Benefits and Compensation Commons^™

Do Rural Areas Gender-Discriminate Wages More Than Metropolitan Areas?, Ali Gonzalez, Michael Montano, Brandon Sacks, Joseph Williams

Undergraduate Economics Working Paper Series

This study analyzes the gender wage gap in metropolitan versus rural areas using U.S. hourly wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), for the period 2010-2025. The analysis uses regressions on a semi-log wage model and Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions to compare the gaps and separate the effects attributable to explained (endowment) differences from those attributable to unexplained (coefficient) differences. The semi-log wage model reveals a percentage wage decrease for females of approximately 17.4% in rural areas and 9.9% in metropolitan areas. The Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions further indicate that the unexplained (coefficient) component of the gap is substantially larger in rural …

Labor Market Responses To Ai: Measuring Wage Effects Across U.S. Occupations, Kaitlin Pham, Karla Rodriguez

Undergraduate Economics Working Paper Series

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing economies around the world, with some experts predicting an impact greater than the Industrial Revolution. As AI becomes more common in daily life and business, questions have grown about how it might affect jobs, wages, and inequality. The rise of automation and highly capable AI models has made people wonder which occupations will benefit and which might be at risk. This study looks at how exposure to AI technologies affects wage trajectories in the United States. Using occupational-level data from O*NET and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, we build an AI exposure index …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Pension Participation Among Different Migrant Groups In China: Job Type, Regional Disparities, And Cross-Provincial Mobility, Boxia Xu

Dissertations

As China undergoes rapid economic transformation and urbanization, the migrant population has grown significantly. Although migrants play essential roles in the labor market, they face persistent structural barriers to pension access. Regional disparities, occupational segmentation, and cross-provincial mobility constraints affect the probability of their pension participation. While policy efforts aim to expand coverage, the fragmented nature of China’s pension system continues to hinder equitable access for migrants. As a result, ensuring pension participation among migrant groups remains a pressing challenge.

Using data from the 2014 China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS), this dissertation employs logistic regression models to investigate how job …

Beauty Comes With A Price: But How Much Is It Worth It, Fabliha Afia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The global skincare market, valued at 104.24 billion dollars in the year 2022, is very heterogeneous, ranging from prestige brands to more drugstore types. Even when the same key ingredients are present, the latter often sells for much higher due to branding and packaging and the aura of prestige created. This capstone project entitled "Beauty comes with a price: but how much is it worth?" investigates if such higher costs are justified due to superior quality or are driven by non-functional factors. It systematically compared the high-end versus drugstore skincare products in categories like sunscreens, serums, and exfoliants with respect …

Athletic Trainers' Perspectives On Resources And Preparation Needed For Successful Salary Negotiation, Kimberly R. Detwiler, Cailee E. Welch Bacon, Indigo B. White, Leanne E. Jones, Julie M. Cavallario

Rehabilitation Sciences Faculty Publications

Context

Many athletic trainers (ATs) work under high stress, long hours, and low pay. These conditions often lead ATs and athletic training students to leave the profession. Previous studies show that over half of ATs do not negotiate salary, often because they feel the offer is fair or fear losing the job. Additional support is needed to help ATs prepare for negotiations, as current resources are limited.

Objective

This study explored ATs’ views on the resources need to prepare for salary negotiations during the hiring process.

Design

Consensual qualitative research.

Setting

Individual video interviews.

Patients or Other Participants

Twenty-eight participants …

Worth In The Workforce: How To Reform The Fair Labor Standards Act 14(C) Provisions For Persons With Disabilities, Todd Robatin

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

No abstract provided.

How The Level Of Job Complexity Impacts The Gender Wage Gap Across Occupations, Zytlaly Magaña Corona

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The present study focused on unpacking the social and structural aspects of job complexity to better understand its effects on the gender wage gap. Previous research on the job complexity-compensation dynamic has primarily focused on cognitive complexity. Job complexity across occupations were examined using work activity data from O*NET and merging it with the Current Population Survey data sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (N=67,003). Results revealed that higher complexity jobs in this study yielded greater wage disparities across different occupations as predicted. Furthermore, physical activities and gaining knowledge from the Generalized Work Activities were the two most …

Can Maternity Benefits Have Long-Term Effects On Childbearing? Evidence From Soviet Russia, Olga Malkova

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper quantifies the effects of Russia’s 1981 expansion in maternity benefits on completed childbearing. The program provided one year of partially paid parental leave and a small cash transfer upon a child’s birth. I exploit the program’s two-stage implementation and find evidence that women had more children as a result of the program. Fertility rates rose immediately by 8.2% over twelve months. The increase in fertility rates not only persisted for the ten-year duration of the program, but it reflected large increases in higher-order births to older women who already had children before the program started.

