Mean Wage Research Articles

The impact of minimum wage increases on unemployment in the V4 countries: Assessing the recommendations of the European Commission

The European Commission has recently implemented legislative measures to improve worker protection through an adequate minimum wage set by national laws or collective agreements. A recommended benchmark for minimum wage calculation is 60% of the gross median wage or 50% of the mean wage. However, the Kaitz index, a ratio indicator, shows lower values in most EU countries, raising concerns about potential negative impact on the labour market. This study aims to identify the impact of the Kaitz index and several other selected variables on unemployment in the V4 countries. Using multiple linear regression, we concluded that the Kaitz index’s growth does not uniformly impact unemployment in the V4 countries. Specifically, in Slovakia and the Czechia, the Kaitz index growth appeared to increase unemployment, in line with neoclassical economic theory. In contrast, Hungary and Poland did not register significant effects. Gender differences were also noted, with the Kaitz index affecting female unemployment in the Czechia and Hungary, and male unemployment in Slovakia. The research results suggest that increasing the minimum wage in the V4 countries is feasible if its growth rate is higher than that of unemployment benefits and the living minimum, but lower than the average wage growth, and if it is supported by economic growth.

The Relationship Between Exits From Federally Subsidized Housing and Wages, King County, WA

Federally subsidized housing programs aim for economic self-sufficiency. We modeled housing exit type’s relationship with wage income using public housing authority exit data and Washington State wage data. Our cohort included 1,974 exits. Positive exits had higher mean wages ($8,392 vs. $6,643 and $6,253) and working hours (432 vs. 373 and 355) compared to neutral and negative exits, respectively. Households with positive exits were more likely to earn a living wage (33.5%) than those with neutral (16.9%) or negative (15.1%) exits. According to our model, positive exits earned an additional $1,593 (95% confidence interval: $1,031, $2,156) per quarter compared to negative exits. Wages among positive exits were substantially higher than those among neutral exits for four quarters before and after exit; wages among neutral exits were slightly higher than those for negative exits. These methods can assess the impact of programs targeting economic self-sufficiency among housing support recipients.

The Right to Work and American Inequality

Labor historians describe Right to Work (RTW) as among the most consequential pushbacks against the early twentieth-century ascent of labor unions. Yet research on the economic consequences of RTW remains mixed, with nearly all research centered empirically and theoretically on the time surrounding RTW passage. In the current study, I use 41 waves of longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics between 1968 and 2019 to empirically and theoretically extend the mechanisms that link RTW and economic outcomes. First, following the vast majority of research on RTW, I show the demobilizing effects for labor following RTW passage: mean wages decline, wage inequality increases, and the union premium is halved in the middle and lower portion of the wage distribution. Second, I move theoretical focus beyond the time surrounding law enactment, arguing for a second-order effect whereby RTW institutionalizes a logic of polarized economic distributions and low labor power. To test this mechanism, I develop a novel strategy of comparison across respondents who are differentially mobile across state boundaries. I find individuals who cross RTW contexts experience a unique decline in mean wages and increase in wage variance, but this distinct trend can be explained by state-level institutional variation across RTW and non-RTW states. Thus, RTW is not only consequential in the periods around its passage, but also in establishing a long-standing, high-inequality regime. Results reveal multiple mechanisms by which RTW contributes to the long-run processes of union decline and broadly shared inequality growth.

The Joint Commission’s Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation Process: Costly, Ineffective, and Potentially Harmful to Safety Culture

