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Articles 331 - 360 of 370
Full-Text Articles in Economics
Reducing The Welfare Dependence Of Single-Mother Families: Health-Related Employment Barriers And Policy Responses, Jean Kimmel
Reducing The Welfare Dependence Of Single-Mother Families: Health-Related Employment Barriers And Policy Responses, Jean Kimmel
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
The problem of rising health care costs and the related increased dependency on health insurance coverage has moved to the forefront of the U.S. policy agenda in recent years and was a fundamental component of President Clinton's 1992 campaign platform. However, the President's 1994 health care reform proposal was unsuccessful, and current GOP proposals to cut the rate of growth of Medicare and Medicaid spending while the eligible population and costs both continue to grow fail to address the problem of coverage. In fact, one likely side effect of the cost-shifting to private insurance carriers will be to increase the …
A Framework For Assessing The Economic Benefits And Costs Of Workplace Literacy Training, Kevin Hollenbeck
A Framework For Assessing The Economic Benefits And Costs Of Workplace Literacy Training, Kevin Hollenbeck
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
Many individuals are grappling with the issue of whether to provide workers with training that upgrades the workers' basic academic skills. The corollary questions that flow from this issue are how to provide the training, how much training should be provided, and who should pay for the training. Workers are interested in this issue because they want to sustain productive, well-paying careers that will support adequate standards of living. Not receiving training may jeopardize their careers and earning power. Employers are interested in this issue because their economic role is to maximize corporate profits for stockholders. In most companies, worker …
Job Growth And The Quality Of Jobs In The U.S. Economy, Susan N. Houseman
Job Growth And The Quality Of Jobs In The U.S. Economy, Susan N. Houseman
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
During the 1980's employment grew rapidly in the United States, prompting many analysts to label the U.S. economy the great American job machine. But while aggregate employment increased rapidly during the 1980's, many did not benefit from the expansion. Among less educated prime-age males, unemployment rates rose and labor force participation rates declined sharply. Moreover, although job growth was high, many argued that the quality of American jobs as measured by wages, benefits, and job security deteriorated. The decline of jobs in the high-paying manufacturing sector and the growth of jobs in the low-paying services sector, the growth in part-time …
Optimal Unemployment Insurance, Carl Davidson, Stephen A. Woodbury
Optimal Unemployment Insurance, Carl Davidson, Stephen A. Woodbury
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
We investigate the design of an optimal Unemployment Insurance program using an equilibrium search and matching model calibrated using data from the reemployment bonus experiments and secondary sources. We examine (a) the optimal potential duration of UI benefits, (b) the optimal UI replacement rate when the potential duration of benefits is optimal, and (c) the optimal UI replacement rate when the potential duration of benefits is sub-optimal. There are three main conclusions. First, insurance considerations suggest that the potential duration of UI benefits would be unlimited under an optimal program. Hence, existing UI programs in the U.S. provide benefits for …
An Impact Analysis Of Employment Programs In Hungary, Christopher J. O'Leary
An Impact Analysis Of Employment Programs In Hungary, Christopher J. O'Leary
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
This paper presents estimates of the impact of retraining and public service employment (PSE) on reemployment and earnings in the Republic of Hungary during the early phase of post-Socialist economic restructuring. Since assignment to programs resulted in groups with vastly dissimilar characteristics, impact estimates were computed using a variety of methods. Controlling for observable characteristics, retraining may have slightly improved the chances for reemployment in a non-subsidized job, but the gain in reemployment was probably not sufficient to justify the cost of retraining. However, since the durability of jobs appears to be better for those who were retrained, the long …
Can Economic Development Programs Be Evaluated?, Timothy J. Bartik, Richard D. Bingham
Can Economic Development Programs Be Evaluated?, Timothy J. Bartik, Richard D. Bingham
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
The question addressed in this paper seems simple: Can economic development programs be evaluated? But the answer is not simple because of the nature of evaluation. To determine a program's effectiveness requires a sophisticated evaluation because it requires the evaluator to distinguish changes due to the program from changes due to nonprogram factors. The evaluator must focus on the outcomes caused by the program rather than the program's procedures. Evaluations can be divided into two categories--process or formative evaluations and outcome, impact, or summative evaluations. Process evaluations focus on how a program is delivered. Impact evaluations focus on the program's …
Using Performance Indicators To Improve The Effectiveness Of Welfare-To-Work Programs, Timothy J. Bartik
Using Performance Indicators To Improve The Effectiveness Of Welfare-To-Work Programs, Timothy J. Bartik
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
This paper argues that it is feasible to develop good indicators of the performance of a particular welfare-to-work program, office, or contractor. Performance indicators can motivate local offices, contractors, and staff to be more effective in achieving the program's goals. Performance indicators can provide information on what program strategies lead to the greatest long-run success. To be most useful, performance indicators must be simple and timely and control for factors other than the program's effectiveness that influence whether welfare recipients "succeed."
