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W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

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Articles 811 - 840 of 1216

Full-Text Articles in Labor Economics

Evaluating Job Training In Two Chinese Cities, Benu Bidani, Chor-Ching Goh, Niels-Hugo Blunch, Christopher J. O'Leary Mar 2005

Evaluating Job Training In Two Chinese Cities, Benu Bidani, Chor-Ching Goh, Niels-Hugo Blunch, Christopher J. O'Leary

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Recent years have seen a surge in the evidence on the impacts of active labor market programs for numerous countries. However, little evidence has been presented on the effectiveness of such programs in China. Recent economic reforms, associated massive lay-offs, and accompanying public retraining programs make China fertile ground for rigorous impact evaluations. This study evaluates retraining programs for laid-off workers in the cities of Shenyang and Wuhan using a comparison group design. To our knowledge, this is the first evaluation of its kind in China. The evidence suggests that retraining helped workers find jobs in Wuhan, but had little …

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Does "Work First" Work? The Long-Term Consequences Of Temporary Agency And Direct-Hire Job Placements, David H. Autor, Susan N. Houseman Mar 2005

Does "Work First" Work? The Long-Term Consequences Of Temporary Agency And Direct-Hire Job Placements, David H. Autor, Susan N. Houseman

Reports

A principal objective of the welfare reform act of 1996 (PRWORA) was to encourage welfare recipients to obtain jobs rapidly, a strategy termed "Work First." Much analysis shows that Work First raises the incidence of direct-hire and—in a sizable minority of cases—temporary-help agency jobs among welfare clients. But the effect of these jobs on longer term labor market outcomes, such as labor force participation, earnings, and welfare recidivism, is unknown. Because welfare recipients who obtain jobs rapidly are positively selected from the pool of all Work First participants, a simple comparison of long-term outcomes among job takers and non-takers is …

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On The Use Of Administrative Data For Workforce Development Program Evaluation, Kevin Hollenbeck Jan 2005

On The Use Of Administrative Data For Workforce Development Program Evaluation, Kevin Hollenbeck

External Papers and Reports

This report establishes that performance monitoring data may be used for program evaluation purposes, such as with process and net impact evaluation. Evidence supporting this assertion is gathered from the administrative data of the State of Washington that examines services provided to adults under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). The report describes various empirical estimation techniques and summarizes the net impact estimators generated." The report offers guidance to policymakers and program administrators, who may be unfamiliar with the technical details of various analytical approaches, that although empirical results may appear complex or unstable, they can be used for program improvement. …

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Do Government Sponsored Vocational Training Programs Help The Unemployed Find Jobs? Evidence From Russia, Anton Nivorozhkin, Eugenity Nivorozhkin Jan 2005

Do Government Sponsored Vocational Training Programs Help The Unemployed Find Jobs? Evidence From Russia, Anton Nivorozhkin, Eugenity Nivorozhkin

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The study estimates the employment effect of vocational training programs for the unemployed in urban Russia. The results of propensity score matching indicate that training programs had a non-negative overall effect on the program participants relative to non-participants.

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Health, Wealth And Workforce Exit: Disability Insurance And Individual Accounts, Jason S. Seligman Jan 2005

Health, Wealth And Workforce Exit: Disability Insurance And Individual Accounts, Jason S. Seligman

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Current debate on the Social Security Administrations long-term finance of benefits includes proposals for independent private investment via individual accounts. The author first investigates what implications disability might have for equity savings account balances. In light of results, incentives to exit the workforce ahead of retirement age are considered when a defined benefit program for disability insurance continues to be available. Included simulation uses historic wage series, equity market performance, and current OASDI regulations for cohorts retiring over the period of 1929 - 2003.