ObjectiveTo evaluate the estimated labor costs and effectiveness of Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation (OPPE) processes at identifying outlier performers in a large sample of providers across multiple health care systems and to extrapolate costs and effectiveness nationally. MethodsSix hospital systems partnered to evaluate their labor expenses related to conducting OPPE. Estimates for mean labor hours and wages were created for the following: data analysts, medical staff office professionals, department physician leaders, and administrative assistants. The total number of outlier performers who were identified by OPPE metrics alone and that resulted in lack of renewal, limitation, or revoking of hospital privileges during the past annual OPPE cycle (2022) was recorded. National costs of OPPE were extrapolated. Literature review of the effect of OPPE on safety culture in radiology was performed. ResultsThe evaluated systems had 12,854 privileged providers evaluated by OPPE. The total estimated annual recurring labor cost per provider was $50.20. Zero of 12,854 providers evaluated were identified as outlier performers solely through the OPPE process. The total estimated annual recurring cost of administering OPPE nationally was $78.54 million. In radiology over the past 15 years, the use of error rates based on score-based peer review as an OPPE metric has been perceived as punitive and had an adverse effect on safety culture. ConclusionOPPE is expensive to administer, inefficient at identifying outlier performers, diverts human resources away from potentially more effective improvement work, and has been associated with an adverse impact on safety culture in radiology.

Operative and Nonoperative Treatment of Humeral Shaft Fractures: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis.

Decision-making with regard to the treatment of humeral shaft fractures remains under debate. The cost-effectiveness of these treatment options has yet to be established. This study aims to compare the cost-effectiveness of operative treatment with that of nonoperative treatment of humeral shaft fractures. We developed a decision tree for treatment options. Surgical costs included the ambulatory surgical fee, physician fee, anesthesia fee, and, in the sensitivity analysis, lost wages during recovery. We used the Current Procedural Terminology codes from the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery to determine physician fees via the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services database. The anesthesia fee was obtained from the national conversion factor and mean operative time for included procedures. We obtained data on mean wages from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and data on weeks missed from a similar study. We reported functional data via the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) scores obtained from existing literature. We used rollback analysis and Monte Carlo simulation to determine the cost-effectiveness of each treatment option, presented in dollars per meaningful change in DASH score, utilizing a $50,000 willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold. The cost per meaningful change in DASH score for operative treatment was $18,857.97 at the 6-month follow-up and $25,756.36 at the 1-year follow-up, by Monte Carlo simulation. Wage loss-inclusive models revealed values that fall even farther below the WTP threshold, making operative management the more cost-effective treatment option compared with nonoperative treatment in both settings. With an upward variation of the nonoperative union rate to 84.17% in the wage-exclusive model and 89.43% in the wage-inclusive model, nonoperative treatment instead became more cost-effective. Operative management was cost-effective at both 6 months and 1 year, compared with nonoperative treatment, in both models. Operative treatment was found to be even more cost-effective with loss of wages considered, suggesting that an earlier return to baseline function and, thus, return to work are important considerations in making operative treatment the more cost-effective option. Economic and Decision Analysis Level III . See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Gender Wage Gap among Rural Non-farm Sector Employees in India: Evidence from Nationally Representative Survey

This article examines the gender-wise work participation rate and evaluates the wage disparity between male and female workers employed as either regular or casual employees in rural non-farm sectors. Based on the National Sample Survey data of 2004–2005 and 2019–2020, it is found that the gender inequality (against women) in employment opportunity is not only prevalent in the rural non-farm labour market but also on the rise during the last one and a half decades. The perceived difference in human capabilities between women and men and the non-availability of enough job opportunities could be a major driver of this inequality, apart from the existing social stigma in hiring the women in the rural labour market. This is reflected by the rise in the mean wage difference between two genders during 2004–2005 and 2019–2020. Both the mean and the quantile decomposition results suggest that a higher percentage of gender wage differentials is due to endowment components or labour productivity differences. Because of the existence of the ‘sticky floor’ phenomenon, the wage disparity is relatively larger at the bottom end of the earning distribution. But it reduces when we stride towards higher quintiles on the wage distribution. Hence, it is argued that policies aimed at enhancing the skill endowment of rural women can substantially reduce both the non-farm sector gender wage gap and the inequality in access to non-farm employment.

