Reduced Labor Force Research Articles

State Merit Aid Programs and Youth Labor Market Attachment

This paper examines the impact of state merit-aid programs on the labor market attachment of high school-aged youths. The labor force participation rate of teenagers has fallen substantially in recent decades, coinciding with the introduction of merit-aid programs. These programs reduce the price of attending an in-state public college or university for high-achieving students and have the potential to influence students' allocation of time and effort between labor market activities, human capital development, and other forms of leisure. We examine the influence of these programs based on their generosity, both in the amount of aid provided to a recipient and the percent of students who are recipients of aid, and in their selectivity. Our results suggest that programs that are more selective reduce labor force participation, but are not a significant cause in the decline in teenage labor force participation in recent decades.

Are Remittances Good for Labor Markets in LICs, MICs and Fragile States?

We present cross-country evidence on the impact of remittances on labor market outcomes. Remittances appear to have a strong impact on both labor supply and labor demand in recipient countries. These effects are highly significant and greater in size than those of foreign direct investment or official development aid. On the supply side, remittances reduce labor force participation and increase informality of the labor market. In addition, male and female labor supply show significantly different sensitivities to remittances. On the demand side, remittances reduce overall unemployment but benefit mostly lower-wage, lower-productivity nontradables industries at the expense of high-productivity, high-wage tradables sectors. As a consequence, even though inequality declines as a result of larger remittances, average wage and productivity growth declines, the latter more strongly than the former leading to an increase in the labor income share. In fragile states, in contrast, remittances impose a positive externality, possibly because the tradables sector tends to be underdeveloped. Our findings indicate that reforms to foster inclusive growth need to take into account the role of remittances in order to be successful.

Motherhood and Employment Among Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks: A Life Course Approach.

Research has shown that having children reduces women's employment; yet, how this effect differs for racial minorities has received less attention. Using random effects models and data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 4,526), this study investigates the association between motherhood and employment among Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks over women's entire reproductive span. Results indicate that having children reduces labor force participation primarily by deterring full-time employment. This effect is stronger and lasts longer among Whites, smaller and shorter among Hispanics, and brief among Blacks. Motherhood reduces part-time employment for young mothers, but temporarily increases it for older mothers. Early childbearing partly explains Black and Hispanic women's low employment rates at young ages; interestingly, the evidence indicates that their employment prospects would benefit the most from delaying childbearing. This study highlights the relevance of intersectionality and the life course perspective for investigating inequality in the labor market.

Economic Status and Adult Mortality in India: Is the Relationship Sensitive to Choice of Indicators?

Research on economic status and adult mortality is often stymied by the reciprocity of this relationship and lack of clarity on which aspect of economic status matters. While financial resources increase access to healthcare and nutrition and reduce mortality, sickness also reduces labor force participation, thereby reducing income. Without longitudinal data, it is difficult to study the linkage between economic status and mortality. Using data from a national sample of 132,116 Indian adults aged 15 years and above, this paper examines their likelihood of death between wave 1 of the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), conducted in 2004-2005 and wave 2, conducted in 2011-2012. The results show that mortality between the two waves is strongly linked to the economic status of the household at wave 1 regardless of the choice of indicator for economic status. However, negative relationship between economic status and mortality for individuals already suffering from cardiovascular and metabolic conditions varies between three markers of economic status - income, consumption and ownership of consumer durables - varies, reflecting two-way relationship between short and long term markers of economic status and morbidity.

Estimating the effects of teen motherhood in Chile: a family fixed effects approach

We study the effect of adolescent motherhood on education and labor outcomes among 20-24 year old women in Chile. We identify causal effects of motherhood with family fixed effects using a large data set covering the 1990-2011 period. Teen motherhood has negative effects on education and labor outcomes, and timing of motherhood matters: teen births reduce education outcomes, while young motherhood reduces labor force participation. Labor outcome effects are present among the non-poor, and effects changed between 1990 and 2011. Results highlight the important role of adolescent motherhood in women’s human capital accumulation and income inequality.

