Labor Economics Commons^™

A Career Preparation System Accountability System, Kevin M. Hollenbeck

Reports

No abstract provided.

Job Reallocation And Productivity Growth Under Alternative Economic Systems And Policies: Evidence From The Soviet Transition, J. David Brown, John S. Earle

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

How do economic policies and institutions affect job reallocation processes and their consequences for productivity growth? This paper studies the extreme case of economic system change and alternative transitional policies in the former Soviet Republics of Russia and Ukraine. Exploiting annual industrial census data from 1985 to 2000, we find that Soviet Russia displayed job flow behavior quite different from market economies, with very low rates of job reallocation that bore little relationship to relative productivity across firms and sectors. Since liberalization began, the pace, heterogeneity, and productivity effects of job flows have increased substantially. The increases occurred more quickly …

A Model Of Industrialization And International Wage Convergence Based On Multi-Plant Foreign Direct Investment, Hian Teck Hoon, Irene Ng

Research Collection School Of Economics

We show that for industrialization and international wage convergence through multi-plant foreign direct investment (FDI) to occur, the measure of the quality of the social infrastructure in the South relative to that in the North must be at least as large as the South-North wage ratio. We also show that if profitable FDI flows already take place from the North to the most productive economy in the South, then less productive Southern economies can also become recipients of FDI, provided that they are integrated into the world trading system, and there are no impediments to the decline of their wage …

Comments On: Procedure For Profiling Unemployed Citizens In Russia, Christopher J. O'Leary

Reports

No abstract provided.

Do Temporary Help Jobs Improve Labor Market Outcomes? A Pilot Analysis With Welfare Clients, David H. Autor, Susan N. Houseman

Reports

We draw upon administrative data from an unusual policy experiment in the state of Michigan to study the effects of temporary agency employment among welfare-to-work clients on job retention, program recidivism, and earnings. To identify these effects, we exploit the fact that welfare-to-work clients in one Michigan county were randomly assigned to service providers who had substantially different placement rates in temporary agencies but otherwise similar policies. Our findings indicate that moving welfare clients who otherwise would have been unemployed into temporary agency jobs provides some benefits to these workers, primarily by increasing their short-term earnings. Temporary agency jobs also …

Disability, Reciprocity, And 'Real Efficiency': A Unified Approach, Amy L. Wax

All Faculty Scholarship

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires private employers to offer reasonable accommodation to disabled persons capable of performing the core elements of a job. Some economists have attacked the statute as ill-advised and inefficient. In examining the efficiency of the ADA, this article analyzes its cost-effectiveness against the following social and legal background conditions: First, society will honor a minimum commitment to provide basic support to persons - including the medically disabled - who, through no fault of their own, cannot earn enough to maintain a minimally decent standard of living. Second, legal and pragmatic factors, including "sticky" or …

Kentucky Labor Supply And Demand Surveys, Mark C. Berger, Paul A. Coomes, Christopher Bollinger, Bruce Gale, Ronald E. Langley, Barry Kornstein, Jonathan M. Roenker, John Perry, Roy Sigafus, Eric C. Thompson

CBER Research Report

Excerpt from the executive summary:

The Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Kentucky (CBER), along with its partners, the Survey Research Center at the University of Kentucky (UK-SRC), the Survey Research Center in the Urban Studies Institute at the University of Louisville (UL-SRC), and the Department of Economics at the University of Louisville, is pleased to present this final report on the findings of the Kentucky labor supply and demand surveys sponsored by the Kentucky Cabinet for Workforce Development. The two universities have put together a consortium including some of the best scholars in the region …

The Impact Of A Large Wage Increase On The Workforce Stability Of Ihss Home Care Workers In San Francisco County, Candace Howes

Economics Faculty Publications

This study is one of the very few large-scale empirical investigations of the effect of wages on labor market outcomes in any direct care industry, and possibly the only such study specifically addressing conditions in the homecare industry. It records the impact of the nearly doubling of wages for IHSS homecare workers in San Francisco County over a 52 month period. The project is based on a unique database, which matches approximately 18,000 San Francisco County homecare workers in 26,115 unique matches to 15,500 service recipients between November 1997 and February 2002.