Education Across the Island of Ireland: Examining Educational Outcomes, Earnings and Intergenerational Mobility

This paper builds on a study of educational differences across Ireland and Northern Ireland to explore the relationship between educational attainment, social background and wages. We find evidence of substantial wage premia across all qualification levels in Ireland relative to Northern Ireland, a pattern that is widespread, and not merely driven by higher returns to professional occupations or FDI employment. The mean wage gap was 27% in 2014 in favour of Ireland, and approximately 25% of this difference can be explained by lower levels of educational attainment in Northern Ireland. We find that levels of educational attainment (early school leaving) are substantially lower (higher) in Northern Ireland relative to Ireland. There is also evidence of differences in how the education level of parents affects offspring's attainment. We conclude that academic selection in Northern Ireland is likely to contribute to limiting the extent to which the educational system facilitates intergenerational educational mobility.

Education Across the Island of Ireland: Examining Educational Outcomes, Earnings and Intergenerational Mobility

This paper builds on a study of educational differences across Ireland and Northern Ireland to explore the relationship between educational attainment, social background and wages. We find evidence of substantial wage premia across all qualification levels in Ireland relative to Northern Ireland, a pattern that is widespread, and not merely driven by higher returns to professional occupations or FDI employment. The mean wage gap was 27% in 2014 in favour of Ireland, and approximately 25% of this difference can be explained by lower levels of educational attainment in Northern Ireland. We find that levels of educational attainment (early school leaving) are substantially lower (higher) in Northern Ireland relative to Ireland. There is also evidence of differences in how the education level of parents affects offspring's attainment. We conclude that academic selection in Northern Ireland is likely to contribute to limiting the extent to which the educational system facilitates intergenerational educational mobility.

Description of Four Dual-Purpose River Buffalo (Bubalis bubalis) Production Systems in Tropical Wetlands of Mexico. Part 2: Sanitary Management, Milking, Zootechnical and Economic Indicators

The aim is to elucidate other key aspects of these dual-purpose systems in wetland areas, including labor, markets, the conditions of facilities, machinery and equipment indices, and zootechnical indicators. The health management values determined for production units (PU) PU2, 3, and 4 were similar (50%) but higher at PU1 (75%). Three scheduled milkings once a day (1x), but PU3 performed it twice a day (2x). Most workers are permanent, but PU1 and PU2 hire temporary laborers. The average workday was 7.69 ± 2.84 hours/animal unit at a mean wage of $11.43 ± $1.27. Unit prices per kg of meat from fattening animals and liter of milk were $1.83 ± $0.03 and $0.51 ± $0.08, respectively. Production variables showed an average calving interval of 371.25 ± 7.50 days, a mean parturition index of 89% ± 1%, and mean mortality of 1.8% ± 0.5% and 0.6% ± 0.8% for young and adult animals, respectively. Milk production per lactation was 1240 ± 211.66 liters. The mean daily production for sale was 5.17 ± 0.88 liters. Individual calves consumed 2.13 ± 0.63 liters of milk per day on average. Mean productive life was 17 ± 2.45 years. Average scores on the facilities conditions and machinery and equipment indices were 68% ± 14% and 57% ± 26%, respectively.

Investigating the impact of demographic and device information in the recommendation of mobile applications

The number of people with access to mobile devices, as well as applications to these devices (i.e., apps), has been increasing significantly. Thus, users have to choose among a large number of apps proposing to do the same functions, those that better serve them. A possible solution to this problem is the adoption of recommendation systems. Meanwhile, usually these systems consider only users' preferences to create a profile or request sensitive data (e.g., call and message logs). This work investigates the impact of using demographic and device information on app recommendation by using only easy-to-obtain data to enrich a user profile. We evaluate two approaches: a similarity-based Collaborative Filtering with a limited number of apps and a topic-based approach (i.e., LDA) with wider large-scale data. We also inspected the results under both apps and categories context. The general results reveal that the enriched data provides a better app recommendation with the addition of information about the user's region mean wage achieving up to 210% (or 12 percentage points) of improvement in terms of recall.

Factors interfering with the adoption of good hygiene practices in public school food services in Bahia, Brazil.