Wage-Rate Subsidies For Dislocated Workers, Carl Davidson, Stephen A. Woodbury
Wage-Rate Subsidies For Dislocated Workers, Carl Davidson, Stephen A. Woodbury
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
An array of innovative policies has been suggested to address more effectively the needs of dislocated workers. In this paper, we model and simulate the impacts of a wage-rate subsidy (or salary supplement) program in which a dislocated worker who becomes reemployed would receive a payment equal to one-half the difference between the wage previously earned and the wage currently earned. The simulations are based on a search model that is institutionally rich and that provides estimates of the impacts of a wage subsidy by incorporating empirical results from the reemployment bonus experiments that were conducted in the mid- to …
Economic Development Strategies, Timothy J. Bartik
Economic Development Strategies, Timothy J. Bartik
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
This paper provides a guide to economic development policies for local government managers. Local economic development policies today include not only tax subsidies for branch plants, but also job training to provide workers to businesses, advice and support services for potential entrepreneurs, and extension services to help businesses modernize and export. To help local government managers, this paper suggests a number of guiding principles, including: local economic development should be pursued cooperatively across the local labor market; economic development programs should consider the quality of jobs created; tax subsidies are expensive per job created; development subsidies are more effective if …
A Review Of Retirement Income Policy Models, Kevin Hollenbeck
A Review Of Retirement Income Policy Models, Kevin Hollenbeck
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
Public policymakers and program administrators often face decisions that impact the retirement incomes of individuals. An important question that these decision-makers may wish to address concerns the distributional impacts of the programmatic changes under consideration. Who (what population groups) would gain income and how much? Who would be unaffected? Who would lose and by how much? The question that this paper investigates is the extent to which computer models and associated policy analysis capability are available to provide decision makers with this kind of information. Specifically, the paper reviews a class of models that may be designated as retirement income …
Who Moonlights And Why? Evidence From The Sipp, Jean Kimmel, Karen Smith Conway
Who Moonlights And Why? Evidence From The Sipp, Jean Kimmel, Karen Smith Conway
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
Multiple job-holding is a significant characteristic of the labor market, with approximately 6 percent of all employed males reporting a second job in 1993 (Mishel and Bernstein, 1995, p. 226). Moonlighting reflects growing financial stress arising from declining earnings, as well as an increased need for flexibility to combine work and family. Approximately 40 percent of moonlighters report taking the second job due to economic hardship. Additionally, moonlighting is a reflection of the worker's choice to pursue entrepreneurial activities while maintaining the financial stability offered by the primary job. To restate in economic terminology, moonlighting arises from at least two …
Urban Labor Markets, Randall W. Eberts
Urban Labor Markets, Randall W. Eberts
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
Urban labor markets are characterized by the spatial proximity of households and businesses, which offers firms and workers advantages that lead to more efficient markets, enhanced productivity, and greater economic success. Nevertheless, the nation's city, while generating a large proportion of the nation's wealth, houses much of the nation's economic disadvantaged workers. This paper describes the current conditions of urban labor markets and outlines a national urban policy agenda that addresses these concerns by taking into account cities' spatial dimension. The paper argues that a national urban labor policy should emphasize the effects of physical and informational proximity on growth, …
Rural Wages And Returns To Education: Differences Between Whites, Blacks And American Indians, Jean Kimmel
Rural Wages And Returns To Education: Differences Between Whites, Blacks And American Indians, Jean Kimmel
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
Workers in rural areas earn lower wages than nonrural workers and previous evidence has attributed these differences to lower returns to worker characteristics. This paper builds on that data by examining racial and gender differences within the broader group of rural workers. While there is extensive evidence on both the structure of wages and the source of racial wage differentials between Whites and Blacks, there is no such evidence for those in either group living in rural areas. Nor is there much evidence in this literature for American Indians. This paper's contribution to the literature is two-fold. First, it broadens …