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Asynchronous Risk: Unemployment, Equity Markets, And Retirement Savings, Jason S. Seligman, Jeffrey Brian Wenger Jan 2005

Asynchronous Risk: Unemployment, Equity Markets, And Retirement Savings, Jason S. Seligman, Jeffrey Brian Wenger

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The link between unemployment and pension accumulations is conceptually straightforward; periods of unemployment lead to lower pension contributions, and thus to lower accumulations. However, impacts on accumulation may differ as a result of the timing and frequency of unemployment spells. We hypothesize that unemployment is more likely during periods in which the equities market experiences greater than average returns, largely due to a lead/lag structure of the stock and labor markets, respectively. This would imply that workers may systematically miss opportunities to purchase equities through DC plans when prices are relatively low. To test this hypothesis, we match historic stock …

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Single Mothers, Social Capital, And Work-Family Conflict, Teresa Ciabattari Jan 2005

Single Mothers, Social Capital, And Work-Family Conflict, Teresa Ciabattari

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The purpose of this paper is to examine work-family conflict among low-income, unmarried mothers. I examine how social capital affects work-family conflict and how both social capital and work-family conflict affect employment. I analyze the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a national sample of non-marital births collected in 1998-2000 and 1999-2002. Results show that social capital reduces unmarried mothers' reports of work-family conflict, especially for low-income women. In addition, mothers who report high levels of work-family conflict are less likely to be employed; this pattern holds for women who are not looking for work as well as those who …

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Do Temporary Help Jobs Improve Labor Market Outcomes For Low-Skilled Workers? Evidence From Random Assignments, David H. Autor, Susan N. Houseman Jan 2005

Do Temporary Help Jobs Improve Labor Market Outcomes For Low-Skilled Workers? Evidence From Random Assignments, David H. Autor, Susan N. Houseman

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

A disproportionate share of low-skilled U.S. workers is employed by temporary help firms. These firms offer rapid entry into paid employment, but temporary help jobs are typically brief and it is unknown whether they foster longer-term employment. We draw upon an unusual, large-scale policy experiment in the state of Michigan to evaluate whether holding temporary help jobs facilitates labor market advancement for low-skilled workers. To identify these effects, we exploit the random assignment of welfare-to-work clients across numerous welfare service providers in a major metropolitan area. These providers feature substantially different placement rates at temporary help jobs but offer otherwise …

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Trend And Cycle Analysis Of Unemployment Insurance And The Employment Service, Wayne Vroman, Stephen A. Woodbury Dec 2004

Trend And Cycle Analysis Of Unemployment Insurance And The Employment Service, Wayne Vroman, Stephen A. Woodbury

External Papers and Reports

This report traces historical developments in two major DOL programs: State Unemployment Insurance (UI) and the federal-state Employment Service (ES). Developments in the UI program are traced from the late 1940s while ES program activities are traced from the late 1960s. For both programs, the report emphasizes long term trends as well as changes that have occurred over the course of the business cycle. The analysis uses annual data and is conducted at three levels of geographic detail: national, regional and state. A major objective of the project was to create data files useful for other researchers in studying the …

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Trend And Cycle Analysis Of Unemployment Insurance And The Employment Service, Wayne Vroman, Stephen A. Woodbury Dec 2004

Trend And Cycle Analysis Of Unemployment Insurance And The Employment Service, Wayne Vroman, Stephen A. Woodbury

Upjohn Institute Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

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Reemployment Of Claimants For Unemployment Insurance, Christopher J. O'Leary Oct 2004

Reemployment Of Claimants For Unemployment Insurance, Christopher J. O'Leary

Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

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Work And Retirement Plans Among Older Americans, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman Oct 2004

Work And Retirement Plans Among Older Americans, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

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Some Reflections On The Use Of Administrative Data To Estimate The Net Impacts Of Workforce Programs In Washington State, Kevin Hollenbeck Oct 2004

Some Reflections On The Use Of Administrative Data To Estimate The Net Impacts Of Workforce Programs In Washington State, Kevin Hollenbeck

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the results, methodology, and processes used in a series of net labor market impact studies done for the State of Washington over the past six years. All of the studies relied on administrative data and used a technique referred to as quasi-experimental evaluation. The program interventions were the federal- and state-funded workforce development programs. The paper sets out eight "reflections" for analysts and policy makers to consider. These reflections identify lessons learned and uncertainties or issues that need more consideration and scrutiny.