This cross-sectional study aimed to identify factors that interfere with the adoption of good hygiene practices in public school food services (SFS) in Bahia, Brazil. The search was conducted in public schools in Bahia/Brazil. Data collection included (i) evaluation of the adoption of Good Practices in school food services through visual observation and registration in the checklist in Good Hygienic Practices in School Food Services; (ii) Identification of schools' foodservice physical areas and environmental comfort measures; (iii) identification of sociodemographic and occupational characteristics and assessment of attitudes and level of knowledge in food hygiene. The minimum sample of 158 schools (confidence level of 95% and an error of 5%) was stratified considering the total number of districts (areas) and the schools' number per area. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Science—SPSS® in version 26.0. The categorical variables were described as frequencies and percentages, and the quantitative variables as mean and standard deviation. Chi-square, Kruskal-Wallis with Tukey's post-hoc tests were used to examine qualitative variables. Independent Student t-test and ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc tests were used to examine quantitative variables. Categorical variables were evaluated by Pearson Chi-squared tests. The Pearson test was used to analyze the correlation between Attitude and knowledge. The classification of the sanitary status was of moderate risk in 74.8% (n = 119) of the SFS (51-75% of compliance) and 25.2% (n = 40) at high risk (26-50% compliance). The average percentage of compliance for the 159 SFS in the municipality was 50.23%, obtaining a high-risk classification (26–50% compliance). In the SFS, the absence of dry goods' storage, meat preparation area, and storage of residues in more than 98% of schools was observed. Accessing attitudes, 1.4% (n = 2) of the food handlers were classified as unsatisfactory (0 to 49% of correct answers), 8.5% (n = 12) as satisfactory with restriction (50–69% of correct answers) and 90.1% (n = 128) as satisfactory. There was no correlation between Attitude and Knowledge level (p = 0.394). Considering the knowledge level, the item with the highest and lowest number of hits were: “To avoid food contamination, I wash and disinfect my hands before preparing food” and “Contaminated food will always have some change in color, smell, or taste”. There was a significant difference in the level of knowledge considering mean wage (p = 0.000), time working in school food service (p = 0.001), weekly workday (p = 0.000), and participation in food hygiene training (p = 0.000). Therefore, factors that interfered in adopting good practices in the SFS were: inadequate physical structure, absence of areas in the SFS, and absence/low number of equipment to control the production process in the cold and hot chain. Food handlers showed satisfactory attitudes and level of knowledge. However, the physical structure of the SFS compromises the adoption of good practices. It risks the safety of the food served to students at the evaluated public schools.

Hourly Wages in Crowdworking: A Meta-Analysis

In the past decade, crowdworking on online labor market platforms has become an important source of income for a growing number of people worldwide. This development has led to increasing political and scholarly interest in the wages people can earn on such platforms. This study extends the literature, which is often based on a single platform, region, or category of crowdworking, through a meta-analysis of prevalent hourly wages. After a systematic literature search, the paper considers 22 primary empirical studies, including 105 wages and 76,765 data points from 22 platforms, eight different countries, and 10 years. It is found that, on average, microtasks results in an hourly wage of less than $6. This wage is significantly lower than the mean wage of online freelancers, which is roughly three times higher when not factoring in unpaid work. Hourly wages accounting for unpaid work, such as searching for tasks and communicating with requesters, tend to be significantly lower than wages not considering unpaid work. Legislators and researchers evaluating wages in crowdworking need to be aware of this bias when assessing hourly wages, given that the majority of literature does not account for the effect of unpaid work time on crowdworking wages. To foster the comparability of different research results, the article suggests that scholars consider a wage correction factor to account for unpaid work. Finally, researchers should be aware that remuneration and work processes on crowdworking platforms can systematically affect the data collection method and inclusion of unpaid work.

