Terms Of Labor Market Outcomes Research Articles

Adolescent psychiatric inpatient treatment and subsequent labor market trajectories

Abstract Background Adolescent psychiatric disorders are associated with subsequent labor market disadvantage, including unemployment, disability pensions, and not being in education, employment or training (NEET). However, most current research has focused on cross-sectional outcomes measured at single time points, which clouds the dynamics involved in the realization of early labor market careers. Methods The study is based on longitudinal register data on all individuals born in Finland in 1980-1984 and residing in the country between ages 10-20 (N = 316,526). We followed the study subjects from age 20 to 34 and used multistate models to model transitions between advantaged and disadvantaged labor market states. Labor market disadvantage was defined as being either unemployed, NEET or on disability pension. We examined differences in labor market trajectories by adolescent psychiatric inpatient episodes, measured using hospital discharge data from ages 10-19. Separate analyses by diagnostic groups were conducted. Results Individuals who had psychiatric inpatient episodes in adolescence (3%) started their labor market careers in disadvantaged labor market states twice as often as their peers. They were also more likely to transition from advantaged states to disadvantaged states (HR among men: 2.93; 95% CI: 2.85, 3.02) and less likely to experience the opposite transition (HR among men: 0.47; 95% CI: 0.46, 0.48). In total, individuals with a history of psychiatric episodes spent 1.7 to 6.7 more years in disadvantaged states than their peers, depending on sex, baseline state and diagnostic group. The associations were slightly stronger among men than among women. Conclusions The results suggest that adolescents with severe mental health problems are highly vulnerable in terms of labor market outcomes throughout their early adulthood. Supportive measures at the start of employment trajectories as well as during later labor market stages are required. Key messages • Psychiatric inpatient episodes in adolescence are associated with labor market disadvantage at the start of work careers and with disadvantageous transitions throughout subsequent trajectories. • To ensure that adolescents facing severe mental health problems are able to realize their full potential, supportive measures at different stages of work careers are required.

Social functioning and personal development among individuals with low literacy skills; the role of active labour market policy

Abstract Even as education becomes increasingly important for functioning in society, and many welfare states have taken responsibility for providing education, many individuals have insufficient skill levels to fully participate in society. This paper investigates the relationship between literacy skills and basic functioning and participation in society, focusing on the role of the welfare state, and whether individuals with low literacy skills are better off in terms of labour market outcomes, quality of life, digital participation and adult learning in countries with higher investments in active labour market policies (ALMPs), and three underlying spending categories: 1) public employment services, 2) training and 3) private sector employment incentives. Through multi-level analysis of 25 Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and 139,449 individuals, using individual-level data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and country-level data from the OECD, our results show that while low literacy is associated with less favourable conditions related to all outcome variables investigated, ALMPs do not always moderate these negative associations. This is especially true for labour market participation, health and on-the-job training. However, higher ALMP spending is associated with more favourable conditions among low-literate individuals when it comes to job satisfaction, digital participation and life-long learning.

All that glitters is not gold—Mixed early labour market outcomes of STEM graduates in Poland

AbstractThe expansion of higher education resulted in a growing interest in post‐graduation labour market outcomes. Two conflicting narratives are present in the debate. The first focuses on the shortage of skills and the need for further expansion of the sector and seems to pertain mostly to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The second revolves around over‐education and mismatch leading to graduate unemployment or underemployment. Such concerns pertain especially to humanities and social sciences. However, in this article, we argue that the STEM versus non‐STEM opposition on which this debate is premised is not adequate for analysing post‐graduation labour market outcomes. We leverage a unique administrative dataset comprising monthly records on the labour market status of the entire population of recent Polish university graduates (N = 161,323) to demonstrate the heterogeneity of the STEM category in terms of labour market outcomes and the limited predictive value of the field of study for those outcomes. We argue that the category is too broad and internally diverse to be used as an overarching category, especially in research meant to inform policymaking.

Where versus What: College Value-Added and Returns to Field of Study in Further Education

<h3>Abstract</h3> We use administrative records on educational and labor market trajectories to estimate the value-added of English further education colleges in terms of educational and labor market outcomes and earnings returns to different fields of study taught at these colleges. We find that dispersion in college value-added in terms of labor market outcomes is moderate compared to differences in earnings returns across fields of study. We further show that value-added in labor market outcomes is correlated with value-added in academic outcomes. We conclude that in English further education, <i>what</i> one studies tends to matter more than <i>where</i> one does so.

