Low-skilled Occupations Research Articles

Combining jobs and motherhood: is it worse when raising children alone?

Paid employment has been shown to benefit childless women's health, while employed mothers experience poorer health, and more pronounced fatigue. This study measures the association between job characteristics and the health and well-being of employed mothers and the differential susceptibility to job characteristics between coupled and single-parent mothers. We used data from the 5th Portuguese National Health Survey from 1649 employed women (aged 25-54) living with a child under 16. We modelled depression (assessed by the Personal Health Questionnaire-8) and self-reported health as a function of job characteristics, adding interaction terms to compare coupled and single-parent mothers, using logistic regressions. Working part-time was associated with depression (odds ratio (OR)=3.39, 95% confidence interval (CI)=3.31-3.48) and less-than-good health (OR=1.28, 95%CI=1.26-1.31), compared to working full time. Compared to high-skill jobs, the likelihood for depression among low-skill occupations was lower among coupled mothers (OR=0.25, 95%CI=0.24-0.26), and higher among single-parent mothers (OR=1.75, 95%CI=1.54-1.99). Unstable jobs were associated with depression among coupled mothers. Part-time jobs are detrimental for mothers' mental health, but high-skilled jobs are protective for single-parent mothers. Part-time and unstable jobs are linked to poorer self-reported health among coupled mothers. Results question the gendered arrangements that may face employed coupled mothers.

Labour market polarisation revisited: evidence from Austrian vacancy data

Recent research suggests that new technologies are important drivers of empirically observed labour market polarisation. Many analyses in the field of economics are conducted to evaluate the changing share of employment in low-skill, medium-skill and high-skill occupations over time. This occupation-based approach, however, may neglect the relevance of specific skills and skill bundles, which potentially can be used to explain the observable patterns of labour market polarisation. This paper adds to the literature in two ways: First, we present the results of an analysis of data on job vacancies rather than the currently employed and, second, we derive occupation-defining skills using network analysis tools. The analysis and tool usage allowed us to investigate polarisation patterns in Austrian vacancy data from 2007 to 2017 and identify changes in the skills demanded in job vacancies in Austria. In contrast to most previous research, we find no evidence for polarisation, but rather a trend towards upskilling.

Employment Choices and Wage Differentials: Evidence on Labor Force Data Sets from Pakistan

Labor market theories confirm the existence of wage differentials in various sectors. This study investigates the employment choices and wage differentials in established econometric models on the large cross-sectional labor market survey data sets from Pakistan. The results across wage distribution suggest that the wage gap does exist in public–private wage differentials, and it varies across levels of education, occupation and regions. The study concludes that an individual with a high level of education is more likely to choose the public sector. The wage gap between public–private sectors becomes narrow at the high end of the distribution but is still significant. The wage differential varies across levels of education, occupations and regions. Higher levels of education and low-skilled occupations are relatively better paid in both sectors, while lower levels of education have much better opportunities in the public sector. The results highlight the various employment choices and characteristics for policy makers in addressing wage differentials.

Inequality-Related Health and Social Factors and Their Impact on Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from a National Survey in the UK.

Background: Lower socioeconomic groups and disadvantaged populations across the world suffer disproportionately from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study aimed to examine the impact of health- and social-inequality–related factors on well-being in order to further distinguish each of their effects during the pandemic. Methods: A nationally-representative sample of 5077 UK respondents aged 18 years or older was recruited through an online survey panel during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their subjective well-being was measured using the 11-point Cantril Ladder of Life Scale. The impact of inequality-related health and social factors (pre-existing medical conditions, household size and occupation), as well as COVID-19–related risk factors (symptoms, confirmed infections, and social distancing behaviours) on well-being were analysed using multiple linear regression models. The associations between the COVID-19–related risk factors and well-being according to the respondents’ household size and occupation were modelled in order to test the differences by their socioeconomic profile. Results: We identified inverted V-shaped associations between household size and subjective well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to single-person households, respondents from households of two to four persons showed better well-being (β = 0.57; CI (0.44, 0.72)), whereas living in crowded households of five persons or more was associated with decreased well-being (β = −0.48; CI (−0.71, −0.25)). Furthermore, lower-skilled occupations (elementary occupations: β = −0.31; CI (−0.58, −0.03); logistics and transport services: β = −0.37; CI (−0.74, −0.01)) and chronic medical conditions (cardiometabolic or respiratory diseases: β = −0.25; CI (−0.41, −0.1); and mental health conditions: β = −1.12; CI (−1.28, −0.96)) were factors associated with reduced well-being during the pandemic. Interactions between a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, symptoms, and crowded households were identified (β = −0.95; CI (−1.76, −0.14) and β = −4.74; CI (−9.87, −1.61), respectively). Conclusions: In a national sample, the levels of general subjective well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns were disproportionately distributed across different groups within society. Preventive policies should explicitly focus on reaching lower socioeconomic groups; more emphasis should be placed on the coordination of multisectoral support in order to tackle existing health and social inequalities.