ЗБАЛАНСОВАНИЙ РИНОК ПРАЦІ ЯК ПРЕВЕНТИВНИЙ ІНСТРУМЕНТ СТРИМУВАННЯ ЗОВНІШНЬОЇ ТРУДОВОЇ МІГРАЦІЇ

The article describes the labor market as an element of the economic system that determines the direction and pace of macroeconomic development, affects the welfare of the population and social protection. The dynamics of reduction of labor force for 2010-2020 due to the increase in the level of external labor and educational migration is given. It is substantiated that the creation of high-paying jobs and the reform of the wage system are effective tools for regulating external migration, which reduces aggregate supply, unemployment and the load on vacant demand. It is outlined that the development of the market of the newest forms of employment and freelance by stimulating the population to create small and medium enterprises, providing organizational, economic and regulatory prerequisites for the development of youth business, can be considered an effective tool to curb migration. The tools of improving the state employment policy are given, namely the tools of balancing the labor market of Ukraine in the projection of the state policy of migration management. The reasons for the growth of unemployment among graduates of educational institutions, youth and skilled people, which encourage potential migration in a period of socio-economic instability and political turmoil. Means of ensuring the preservation of intellectual and human resources of Ukraine and avoiding a shortage of workers in the labor market, which encourage the development of appropriate information and analytical support for analyzing the needs of the labor market (regional, local, sectoral, professional) in the projection of labor supply. The basic vectors of development of the modern labor market which efficiency depends on realization of effective tools, and also structural transformations in the labor markets are resulted. The role of the state in ensuring positive changes and the formation of new transformational approaches in the field of social and labor relations is outlined. The main criteria and priorities for the formation of employment policy in Ukraine are highlighted and the transformation of new types of employment is emphasized. The key indicators of the new type of labor relations are given.

A hybrid algorithm for allocating tasks, operators, and workstations in multi-manned assembly lines

In a car, there are approximately 30,000 parts produced by many different industries. This is due to the complexity and enormity of the automotive industry chain. The vehicle assembly process comprises welding, painting, prefabrication, and final entire-vehicle assembly. The assembly line has the largest labor force, which should be arranged and balanced to increase production efficiency and reduce labor force requirements. Unlike traditional studies on assembly line balancing problems (ALBPs), this study considers the characteristics of the automotive industry, such as multi-manned workstations, minimization in terms of the numbers of operators and workstations for streamlined production, budget constraints, the optimization of both task and operator allocation among workstations, and the determination of the start/end processing time of each task at different workstations. To address these NP-hard problems, a hybrid heuristic approach that combines the procedure of building feasible balancing solutions and the simulated annealing algorithm is proposed to map out an optimal line balancing plan for multi-manned workstations and to reduce the required workspace for shop operations. Based on the design and analysis of experiments, the effects of the maximum number of allowed operators per workstation and those of the cycle time on ALBP solutions are explored. The optimal combination of algorithm parameters is also determined. The results of this study can serve as a practical reference in planning the allocation of tasks, workstations, and operators in the industry.

The Study of Efficient Store Operations through the Development of Local Food Inventory Management System

The study on the development of local food inventory management system is presented. In the case of a current distribution system for small and big stores, the person in charge must be able to check the status right away and be able to fill the display, whenever the amount of displayed products is reduced. However, we have developed the system which alerts suppliers to fill the product, when the weight of the display goes below a certain level from the initial weight of the filled-display using electronic scale for measuring the weight to mobile. With the system, it is able to operate efficiently by real-time sharing of filling-time on mobile. The proposed system can provide customers with fresh products through reduction in labor force and the day of harvest and sale of local food stores, and simplify the distribution channel.

