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Full-Text Articles in Labor Relations
[Review Of The Book Employment And Development: A New Review Of Evidence, By David Turnham], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Employment And Development: A New Review Of Evidence, By David Turnham], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] I first encountered David Turnham’s work after majoring in labor economics in undergraduate and graduate school and spending a year in Nairobi studying and modeling the labor market there. The atmosphere in Kenya was crackling with intellectual excitement: John Harris and Michael Todaro had just showed how the solution to urban unemployment might be rural development, George Johnson had demonstrated that earnings function analysis ‘worked’ despite doubts about the quality of developing country data and the applicability of developed country concepts, Dharam Ghai was developing the basic human needs approach to development, and Joe Stiglitz was formulating efficiency wage …
Employment And Economic Growth In Costa Rica, Gary S. Fields
Employment And Economic Growth In Costa Rica, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
Costa Rica’s economic growth in the last 25 years has had favorable labor market and income distribution consequences. Overall, employment growth kept pace with labor force growth, the mix of jobs improved, real wages rose, and relative inequality and absolute poverty fell. But during the economic crisis of 1980-82, when real per capita income plummeted, labor market conditions deteriorated markedly: unemployment doubled, employment composition worsened, and real wages fell by 40%. Growth, labor market conditions, and income distribution have moved together.
Challenges And Policy Lessons For The Growth-Employment-Poverty Nexus In Developing Countries, Gary S. Fields
Challenges And Policy Lessons For The Growth-Employment-Poverty Nexus In Developing Countries, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
Productivity growth and structural change are generally considered to be important determinants of economic growth. However recent research revealed that they do not necessarily lead to higher growth and employment rates. Recent studies, drawing on data from developing countries, showed that only the “right” kind of productivity growth resulted in higher employment rates. Enterprises in Africa and Latin America caught up in matters of technology; however, this process resulted in a substitution of employment by technology. The same is true for structural change; only the “right” kind of structural change caused more growth and employment. Whereas in Asia, labour shifted …
Employment And Development In The Developing World: Taking Stock Of What Research Can Teach Us, Gary S. Fields
Employment And Development In The Developing World: Taking Stock Of What Research Can Teach Us, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
Productivity growth and structural change are generally considered to be important determinants of economic growth. However recent research revealed that they do not necessarily lead to higher growth and employment rates. Recent studies, drawing on data from developing countries, showed that only the “right” kind of productivity growth resulted in higher employment rates. Enterprises in Africa and Latin America caught up in matters of technology; however, this process resulted in a substitution of employment by technology. The same is true for structural change; only the “right” kind of structural change caused more growth and employment. Whereas in Asia, labour shifted …
Aid, Growth And Jobs, Gary S. Fields
Aid, Growth And Jobs, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
Various development objectives are worthy, but one objective merits special attention: reducing the scourge of absolute economic misery in the world. This study focuses on an important but relatively underemphasized approach to poverty reduction: helping the poor earn more in the labour market for the work they do, so that they can buy the goods and services they need to move up out of poverty. The core of the study is divided into three sections: defining the global poverty challenge and the world’s employment problem, presenting policy options for improving employment outcomes for the poor, and suggesting ways of choosing …
Changing Labor Market Conditions And Economic Development In Hong Kong, The Republic Of Korea, Singapore, And Taiwan, China, Gary S. Fields
Changing Labor Market Conditions And Economic Development In Hong Kong, The Republic Of Korea, Singapore, And Taiwan, China, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
In the newly industrializing economies (NIEs) of Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan (China), the entire working population has benefited from labor market institutions. The East Asian NIEs attained and maintained generally full employment, improved their job mixes, raised real earnings, and lowered their rates of poverty. This article reaches two principal conclusions. First, labor market conditions continued to improve in all four economies in the 1980s at rates remarkably similar to their rates of aggregate economic growth. Second, labor market repression was not a major factor in the growth experiences of these economies in the 1980s. …
Employment Duration And Match Quality Over The Business Cycle, Ismail Baydur, Toshihiko Mukoyama
Employment Duration And Match Quality Over The Business Cycle, Ismail Baydur, Toshihiko Mukoyama
Research Collection School Of Economics
This paper studies the cyclical behavior of employment duration using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort. We estimate a proportional hazard model with competing risks, distinguishing different types of separations. A higher unemployment rate at the start of an employment relationship increases the probability that the worker quits to take or look for another job, but it decreases the probability that the firm fires the worker. The net effect of these opposing forces on the overall duration of the employment is negative, but small, implying that match quality is weakly pro-cyclical. We also build a simple …
Editor’S Introduction To The Review Symposium On The Book Myth And Measurement: The New Economics Of The Minimum Wage, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Editor’S Introduction To The Review Symposium On The Book Myth And Measurement: The New Economics Of The Minimum Wage, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
[Excerpt] Why has Myth and Measurement engendered so much controversy? In part, because it deals with the minimum wage. The minimum wage was the first piece of protective labor legislation adopted at the national level, and proposals to increase the minimum wage invariably lead to heated debate between labor and business interests. When a book co-authored by the then chief economist in the Clinton Labor Department purports to show that, contrary to received wisdom, minimum wage increases do not appear to have any diverse effects on employment, it is predictable that conservative critics will attack its findings.