Youth labor market vulnerabilities: evidence from Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the prevalence and drivers of employment vulnerability among youth in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia, and their propensity to transition to better jobs over time.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is based on longitudinal data from Labor Market Panel Surveys spanning 6–20 years. The authors use transition matrices to examine the prevalence of transitions between labor market statuses for the same individuals over time, distinguishing between youth and non-youth, and men and women, as well as multinomial logistic regressions that control for individual and family background, including previous labor market status, family wealth and parental education.FindingsThe paper finds that youth in all three countries were disadvantaged in terms of labor market outcomes with most young men in particular ending up in vulnerable jobs while women of all ages were most likely to exit the labor market all together, unless they had formal jobs. Moreover, youth who started out in the labor market in a vulnerable job were unlikely to move to a better-quality job over time. Family wealth, parental education and father's occupation were found to be important determinants of labor market outcomes and vulnerability, even after a long period of work experience.Social implicationsThe paper finds that wealth effects, parental education and occupation effects follow workers throughout their careers, implying low equality of opportunity and inter-generational and lifetime mobility.Originality/valueThe findings indicate worsening labor market outcomes over time, heavily influenced by family background. High levels of vulnerable employment persistence, regardless of skill and experience, reinforce the importance of initial labor market outcome on the quality of lifetime employment prospects.

Disability in Uganda: a medical intervention to measure gendered impacts on functional independence and labour-market outcomes

ABSTRACT Using data from an orthotic intervention in Kampala, Uganda, this paper estimates the health and economic impacts of providing orthotic equipment to adults with lower limb disabilities. We examine changes to: (i) functional mobility and (ii) labour market outcomes, including type of employment and monthly earnings. One year after the intervention, the effects are noticeably gendered; men exhibit an improvement in their level of functional mobility, while women face little change or a reduction in their levels. In terms of labour market outcomes, for men the intervention leads to an increase in monthly earnings, which is partly due to a switch from self- to wage employment. Effects on female labour market outcomes generate more nuanced results. Earnings increase for women, although the overall effect is much smaller. Taking into account the intensity of equipment use, our Wald estimates reveal larger marginal effects on both mobility and earnings.

Gender-based segregation in education, jobs and earnings in South Africa

This paper investigates gender-based segregation in education, jobs and earnings among African women in South Africa. By investigating these linkages, we aim to identify potential policy interventions that could affect some degree of de-segregation in the labour market and thereby reduce the gender wage gap. Using large, nationally representative labour force data samples of African workers, our findings confirm the existence of an earnings hierarchy reflecting a male dominance premium. Specifically, our results show that women working in male dominated self-employment experience the highest returns, followed by women employed in male dominated wage employment while working in female dominated wage employment and self-employment is associated with a wage penalty. However, trying to address wage inequality in the labour market through labour legislation is not likely to be effective if the wage gap is mainly driven by horizontal segregation. Our findings show that gender-based horizontal segregation of jobs is strongly correlated with gender-based segregation in the choices of post-secondary education. Based on our findings, we conclude that targeted training interventions for vocational qualifications of women in male dominated fields of study is likely to be the most plausible policy response that could reduce some of the differences in the earnings between African men and women. The negative economic effects of COVID 19 pandemic, which in South Africa affected women more severely in terms of labour market outcomes (Casale & Posel, 2020), may provide policymakers with a catalyst to challenge the constraints women face crossing over into male dominated jobs.

Examining the Relationship Between 2-year College Entry and Baccalaureate Aspirants’ Academic and Labor Market Outcomes: Impacts, Heterogeneity, and Mechanisms

Using the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), this paper analyzes students’ baccalaureate attainment and early labor market performance, comparing 2-year college and 4-year institution entrants and exploring the potential heterogeneous treatment effects of initiating one’s college experience in a 2-year college by individual pre-college academic preparation. Utilizing propensity score matching on a rich set of student demographic characteristics, academic and high school attributes, we find that 2-year college entry sharply reduces baccalaureate aspirants’ likelihood of earning a baccalaureate, and such negative effects are particularly pronounced for students in the highest quartile of pre-college math ability. In terms of labor market outcomes, female 2-year college entrants are less likely to gain full-time employment, as compared to their female 4-year institution counterparts. We also examine various mechanisms that may hinder 2-year college entrants’ baccalaureate completion, including the impact of 2-year college attendance on early academic progress, challenges of the transfer process, loss of credits at the point of transfer, and post-transfer academic shock. Our results provide suggestive evidence in support of all four mechanisms.

Adherence to cultural norms and economic incentives: Evidence from fertility timing decisions

I analyze the interplay between culture and economic incentives in decision-making. To this end, I study fertility timing decisions of second generation migrant women to France and the US. While I confirm that originating from a high fertility country correlates to having larger families, I also find that it does not predict earlier entry into motherhood. I propose a model that rationalizes these findings in which decisions are the result of a trade-off between an economic cost-benefit analysis and a cultural norm. The model predicts that decisions with a higher cost of deviation from the economic optimum should be less prone to cultural influence. This is consistent with substantial evidence showing that the timing of the first birth bears much larger costs for mothers in terms of labor market outcomes than that of subsequent births.

