Wage Disadvantage Research Articles

Voices of Refugee Families from Ukraine Currently Living in the Czech Republic

Abstract The living situation of Ukrainian refugees in the Czech Republic can be explored from various perspectives. However, the currently available data are not able to provide a sufficient view of the refugee situation. These data are rather economic (related to financial situation, employment, wage disadvantage, use of state aid, etc) and do not provide, for example, information on daily needs. Our goal is therefore to give a voice to refugees from Ukraine to describe their current perception of their life situation and based on this establish implications for social work. The data were created through the perspective of participatory research using the photovoice method (individual and group) interviews (n = 13), online responsive questionnaire survey (n = 41) and a final photo exhibition. According to the available data, the context of life situation was created by economic well-being. But the key theme of life situation of Ukrainian refugees was loneliness. An interesting aspect is the gender dimension of activities coping with loneliness, which especially includes the ‘typically female role’ of childcare.

Wage Disparities across Immigrant Generations: Education, Segregation, or Unequal Pay?

Immigrants and their native-born children often face considerable wage penalties relative to natives, but less is known about whether this inequality arises through differences in educational qualifications, segregation across occupations and establishments, or unequal pay for the same work. Using linked employer-employee data from Norway, the authors ask whether immigrant-native wage disparities 1) reflect differences in detailed educational qualifications, labor market segregation, or within-job pay differences; 2) differ by immigrant generation; and 3) vary across different segments of the labor market. They find that immigrant-native wage disparities primarily reflect sorting into lower-paying jobs, and that wage disadvantages are considerably reduced across immigrant generations. When doing the same work for the same employer, immigrant-background workers, especially children of immigrants, earn similar wages to natives. Sorting into jobs seems more meritocratic for university graduates, for professionals, and in the public sector, but within-job pay differences are strikingly similar across market segments.

An analysis of educational mismatch on wages in the agroindustrial sector

AbstractThe food industry is one of the most important industries in developed economies. The progressive professionalization of its workforce and the persistent demand for low‐skilled employment in this sector may be leading to educational mismatch with its concomitant effects on wages and productivity. Yet the economic literature has not addressed wage structures, gender differences, and the composition of the labor force together in this food industry. We analyzed the effects of educational mismatch on wages in the Spanish food industry from a gender perspective. To this end, we used data from the 2018 Wage Structure Survey collected by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics. We applied the overeducated, required educated, undereducated specification to these data. The main results show that educational mismatch leads to gender wage differentials in this sector. The analysis also shows that the Spanish food industry places more value on men with adequate education and women with some level of overeducation. The results on occupational segregation show that the food industry penalizes access to female‐dominated occupations, and that this wage disadvantage is greater for female workers. We also observed wage differences in the remuneration of certain personal and professional factors that could be worsening the gender differentials in the Spanish food industry [EconLit Citations: I26, J16, J21, J24, J31].

Gender, Race, and Class in an Intersectional Framework: Occupations and Wages in the United States

Using family income as a class measure, this article explores whether gender and racial/ethnic gaps in hourly wages are the same across classes in the United States for 2015–2019. The study shows that the “mark of gender” extends beyond race/ethnicity and class. The conditional wages of women of any race/ethnicity are lower than those of any group of men of the same class (except that lower-class Asian women rank above lower-class Black men). Beyond differences in human capital, the wage disadvantage of Black and Hispanic workers, especially Black women, is (partially) associated with class stratification. Additionally, the study explores the role of occupations in explaining whether a group’s wage is above or below average. Black women’s wage disadvantage stems from occupational sorting, regardless of class. However, among White and Hispanic women, occupational sorting and underpayment within occupations are equally important. Occupational sorting does not seem to penalize Asian women. HIGHLIGHTS Intersectional analysis shows that in the US, class shapes the labor experiences of women and men of different racial/ethnic groups. Class limits White women’s progress in the labor market. Black women are overrepresented in the lower class beyond their educational levels. Occupational barriers are especially strong for Black women even in the upper class. Racial differences in conditional wages among same-class groups of women are small.

Country context, race and wages: A comparative analysis of Ethiopian immigrant labour market integration in the United States and Israel

AbstractAmerican immigration policy debates focus on immigrants' (lack of) labour market success. While research shows that Black African immigrants experience the largest wage disadvantage, studies rarely discuss whether country‐context—formed by immigration policy and migration history—matters for their wages and whether race matters differently across place. We use Israeli and US data to determine whether Ethiopian immigrants are most disadvantaged across country contexts. Our results indicate that Ethiopian immigrants' credentials are higher in the United States, but that does not lead to higher relative wages than in Israel. Because we find that Ethiopian immigrants who are most similar to the native‐born earn nearly identical wages to the most marginalized groups in both countries, it is clear that country context plays only a small role in wage disparities. Instead, discrimination and unobserved differences between groups are most important.

