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Articles 1 - 30 of 92
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Work Organization And High-Paying Jobs, Dylan Nelson, Nathan Wilmers, Letian Zhang
Work Organization And High-Paying Jobs, Dylan Nelson, Nathan Wilmers, Letian Zhang
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
High-paying factory jobs in the 1940s were an engine of egalitarian economic growth for a generation. Are there alternate forms of work organization that deliver similar benefits for frontline workers? Work organization varies by type of complexity and degree of employer control. Technical and tacit knowledge tasks receive higher pay for signaling or developing human capital. Higher-autonomy tasks elicit efficiency wages. To test these ideas, we match administrative earnings to task descriptions from job postings. We then compare earnings for workers hired into the same occupation and firm, but under different task allocations. When jobs raise task complexity and autonomy, …
Testimony To U.S. House Education & Workforce Committee’S Workforce Protections Subcommittee, Aaron Sojourner
Testimony To U.S. House Education & Workforce Committee’S Workforce Protections Subcommittee, Aaron Sojourner
Testimonies
No abstract provided.
How Many Independent Contractors Are There And Who Works In These Jobs?, Katharine G. Abraham, Brad J. Hershbein, Susan N. Houseman, Beth C. Truesdale
How Many Independent Contractors Are There And Who Works In These Jobs?, Katharine G. Abraham, Brad J. Hershbein, Susan N. Houseman, Beth C. Truesdale
Employment Research Newsletter
No abstract provided.
How Many Independent Contractors Are There And Who Works In These Jobs?, Katharine G. Abraham, Brad J. Hershbein, Susan N. Houseman, Beth C. Truesdale
How Many Independent Contractors Are There And Who Works In These Jobs?, Katharine G. Abraham, Brad J. Hershbein, Susan N. Houseman, Beth C. Truesdale
Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs
No abstract provided.
The Independent Contractor Workforce: New Evidence On Its Size And Composition And Ways To Improve Its Measurement In Household Surveys, Katharine G. Abraham, Brad J. Hershbein, Susan N. Houseman, Beth C. Truesdale
The Independent Contractor Workforce: New Evidence On Its Size And Composition And Ways To Improve Its Measurement In Household Surveys, Katharine G. Abraham, Brad J. Hershbein, Susan N. Houseman, Beth C. Truesdale
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
Good data on the size and composition of the independent contractor workforce are elusive, with household survey and administrative tax data often disagreeing on levels and trends. We carried out a series of focus groups to learn how self-employed independent contractors speak about their work. Based on these findings, we designed and fielded a large-scale telephone survey to elicit more accurate and complete information on independent contractors, including those who may be coded incorrectly as employees in conventional household survey data and those who are independent contractors in a secondary work activity. We find that, upon probing, roughly one in …
How Do Broad Non-Disclosure Agreements Affect Labor Markets?, Jason Sockin, Aaron Sojourner, Evan Starr
How Do Broad Non-Disclosure Agreements Affect Labor Markets?, Jason Sockin, Aaron Sojourner, Evan Starr
Employment Research Newsletter
No abstract provided.
How Do Broad Non-Disclosure Agreements Affect Labor Markets?, Jason Sockin, Aaron Sojourner, Evan Starr
How Do Broad Non-Disclosure Agreements Affect Labor Markets?, Jason Sockin, Aaron Sojourner, Evan Starr
Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs
No abstract provided.
Wage Posting Or Wage Bargaining?: A Test Using Dual Jobholders, Marta Lachowska, Alexandre Mas, Raffaele Saggio, Stephen A. Woodbury
Wage Posting Or Wage Bargaining?: A Test Using Dual Jobholders, Marta Lachowska, Alexandre Mas, Raffaele Saggio, Stephen A. Woodbury
Employment Research Newsletter
No abstract provided.
Wage Posting Or Wage Bargaining?: A Test Using Dual Jobholders, Marta Lachowska, Alexandre Mas, Raffaele Saggio, Stephen A. Woodbury
Wage Posting Or Wage Bargaining?: A Test Using Dual Jobholders, Marta Lachowska, Alexandre Mas, Raffaele Saggio, Stephen A. Woodbury
Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs
No abstract provided.