Labor Adjustment Under Different Institutional Structures: A Case Study Of Germany And The United States, Susan N. Houseman, Katharine G. Abraham
Labor Adjustment Under Different Institutional Structures: A Case Study Of Germany And The United States, Susan N. Houseman, Katharine G. Abraham
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
Like most Western European countries, Germany stringently regulates dismissals and layoffs. Critics contend that this regulation raises the costs of employment adjustment and hence impedes employers' ability to respond to fluctuations in demand. Other German labor policies, however, most especially the availability of unemployment insurance benefits for those on short time, facilitate the adjustment of average hours per worker in lieu of layoffs. Building on earlier work, we compare the adjustment of employment, hours and inventories to demand shocks in the German and U.S. manufacturing sectors. We find that, in the short run, whereas U.S. employers rely principally on the …
What Should The Federal Government Be Doing About Urban Economic Development?, Timothy J. Bartik
What Should The Federal Government Be Doing About Urban Economic Development?, Timothy J. Bartik
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
The federal government should focus its policies towards economic development on areas in which the federal government has some unique advantages. Federal policy should: (1) discourage financial subsidies to specific large firms by state and local governments; (2) expand the federal role in economic development services in which national action has some special advantages, such as developing information on foreign markets, encouraging large national banks to be more involved in economic development, supporting the development of the "Information Superhighway," and encouraging new technology development; (3) provide modest support for state and local efforts to increase business productivity through technology extension …
Evaluating Pooled Evidence From The Reemployment Bonus Experiments, Paul T. Decker, Christopher J. O'Leary
Evaluating Pooled Evidence From The Reemployment Bonus Experiments, Paul T. Decker, Christopher J. O'Leary
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
Social experiments conducted in Pennsylvania and Washington tested the effect of offering Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimants a cash bonus for rapid reemployment. This paper combines data from the two experiments and uses a consistent framework to evaluate the experiments and determine with greater certainty the extent to which a reemployment bonus can affect economic outcomes. Bonus offers in each of the experiments generated statistically significant but relatively modest reductions in UI receipt. Since the estimated impacts on UI receipt were modest, the reemployment bonuses did not generate the UI savings necessary to pay for administering and paying the bonuses. Hence, …
Earnings Inequality In Germany, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman
Earnings Inequality In Germany, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
Recent studies have documented the growth of earnings inequality in the United States during the 1980s. In contrast to these studies' findings, our analysis of micro data for the former West Germany yields virtually no evidence of growth in earnings inequality over the same period. Between 1978 and 1988, a reduction in the dispersion of earnings among workers in the bottom half of the earnings distribution led to a narrowing of the overall dispersion of earnings in Germany. Earnings differentials across education and age groups remained roughly stable, and there was no general widening of earnings differentials within either education …
The Effects Of Local Labor Demand On Individual Labor Market Outcomes For Different Demographic Groups And The Poor, Timothy J. Bartik
The Effects Of Local Labor Demand On Individual Labor Market Outcomes For Different Demographic Groups And The Poor, Timothy J. Bartik
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
The contribution of this paper is to use panel data on individuals (specifically, data from the Panel Survey on Income Dynamics) to examine how local demand conditions affect the economic well-being of disadvantaged groups and the poor. Previous research on local labor demand conditions uses data from a single cross-section of local economies, or a time-series of cross-sections of regions. With such data, estimated effects of local labor demand conditions on average labor market outcomes might be attributable to changes in local population composition, as we would expect local demand conditions to change in- and out-migration patterns. Because panel data …
Culture, Human Capital, And The Earnings Of West Indian Blacks, Stephen A. Woodbury
Culture, Human Capital, And The Earnings Of West Indian Blacks, Stephen A. Woodbury
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
This paper offers an empirical analysis of West Indians' performance in the U.S. labor market, drawing adjusted comparisons between the earnings of native-born black American men of West Indian ancestry and the earnings of other native-born men, both black and white. The data required for these comparisons come from the 1980 Census of Population, in which native-born respondents reported their ancestry. The results offer a mixed picture of the success of West Indians, suggesting that native-born blacks of West Indian ancestry do have somewhat higher earnings than other native-born blacks, other things equal. Nevertheless, there is still a large earnings …