Wages of UK immigrant men across generations: who catches up?

Abstract This article examines UK immigrant-native wage differentials for men across major first- and second-generation immigrant groups with the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) pooling cross-sections over the years 2009–19. I find that first-generation immigrants with UK human capital experience less of a wage disadvantage than their immigrant counterparts with foreign language proficiency, qualifications, and work experience. Conditional on the heterogeneity in these productivity characteristics of first-generation immigrants, I observe no intergenerational economic progress across the two generations relative to UK natives. Using a conditional decomposition shows that UK work experience and not the source country of study for the qualification is a key factor in reducing first-generation, immigrant-native wage differentials in the UK.

Labor market dualism and the heterogeneous wage gap for temporary employment: a multilevel study across 30 countries

Abstract This study investigates the hourly wage gap between 25- and 55-year-old temporary and permanent employees across 30 countries worldwide based on Luxembourg Income Study data from 2000 to 2019 supplemented by other survey data. Two-stage multilevel regressions reveal wage disadvantages for temporary workers, particularly for prime-age workers and those working in medium-/high-level occupations. There is no evidence that a stronger institutional dualization in terms of stronger employment protection for permanent contracts increases the wage gap. Instead partial deregulation matters: In countries where permanent workers are strongly protected, the wage gap is larger if the use of temporary contracts is deregulated. Moreover, results suggest that the larger the size of the temporary employment segment the larger the wage gap. Thus, our findings indicate that stronger institutional and structural labor market dualism amplifies labor market inequality in terms of wage gaps between temporary and permanent workers.

The immigrant wage gap and assimilation in Korea

Abstract This study investigates the size of the initial wage disadvantage and the patterns of subsequent labor-market assimilation for immigrant workers in South Korea. We find that immigrants to Korea earn 17–29 percent less upon arrival than natives with similar characteristics, and the wage gap diminishes by 1.55 percent per year spent in the country. The patterns of assimilation differ by both gender and country of origin. Males and Asian immigrants generally follow the patterns of all foreign workers. However, females experience a smaller initial wage difference and no convergence, while immigrants from non-Asian countries and Japan initially earn higher wages than natives, but they then experience a relative decline in wages over time. The results of our out-migration analysis suggest that the negative assimilation of non-Asian and Japanese immigrants may be due to positively selected out-migration.

Half a century of female wage disadvantage: an analysis of Denmark’s public wage hierarchy in 1969 and today

ABSTRACT In June 1969, the Danish parliament passed an extensive law complex, known as the Public Servant Reform of 1969. An important part of the reform was a new wage and classification system into which all public employees were placed. In newer Danish research on the gender wage gap, it is a hypothesis that the reform created a wage hierarchy in the public sector which in general was unfavourable to female-dominated professions, and that this hierarchy largely has persisted to the present due to mechanisms in the collective bargaining system. In our article, we test this hypothesis using graphical analysis and descriptive statistics. Our study supports the existing hypothesis about a gender biased wage hierarchy in 1969. We find that there is a close coherence between the wage hierarchy in 1969 and the wage hierarchy in 2019. However, our analysis also shows how education level explains even less of the traditional female dominated professions’ position in the wage hierarchy in 2019 compared with 1969, and that this is still the case when we take absence patterns and family-friendly benefits into account. That points toward a wage system, which seems unable to adjust to changes in an established profession’s profile.

Bridges or Barriers? The Relationship between Immigrants’ Early Labor Market Adversities and Long-term Earnings

Using data from the Extended Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC-IMDB), this article investigates the association between early adverse labor market experiences in the host country and immigrants’ long-term earnings. We use Growth Curve Modeling (GCM) to estimate how months of joblessness, part-time status, and occupational mismatch during the first four years in Canada relate to immigrant men’s and women’s earnings trajectories over the following 10 years. Part-time employment, we find, is negatively associated with long-term earnings trajectories for both male and female immigrants, and male immigrants who are occupationally mismatched in the medium term also face a long-term wage penalty. Months of joblessness early on, however, is associated with relatively less wage disadvantage in later years. Since immigrants’ early difficulties are associated with long-term economic scarring, it is imperative to introduce early interventions to promote rapid assimilation.