Effects of rural-urban youth migration on farm families in Benue state, Nigeria

The study was assessed to determine the effects of rural-urban youth migration on farm families in Benue state, Nigeria during November 2014 to June 2015. Interview schedule was used to collect data from a sample of 80 respondents. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean scores and standard deviation. Results indicate that majority (76.3%) of the respondents were males, middle aged and married. Major causes of ruralurban youth migration indicated by the respondents include inadequate employment opportunities in rural areas (M=3.6), search for better education (M=3.5), inadequate social infrastructure such as schools (M=3.4), poor medical care services in rural areas (M=3.4), looking for money through labour (M=3.4), apprenticeship programme (M=3.2), etc. Findings of the study also indicate that reduction of agricultural labour force (M=3.5), low agricultural productivity (M=3.3), high cost of labour (M= 3.3), reduction on demand for locally grown foods (M=2.9), decrease in dependency ratio in the rural areas (M=2.7), reduction on number of mouths to feed (M=2.7), among others were major effects of ruralurban youth migration among farm families. The study recommends that Nigerian government should provide adequate physical and social infrastructure in rural areas in order to encourage youths to remain in agriculture, reduce rural-urban youth migration as well as sustain agriculture for enhanced food security.Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 6 (1): 14-20, June, 2016

The (Non-) Effect of Violence on Education: Evidence from the 'War on Drugs' in Mexico

There is a growing interest in economic literature on the pervasive effects of violence exposure on human capital accumulation. However, this literature has come short on disentangling the direct effects of violence on individuals’ schooling decisions from the indirect effects related to the destruction of infrastructure which inevitably accompanies armed conflict. In this paper we study the sharp increase in violence experienced in Mexico after 2006, known as “The War on Drugs” and its effects on human capital accumulation. This upsurge in violence is expected to have direct effects on individuals’ schooling decisions but not indirect effects as severe destruction of infrastructure was absent. In addition, the fact that the marked increases in violence were concentrated in some municipalities (and not in others) allows us to implement a fixed effects methodology to study the effects of violence on education outcomes. Differently to several recent studies that have found significant negative effects of violence on economic outcomes in Mexico, we find evidence that this is not the case, at least in terms of human capital accumulation. By using several sources of data we show that at most very small effects on total enrollment exist. We also show that these small effects on enrollment may be driven by some students being displaced from high violence municipalities to low violence municipalities; but the education decisions of individuals do not seem to be highly impacted. We also discard the possibility that the effects on enrollment of young adults appear small due to a counteracting effect from ex-workers returning to school (i.e. we discard the possibility that crime reduced labor force participation, and those affected enrolled in school). These results stand in contrast with recent evidence of the negative effects of crime on short-term economic growth since minimal to null effects of violence on human capital accumulation today should have little to none adverse effects on long-term growth outcomes in Mexico.

The Effects of Person-Environment Fit and External Locus of Control on Organizational Affective Commitment: a Study of Immigrant Wives in Taiwan

The National Immigration Agency of Taiwan reported that, by 2014, more than 498,000 immigrant spouses were registered in Taiwanese households, 91 % of which was female. Immigrant wives are now a significant part of Taiwanese society, and they are an important aspect of the labor force in Taiwan’s economy. However, they face major challenges in the workplace, which influences their work outcomes, results in a reduced labor force for enterprises, and increases societal costs. This pioneering study employed the person-environment fit and locus of control concepts from the organizational behavior field to address this issue. A sample of 130 immigrant wives from Indonesia and Vietnam living in Taiwan was surveyed. The results of a hierarchical regression analysis found that immigrant wives’ person-job fit and person-supervisor fit significantly influenced their affective commitments to their workplaces. An external locus of control significantly weakened the relationship between person-environment fit and affective commitment. The contributions and implications of the study results were discussed.