ACCELERATED AUTOMATION AND THE ECOSYSTEM OF ADAPTATION TO THE CHANGES

The spread of the pandemic has further accelerated the already accelerated process of automation, as it reduces all interactions and helps social distancing, as it was advised to combat the virus. Automation is proceeding at a very fast pace in many sectors of the economy and creating the need for countries to respond to these new challenges at the level of national economic strategy. The new challenge has changed the attitudes of not only manufacturers but also consumers and given them additional impetus to the using robots and artificial intelligence. During this period, those, who are the first to be able to switch to online sales, reduce the need for communication with employees and increase the level of automation, will be able to gain an advantage. Because of this, there is a danger that after the pandemic ends, some of those currently temporarily unemployed will not be able to return to work and will need to adapt to the new reality. In the light of such changes, it is important to identify areas of declining and growing sectors of labor demand and to prepare the population for change to prevent technological unemployment. As it turns out, technological skills and social skills are becoming increasingly demanded, while physical and basic cognitive skills are on the decline. In order to adapt to a new reality, firms have a choice of retraining old employees, redeploying them to different sets of tasks, hiring individuals with skills that are increasingly needed, contracting specialists outside the company (freelancers) and releasing employees that do not fit the new paradigm of business models. Automation involves the disappearance of a large proportion of low-skilled occupations, leading to a critical role for education in employment. It is therefore important for the government to establish a strategic position on higher and professional education, which will be based on a long-term plan for the structural transformation of the workforce. Automation may be used as an opportunity if a productive ecosystem is established and all stakeholders get actively involved in the process of adjusting to the new reality. For that it is necessary to form an overall ecosystem of stakeholders, which should contain employers at the center and different supporting institutions around them. The ecosystem should consist of labor agencies that help individuals find new jobs, retrain and get some benefits. Educational institutions play a crucial role in devising courses and specializations that fit an exact position that is in demand in some companies. Industry associations and non-profit organizations also need to be coordinated with companies to expand this ecosystem. Combined effort of all these five groups of stakeholders can manage to overcome the looming challenge of rapid unemployment growth and wide skill mismatch. If a society fail to coordinate in the ecosystem, the aftermath will be devastating and income inequality will be amplified. One solution to that is thought to be universal basic income (UBI) but so far it doesn’t seem feasible and cannot be relied on. Adapting society to a change instead of giving out basic income seems to address the problem better and not just on a surface.

Self-employment in the EU: quality work, precarious work or both?

This paper estimates the differences in earnings between self-employed and employees in the EU using the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions data and quantile regression methods. It finds that in both Eastern and Western Europe, self-employment pays more than regular employment only for workers at the top of the earnings distribution and considerably less than regular employment for those below the median. These differences are smaller in Eastern Europe, reflecting lower protection of regular employees. This pattern is not driven by low-skilled workers, and it can be observed in both high-skilled and low-skilled occupations. Results are robust to accounting for differences in taxation, hours worked and individual unobserved characteristics. The evidence provided points to the lack of protective rights for the self-employed and low earnings at the beginning of the self-employment spells as the main explanations for lower earnings for the majority of self-employed.

Exploring the magnitude of inclusion of Indian youth in the world of work based on choices of educational attainment

PurposeThis study attempts to investigate the interrelationship between choice-based educational achievement and employability prospects across the skill-based occupations amongst the youth in India.Design/methodology/approachThis study relies on the use of National Sample Survey (NSS) data on employment and unemployment for the 68th round (2011–2012) and the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) (2017–2018). To estimate the relative contributions of choice-based educational attainment affecting the skill-based employment of youth in a different category of occupations ( high/medium/low skilled), the multinomial logistic regression and its marginal effects have been used.FindingsThe study finds educational attainment both as an opportunity (improvising employability in the high and medium skill occupation) and a challenge (highest unemployment amongst the educated) while ensuring skill-based youth employability. Despite the growing enrolment of youth in education, youth from a general education background does not find sustained employability prospects in high-skill occupations.Research limitations/implicationsVocational education highlights a brighter employability prospect but the acceptability of the same amongst the youth needs a policy intervention.Practical implicationsEducational choices need an intervention based on market-driven apprenticeships and training.Social implicationsThe decline of overall employability in the low-skill occupation raises a threat to inclusive development as such youth results to Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET), better identified as the unproductive economic youth.Originality/valueThis study attempts to investigate that “how far the choice of educational attainment (general/technical/vocational) is able to make youth a fit in the world of work?” in the Indian context, where the youth constitute the highest share in the population.