Research Brief: "How Are Iraq/Afghanistan-Era Veterans Faring In The Labor Market?", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University
Research Brief: "How Are Iraq/Afghanistan-Era Veterans Faring In The Labor Market?", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University
Institute for Veterans and Military Families
In this study, researchers found significant differences in employment among recently returned veterans based on age, health, and service era. The Iraq/Afghanistan-era veterans, ages 18-24, were more likely to have higher earnings if employed, while older veterans, ages 37-64, had higher odds of unemployment. In practice, veterans may be experiencing an employment divide in which those who can find work command high wages, while others are not able to find work at all. In policy, policymakers may wish to revisit these issues by increasing the availability of programs and services for older veterans and those from previous eras who are …
Generation X: Redefining The Norms Of The Academy, Ronald Ehrenberg
Generation X: Redefining The Norms Of The Academy, Ronald Ehrenberg
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
[Excerpt] The members of Generation X are the young faculty members of today and the immediate future. The panelists at this session of the conference were asked to discuss the effects of this generation on academic norms and institutional governance and the types of new models that may be emerging for academia as a result of them. More specifically, they were asked if the attitudes and loyalties of these young faculty members really do differ from that of the Baby Boom Generation, how their attitudes and behavior affect graduate programs, what academic institutions will need to do to attract the …
Prospects In The Academic Labor Market For Economists, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Prospects In The Academic Labor Market For Economists, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
[Excerpt] American colleges and universities are increasingly substituting nontenure track full-time and part-time faculty for full-time tenured and tenure track faculty. Moreover, institutions of public higher education, where almost two-thirds of the full-time faculty members at four-year institutions are employed, are under severe financial pressure. The share of state budgets devoted to public higher education is declining. The salaries of economics department faculty members at public higher education institutions have fallen substantially relative to the salaries of their counterparts at private higher education institutions, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for the publics to compete for top faculty in economics. …
The Social Security Student Benefit Program And Family Decisions, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
The Social Security Student Benefit Program And Family Decisions, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
In 1965 Congress established the Social Security Student Benefit Program which provided benefits for children of deceased, disabled or retired workers, who were enrolled in college full—time and were not married, up until the semester they turned age 22. The program grew to be a major financial aid program; at its peak in FY 81 it represented about 20% of all federal outlays on student assistance for higher education. The program was terminated for students newly entering college as of May 1, 1982. Somewhat surprisingly, in contrast to the debate that accompanies most social programs, debate over the student benefit …
The Changing Distributions Of New Ph.D. Economists And Their Employment: Implications For The Future, Ronald Ehrenberg
The Changing Distributions Of New Ph.D. Economists And Their Employment: Implications For The Future, Ronald Ehrenberg
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
[Excerpt] Academic careers are no longer the be-all and end-all for economics Ph.D. students, and the findings and background provided by Siegfried and Stock help to explain why this is so. The median age at which individuals receive economics Ph.D.'s in the Siegfried and Stock sample is 32. While they are somewhat surprised at this finding, it parallels the experiences of many other fields. Increasingly, students are working before proceeding to doctoral studies. Often Ph.D. students in economics enter their programs after having spent several years working for government agencies or research consulting companies—work that has whetted their appetites for …
Retirement Policies, Employment, And Unemployment, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Retirement Policies, Employment, And Unemployment, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
[Excerpt] There is a growing consensus among economists that reliance on aggregate demand policies alone will not be sufficient to move the economy to full employment with a nonaccelerating inflation rate, and that policies which alter the structure of labor markets will be required. While obvious structural policies such as public sector employment programs and training programs are the focus of current debate, many other public policies affect labor markets in subtle ways which may well adversely affect the level and distribution of employment and unemployment. To help improve the inflation-unemployment tradeoff, policymakers should seek to marginally modify these policies, …
The Impact Of Retirement Policies On Employment And Unemployment, Ronald Ehrenberg
The Impact Of Retirement Policies On Employment And Unemployment, Ronald Ehrenberg
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
[Excerpt] This paper has focused on the impact of retirement policies on the level and distribution of employment and unemployment. All of the policies discussed, except for early retirement provisions in privately negotiated collective bargaining contracts were seen to have adverse effects on the level and distribution of employment. Hence, the paper illustrates the more general point that policies designed to promote one social goal may well detract from achieving other goals and suggests that more explicit attention should be given to the employment effects of social programs and legislation prior to their adoption.