Income Replacement And Reemployment Programs In Michigan And Neighboring States, Stephen A. Woodbury

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Governments in every developed industrial economy administer programs that partially replace the earnings of workers who suffer job loss or on-the-job injury. In addition, governments administer programs to help job losers gain reemployment, either through direct job placement (for those who are job-ready) or through retraining (for those who are not). This chapter describes and discusses current policy issues surrounding the main social insurance and reemployment programs in Michigan: Unemployment Insurance (UI), which partially replaces lost earnings following loss of a job; Workers' Compensation (WC), which pays for medical treatment, vocational rehabilitation, and lost earnings following a work-related injury or …

Us Social Security Rules In The 1990s: A Natural Experiment In Myopic And Farsighted Behaviour, Stephen D. Rubb

WCBT Faculty Publications

During the 1990s changes in the earnings test threshold and the delayed retirement credit had the potential to impact the labour supply of 65 to 69-year-olds. These changes in Social Security rules are used to examine whether labour supply behaviour of elderly men and women is 'myopic' or 'farsighted'. Men are found to be more farsighted than previously realized, perhaps due to increases in life expectancy.

Fair Weather Or Foul? Maine's Business Climate Revisted, Bureau Of Labor Education. University Of Maine

Bureau of Labor Education

There is no shortage of analyses of the problems of Maine’s economy, or of proposed solutions. Once again, a number of recent reports have argued that Maine has a highly unfavorable business climate, characterized by excessive taxes and excessive regulation. These reports go on to argue that Maine must improve its business climate through such suggested changes as an overhaul of the tax system, elimination of property taxes on business equipment purchases, reducing the state’s regulatory burden, and reducing Maine’s supposedly high “tax burden.” Although the support for these proposals is framed as being “irrefutable,” in reality many of the …

What Makes That Employee So Good? Identifying The Characteristics Of High Performance Hourly Employees In The Theme Park And Attraction Industry, Ady Milman

Dick Pope Sr. Institute Publications

Following the September 11th, 2001 events, the United States has seen the first decline in employment expansion in over a decade. The services industry lost 111,000 jobs, mainly in travel-related businesses like hotels (46,000) and auto services (13,000), in particular auto rental agencies and parking services (U.S. Department of Labor, 2001). The hospitality industry, like many other sectors of the service industry is faced with the challenge of recruiting and retaining employees. Employment in the theme park and attraction industry is not an easy task. Human resource professionals are challenged on a daily basis with unique task of recruiting, selecting, …

The Effects Of Temporary Services And Contracting Out On Low-Skilled Workers: Evidence From Auto Suppliers, Hospitals, And Public Schools, George A. Erickcek, Susan N. Houseman, Arne L. Kalleberg

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We examine why employers use temporary agency and contract company workers and the implications of these practices for the wages, benefits, and working conditions of workers in low-skilled labor markets. Through intensive case studies in manufacturing (automotive supply), services (hospitals), and public sector (primary and secondary schools) industries, we define the circumstances under which these workers are likely to be adversely affected, minimally affected, or even benefited by such outsourcing. Adverse effects on compensation are clearest when companies substitute agency temporaries or contract company workers for regular employees on a long-term basis because low-skilled workers within the organization receive relatively …

A Frontline Decision Support System For Georgia Career Centers, Randall W. Eberts, Christopher J. O'Leary

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 emphasizes the integration and coordination of employment services. Central to achieving this aim is the federal requirement that local areas receiving WIA funding must establish one-stop centers, where providers of various employment services within a local labor market are assembled in one location. A major challenge facing staff in these centers is the expected large volume of customers resulting from relaxed program eligibility rules. Nonetheless, resources for assessment and counseling are limited. To help frontline staff in one-stop centers quickly assess customer needs and properly target services, the U.S. Department of Labor has …

Vocational Rehabilitation And Small Business Development Center Linkages, Nancy Arnold, Catherine Ipsen, University Of Montana Rural Institute