Reemployment Incentives For Unemployment Insurance Beneficiaries: Results From The Washington Reemployment Bonus Experiment, Christopher J. O'Leary, Robert G. Spiegelman, Kenneth J. Kline
Reemployment Incentives For Unemployment Insurance Beneficiaries: Results From The Washington Reemployment Bonus Experiment, Christopher J. O'Leary, Robert G. Spiegelman, Kenneth J. Kline
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
Unemployment insurance is intended to reduce hardship by providing labor force members with partial wage replacement during periods of involuntary unemployment. However, in performing this income maintenance function, unemployment insurance may prolong spells of unemployment. Evidence from a field experiment conducted in Illinois in 1984 suggested that offering unemployment insurance claimants a modest cash bonus for rapid reemployment would increase the speed of return to work and reduce program costs. In 1988 a similar experiment, examining several different bonus offers, was conducted in Washington State. Evidence from the Washington experiment indicates that bonus offers do change job seeking behavior, but …
The Economic Payoffs To Workplace Literacy, Kevin Hollenbeck
The Economic Payoffs To Workplace Literacy, Kevin Hollenbeck
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
This paper focuses on one of the potential benefits to improving the Nation's literacy the economic payoffs. A more literate workforce provides economic benefits to the members of the workforce themselves, to employers, and to society. Workers who improve their basic skills through participation in workplace literacy programs should be more productive and hence earn higher wages and have greater job security. Employers with more productive workers will be more competitive in their industries and will be more profitable. Society gains by having a more productive and stable economy, by having more individuals employed with higher earnings and thus paying …
The Michigan Disability Prevention Study: Research Highlights, H. Allan Hunt, Rochelle Virginia Habeck
The Michigan Disability Prevention Study: Research Highlights, H. Allan Hunt, Rochelle Virginia Habeck
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
This 3-year collaborative research project was designed to provide empirical evidence to substantiate the impact of various employer policies and practices on the prevention and management of workplace disability. It studied a random sample of 220 Michigan establishments with more than 100 employees from seven different industries who responded to a mail survey in the first half of 1991. The study correlates differences in employer-reported levels of achievement on policy and practice dimensions with performance on disability outcome measures, while controlling for a set of establishment characteristics in a multivariate regression analysis.
The Intertemporal-Substitution Hypothesis Is Alive And Well (But Hiding In The Data), Jean Kimmel, Thomas J. Kniesner
The Intertemporal-Substitution Hypothesis Is Alive And Well (But Hiding In The Data), Jean Kimmel, Thomas J. Kniesner
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
According to the intertemporal-substitution hypothesis, which underlies the typical empirical real business cycle model, cyclical fluctuations in employment and hours of work are optimizing labor-supply responses to short-run aggregate demand shifts. We demonstrate that previous empirical labor-supply research has used inappropriate data to test the intertemporal-substitution hypothesis. We estimate a fixed-effects life-cycle labor-supply model with more informative data, the triennial micro data of the Survey of Income and Program Participation. We find economy-wide wage elasticities of employment and hours worked per employee of +1.55 and +0.51, which support the intertemporal-substitution hypothesis and give econometric credibility to the labor-market specification of …
Does Employment Protection Inhibit Labor Market Flexibility?: Lessons From Germany, France And Belgium, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman
Does Employment Protection Inhibit Labor Market Flexibility?: Lessons From Germany, France And Belgium, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
Laws in most West European countries give workers strong job rights, including the right to advance notice of layoff and the right to severance pay or other compensation if laid off. Many of these same countries also encourage hours adjustment in lieu of layoffs by providing prorated unemployment compensation to workers on reduced hours. This paper compares the adjustment of manufacturing employment and hours in West Germany, France and Belgium, three countries with strong job security regulations and well-established short-time compensation systems, with that in the United States. Although the adjustment of employment to changes in output is much slower …