Is there any merit to the merit‐based immigration system? What Sub‐Saharan African immigrant labor and housing market outcomes tell us about U.S. economic and immigration systems

AbstractFor decades, U.S. immigration policy debates have centered on creating a merit‐based system limiting entry to high‐skilled immigrants. Yet the emphasis on merit‐based immigration ignores the fact that high‐skilled immigrants already enter the United States in merit‐based immigration assume high‐skilled immigrants benefit the U.S. economy because they are better able than low‐skilled immigrants to translate skills into economic success. Using Sub‐Saharan (Black) African immigrants' labor and housing market outcomes, I show that meritocracy only partially explains U.S. labor and housing outcomes, leaving a merit‐based system unlikely to address America's economic needs. The majority of immigrants to the U.S. are non‐White, and racial discrimination in the labor market results in occupational and wage disadvantages in the U.S. Due to the public charge rule, high skilled immigrants may be less likely to get their visas renewed or green card applications approved because of these labor market disadvantages. Without stable visa status, high‐skilled immigrants will be less likely to make long‐term economic investments in the United States—an important way of contributing to the U.S. economy. Together, research indicates that U.S. immigration reform will not work without first enacting policy addressing racial disparities in economic systems.

Relative Wages of Immigrant Men and the Great Recession.

Using CPS data from 2007 to 2012, we examine the contemporaneous effect of the Great Recession on the relative wages of immigrant men. Compared to pre-recession period, immigrants see a modest decline in their relative wages during the recession regardless of model specification. After the recession, immigrants’ relative wages largely recover from the recession-induced decline, but the wage disadvantage does not completely revert back to its pre-recession level. Selective in- and out-migration by immigrants or selection of natives into employment do not seem to drive the results. It appears that, during the recession, immigrants may have traded higher employment with lower wages and employers might have been willing to hire them as a cost-saving measure. The results could have implications for how relative wages of immigrants respond to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic Recession.

DIFERENÇA SALARIAL DEVIDO À MATERNIDADE SEGUNDO NÍVEL EDUCACIONAL

This study seeks to analyze whether there is a wage difference related to maternity according to educational level, considering the number and age of the children. For this purpose, the National Continuous Household Sample Survey (PNADC) from 2012 to 2019 was used and as a method the nonparametric decomposition proposed by Ñopo (2008). Evidence shows that a higher education level helps to reduce wage penalties due to motherhood. The findings obtained even though mothers with children under 6 years of age and / or with more than one child have more wage disadvantage compared to women without children, especially for those with no education or with elementary education.

Career trajectories and cumulative wages: The case of temporary employment

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP, 1994–2017), we investigate how 10-year career sequences, which can be grouped into distinct career patterns, relate to cumulative labor market income. We utilize propensity score matching to compare standard career sequences, consisting of continuous full-time permanent work, to stepping stone career sequences, characterized by initial periods of temporary employment and subsequent permanent employment. We thus investigate if temporary workers are compensated for initial wage penalties in their later career. This life course approach reveals a more holistic picture about the consequences of temporary employment than previous studies, which mostly focus on the effect of single transitions and on wages at single time points. The results show that among labor market entrants the standard permanent employment career is the most prevalent one but that stepping stone careers are also common. Nonetheless, individuals who start their career in temporary employment and then transition to permanent jobs face long-term cumulative wage disadvantages of -51,461.2 Euro (-14.07 %) compared to individuals with standard permanent careers. Furthermore, over the 10 years we study, we find an increasing cumulative wage gap even after the transitions to permanent jobs take place. This last finding suggests that compared to individuals with standard careers, former temporary workers do not experience a compensating higher wage growth in their later careers.

Sektorale und berufsspezifische Ausbildungsstrategien und Übergangsmuster nach der dualen Ausbildung

Abstract Based on the Integrated Employment Biographies data (IEB) of the Institute for Employment Research, the study compares the transition patterns after completion of vocational training in craft trades and in other sectors of economic activity. According to Soskice (1994) and Steedman (1993), dual training in the craft sector exhibits some distinctive features that can be expected to increase the risk of non-smooth transitions and to inhibit labor market integration of its apprentices. The analysis shows that currently almost all apprentices manage to enter regular employment within one year after graduation. However, apprenticeship graduates from craft trades are more likely to be affected by temporary unemployment. Additionally, the wage disadvantages associated with a job change are significantly higher in craft trades than in other occupations. Further analysis reveals that these average effects mask large differences at the occupational level. We conclude, that future research should draw more attention to transition risks on occupational rather than on sectoral level.

Immigrants’ occupational segregation in France: “brown-collar” jobs or a Sub-Saharan African disadvantage?