[Review Of The Book Discrimination In Labor Markets], Ronald G. Ehrenberg
[Review Of The Book Discrimination In Labor Markets], Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
[Excerpt] In sum, I consider Discrimination in Labor Markets a fine volume. Anyone who has the slightest interest in the analysis of labor-market discrimination should seriously contemplate purchasing it. The relatively nontechnical nature of the papers will appeal to a wide range of readers, and the book should quickly find its way onto reading lists for undergraduate and graduate courses that discuss the economics of discrimination.
The Demand For State And Local Government Employees, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
The Demand For State And Local Government Employees, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
[Excerpt] The primary purpose of this paper is to present empirical estimates of the wage elasticities of demand for different categories of state and local government employees. The employment demand equations that are estimated are derived from a utility maximization model of state and local government behavior. After presenting this model in the first section, we next briefly discuss the data used in the study. The structural system of demand equations is then estimated using pooled time-series and cross-section information, with annual individual state data as the units of observation. A number of alternative estimation methods are used in the …
Absenteeism And The Overtime Decision, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Absenteeism And The Overtime Decision, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
[Excerpt] Upon reading the congressional hearing on the Overtime Pay Penalty Act of 1964, one cannot fail to be impressed by the emphasis that management places on absenteeism as a primary cause of overtime. The argument given is basically quite simple: Large firms, it is claimed, attempt to account for absenteeism by hiring standby workers; however because of the stochastic nature of the absentee rate, it is impossible for them to have replacements always available. Hence overtime must be worked by existing employees in order to meet production schedules. One concludes from this argument that the randomness of absenteeism is …
The Impact Of The Overtime Premium On Employment And Hours In U.S. Industry, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
The Impact Of The Overtime Premium On Employment And Hours In U.S. Industry, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
[Excerpt] This paper presents empirical estimates of the intra-industry cross-section relationship between annual overtime hours per man and the ratio of these quasi-fixed costs to the overtime wage rate. Estimates are also made of the impact of a change in the overtime premium on employment and hours; these estimates have implications for policymakers concerned with the wisdom of increasing the overtime premium as a method of job creation.
Flexibility And Fairness In Liberal Market Economies: The Comparative Impact Of The Legal Environment And High Performance Work Systems, Alexander Colvin
Flexibility And Fairness In Liberal Market Economies: The Comparative Impact Of The Legal Environment And High Performance Work Systems, Alexander Colvin
Alexander Colvin
This paper compares management flexibility in employment decision-making in the United States and Canada through a cross-national survey of organizations in representative jurisdictions in each country, Pennsylvania and Ontario respectively, that investigates the impact of differences in their legal environments. The results indicate that, compared to their Ontario counterparts, organizations in Pennsylvania have a higher degree of flexibility in employment outcomes, such as higher dismissal and discipline rates, yet do not experience any greater flexibility or simplicity in management hiring and firing decisions. One explanation for this result may lie in the finding that organizations in Pennsylvania experience greater legal …
[Review Of The Book Jobs And Incomes In A Globalizing World], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Jobs And Incomes In A Globalizing World], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] This is a timely book about the labour market effects of globalization – specifically, the effects of globalization on jobs, wages and incomes in industrialized and developing countries. Ajit Ghose defines globalization as “a process of integration of national markets into a global market.” Globalization, he writes, is of such great concern now because of a new development: trade between developed and developing countries in competing products.
[Review Of The Book Technology Choice And Employment Generation By Multinational Corporations In Developing Countries], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Technology Choice And Employment Generation By Multinational Corporations In Developing Countries], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] The present volume, by addressing technology choice and employment in multinational enterprises (MNEs), adds to our understanding of the determinants of demand for labor in developing countries. The book synthesizes results from case studies of MNEs in Singapore, Nigeria, Brazil, India, and Kenya, and it does so in such a way that the main conclusions can easily be identified.