A Cross-Cultural Examination Of The Effect Of Employer Support On Employee Productivity, Shawn Tuman, Haley Lipton

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The purpose of this creative, collaborative, capstone project is to conduct a cross-cultural examination of the effect of employer support on employee productivity by compiling, examining, and synthesizing conclusions from existing research. In a world of growing globalization and technological innovation, the speed of productivity is often the cornerstone that differentiates successful businesses from unsuccessful businesses, providing a competitive advantage to the quick while the others fall behind. Often this increased level of efficiency comes at a cost beyond the price of the product and the salary of employees, a deeper, psychological cost. By reviewing research focused in the United …

A Multifaceted View Of Ceo Compensation And Performance: A Case Study, John Nirenberg

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

This case addresses CEO pay, a topic that annually stimulates the question of whether or not executive compensation is based on performance or something else and why it is so high in absolute terms. The societal impact of the new class of executives among the largest companies in the United States set apart from the rest of the world in a cocoon of wealth and privilege inflames resentment among workers, widens an already unfathomable distance between those at the top and the rest of us, and endangers the social amity among citizens of the polity . Positive social change might …

Beyond Moneyball: Changing Compensation In Mlb, Joshua Congdon-Hohman, Jonathan A. Lanning

Economics Department Working Papers

This study examines the changes in player compensation in Major League Baseball during the last three decades. Specifically, we examine the extent to which recently documented changes in players’ compensation structure based on certain types of productivity fits in with the longer term trends in compensation, and identify the value of specific output activities in different time periods. We examine free agent contracts in three-year periods across three decades and find changes to which players’ performance measures are significantly rewarded in free agency. We find evidence that the compensation strategies of baseball teams increased the rewards to “power” statistics like …

Gerald Davis, The Vanishing American Corporation (2016), James R. Blair

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

Boom & Bust: The Perils Of Guaranteed Long Term Contracts. Evidence From Ops100 Performance Over The Contract Cycle, Heather M. O'Neill

Business and Economics Faculty Publications

This study focuses on panel data of 256 MLB free agent hitters under the 2006-2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) to demonstrate that hitters, on average, increase their offensive production, measured by OPS100, during the last year of their contract and subsequently underperform the first year of the newly signed long term contract. The contract year phenomenon arises from the incentive to land a lucrative guaranteed contract for players not intending to retire. Signing a long term guaranteed contract creates an incentive to shirk (underperform) the first year of the new contract because performance and pay become unlinked and the need …

Getting The Most Out Of Your 401(K), Emily G. Brown Jd, Jeanne Medeiros Jd

Pension Action Center Publications

Planning for your retirement is an active and ongoing endeavor. It requires a certain amount of diligence and knowledge to ensure you have an adequate amount of financial stability at retirement. In order to safeguard your economic security, it is important to know if you are getting the most out of your 401(k) retirement savings account. This factsheet provides basic information about enrolling in a 401(k) retirement savings account and important items to keep in mind once you are enrolled.

Do Mlb Hitters Boost Performance In Their Contract Year?, Heather M. O'Neill

Business and Economics Faculty Publications

This study focuses on 256 MLB free agent hitters playing under the 2006-2011 CBA to determine whether they boost their offensive performance in their contract year. Prior studies’ results are mixed, depending on the econometric technique used and the choice of the offensive performance measure.

Having multiple year observations per player, one can incorporate the unobserved traits of the players (ability, risk aversion, work ethic, etc.) by using Fixed Effects (FE) estimation. Since these unmeasured player traits are likely to be correlated with observed predictors of performance (games played, playoff contention, age, etc.), traditionally used Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and …

The Look Of The Line: An Empirical Investigation Of The Impacts Of Facial Symmetry On Salary Levels Of Offensive Linemen In The Nfl, Kristen Wampole

Business and Economics Honors Papers

Evaluation of a professional athlete's performance for the purposes of compensation determination is difficult, especially when decision making may not follow the expected "instrumental rationality." This paper will look to examine the factors, both productive and non-productive, impacting an Offensive Lineman's salary in the NFL. The purpose of this study is to determine whether an offensive lineman's salary is based on productive characteristics adhering to instrumental rationality, or whether the influence of non-productive characteristics influence salary as ultimately determined by team management. Results indicate that players within the tackle position with earning salaries in the seventy-fifth percentile gain additional benefits …

What Determines Public Pension Investment Risk-Taking Policy, Nancy Mohan, Ting Zhang

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

State public pension plans, mostly defined benefit plans, cover pension benefits for 12.8 million active public employees and 5.9 million retirees and other annuitants. However, by the end of 2009, public pension plans had accumulated a total funding deficit of $697 billion (measured by the difference between actuarial pension assets and liabilities). On average, public pension funds cover 75 percent of their liabilities, but individual state results vary greatly.