Family Ties and Socio-Economic Outcomes in High vs Low Income Countries

ABSTRACTAlesina and Giuliano illustrate that strong family ties lead to lower geographical mobility and reduced labour force participation of young and female individuals. We extend their analysis by arguing that the effect of strong family ties on economic outcomes depends on a country’s level of economic and institutional development. This cross-country heterogeneity arises because strong family ties not only foster traditional family values (which have disruptive effects on economic outcomes), but also provide economically valuable social networks – especially in societies characterised by weak institutions and limited market access. Empirical evidence using the European and World Value Surveys (EVS/WVS) are supportive of our theoretical argument.

Analysis of the Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Value Chain in Albania

Albania has rich natural resources and appropriate soil and climatic conditions to produce wild and cultivated Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs). There are more than 300 species of MAPs in the Albanian flora, which are considered important from a natural resource and economic viewpoint. This paper analyzes the MAPs sector in Albania based on expert interviews and desk research. It provides several insights into the importance of the sector from socioeconomic prospective. It also analyzes the value chain structure, describing various categories of actors in the value chain. The exports, mainly to the EU and US, have increased over the years. However, we can observe a reduced supply of wild plants due to damaged resources and a reduced labor force in mountainous areas. This has been partly compensated by the growing importance of some plants’ cultivation. Despite growth and potential, this sector is facing several challenges. Some of these challenges are related to the production and post-harvest technology and practices on the farm, safety and quality standards and traceability. Addressing these issues should be a priority for policy-makers and private sector actors, in order to improve the sector’s competitiveness and sustainability.

Locate Your Nearest Exit: Mass Layoffs and Local Labor Market Response

Large shocks to local labor markets cause lasting changes to communities and their residents. We examine four main channels through which the local labor force adjusts following mass layoffs: in- and out-migration, retirement, and disability insurance enrollment. We show that these channels account for over half of the labor force reductions following a mass layoff event. By measuring the residual difference between these channels and labor force change, we also show that labor force non-participation grew in the period during and after the Great Recession. This result highlights the growing importance of non-participation as a response to labor demand shocks.

THE INFLUENCE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, IN THE CONTEXT OF INTENSIFYING GLOBALIZATION PROCESSES, ON THE LABOUR MARKET OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The article highlights the research of the impacts of international relations on the Russian labor market, positive and negative consequences of its functioning in the conditions of globalization and the development of recommendations for overcoming the tensions and reducing negative impacts of external determinants on labor market in the Russian Federation. Intensification of globalization processes and strengthening of international cooperation and international relations of the Russian Federation make an ambiguous influence on the functioning of national labor market. On the one hand, expansion of international relations and communications enhances the creation of new jobs, the growth of gross domestic product, the increase of employment and decrease of unemployment; on the other hand - there is a great reduction of potential labor force, what makes a negative impact on the economic system of the state. In the course of the research the author made a detailed analysis of positive and negative moments accompanying the activization of international relations of Russia and formulated the list of measures aimed at reduction and elimination of negative consequences and influences on labor market of the expanded presence of the Russian Federation on the nternational arena.

The impact of diabetes on the labour force participation, savings and retirement income of workers aged 45-64 years in Australia.

BackgroundDiabetes is a debilitating and costly condition. The costs of reduced labour force participation due to diabetes can have severe economic impacts on individuals by reducing their living standards during working and retirement years.MethodsA purpose-built microsimulation model of Australians aged 45-64 years in 2010, Health&WealthMOD2030, was used to estimate the lost savings at age 65 due to premature exit from the labour force because of diabetes. Regression models were used to examine the differences between the projected savings and retirement incomes of people at age 65 for those currently working full or part time with no chronic health condition, full or part time with diabetes, and people not in the labour force due to diabetes.ResultsAll Australians aged 45-65 years who are employed full time in 2010 will have accumulated some savings at age 65; whereas only 90.5% of those who are out of the labour force due to diabetes will have done so. By the time they reach age 65, those who retire from the labour force early due to diabetes have a median projected savings of less than $35,000. This is far lower than the median value of total savings for those who remained in the labour force full time with no chronic condition, projected to have $638,000 at age 65.ConclusionsNot only does premature retirement due to diabetes limit the immediate income available to individuals with this condition, but it also reduces their long-term financial capacity by reducing their accumulated savings and the income these savings could generate in retirement. Policies designed to support the labour force participation of those with diabetes, or interventions to prevent the onset of the disease itself, should be a priority to preserve living standards comparable with others who do not suffer from this condition.