More Work to Do? Taking Stock of Latin American Labor Markets

We analyze the performance of labor markets in Latin America since the late 1990s. Strong GDP growth during the commodity boom period led to important gains in employment and a fall in the unemployment rate as labor demand outpaced an increasing labor supply. We emphasize the role of informality in the dynamics of labor markets in Latin America. A re-examination of Okun's law shows that informality dampens changes in unemployment accompanying output fluctuations. Moreover, we present some evidence that countries with higher redundancy costs and cumbersome dismissal regulations, exhibit 'excess' informality over and above what would be expected based on their income and educational levels. Labor market reforms could thus contribute to reducing informality and increasing the responsiveness of labor markets to output growth. However, looking at selected case studies of reforms using the synthetic control method, we find mixed results in terms of labor market outcomes.

MOTHER’S EMPLOYMENT, CHILD CARE USE AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

This paper aims to analyze the effects of mother’s employment and non-parental child care on cognitive development in early childhood. Investment in the development of children at early rather than later ages provides higher returns in terms of labor market outcomes. Thus, decision making process of primary care givers are extremely important at this period. A nationally representative longitudinal data for the United States of America is used in this paper. Hybrid production function for the cognitive development is estimated within a dynamic framework using a two-step system Generalized Method of Moments estimator. The results show that more hours of center-based care significantly increase cognitive achievement and this holds true when center-based care is defined as full- or part-time. Furthermore, both a high quality home environment and a high quality out-of-home child care improve a child’s cognitive development while there is no statistically significant impact of maternal work hours.

The Effect of Labor Market Information on Community College Students’ Major Choice

An important goal of community colleges is to prepare students for the labor market. But are students aware of the labor market outcomes in different majors? And how much do students weigh labor market outcomes when choosing a major? In this study we find that less than 15% of a sample of community college students in California rank broad categories of majors accurately in terms of labor market outcomes. Students believe that salaries are 13% higher than they actually are, on average, and students underestimate the probability of being employed by almost 25%. We find that the main determinants of major choice are beliefs about course enjoyment and grades, but expected labor market outcomes also matter. Experimental estimates of the impact of expected labor market outcomes are larger than OLS estimates and show that a 10% increase in salary is associated with a 14 to 18% increase in the probability of choosing a specific category of majors.

Institutional resources as a source of trade union power in Southern Europe

Institutional resources are one of the sources of power available to trade unions, but recent literature has tended to pay less attention to these than to associational and organizational resources. We examine institutional resources in three Southern European countries, Greece, Portugal and Spain, which share many common characteristics. However, the character of institutional resources in Spanish industrial relations is distinctive. We examine the plasticity of industrial relations institutions in Spain in terms of labour market outcomes but argue that institutional security is an essential platform for unions seeking to develop other sources of power.

Community College Scientists and Salary Gap: Navigating Socioeconomic and Academic Stratification in the U.S. Higher Education System

ABSTRACTMore than 4 decades of research on community colleges has indicated that students who begin in these institutions realize lower levels of educational attainment than initial 4-year entrants. In terms of labor market outcomes, studies have overwhelmingly focused on comparing 2-year entrants to high school graduates who did not attend college. In contrast, this study concentrated on 2-year entrants who became scientists in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and compared their individual and professional characteristics and monetary compensation during a 10-year period to those of scientists who entered college in the 4-year sector. The data analyzed came from 2 National Science Foundation longitudinal and nationally representative samples of doctorate recipients. The analytic techniques relied on the instrumental variables approach for dynamic panel data and propensity score weighting. Findings consistently revealed that 2-year entrants came from lower-income backgrounds and had lower mean salary and lower salary growth than their 4-year sector counterparts. Despite these negative salary-based effects, data showed that the 2-year sector has had an active function in the early formation of scientists. As the competition for science and technology development tightens worldwide, initiatives should identify understudied venues to increase the production of STEM graduates. Considering its scope, the 2-year sector could be one of them.

The association between graduates’ field of study and occupational attainment in West Germany, 1980–2008

Over the course of higher education expansion and growing numbers of graduates, employers are supposed to have increasing difficulties to regard a higher education degree as reliable signal for productivity. As a consequence, they may take into account ‘qualitative’ differences such as graduates’ field of study more often than in previous times when hiring labour market entrants. Both from a supply- and demand-side perspective graduates from humanities, social services or arts may be increasingly disadvantaged in terms of labour market outcomes compared to graduates from science, technology, engineering and mathematics over time. The article tests this argumentation by assessing changes in the relationship between graduates’ field of study and risk of unemployment as well as access to the service class in West Germany between 1980 and 2008. Changes in returns to field of study may contribute to growing (social) inequalities among graduates amidst educational expansion and are therefore important to consider. Based on Microcensus data, the results show that field of study differences in terms of both labour market outcomes did not increasingly diverge over time. The paper concludes that due to a limited educational expansion and the prevalence of an occupationally segmented labour market higher education remains a good investment in terms of labour market returns in West Germany irrespective of graduates’ field of study.