Wage Posting Or Wage Bargaining? A Test Using Dual Jobholders, Marta Lachowska, Alexandre Mas, Raffaele Saggio, Stephen A. Woodbury
Wage Posting Or Wage Bargaining? A Test Using Dual Jobholders, Marta Lachowska, Alexandre Mas, Raffaele Saggio, Stephen A. Woodbury
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
This paper examines the behavior of dual jobholders to test a simple model of wage bargaining and wage posting. We estimate the sensitivity of wages and separation rates to wage shocks in a worker’s secondary job to assess the degree of bargaining versus wage posting in the labor market. We interpret the evidence within a model where workers facing hours constraints in their primary job may take a second, flexible-hours job for additional income. When a secondary job offers a sufficiently high wage, a worker either bargains with the primary employer for a wage increase or separates. The model provides …
Contingent And Alternative Employment: Lessons From The Contingent Worker Supplement, 1995–2017, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman
Contingent And Alternative Employment: Lessons From The Contingent Worker Supplement, 1995–2017, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman
Reports
The Contingent Worker Supplement (CWS) to the Current Population Survey—administered six times between 1995 and 2017—is uniquely valuable in providing detailed information on a consistent set of work arrangements in a large, nationally representative survey. Drawing on data from all six CWS waves, we provide an in-depth picture of the nature of contingent and alternative work and whether and how employment arrangements are changing in the United States. We exploit questions in the CWS to distinguish between three types of self-employment, including two types of independent contractors. We also link data on individuals in the CWS to their data in …
What Do We Know About Alternative Work Arrangements In The United States? A Synthesis Of Research Evidence From Household Surveys, And Administrative Data, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman
What Do We Know About Alternative Work Arrangements In The United States? A Synthesis Of Research Evidence From Household Surveys, And Administrative Data, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman
Reports
The Contingent Worker Supplement (CWS) to the Current Population Survey (CPS), fielded six times between 1995 and 2017, was designed to measure jobs that were temporary in nature as well as work arrangements thought to be associated with less commitment between workers and employers. The latter includes independent contractor and platform work, temporary help and other intermediated contract work arrangements, and on-call work, which captures a certain type of unpredictable work schedule. While the CWS provides consistent measures of the work arrangements covered in the survey over a 22-year time span, it has shortcomings. Data from other household surveys, employer …
Job Search And Hiring With Two-Sided Limited Information About Workseekers’ Skills, Eliana Carranza, Robert Garlick, Kate Orkin, Neil Rankin
Job Search And Hiring With Two-Sided Limited Information About Workseekers’ Skills, Eliana Carranza, Robert Garlick, Kate Orkin, Neil Rankin
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
We present field experimental evidence that limited information about workseekers’ skills distorts both firm and workseeker behavior. Assessing workseekers’ skills, giving workseekers their assessment results, and helping them to credibly share the results with firms increases workseekers’ employment and earnings. It also aligns their beliefs and search strategies more closely with their skills. Giving assessment results only to workseekers has similar effects on beliefs and search, but smaller effects on employment and earnings. Giving assessment results only to firms increases callbacks. These patterns are consistent with two-sided information frictions, a new finding that can inform design of information-provision mechanisms.
Most Self-Employed Workers Are Independent Contractors, Katharine G. Abraham, Brad J. Hershbein, Susan N. Houseman
Most Self-Employed Workers Are Independent Contractors, Katharine G. Abraham, Brad J. Hershbein, Susan N. Houseman
Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs
No abstract provided.
Contract Work At Older Ages, Katharine G. Abraham, Brad J. Hershbein, Susan N. Houseman
Contract Work At Older Ages, Katharine G. Abraham, Brad J. Hershbein, Susan N. Houseman
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
The share of workers who are self-employed rises markedly with age. Given policy concerns about inadequate retirement savings, especially among those with lower education, and the resulting interest in encouraging employment at older ages, it is important to understand the role that self-employment arrangements play in facilitating work among seniors. New data from a survey module fielded on a Gallup telephone survey distinguish independent contractor work from other self-employment and provide information on informal and online platform work. The Gallup data show that, especially after accounting for individuals who are miscoded as employees, self-employment is even more prevalent at older …
The Importance Of Informal Work In Supplementing Household Income, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman
The Importance Of Informal Work In Supplementing Household Income, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman
Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs
No abstract provided.