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Job Reallocation And Productivity Growth In The Ukrainian Transition, J. David Brown, John S. Earle Sep 2004

Job Reallocation And Productivity Growth In The Ukrainian Transition, J. David Brown, John S. Earle

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We analyze the pace and patterns of job reallocation in Ukraine using 1992-2000 panel data on nearly the surviving universe of manufacturing firms inherited from the Soviet Union. Employment growth displays substantial increase in heterogeneity during this transition period, with a corresponding rise in excess job reallocation. Unlike data for Soviet Russia in the 1980s, Ukrainian job reallocation in the 1990s was clearly productivity-enhancing, both within and cross industries. The paper also estimates the effects of firm and market characteristics on the magnitude of reallocation and on the extent to which it has contributed to aggregate productivity growth.

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Single Mothers Working At Night: Standard Work, Child Care Subsidies, And Implications For Welfare Reform, Erdal Tekin Sep 2004

Single Mothers Working At Night: Standard Work, Child Care Subsidies, And Implications For Welfare Reform, Erdal Tekin

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper estimates the effect of child care subsidies on the standard work decision of single mothers and examines whether this effect differs between welfare recipients and nonrecipients. The analysis uses data from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families. Results suggest that child care subsidy receipt is associated with a 6.9 percentage point increase in the probability of single mothers' working at standard jobs. When the effect of subsidy receipt is allowed to differ between welfare recipients and nonrecipients, results indicate that welfare recipients who are offered a child care subsidy are 14 percentage points more likely to work …

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A Database Accountability System For The Michigan Career Preparation System, Kevin Hollenbeck, Jason M. Preuss Sep 2004

A Database Accountability System For The Michigan Career Preparation System, Kevin Hollenbeck, Jason M. Preuss

Reports

No abstract provided.

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Using Administrative Data For Workforce Development Program Evaluation, Kevin Hollenbeck Aug 2004

Using Administrative Data For Workforce Development Program Evaluation, Kevin Hollenbeck

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper addresses the question of whether administrative data that are collected for performance monitoring purposes can be used for program evaluation. It argues that under certain circumstances, such data can be used. In particular, data from the state of Washington are used to examine the effectiveness of services provided to adults under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). The general theme of an emerging literature on techniques for nonexperimental evaluations of social programs is that many different techniques have appropriate asymptotic properties. A contribution of this paper is to examine the sensitivity of net impact estimators to various estimation techniques. …

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What Are Jobs Worth?, Joseph Persky, Daniel Felsenstein, Virginia Carlson Jul 2004

What Are Jobs Worth?, Joseph Persky, Daniel Felsenstein, Virginia Carlson

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

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Work And Retirement Plans Among Older Americans, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman Jul 2004

Work And Retirement Plans Among Older Americans, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We compare older workers' plans for work and retirement with their subsequent work and retirement outcomes using panel data from the Health and Retirement Study. Among those with retirement plans, about half indicate they would like to cut back on their work hours or otherwise change the type of work they do prior to, or instead of, fully retiring. Yet, the fraction that follows through on these alternative plans is dramatically lower than the fraction that realizes plans to stop working. Our analysis shows that individuals who likely would need to change jobs in order to reduce their work hours …

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A New Look At Labor Exchange Policy, Christopher J. O'Leary, David E. Balducchi Jul 2004

A New Look At Labor Exchange Policy, Christopher J. O'Leary, David E. Balducchi

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

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Small Cities Blues: Looking For Growth Factors In Small And Medium-Sized Cities, George A. Erickcek, Hannah J. Mckinney Jun 2004

Small Cities Blues: Looking For Growth Factors In Small And Medium-Sized Cities, George A. Erickcek, Hannah J. Mckinney

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The purpose of this exploratory study is to attempt to identify particular public policies which have the potential to increase the economic viability of smaller metropolitan areas and cities. We identify characteristics associated with smaller metro areas that performed better-than-expected (winners) and worse-than-expected (losers) during the 1990s, given their resources, industrial mix, and location as of 1990. Once these characteristics have been identified, we look for evidence that public policy choices may have promoted and enhanced a metro area's ability to succeed and to regain control of its own economic destiny. Methodologically, we construct a regression model which identifies the …

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Personal Reemployment Accounts: Simulations For Planning Implementation, Christopher J. O'Leary, Randall W. Eberts May 2004

Personal Reemployment Accounts: Simulations For Planning Implementation, Christopher J. O'Leary, Randall W. Eberts

