 청년층의 정부고용정책 참여 여부에 따른 노동시장 성과분석

Objectives The purpose of this study is to analyze the performance of the labor market according to whether col-lege graduates participate in government employment policies. In this study, the government's employment poli-cy is Korea’s Training Credit Programs and the Youth Job-Seeking Activity Subsidy. The labor market performance consisted of employment status, employment type, job size, wages, and job satisfaction through a review of pre-vious studies.
 Methods The population of the study is college graduates between the ages of 26 and 34. However, since there is a limit to conducting research on the entire population, this study utilized 2019GOMS among the data of the College Graduates Occupational Mobility Survey(GOMS) provided by the Korea Employment Information Service. Excluding missing values, the final targets were 948 people with the Korea’s Training Credit Programs and 964 people with Youth Job-Seeking Activity Subsidy. For data analysis, logistic regression analysis and least squares regression analysis, including propensity score matching, were conducted using the Stata 17.0 program. At this time, individual characteristic factors(gender, age), employment activity factors(linguistic training, certificate), and school characteristic factors(university type, university location, major) were dummized and put into control variables.
 Results As a result of the analysis, it was confirmed that neither policy(Korea’s Training Credit Programs, Youth Job-Seeking Activity Subsidy) had a positive effect on labor market performance according to participation.
 Conclusions Therefore, in this paper, I would like to review the results of the government's employment policy that did not have a positive effect on labor market performance, and to identify and present the causes. This is ex-pected to play an important role in future employment policy operation and research.

Testing Monotonicity of Mean Potential Outcomes in a Continuous Treatment with High-Dimensional Data

Abstract We propose a Cramér-von Mises-type test for testing whether the mean potential outcome given a specific treatment level has a weakly monotonic relationship with the continuous treatment under unconfoundedness. To flexibly control for a possibly high-dimensional set of covariates, our test is based on a double debiased machine learning method. We show that our test controls asymptotic size and is consistent against any fixed alternative. We apply our test to evaluate the Job Corps program and reject a weakly negative relationship between the treatment (hours in academic and vocational training) and labor market performance among relatively low treatment values.

Village social structure and labor market performance: Evidence from the Philippines

This paper studies how social structure — the pattern of social links that connect individuals in a community — affects labor markets. Under competing views on the role of networks, social structures that discourage network hiring could improve or hinder labor market performance. We test these competing views using data on marriage networks in 15,000 villages, combined with labor force survey data. Using regressions analyses and an instrumental variable strategy, we find that individuals living in more socially fragmented villages are less likely to work in family firms, more likely to use formal job search strategies, invest more in education and earn higher wages. Social fragmentation thus discourages network hiring and improves labor market performance. These results survive 384 combinations of robustness checks. We further provide direct evidence against reverse causality.

The impact of education type on employability and wages in China

The objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of China’s recent education policy on the labor market performance (i.e., employability and wages) of both general and vocational education graduates. The policy requires 50% of junior high school graduates to pursue secondary vocational education. The policy received public complaints because, in many parts of the world, students are free to decide on their future education. This paper measures the impacts of education type on labor market performance for both general and vocational education graduates, seeking to uncover the differing perspectives between Chinese authorities and the public. The study utilizes secondary survey data from the Chinese Social Survey 2021 (CSS2021) and employs the Mincer earnings function to analyze several main factors, such as years of education (yoe), years of work (yow), education type (et), interaction between edt and yoe and yow, and gender. The results highlight the significant role of education in enhancing both employability and wages—indicating that increased years of education positively correlate with improved employment prospects and higher wages. Regarding the relationship between wages and gender across both education types, males generally receive higher wages, while the dynamics in the relationship between employment and gender differ, with females exhibiting a greater likelihood of employment. The impact of education type on employability is slightly complicated. Employers do not prefer employing general education graduates. However, when we combined education type with years of experience, the findings revealed a preference among employers for hiring general education graduates with extensive work experience. This study has policy implications for the Chinese government in fostering the balanced development of vocational and general education, benefiting both individuals and society.

The Australian Economy in 2023–24: Navigating a Narrow Path

AbstractThe economy grew at a moderate pace in 2022–23 as Australians adjusted to rising costs of living. The aggressive tightening of monetary policy has eased inflationary pressure, but inflation remains high. Strong labour market performance has been the brightest note in the current Australian macroeconomic landscape, although labour productivity growth was disappointing. The ongoing geopolitical conflict in Europe with its ensuing geoeconomic fragmentation, and the recent conflict in the Middle East increased global uncertainty and volatility in food and energy prices. This, together with the slowdown in China, added further downside risks to the outlook for the economy in 2023–24.

PENGARUH AKSESIBILITAS INTERNET TERHADAP LUARAN PASAR KERJA DI INDONESIA

After the Covid-19 pandemic, internet usage has increased dramatically. However, the impact of internet accessibility on the job market is still a circle in academic circles. There are those who argue that internet accessibility can improve labor market performance by reducing information distortions and increasing workers' skills. However, there are also those who argue that internet accessibility can hamper labor market performance due to a skills bias, where workers who are less skilled with routine tasks tend to be left out in the digitalization era. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the extent to which internet accessibility influences the labor market in Indonesia using the Fixed Effect Model (FEM) method and Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) data for 2010-2020. The results show that in general, the internet tends to improve the performance of the labor market in Indonesia with a positive effect on wage rates and the proportion of workers in the formal sector, and a negative effect on the Open Unemployment Rate (TPT). This study suggests that the internet can increase productivity and income as well as facilitate access to information on the labor market in Indonesia.