Employment and payroll dynamics in support services for agriculture

AbstractAn increasing share of agricultural production activities on farms are undertaken by specialist providers. Despite its importance to the farm economy, because of gaps in the federal statistical system, relatively little is known about how this industry has evolved over the past three decades. In this article, we document establishment, employment, payroll, and wage dynamics for businesses that provide support services to crop production. Our analysis reveals that agricultural support service is a uniquely dynamic and rapidly evolving sector of the American economy. Although rates of entry have fallen substantially, large incumbent firms have tended to grow in size. Furthermore, the real annual mean wage to nonagricultural workers employed in the sector has increased by nearly $10,000 since 1992, indicating sizeable growth in labor productivity. Nonetheless, standard measures of economic dynamism, a principal source of productivity growth, have all fallen, which may have implications for innovation and the long‐term health of this industry and agricultural production more generally.

The association between sleep disorders, employment, and income among adults in the United States.

To examine the association between sleep disorders, employment status, and income among US adults aged 18-64 years. The 2018-2019 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey medical conditions file was queried for adults aged 18-64 years with a diagnosis of a sleep disorder (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, code G47.x) and linked to the household dataset. Comparisons in rates of wage, supplemental, and social security income as well as mean wage income were made between those with and without sleep disorders. Multivariate analyses, adjusting for demographics and comorbidities, were conducted. A sleep disorder was diagnosed in 4.4% ± 0.2% of the study population (approximately 8.8 ± 0.4 million adults aged 18-64 years in the United States; mean age 46.9 years, 55.8% female). Adults with sleep disorders were less likely to have wage income from employment (adjusted odds ratio 0.5, 95% confidence interval 0.4-0.6, P < .001) and more likely to have Supplemental Security (1.8, 1.4-2.4, P < .001) and Social Security income (2.0, 1.6-2.4, P < .001) compared with those without sleep disorders. Among wage-earning adults, those with sleep disorders had $2,496 less mean annual wage income compared with those without a sleep disorder ($20,445 vs $22,941, P = .007), adjusting for demographics and comorbidities. There are significantly higher indirect costs associated with sleep disorders. This study specifically demonstrates lower employment rates, lower wages, and higher welfare income utilization among those with sleep disorders despite using a very conservative estimate of sleep disorder prevalence. Huyett P, Bhattacharyya N. The association between sleep disorders, employment, and income among adults in the United States. J Clin Sleep Med. 2022;18(8):1967-1972.

Türkiye’de Hizmet Sektöründe Bilgi Yoğunluğuna Göre Cinsiyete Dayalı Ücret Farklılıkları

This study aims to determine whether knowledge intensive services (KIS) reduce gender wage gaps and women’s labor attributes in the Turkish service sector by employing survey data from the Turkish Household Labor Force Survey of 2019. Both mean wage differences and wage differences across the wage distribution are examined by employing the Oaxaca–Blinder wage decomposition, along with the Heckman sample selection procedure, and the Melly decomposition approaches respectively. The results suggest that, in spite of the relatively higher mean wages of women in KIS employment, KIS offers worse employment outcomes for women in terms of intra-sector wage inequality, and relatively poorer working conditions than the Turkish service sector.

Economics of Community-Based Disaster Management and Household Participation: Evidence of The Western Nepal

This paper examines households' participation in community-based disaster management in western Nepal based on the secondary and primary data sets under the framework of explorative and descriptive statistics. As a result of the study, multi-hazards occurred. Out of these multi-hazards, the catchment areas and the community were disaster-prone by flood and landslide more than other hazards: insects, drought, animals, etc. in terms of severity and frequency. Further, the community-based disaster management that was proactive and participatory to assess disasters, hazard locations, and their impacts made stakeholders to the community for their participation, ownership, and resilience. In community-based disaster management, the household was actively participatory not only in pre-disaster, disaster, and post-disaster focusing on preparedness and planning more than rescue and reconstruction, rehabilitation, and recovery. Its economic cost is 78 mean days per household. It is 21 percent of a year (365 days) calendar. Its mean wage income loss is 39000 Nepali Rupees (330 USD) per annum that is 30 percent of 1071 USD per capita. Thus, the rural household has a significant economic cost of CBDMG activity to be resilient from multi natural hazards. However, it can reduce multi times the disastrous cost to them. Its outcome may not be positive to household income, welfare, and poverty reduction. Thus, the community-based disaster management approach is effective was in terms of less time, fewer resources but the quick response.