PROTOCOL: Reducing Unemployment Benefit Duration to Increase Job Finding Rates: Protocol for a Systematic Review

PROTOCOL: Reducing Unemployment Benefit Duration to Increase Job Finding Rates: Protocol for a Systematic Review

How to Engage and Recruit Baby Boomers for Volunteering?

Baby boomers, who account for 14.6% of the Korean population, are expected to enter into mass retirement for a period of ten years. They appears to bring about various social problems let alone economical loss owing to reduced labor force and expanded welfare expenses.BR The purpose of this study is to examines the ways of promoting for baby boomers’ volunteering after retirement through the literature review. This study consists of four parts. The first part reviews the characteristics of baby boomers and the profile of baby boomer volunteers. The second part examines policies on volunteering in Korea. The third part reviews strategies to promote for baby boomers’ volunteering from the developed countries such as the U.S.A, U.K, and Japan. The last part makes suggestions to help promote the baby boom generation’s volunteer work.

The economic burden of elevated blood glucose levels in 2012: diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes, gestational diabetes mellitus, and prediabetes.

To update estimates of the economic burden of undiagnosed diabetes, prediabetes, and gestational diabetes mellitus in 2012 in the U.S. and to present state-level estimates. Combined with published estimates for diagnosed diabetes, these statistics provide a detailed picture of the economic costs associated with elevated glucose levels. This study estimated health care use and medical expenditures in excess of expected levels occurring in the absence of diabetes or prediabetes. Data sources that were analyzed include Optum medical claims for ∼4.9 million commercially insured patients who were continuously enrolled from 2010 to 2012, Medicare Standard Analytical Files containing medical claims for ∼2.6 million Medicare patients in 2011, and the 2010 Nationwide Inpatient Sample containing ∼7.8 million hospital discharge records. The indirect economic burden includes reduced labor force participation, missed workdays, and reduced productivity. State-level estimates reflect geographic variation in prevalence, risk factors, and prices. The economic burden associated with diagnosed diabetes (all ages) and undiagnosed diabetes, gestational diabetes, and prediabetes (adults) exceeded $322 billion in 2012, consisting of $244 billion in excess medical costs and $78 billion in reduced productivity. Combined, this amounts to an economic burden exceeding $1,000 for each American in 2012. This national estimate is 48% higher than the $218 billion estimate for 2007. The burden per case averaged $10,970 for diagnosed diabetes, $5,800 for gestational diabetes, $4,030 for undiagnosed diabetes, and $510 for prediabetes. These statistics underscore the importance of finding ways to reduce the burden of prediabetes and diabetes through prevention and treatment.

Workers' compensation: poor quality health care and the growing disability problem in the United States.

The proportion of working age citizens permanently removed from the workforce has dramatically increased over the past 30 years, straining both Federal and State disability systems designed as a safety net to protect them. Almost one-third of these rapidly emerging disabilities are related to musculoskeletal disorders, and three of the top five diagnoses associated with the longest Years Lived with Disability are back, neck and other musculoskeletal disorders. The failure of Federal and state workers' compensation systems to provide effective health care to treat non-catastrophic injuries has been largely overlooked as a principal source of permanent disablement and corresponding reduced labor force participation. Innovations in workers' compensation health care delivery, and in use of evidence-based coverage methods such as prospective utilization review, are effective secondary prevention efforts that, if more widely adopted, could substantially prevent avoidable disability and provide more financial stability for disability safety net programs.