The Gender Wage Gap in Hospitality: New Evidence From Spain

This article examines the gender wage gap in the Spanish hospitality industry versus the rest of the economy. Decomposition techniques are applied to a nationwide representative sample that includes matched employer–employee data allowing an accurate quantification of the phenomenon and its determinants. The methodologies used allow us to examine the average gender wage gap and also how this gap behaves throughout the wage distribution. According to the results, the gender wage gap in hospitality is rather significant (although slightly lower compared with the rest of the economy) and exhibits a steeper profile along the wage distribution. A large part of the gap is explained by observable characteristics, as female hospitality workers have lower levels of seniority than men, are overrepresented in low-skilled occupations, have less supervisory responsibilities, and are segregated into low-wage firms. Although potentially direct discrimination seems to be lower in hospitality, it is not a negligible problem, as, in its most conservative measure (namely, when observationally identical male and female employees working in the same firm are compared), it accounts for as much as 0.05 log points or 30% of the raw gender wage gap. The evidence also shows that the particularly intense gender wage gap observed in the uppermost part of the wage distribution in the hospitality industry arises because more qualified women in the sector are doubly penalized by an intense segregation into comparatively worse jobs and by an unfavorable wage treatment with respect to comparable men, which is consistent with the glass-ceiling phenomenon.

Work stress on rise? Comparative analysis of trends in work stressors using the European working conditions survey

ObjectiveThe rapid transformation of labor markets has been accompanied by the belief of rising stress at work. However, empirical evidence on such trends based on reliable survey data is scarce. This study analyzes long-term trends in well-established measures of work stressors across Europe, as well as potential occupational differences.MethodsWe use repeated cross-sectional data of 15 European countries from waves 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015 of the European Working Conditions Surveys. We apply three-way multilevel regressions (with employees nested in country-years, which are in turn nested in countries) to analyze trends in work stressors measured according to the demand-control and effort-reward imbalance models. Trends by occupational groups are also assessed.ResultsOur findings suggest that work stress generally increased from 1995 to 2015, and that the increase was mostly driven by psychological demands. People working in lower-skilled occupations had generally higher levels of job strain and effort-reward imbalance, as well as they tend to have a steeper increase in job strain than people working in higher-skilled occupations. Most of the change occurred from 1995 to 2005.ConclusionOur results indicate that work stress has been on rise since 1995, specifically for people working in disadvantageous occupations. This directs the attention to the vulnerable position of the least skilled and also to the use of preventive measures to counteract some of the disadvantages experienced by this occupational group.

The Economic Significance of Work Experience for Elderly Employment in Thailand

A rapid demographic change to the aging and aged population in Thailand has led to a reduction in the labor force, and an increasing concern about the economic potential of the country. Therefore, a study of older adults who are capable of working, and an analysis of the significance of their work experience is vital for public policy. An analysis of the data from the 2018 Labor Force Survey in Thailand demonstrates that older adults in the age groups of 60-64 and 65-69 who are capable of working constitute 24.2% and 21.2% of the population, respectively. Among these older adults are retirees, who have the highest potential because they are well educated and highly experienced. Multinomial logistic regression was applied to correct the selectivity bias in the analysis of the return on work experience. The results indicate that the marginal return on work experience is 2.75% for high-skilled occupations. There are similar results for semi-skilled and low-skilled occupations (1.99% and 1.73%), however, diminishes more rapidly in the latter than in the former. These findings indicate that the value of experience increases with occupations that require skills, and diminishes significantly in jobs that mainly require physical strength (i.e., low-skilled occupations). This study suggests that older adults with the potential to do so should be encouraged to remain active in the labor market, and that labor demand is enhanced by emphasizing the value of their experience.