Communist Party branch and labour rights: Evidence from Chinese entrepreneurs

This study examines the causal effects of having a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) branch on the coverage of labour contracts and social insurance among employees in private enterprises. Using a regression discontinuity design in a quasi-experimental framework, we find that having a Party branch has a significant effect on the coverage rates of individual and collective labour contracts as well as five social insurance schemes. The positive effect of having a Party branch on contract and social insurance coverage are weaker when the enterprise also has a trade union and staff representative congress, when the entrepreneur is a member of the CCP or the People's Congress or Political Consultative Conference and in provinces in which government intervention is lower or the private sector more developed. We find that firm-level mean wages and spending on training and occupational health and safety mediate the relationship between having a Party branch and labour rights.

Driver turnover in the trucking industry: What's the cost of reducing driver quit rates?

This paper empirically examines the personal characteristics of truck drivers that are associated with a greater probability of driver turnover. Exploration of this phenomenon is significant in part because knowing who is likely to leave a trucking company helps decision makers in trucking firms identify effective measures needed to reduce driver turnover. Estimation results of a discrete driver quit choice model along with findings from estimating a driver wage equation, are used to predict the driver compensation needed to mitigate high driver turnover. These findings show that at the mean, drivers who stay on the job receive $54.25 (2018 dollars) more per week than drivers who leave, which translates to $2836.20 annually and is 6.02% percent above the mean wage of drivers who leave their job. The value of this annual wage differential is less than the mean value of the conservatively low estimate of $3654.72 (2018 dollars) computed in past research as the per driver cost of truck driver turnover. We interpret these results to suggest that it is cost effective for trucking companies to increase driver compensation. Indeed, truck driver wage trends do show a recent pattern of wage gains.

Medicaid Cost and Reimbursement for Low-Risk Prenatal Care in the United States.

We calculate the financial margins for delivery of routine antenatal care as reimbursed by Medicaid. Prenatal care cost varies with overhead, health care provider type, and number of office visits. Antenatal care is only one component of the global maternity bundle, which also includes intrapartum and postpartum care. Time for provision of low-risk antenatal care was determined prospectively from a study of 133 low-risk pregnant patients. Health care provider time cost was estimated using mean wages for obstetricians and midwives. Margins were estimated by subtracting cost of provider services and overhead for the antenatal component of maternity care from total Medicaid reimbursement for the pregnancy global package (CPT 59400) using 2015 dollars. The maternity bundle elements of routine prenatal laboratory tests, ultrasounds, intrapartum care, and postpartum care were not included in our analysis of cost components. Patients received an average of 215 minutes of direct provider time per pregnancy. At the 50th percentile for physician payment and assuming overhead is 53.4% of revenue, practice margins varied by state from -$1067 to +$675, with a median of -$357. Median margins for midwifery care were +$15, with a range of -$579 to +$885. Margins were negative if overhead costs exceeded 33% of revenue for physician care and 55% of revenue for midwifery care. In many states, Medicaid reimbursement for the global maternity package is less than the actual cost of antenatal care alone. Improving reimbursement or decreasing costs is necessary to make maternity care more cost-effective.

Has the gender wage gap narrowed or widened in a decade? Some recent evidence from the Turkish labor market

The principal objective of this study is to determine the variation in the gender wage gap in the last decade of the Turkish labor market and reveal possible factors that drive the wage disparities. Therefore, the data set covers the Household Budget Statistics surveys 2009 and 2018. In order to prevent biased results, the empirical strategy contains the two-stage model estimation and selectivity corrected decomposition approach. The findings claim a widening gender wage gap in a decade. The portion of the gender wage gap resulting from the labor market discrimination tends to increase whereas the wage gap based on the gender differences in characteristics decreases. Despite the decrease, if the female employees had the same characteristics as males, their mean wages would be higher. Moreover, the gender wage gap attributable to gender discrimination in the labor market continues to increase.