The Importance Of Informal Work In Supplementing Household Income, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman
The Importance Of Informal Work In Supplementing Household Income, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman
Employment Research Newsletter
No abstract provided.
Bias And Productivity In Humans And Machines, Bo Cowgill
Bias And Productivity In Humans And Machines, Bo Cowgill
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
Where should better learning technology (such as machine learning or AI) improve decisions? I develop a model of decision-making in which better learning technology is complementary with experimentation. Noisy, inconsistent decision-making introduces quasi-experimental variation into training datasets, which complements learning. The model makes heterogeneous predictions about when machine learning algorithms can improve human biases. These algorithms can remove human biases exhibited in historical training data, but only if the human training decisions are sufficiently noisy; otherwise, the algorithms will codify or exacerbate existing biases. Algorithms need only a small amount of noise to correct biases that cause large productivity distortions. …
Multiple Jobholding: Knowing The Facts To Draw Proper Policy Conclusions, Etienne Lalé
Multiple Jobholding: Knowing The Facts To Draw Proper Policy Conclusions, Etienne Lalé
Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs
No abstract provided.
Search And Multiple Jobholding, Etienne Lalé
Search And Multiple Jobholding, Etienne Lalé
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
A search-theoretic model of the labor market with idiosyncratic fluctuations in hours worked, search both off- and on-the-job, and multiple jobholding is developed. Taking on a second job entails a commitment to hold onto the primary employer, enabling the worker to use the primary job as her outside option to bargain with the secondary employer. The model performs well at explaining multiple jobholding inflows and outflows, and it is informative for understanding the secular decline in multiple jobholding. While some worry that this decline heralds a less-flexible labor market, the model reveals that it has contributed to reducing search frictions.
Effects Of The Affordable Care Act On Part-Time Employment: Early Evidence, Marcus O. Dillender, Carolyn J. Heinrich, Susan N. Houseman (Corresponding Author)
Effects Of The Affordable Care Act On Part-Time Employment: Early Evidence, Marcus O. Dillender, Carolyn J. Heinrich, Susan N. Houseman (Corresponding Author)
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires employers with at least 50 full-time-equivalent employees to offer “affordable” health insurance to employees working 30 or more hours per week. If employers do not comply with the mandate, they may face substantial financial penalties. Employers can potentially circumvent the mandate by reducing weekly hours below the 30-hour threshold or by using other nonstandard employment arrangements (direct-hire temporaries, agency temporaries, small contractors, and independent contractors). We examine the effects of the ACA on short-hours, part-time employment. Using monthly CPS data, we estimate that the ACA resulted in an increase in low-hours, involuntary part-time employment …
Domestic Outsourcing In The United States: A Research Agenda To Assess Trends And Effects On Job Quality, Annette Bernhardt, Rosemary L. Batt, Susan N. Houseman, Eileen Appelbaum
Domestic Outsourcing In The United States: A Research Agenda To Assess Trends And Effects On Job Quality, Annette Bernhardt, Rosemary L. Batt, Susan N. Houseman, Eileen Appelbaum
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
The goal of this paper is to develop a comprehensive research agenda to analyze trends in domestic outsourcing in the United States—firms’ use of contractors and independent contractors—and its effects on job quality and inequality. In the process, we review definitions of outsourcing, the available scant empirical research, and limitations of existing data sources. We also summarize theories that attempt to explain why firms contract out for certain functions and assess their predictions about likely impacts on job quality. We then lay out in detail a major research initiative on domestic outsourcing, discussing the questions it should answer and providing …
Domestic Outsourcing Reduces Wages And Contributes To Rising Inequality, Johannes Schmieder, Deborah Goldschmidt
Domestic Outsourcing Reduces Wages And Contributes To Rising Inequality, Johannes Schmieder, Deborah Goldschmidt
Employment Research Newsletter
No abstract provided.