Globalization, Job Tasks and the Demand for Different Occupations

Globalization has increased in recent decades, resulting in structural changes of production and labor demand. This paper examines how the increased global engagement of firms affects the structure of the workforce. We find that the aggregate distribution of occupations in Sweden has become more skilled between 1997 and 2013. Moreover, firms with a high degree of international orientation have a relatively skilled distribution of occupations and firms with low international orientation have a relatively unskilled distribution of occupations. High- and low-skilled occupations have increased in importance whereas middle-skilled occupations have declined with a resulting job polarization. We also discuss and analyze the role played by new technology and automatization.

Social inequality in Catholic schools in Scotland in the second half of the twentieth century

Denominational secondary schools in Scotland have been an influential means by which Catholics have achieved full social citizenship. Most of the Catholic population of Scotland has its origins in late-nineteenth-century migration from Ireland into low-skilled occupations. Although the church built a system of Catholic primary schools, it could not afford to extend this for secondary education, and so a compromise of 1918 allowed the state to take over the funding and management of almost all Catholic schools while the church retained a role in appointing teaching staff. The resulting public-sector secondary schools provided the Catholic population with unprecedented opportunities. The patterns of social and educational change affecting Catholic schools are studied here using a unique series of surveys of school leavers covering the whole of the second half of the twentieth century. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2020.1811080.

Employment incentives and the disaggregated impact on the economy. The Italian case

Over the past two decades, the Italian labour market has undergone a number of profound changes. A thorough analysis of these changes shows that there has been a progressive employment polarisation, although with a very peculiar dynamics. While employment did grow in high-skill and low-skill occupations, and it shrank in the medium-skill ones, these changes did not take place simultaneously, as polarisation assumes. Moreover, wage polarisation is hardly observable in the same period. Quite differently, Italy has been characterised by relatively low or even declining returns to education along with progressively decreasing wages in the low-skill segment of the labour market. In this context, we study the potential of an employment incentive policy, for which we imagine two options, one targeting workers in high-skill and the other in low-skill occupations. The objectives of the policy are enhancing aggregate employment and improving working conditions (wages) either in high-skill or low-skill occupations, depending of the option. For the simulation of the two policy options, we employ an integrated model that combines a macro disaggregated and multi-sectoral Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model with a micro-simulation model. While the CGE model evaluates how the macroeconomic shock reverberates on the labour demand at industry level, the micro-simulation model computes how the changes in macroeconomic variables affect households’ decisions in terms of labour supply and final consumption.

Job Polarisation in India: Structural Causes and Policy Implications

Automation impacts wage levels at the micro-level and the structure of employment at the macro-level. Job polarisation is defined as the automation of ‘middle-skilled’ jobs that require routine cognitive and manual applications, whilst high- and low-skilled occupations are preserved. This paper examines the nature of job polarisation in India during the period 1983–2012 when Indian manufacturing sector was being automated. The research uses disaggregated data from National Sample Survey Office and examines the impact of supply-side factors such as nature of employment and presence of educated labour force. The study has three observations. First, the increased demand for high-skilled workers in the formal manufacturing sector is due to skill bias of technology and conforms to theoretical expectation. Second, the transition of agricultural labourers to low-skilled manufacturing sectors such as construction and textiles signals distress in traditional manufacturing sector to provide employment to these groups. Third, the over-supply of secondary and tertiary educated labour force has resulted in the squeezing out of middle-skilled workers from middle-skilled jobs to relatively low-skilled manufacturing and service occupations. This explains the persistence of routine occupations even after automation. The study concludes that in the Indian manufacturing sector, increased demand for high- and low-skilled jobs has coexisted with the middle-skilled jobs due to supply-side factors.

Job Polarisation in India: Structural Causes and Policy Implications

Automation impacts wage levels at the micro-level and the structure of employment at the macro-level. Job polarisation is defined as the automation of ‘middle-skilled’ jobs that require routine cognitive and manual applications, whilst high- and low-skilled occupations are preserved. This paper examines the nature of job polarisation in India during the period 1983–2012 when Indian manufacturing sector was being automated. The research uses disaggregated data from National Sample Survey Office and examines the impact of supply-side factors such as nature of employment and presence of educated labour force. The study has three observations. First, the increased demand for high-skilled workers in the formal manufacturing sector is due to skill bias of technology and conforms to theoretical expectation. Second, the transition of agricultural labourers to low-skilled manufacturing sectors such as construction and textiles signals distress in traditional manufacturing sector to provide employment to these groups. Third, the over-supply of secondary and tertiary educated labour force has resulted in the squeezing out of middle-skilled workers from middle-skilled jobs to relatively low-skilled manufacturing and service occupations. This explains the persistence of routine occupations even after automation. The study concludes that in the Indian manufacturing sector, increased demand for high- and low-skilled jobs has coexisted with the middle-skilled jobs due to supply-side factors.