[Review Of The Book Urban Labour Market Structure And Job Access In India: A Study Of Coimbatore], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Urban Labour Market Structure And Job Access In India: A Study Of Coimbatore], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] This is a book about "labor status"—what it is, how it works, and how it can be used in labor market analysis. The authors make a convincing case that the labor status approach is indeed a useful one to follow.
[Review Of The Book Successes In Anti-Poverty], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Successes In Anti-Poverty], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] Michael Lipton has devoted a long career to studying and fighting poverty in the developing world. In this volume he talks about how to make anti-poverty programs work.
Place-To-Place Migration: Some New Evidence, Gary S. Fields
Place-To-Place Migration: Some New Evidence, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] This paper presents new evidence on the determinants of place-to-place migration in the United States. For understanding the causes of differential migration rates into and out of labor markets, knowledge of place-to-place migration functions is of interest for a number of reasons. Given a thorough understanding of gross place-to-place flows, one can proceed to calculate net flows; the reverse, of course, is not possible. There are also other advantages of place-to-place studies: parallelism to microeconomic behavior, opportunity to investigate specific 'origin-destination match-ups, recognition of the number and location of alternative opportunities for persons residing in different origins, and exploration …
Assessing Progress Toward Greater Equality Of Income Distribution, Gary S. Fields
Assessing Progress Toward Greater Equality Of Income Distribution, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] Income distribution is only one indicator of economic well-being useful in gauging improvements in the economic position of the poor; change in income distribution, appropriately conceived and measured, is as good a criterion as any for assessing progress toward the alleviation of poverty. Income is intimately bound up with a family's command over economic resources. Rising modern-sector employment or reduced infant mortality might be suggestive of improvements in the economic position of the poor; gains in real income among low-income groups provide direct evidence that poverty is being alleviated. This chapter answers the following questions: What are the strengths …
Taiwan’S Changing Employment And Earnings Structure, Gary S. Fields
Taiwan’S Changing Employment And Earnings Structure, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] In its determined pursuit of economic development throughout the latter part of the twentieth century, Taiwan consistently succeeded in achieving growth rates that were amongst the highest in the world; however, in tandem with such growth, a number of significant changes also took place in the island's labour market. This chapter begins by highlighting some of the most important of these aggregate changes, as follows: (i) the achievement, and subsequent maintenance of, essentially full employment; (ii) improvements in the overall mix of jobs, in particular, a steady reduction in the share of agricultural employment to total employment, a very …
Taiwan’S Private Sector Labour Market Prior To 1996, Gary S. Fields
Taiwan’S Private Sector Labour Market Prior To 1996, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] Analysis of the inter-industry earnings differentials revealed that these differentials were quite small by international standards, and indeed, that earnings were rising at roughly the same rate in every sector of the labour market in Taiwan. Wage differentials in Taiwan's private sector are generally in line with the economy as a whole; quite small by international standards, with real wages rising at very similar rates throughout all of the major private sector industries, whilst also demonstrating similar growth and decline patterns. For example, the agricultural sector in Taiwan is a declining sector of the economy, relative to non-agriculture, whilst …
Education And Taiwan’S Changing Employment And Earnings Structure, Gary S. Fields, Amanda Newton Kraus
Education And Taiwan’S Changing Employment And Earnings Structure, Gary S. Fields, Amanda Newton Kraus
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] Between 1980 and 1992, the enormous changes in economic development in Taiwan had significant impacts on the island's labour market. Examples of these changes include the island's almost legendary and meteoric economic growth, the maintenance of essentially full employment, an increase of around 116 per cent in real labour earnings, considerable upgrading of the educational qualifications of the labour force as a whole, a sustained and systematic shift in the composition of the labour force from agriculture into manufacturing and services and occupational upgrading (defined as the expansion of the share of the labour force in the better occupations, …
Labour Market Modelling And The Urban Informal Sector: Theory And Evidence, Gary S. Fields
Labour Market Modelling And The Urban Informal Sector: Theory And Evidence, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] The purpose of this paper is to assess the compatibility between theoretical models of the urban informal sector (UIS) and empirical evidence on the workings of that sector in the context of developing countries' labour markets. My major point is that although the UIS is an excellent idea which has served us well in the 1970s and 1980s, we have need in the next round of research to refine our terminology and our models in light of empirical findings which have come to the fore in the interim. I would contend that what empirical researchers label "the informal sector" …