Women and the Chinese Labor Market: Recent Patterns and Future Possibilities

While many economists have advanced potential future growth strategies for the Chinese economy, none to our knowledge have done so with a specific consideration of the impacts these policies may have on women’s welfare measured in terms of labor market outcomes. In this article, we first discuss the relative status of women’s position in the Chinese labor force from the perspective of their employment levels, occupational segregation, and wages. We then calculate segregation indices and present and interpret recent employment data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China to consider how the labor market has evolved for women in the last decade. Interestingly, we find that occupational segregation by gender has in fact intensified since the onset of the radical reforms in China in the mid-1990s. Next, we contribute to the literature by evaluating potential growth policies for their impacts on women’s relative welfare in terms of labor market outcomes using our unique criteria for evaluation. We find that switching to a service-centered growth strategy could work to increase women’s relative welfare if implemented concurrently with additional policies aimed at reducing the otherwise potential negative implications for women’s relative welfare. Finally, we provide our own gender sensitive growth strategy suggestions which include our argument that an education-led growth strategy, for example, may have the largest positive impact on both the Chinese economy and women’s relative welfare.

The Double Disadvantage Reconsidered: Gender, Immigration, Marital Status, and Global Labor Force Participation in the 21st Century

Although women's representation among international migrants in many countries has risen over the last 100 years, we know far less about gender gaps in the labor force participation of immigrants across a wide span of host societies. Prior studies have established that immigrant women are doubly disadvantaged in terms of labor market outcomes in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. These studies suggest an intriguing question: Are there gender gaps in immigrant labor force participation across destinations countries? In this paper, we investigate the extent to which the double disadvantage exists for immigrant women in a variety of host countries. We also examine how marriage moderates this double disadvantage. For the U.S., although we find that immigrant women have had the lowest labor force participation rates compared to natives and immigrant men since 1960, marital status is an important stratifying attribute that helps explain nativity differences. Extending the analysis to eight other countries reveals strong gender differences in labor force participation and shows how marriage differentiates immigrant women's labor force entry more so than men's.

Life skills, employability and training for disadvantaged youth: Evidence from a randomized evaluation design

This paper presents an impact evaluation of a revamped version of the Dominican Republic’s youth training program Juventud y Empleo. The paper analyzes the impact of the program on traditional labor market outcomes and on outcomes related to youth behavior and life style, expectations about the future and socio-emotional skills. In terms of labor market outcomes, the program has a positive impact on job formality for men of about 17 percent and there is also a seven percent increase in monthly earnings among those employed. However, there are no overall impacts on employment rates. Regarding non-labor market outcomes, the program reduces teenage pregnancy by five percentage points in the treatment group (about 45 percent), which is consistent with an overall increase in youth expectations about the future. The program also has a positive impact on non-cognitive skills as measured by three different scales. Scores improve between 0.08 and 0.16 standard deviations with the program. Although recent progress noted in the literature suggests that socio-emotional skills increase employability and quality of employment, the practical significance of the impacts is unclear, as there is only weak evidence that the life skills measures used are associated to better labor market performance. This is an area of growing interest and relevance that requires further research. J24, J64, O15, O17.

The consequences of own and spousal disability on labor market outcomes and subjective well-being: evidence from Germany

In this paper, I contrast the effects of individual and spousal disability on subjective well-being and labor supply using data on couples from the German Socio-Economic Panel for the years 1984–2006. I find almost no effects in terms of labor market outcomes for both men and women, which stands in stark contrast to the effects of individual disability. The life-satisfaction of women, but not of men, is reduced considerably by their partners’ disability. The effects are about 50–73 % as large as those of individual disability. I also find no evidence that individuals adapt to their partners’ disability, although there is adaptation to individual disability.

The effect of ethnic identity on the employment of immigrants

This study evaluates the effect of ethnic identity on the employment level of immigrants in Greece. Treating ethnic identity as a composite of key cultural elements the estimations suggest that employment is positively associated with assimilation and integration and negatively associated with separation and marginalization. In all cases, assimilation provides the highest employment returns, whilst, marginalization provides the highest employment losses. This study adds to the literature by setting up hypotheses, and directly measuring immigrants’ ethnic identity commitments. The current results have potentially important implications for post-immigration policies indicating that assimilation and integration policies may be beneficial in terms of labor market outcomes.