ABSTRACT Large-scale labour migration is considered a recent phenomenon in most European countries; however, immigrants have been an integral part of the French labour-force nearly as long as in the United States. Numerous studies document Sub-Saharan African immigrants’ employment and wage disadvantages in France; however, few investigate an important aspect of Sub-Saharan African immigrants’ integration – occupational segregation. Using 2011 French census data, I examine Sub-Saharan African immigrants’ occupational segregation. I find that all immigrants are concentrated, but only Sub-Saharan Africans are concentrated in low-skilled work regardless of citizenship. Department-level regression analyses measuring occupational segregation show that after controlling for socioeconomic characteristics, Sub-Saharan Africans are most segregated. Control variables explain less of Sub-Saharan African women’s segregation than any other group indicating that they experience more discrimination in the labour market than even Sub-Saharan African men. Future research using longitudinal data is needed to determine if these results reflect a persistent disadvantage.

Gender-Based Wage Discrimination in Indian Urban Labour Market: An Assessment

This study attempts at verifying the pattern of the wage gap between gender in India’s urban labour market using NSS 50th (1993–1994), 61st (2004–2005), and 68th (2011–2012) Employment and Unemployment Surveys. The wage gap between sexes in the urban labour market is verified among the regular and casual workers over a period of two decades (1993–1994 to 2011–2012). Using Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition as well as Recentered Influence Function (RIF) quintile decomposition analysis, it is observed that there is a male bias in wages in both the categories, namely, regular and casual workers. Female workers are also at a disadvantaged position via-a-vis male counterparts, and there is considerable disparity exists with regards to employment and earning standard between sexes. The decomposition exercise shows that the role of the discrimination component effect is larger than that of the endowment component across the regular and casual workers. Controlling for characteristic homogeneity, it is observed that female workers have a systematic wage disadvantage against their male counterparts in the urban labour market of India.

Cohort and education as predictors of temporary employment, and their relation to low wages and socioeconomic classification for young people in Sweden

ABSTRACTThe purpose of my paper is to describe and explain the probability of staying in temporary work for young people (age 16–27) in Sweden between 1992 and 2011 and its relation to socioeconomic outcomes (low socioeconomic classification and wage). I used panel data from the Swedish Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the longitudinal integration database for health insurance and labour market studies (LISA). To analyse the data, I used a dynamic probit model, unconditional quantile regression, and a pooled bivariate probit model. My results suggest that young people who have a low education have lower probabilities of receiving temporary employment in younger cohorts. However, younger cohorts with a lower education have a substantive wage disadvantage, specifically in younger cohorts compared to older cohorts. Low-educated cohorts also have a higher probability of obtaining low socioeconomic classification (SEC) employment, which is conditional on holding temporary employment in older cohorts compared to other educational groupings.

Research on the Wage Gap Between Urban and Rural Labor: Based on CHNS Micro Survey Data

In recent years, there is a substantial debate on the wage differences in China. Yet most empirical studies of wage gap concentrate only on short-run changes due to the lack of high-quality data. In this paper, we study the wage gap between urban and rural labor in China using the <i>Chinese Health and Nutrition Survey</i> (CHNS) data spanning several years. By the methods of OLS regression and Oaxaca decomposition we have two main findings: first, the wage gap resulting from household register discrimination have been gradually decreasing since the Lewis transition, and the growth rate of migrant workers' wages obviously exceeded the accumulation rate of their human capital in 2011; second, the wage disadvantage of the rural labor mainly comes from the weakness of its human capital, compared with that of the urban labor. These findings would remind us of the rising welfare inequality problem in China against the background that the accumulation of human capital on rural labor have slowed down after the Lewis transition. In the end, we come up with several suggestions for policy reform. First of all, the central government should distribute more educational resources into rural areas specifically. In addition, the local government and enterprises should increase specific investment in skills training for migrant workers. Last but not least, the governments ought to gradually abolish the related rules that restrain migrant workers from obtaining urban public services, which will help to equalize the social welfare in China eventually.

Holding up Half the Sky? Ethno-Gender Labour Market Outcomes in China

ABSTRACTStudies looking at gender and ethnic minority outcomes in China’s labour market have generally suggested that women and minorities are separately experiencing a wage disadvantage relative to males and the Han majority, respectively. But, what is the experience of this combined cohort, ethnic minority women? Using data from China’s 2005 one percent mini-census, this article discerns ethno-gender labour market outcomes by factoring education, labour force participation, working hours, age, family structure (e.g. married, number of dependents) and geography (e.g. urban/rural, bordering province). It surprisingly finds that ethnic minority women are less disadvantaged in the labour market than Han women. This is largely due to smaller penalties linked to marriage and having children.