The Nature And Role Of Temporary Help Work In The U.S. Economy, Susan N. Houseman, Carolyn J. Heinrich
The Nature And Role Of Temporary Help Work In The U.S. Economy, Susan N. Houseman, Carolyn J. Heinrich
Employment Research Newsletter
No abstract provided.
Occupations, Organizations, And Boundaryless Careers, Pamela S. Tolbert
Occupations, Organizations, And Boundaryless Careers, Pamela S. Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
[Excerpt] The central premise of this chapter is that, as organizations become less important in defining career pathways and boundaries, occupations will become increasingly more important. While occupational demarcations have always had a significant, albeit often unacknowledged, impact on individual career patterns, the significance of such demarcations for careers is likely to be heightened by current trends in employment relationships. In this chapter, then, I review the sociological literature on occupational labor markets and on the structure of professional occupations, in an effort to shed light on a number of issues associated with occupationally based careers. Of specific concern are …
The Rise Of Domestic Outsourcing And The Evolution Of The German Wage Structure, Deborah Goldschmidt, Johannes Schmieder
The Rise Of Domestic Outsourcing And The Evolution Of The German Wage Structure, Deborah Goldschmidt, Johannes Schmieder
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
The nature of the relationship between employers and employees has been changing over the last three decades, with firms increasingly relying on contractors, temp agencies, and franchises rather than hiring employees directly. We investigate the impact of this transformation on the wage structure by following jobs that are moved outside of the boundary of lead employers to contracting firms. For this end we develop a new method for identifying outsourcing of food, cleaning, security, and logistics services in administrative data using the universe of social security records in Germany. We document a dramatic growth of domestic outsourcing in Germany since …
Temporary Help Employment In Recession And Recovery, Susan N. Houseman, Carolyn J. Heinrich
Temporary Help Employment In Recession And Recovery, Susan N. Houseman, Carolyn J. Heinrich
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
The temporary help industry, although small, plays a significant role in the macro economy, reflecting employers’ growing reliance on temporary help agencies to provide flexibility in meeting staffing needs. Drawing on detailed temporary-help order data between 2007 and 2011 from a large, nationally representative staffing company, we provide insights into the characteristics of temporary help work, employers’ use of temporary agencies to screen workers for permanent positions, and the industry’s role in labor market adjustment over the business cycle. We estimate that the temporary help industry accounted for a large share of gross job losses and job gains over this …
The Potential Effects Of Federal Health Insurance Reforms On Employment Arrangements And Compensation, Marcus O. Dillender, Carolyn J. Heinrich, Susan N. Houseman
The Potential Effects Of Federal Health Insurance Reforms On Employment Arrangements And Compensation, Marcus O. Dillender, Carolyn J. Heinrich, Susan N. Houseman
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) presents an opportunity to significantly improve compensation for American workers. A potential concern, though, is that employers will circumvent the employer mandate by increasing their use of workers in staffing arrangements that are not covered by the mandate: workers averaging less than 30 hours per week, working on a temporary basis, or working in organizations with fewer than 50 full-time employees. In this paper, we shed light on the likely effects that the ACA will have on employment arrangements. We first examine how part-time employment in Massachusetts changed after its health insurance reform, which is …
Employee Representation In Economies In Transition: Discussion, Christopher J. O'Leary
Employee Representation In Economies In Transition: Discussion, Christopher J. O'Leary
Christopher J. O'Leary
No abstract provided.
Mothers' Long-Term Employment Patterns, Alexandra Killewald, Xiaolin Zhuo
Mothers' Long-Term Employment Patterns, Alexandra Killewald, Xiaolin Zhuo
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
Previous research on maternal employment has disproportionately focused on married, college-educated mothers and examined either current employment status or postpartum return to employment. Following the life course perspective, we instead conceptualize maternal careers as long-term life course patterns. Using data from the NLSY79 and optimal matching, we document four common employment patterns of American mothers over the first 18 years of maternity. About two-thirds follow steady patterns, either full-time employment (38 percent) or steady nonemployment (24 percent). The rest experience “mixed” patterns: long-term part-time employment (20 percent), or a multiyear period of nonemployment following maternity, then a return to employment …