Employment

Self-employment provides a variety of advantages including flexible hours, ability to work from home, an outlet for creativity, and a job that capitalizes on one’s interests and talents (Clark & Kays, 1999). According to the 1990 United States Census, people with disabilities choose self-employment at a higher rate than people without disabilities (12.2% vs. 7.8%). The 1998 Reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act contains language that strengthens self-employment as a viable and expected Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) outcome. Likewise, Small Business Administration (SBA) initiatives which impact Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) contain similar goals of enhancing self-employment service delivery for people with …

Developing Collaborative Relationships To Enhance Self-Employment Services For People With Disabilities, Nancy Arnold Ph.D., Catherine Ipsen M.A., University Of Montana Rural Institute

Employment

RTC: Rural researchers surveyed 571 U.S. Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) to learn about linkages between Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) and SBDCs that could enhance self-employment outcomes for people with disabilities. 346 of 527 deliverable surveys were returned for a 64% response rate. The resulting data show a positive relationship between the presence of informal and/or formal agreements and SBDCs’ experience providing self-employment services for people with disabilities. VR-SBDC coordination could expand the outcomes of both agencies, reduce fragmentation between agencies, and capitalize on the strengths of each program.

Struggling To Provide: A Portrait Of Alameda County Homecare Workers, Candace Howes, Howard Greenwich, Laura Reif, Lea Grundy

Economics Faculty Publications

Alameda County employs nearly 8,000 homecare workers to help disabled and elderly persons live independently. Over one-third of these workers and their families—about 2,800—earn incomes that are below the official Federal poverty threshold. Many more struggle to meet basic daily needs and have to make difficult choices between caring for themselves and caring for others. Struggling to Provide is based on a recent survey of homecare workers in Alameda County that illustrates the insecure conditions in which many homecare workers live.

The Nature And Nurture Of Economic Outcomes, Bruce Sacerdote

Dartmouth Scholarship

The relative importance of biology and envi- ronment is one of the oldest and most prominent areas of scientific inquiry and has been exam- ined by researchers as diverse as David Hume (1748), Charles Darwin (1859), and Sigmund Freud (1930). Social scientists are particularly interested in the degree to which family and neighborhood environmental factors influence a child’s educational attainment and earnings. The stakes in this debate are quite high and far-reaching. As Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray (1994) point out, the effectiveness of anti- poverty and pro-education policies is largely de- pendent on the degree to which environment matters. …

Economic Impact Of Pharmacia On Kalamazoo County In 2001, George A. Erickcek, Brad R. Watts

Reports

No abstract provided.

A Tale Of Two Decades: Changes In Work And Earnings In Massachusetts, 1979–1999, Randy Albelda, Marlene Kim

Economics Faculty Publication Series

Over the past twenty years, Massachusetts has replaced the mantle of old-style manufacturing with a robust “new economy.” Our economic vitality has never been better. But not all individuals benefited from the 1990s boom as they had from the one a decade earlier. Some of our residents are worse off than they were before.

Instrumental Variable Estimates Of The Labor Market Spillover Effects Of Welfare Reform, Timothy J. Bartik

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

By increasing the labor supply of welfare recipients, welfare reform may reduce wages and increase unemployment among other less-educated groups. These "spillover effects" are difficult to estimate because welfare caseloads decrease in response to improvements in the economy, which leads caseload reductions to be associated with improvements in labor market outcomes. This paper corrects for the endogeneity of caseloads by using instruments that reflect policy. The estimates suggest that welfare reform has significant spillover effects: welfare reform reduces employment of male high school dropouts, and reduces wages of single mothers and male high school dropouts.

How Late To Pay? Understanding Wage Arrears In Russia, John S. Earle, Klara Sabirianova Peter

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We organize an empirical analysis of Russian wage arrears around hypotheses concerning factors that create incentives for firms to pay late and for workers to tolerate late payment, both reinforced by a prevalent environment of overdue wages. Our analysis draws upon nationally representative household panel data matched with employer data to show substantial interfirm variation with the probability of arrears positively related to firm age, size, state ownership, and declining performance. Estimation of a constrained multinomial logit model also reveals intrafirm, variation related to job tenure and small shareholdings in the firm. Workers tend to have higher arrears in rural …

Has Training Helped Employ Xiagang In China? A Tale From Two Cities, Benu Bidani, Chor-Ching Goh, Christopher J. O'Leary