Federal Policy Towards State And Local Economic Development In The 1990s, Timothy J. Bartik
Federal Policy Towards State And Local Economic Development In The 1990s, Timothy J. Bartik
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
This paper suggests new federal policies towards state and local economic development assistance to business. I argue that there is some evidence that these programs can be effective in encouraging business growth and helping the unemployed. But state and local governments do not have the right incentives to adequately pursue national goals through economic development programs. State and local governments are not inclined to do quality evaluations of their programs and tend to favor business attraction programs over programs that might increase U.S. business productivity. In addition, it is unclear whether economic development efforts are most vigorously pursued by economically …
Child Care And The Employment Behavior Of Single And Married Mothers, Jean Kimmel
Child Care And The Employment Behavior Of Single And Married Mothers, Jean Kimmel
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
This paper examines the relationship between the cost of child care and the employment behavior of married and single mothers. The data used in this paper are from the 1987 SIPP, the first SIPP panel to utilize an improved probing of child care usage and expenditures. A primary contribution of this paper stems from the use of these improved child care data. A second contribution is to provide a clear comparison between single mothers and married mothers. A third contribution of this paper is its detailed discussion of participation elasticities, with a comparison of elasticities derived from different measures of …
Employer Training Needs In Hawaii: Summary Report, Stephen A. Woodbury, University Of Hawaii At Manoa, Industrial Relations Center
Employer Training Needs In Hawaii: Summary Report, Stephen A. Woodbury, University Of Hawaii At Manoa, Industrial Relations Center
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
The Survey of Employer Training Needs in Hawaii was undertaken to gather information and data on the needs and preferences of employers in Hawaii regarding government assistance with training. The need for such information was created by passage of Act 68, Session Laws of Hawaii 1991, which created the Hawaii Employment and Training Fund "to assist employers and workers through innovative programs to include, but not be limited to, business-specific training, upgrade training, new occupational skills, management skills, and support services to improve the long-term employability of Hawaii's people."
Workplace Education Programs In Small- And Medium-Sized Michigan Firms, Kevin Hollenbeck, William Anderson
Workplace Education Programs In Small- And Medium-Sized Michigan Firms, Kevin Hollenbeck, William Anderson
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
This paper presents a systematic, baseline picture of workplace education programs in small and medium-sized businesses (less than 500 employees) in Michigan. Specifically, it addresses why some firms are offering and other firms are not offering workplace education programs, what are the characteristics of the programs being provided, and what are the impacts of these programs on firms and employees. The paper draws upon two data sources. Case studies of 28 Michigan businesses were undertaken between May 1991 and July 1992 and a combination mail/telephone survey of small businesses in Michigan was conducted in early 1992. The paper finds that …
Moonlighting Behavior: Theory And Evidence, Karen Smith Conway, Jean Kimmel
Moonlighting Behavior: Theory And Evidence, Karen Smith Conway, Jean Kimmel
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
Two labor supply issues that have received substantial attention are the responsiveness of labor supply to wage changes and the imposition of labor supply constraints. Adjusting hours worked on a second job may be the practical and perhaps only available response to either event yet, most labor supply studies only examine behavior on the primary job. Examining the motives for moonlighting provides evidence on both the wage-responsiveness of labor supply in general and the existence and consequences of labor supply constraints.
Postsecondary Education As Triage: Returns To Academic And Technical Programs, Kevin Hollenbeck
Postsecondary Education As Triage: Returns To Academic And Technical Programs, Kevin Hollenbeck
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
This paper examines the labor market outcomes of individuals with various types of postsecondary educational experiences. In particular, it examines differences between students who have pursued technical education programs from those who have pursued academic programs and from those individuals who have not pursued any type of postsecondary education. Empirical evidence is presented concerning the relationship between economic outcomes and grades earned and the degree to which the labor market rewards credentials. Wage and earnings models yield different structural parameter estimates when based on the three different populations. The differences are most dramatic for high school background effects and for …