Hiring Discrimination Against Transgender People: Evidence from a Field Experiment

This paper presents the results of the first correspondence study that examined hiring discrimination against transgender people. Fictitious job applications (N = 2,224) were sent to employers with job postings in 12 low-skill occupations in Sweden. Overall, 40 percent of cisgender applicants and 34 percent of transgender applicants received a positive employer response to their applications. This result was not robust to the Heckman-Siegelman critique. However, when transgender applicants were compared to the dominant gender in male- and female-dominated occupations, estimates of discrimination were larger and robust to the critique. There was no clear support for the statistical discrimination hypothesis.

Participation in labour market programmes: A positive or negative signal of employability?

Active labour market policies (ALMPs) are widely diffused measures aiming to re-integrate jobseekers into the labour market. Despite their crucial role in acting as gatekeepers to employment, the literature scarcely considers the employer’s perspective of these measures. We analysed whether and how employers consider ALMP participation in the hiring process as a signal that helps explain the labour market outcomes of jobseekers. We developed a theoretical argument regarding how employers interpret ALMP participation and identify assumed agency, that is, whether employers believe that the agency for initiating ALMP participation lies with the jobseeker (voluntary participation) or the job centre (mandatory participation), as a crucial factor determining whether their evaluation of ALMPs is positive or negative. To examine our expectations, we conducted qualitative interviews with employers hiring for low-skilled occupations in Switzerland and Sweden, representing two countries with comprehensive ALMP systems. As expected, the interpretation of ALMP programmes differs depending on the assumed agency. Employers who believe that participation is voluntary interpret participation as a signal of motivation; however, employers who believe that participation is mandatory interpret participation as a signal of lower productivity, which reduces the chances of a successful labour market access.

Examining the Impact of Legal Arizona Worker Act on Native Female Labor Supply in the United States

Abstract Low-skilled immigration has been argued to lower the price of services that are close substitutes for household production, reducing barriers for women to enter the labor market. Therefore, policies that reduce the number of low-skilled immigrants who work predominantly in low-skilled service occupations may have an unintended consequence of lowering women’s participation in the labor market. This article examines the labor supply impact of the Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA), which led to a large decline in the low-skilled immigrant workforce of the state. The analysis shows no evidence that LAWA statistically significantly affected US-born women’s labor supply in Arizona. This finding is partly explained by an increase in native workers in household service occupations due to LAWA, which offset the decline in immigrants in these occupations and caused the cost of household services to be relatively uninfluenced by the passage of LAWA.

The Gender Wage Gap in Early Modern Toledo, 1550–1650

We exploit the records of a large Toledan hospital to study the compensation of female labor and the gender wage gap in early modern Castile in the context of nursing—a non-gendered, low-skill occupation in which men and women performed the same clearly defined tasks. We employ a robust methodology to estimate the value of in-kind compensation, and show it to constitute a central part of the labor contract, far exceeding subsistence requirements. Patient admissions records are used to measure nurse productivity, which did not differ across genders. Female compensation varied between 70 percent and 100 percent of male levels, with fluctuations clearly linked to relative labor scarcity. Contrary to common assumptions in the literature, we show that markets played an important role in setting female compensation in early modern Castile. The sources of the gender disparity are, therefore, likely to be found in the broader social and cultural context.

Job Polarization in Europe: Evidence from Central and Eastern European Countries

Abstract Job polarization simply refers to the decline or disappearance of employment in middle skill occupations. Recent literature focuses on this phenomenon as a source of rising income inequality in countries. The hypothesis is that growth in employment over the last decades has favoured jobs at the low and high skill occupations with declines in employment shares in the middle of the distribution. First, this paper seeks to investigate whether labour polarization occurs in Central and Eastern European countries. Secondly, the paper assesses the role of technology on employment in the Central and Eastern European countries. Using employment shares and a cointegrated panel autoregressive distributed lag model, the paper presents comprehensive results on labour polarization and the impact of technology on employment in the labour markets of the Central and Eastern European countries. The results show positive impact of technology on high skill employment while negative on low and middle skill employment in the long-run. The study finds that though middle skill employment shares declined, there is no clear case of a U-shape employment distribution to indicate labour polarization.