The 2008 stock market crash strongly affected pension asset value in that equity allocation on average accounted for 56 percent of invested assets. The average 2009 pension asset beta of 0.63 …

Upjohn Institute Policy Paper: Public Pension Crisis And Investment Risk Taking: Underfunding, Fiscal Constraints, Public Accounting, And Policy Implications, Nancy Mohan, Ting Zhang

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

Public pension funds that cover retirement benefits for almost 20 million active or retired employees have been significantly underfunded. An important, though largely overlooked, issue related to pension underfunding is the excessive investment risk levels assumed by public plans. Our analysis suggests government accounting standards strongly affect public fund investment risk, as higher return assumptions (used to discount pension liabilities) are associated with higher investment risk.

Public funds undertake more risk if they are underfunded and have lower investment returns in previous years, consistent with the risk transfer hypothesis. Furthermore, pension funds in states facing fiscal constraints allocate more assets …

Stats Or Studs: Does It Pay To Be Good Looking? The Economic Impact Of Lookism, Lisle O'Neill

Business and Economics Honors Papers

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is a phrase that exemplifies the subjectivity of attractiveness. In recent years, researchers in the fields of economics, sociology, and anaplasty have used symmetry analysis in an attempt to make beauty an objective issue. People characterized by greater facial symmetry, as defined by exhibiting balanced lateral proportions, are considered to be more attractive. Furthermore, labor economists, such as Hamermesh and Biddle (1994), suggest a wage premium for more attractive individuals, however, the measure of attractiveness was not based on symmetry. This study examines the effect of NFL quarterbacks' attractiveness on …

Matters Arising From The Introduction Of The Defined Contributory Pension Scheme In Nigeria: A Policy Proposal, J.S. Akuns

Economic and Financial Review

In line with global trends in pension reforms as well as stark domestic realities, Nigeria introduced the operation of the DC pension scheme on 1st July 2004. In this regard, the main thrust of the paper is to examine some salient features of the defined contributory pension scheme and their welfare implications to retirees. An overview of the defined contributory pension scheme is carried out in section 2, while country-specific experiences with the defined contributory pension scheme is reviewed in section 3. Issues of public policy on the defined contributory pension scheme are explored in section 4. Finally, section 5 …

Implications Of The Monetisation Of Civil Service Fringe Benefits On The 2004 Federal Government Budget, Ahmed Y. Mahmud

Bullion

Monetization is the conversion of benefits previously made available in kind to public officers into cash payment. This paper examines the monetization policy introduced in the 2004 Budget, the impact of monetization on the budget and the effect of monetization on beneficiaries. Finally, It must be realized however, that the cost of so me of the benefits that will no longer be provided by the government will have to be made good by the erstwhile beneficiaries. Also, the amounts being paid out for the monetized items are set at less than their market value. While such a measure would exert …

Ua3/9/5 Faculty Staff Convocation, Wku President's Office

WKU Administration Documents

Speech delivered by WKU president Gary Ransdell at fall convocation. He discusses enrollment, budget, tuition, salaries, insurance, administrative reorganization, legislative priorities, construction of Mass Media & Technology Hall and Guthrie Tower, engineering, economic development, information technology and capital campaign.

Employee Benefits And Labor Markets In Canada And The United States, William T. Alpert Editor, Stephen A. Woodbury Editor

Upjohn Press

Alpert and Woodbury present a comprehensive set of explorations into the impacts that the provision of various types of employee benefits (or lack thereof) have on labor markets. And while there are, as the editors point out, substantial differences between the employee benefits systems of Canada and the U.S., these differences showcase the impacts of specific policies related to employee benefits on labor markets.

Does Sex Discrimination Exist In Faculty Salaries At Western Kentucky University? An Empirical Examination Of The Wage Gap, Reed Vesey

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis examines wage differentials between male and female faculty salaries at Western Kentucky University. A human capital model of salary determination is examined by using regression analysis on relevant personal and job characteristics of faculty members. A large portion of the wage gap between men and women is explained through differences in the personal and job characteristics. A portion of the wage gap remains unexplained, however, the probability of discrimination playing a substantial role in salary is very small.

The Tax Treatment Of Fringe Benefits, Stephen A. Woodbury, Wei-Jang Huang

Upjohn Press

Woodbury and Huang use econometric models to investigate how changes in the tax treatment of fringe benefits can be expected to influence the level of benefits and compensation provided by employers, federal revenues, and income inequality.

Something About The Industry Of Boonton And The Labor Relations That Prevail Within Some Of Its Plants, James J. Kromka

Business and Economics Honors Papers

This 40 page thesis examines labor relations within several industries in Boonton, New Jersey, including the Boonton Molding Company, Measurements Incorporated, Aircraft Radio Corporation, E.F. Drew and Company and Van Raalte Hosiery.