Reports

This study evaluates the effectiveness of training programs for workers retrenched from Chinese state-owned enterprises in the cities of Shenyang and Wuhan. A variety of impact estimators were applied, however ordinary least squares (OLS) controlling for observable characteristic s was robust. We find that training dampens reemployment prospects in Shenyang but improves them in Wuhan. Training impact estimates computed by propensity score and log odds ratio matching imposing various support condition rules, yielded estimates very similar to those from the OLS. The estimates suggest that participation in training reduces the probability of being employed one year after participation by about …

Endogenous Growth And Equilibrium Unemployment In A North-South Model Of The World Economy, Hian Teck Hoon

Research Collection School Of Economics

A North-South model is developed which incorporates an endogenous rate of equilibrium unemployment in the North in the context of long-run growth. It is shown how increases in the size of public debt and unemployment compensation financed by payroll taxation, all measured relative to productivity, raise the Northern natural rate of unemployment and, consequently, reduce the global rate of long-run growth. The effect of the shocks is also to drive down the rate of employment expansion in the South. A set of the fundamental determinants of the world terms of trade is obtained, which includes policy parameters.

Trends In The Job Market For Librarians: 1985-2000, Kelly Blessinger

E-JASL 1999-2009 (Volumes 1-10)

This article discusses the major influence that the information age has had on librarianship. Computer-related technology has changed the way librarians do their jobs, their duties and has created a whole new realm of opportunities for librarians. Data from the Library Journal annual salary surveys and the ALA Placement Center are included in charts and figures to track job market trends from 1985-2000. Issues such as salary, job mobility and education are also discussed.

Thinking Outside The Box: The Challenge Of Maine's Regional Service Centers, Bureau Of Labor Education. University Of Maine

Bureau of Labor Education

The challenges facing regional service center communities in Maine need to be addressed by creative problem solving which goes beyond the simplistic and flawed assumptions of the "Closed Loop" model of service center revenue. Many existing strategies to increase municipal revenue through tax incentives and inappropriate economic development are often counterproductive to the long-term well-being of service center communities and their quality of life. The health of RSC's is critically important for the well-being of the state as a whole, and the taxpayers in these communities should not be expected to assume the entire financial burden of providing needed services …

Priming The Pump: Research As A Catalyst For Economic Growth, Jeffery T. Collins, Craig T. Schulman

Publications and Presentations

This analysis is designed to answer several important questions regarding the impact of research dollars invested in the state of Arkansas. We begin by discussing the state of the state in terms of income measures and measures of educational attainment levels. Throughout this analysis, the state of Arkansas is compared to the U.S., to a group of peer states , and, initially, to the state of Mississippi.

Next, we examine the linkage between income and education. We also examine higher education in the state in terms of spending, access and research dollars. From this general description we examine the present …

Franchises: An Option For Business Owners With Disabilities, Nancy Arnold Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute

Employment

Franchises are quite popular and may be an option for business owners with disabilities. Mike Powers, author of How to Open a Franchise Business, says that about one-third of today’s franchises are owned or co-owned by women and about one-tenth are minority owned. Franchising offers a good opportunity for potential business owners with disabilities--especially with careful planning, investigation, and an adequate financial base.

Contracting With Limited Commitment: Evidence From Employment-Based Health Insurance Contracts, Keith J. Crocker, John R. Moran

Center for Policy Research

When an individual's health status is observable, but evolving over time, the key to maintaining a successful health insurance arrangement is to have the healthier members of the group cross-subsidize those who experience adverse health outcomes. We argue that impediments to worker mobility may serve to mitigate the attrition of healthy individuals from employer-sponsored insurance pools, thereby creating a de facto commitment mechanism that allows for more complete insurance of health risks than would be possible in the absence of such frictions. Using data on health insurance contracts obtained from the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey, we find that the …

The Business Plan: A Road Map To Success, Nancy Arnold Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute

Employment

The business plan is like a road map. The process of writing a business plan helps the business owner make good decisions and reach his or her goal or destination. The number one reason businesses fail is lack of planning! Instead of making mistakes on paper, business owners too often make them with real money and real customers. That is why many, but not all, business funding institutions and agencies require business plans and may be reluctant to fund business start-ups that cannot provide a well-developed plan.