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The proposed Back to Work Incentive Act of 2003 recommended personal reemployment accounts (PRAs) that would provide each eligible unemployment insurance (UI) claimant with a special account of up to 3,000 [dollars] to finance reemployment activities. Account funds could be used to purchase intensive, supportive, and job training services. Any funds remaining in the PRA could be paid as a cash bonus for reemployment within 13 weeks, or drawn as extended income maintenance for exhaustees of regular UI benefits. Personal reemployment account offers would be targeted to UI beneficiaries most likely to exhaust their UI entitlements using state Worker Profiling …

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Personal Reemployment Accounts: Simulations For Planning Implementation, Christopher J. O'Leary, Randall W. Eberts, U.S. Dept. Of Labor, Employment And Training Administration May 2004

Personal Reemployment Accounts: Simulations For Planning Implementation, Christopher J. O'Leary, Randall W. Eberts, U.S. Dept. Of Labor, Employment And Training Administration

External Papers and Reports

The proposed Back to Work Incentive Act of 2003 recommended personal reemployment accounts (PRA) that would provide each eligible UI (unemployment insurance) claimant with a special account of up to $3,000 to finance reemployment activities. Account funds could be used to purchase intensive, supportive, and job training services. Any funds remaining in the PRA could be paid as a cash bonus for reemployment within 13 weeks, or drawn as extended income maintenance for exhaustees of regular UI benefits. Personal reemployment account offers would be targeted to UI beneficiaries most likely to exhaust their UI entitlements using state Worker Profiling and …

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Globalization, Adjustment, And Compensation, Carl Davidson, Steven J. Matusz Apr 2004

Globalization, Adjustment, And Compensation, Carl Davidson, Steven J. Matusz

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

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Methods For Evaluating Employment Programs In Sofia, Bulgaria, Christopher J. O'Leary Feb 2004

Methods For Evaluating Employment Programs In Sofia, Bulgaria, Christopher J. O'Leary

Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

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Ui Work Search Rules And Their Effects On Employment, Christopher J. O'Leary Feb 2004

Ui Work Search Rules And Their Effects On Employment, Christopher J. O'Leary

Reports

This paper summarizes state unemployment insurance (UI) job search policies based on a survey of state rules conducted in 2003 by the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA). Commonalities in policies are identified and a summary of research evidence on the effects of job search assistance (JSA) is then presented. The conclusion considers promising directions for future research and policy.

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Personal Reemployment Accounts, Christopher J. O'Leary, Randall W. Eberts Jan 2004

Personal Reemployment Accounts, Christopher J. O'Leary, Randall W. Eberts

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

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Does "Trickle Down" Work?: Economic Development Strategies And Job Chains In Local Labor Markets, Joseph Persky, Daniel Felsenstein, Virginia Carlson Jan 2004

Does "Trickle Down" Work?: Economic Development Strategies And Job Chains In Local Labor Markets, Joseph Persky, Daniel Felsenstein, Virginia Carlson

Upjohn Press

Persky, Felsenstein, and Carlson explore a new framework for evaluating state and local economic development efforts. They propose a method, referred to as the “job-chains approach,” that they say clarifies the potential justifications for economic development subsidies as well as the limitations surrounding these efforts. This innovative approach addresses not only the number of job vacancies created as a result of a subsidized business investment or expansion, but also the extent to which gains are achieved by the unemployed and the underemployed, whether skilled or unskilled.

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Labor Exchange Policy In The United States, David E. Balducchi, Randall W. Eberts Editor, Christopher J. O'Leary Editor Jan 2004

Labor Exchange Policy In The United States, David E. Balducchi, Randall W. Eberts Editor, Christopher J. O'Leary Editor

Upjohn Press

This book describes the evolution of labor exchange policy in the United States, summarizes the major findings about the effectiveness of labor exchange services, and offers reflections on the future for labor exchange policy. In addition, the contributors provide an international perspective on job brokerage functions and a discussion on the appropriate role for governments in helping job seekers and employers make the proper job match.

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By A Thread: How Child Care Centers Hold On To Teachers, How Teachers Build Lasting Careers, Marcy Whitebook, Laura Sakai Jan 2004

By A Thread: How Child Care Centers Hold On To Teachers, How Teachers Build Lasting Careers, Marcy Whitebook, Laura Sakai

Upjohn Press

Marcy Whitebook and Laura Sakai examine how child care programs and their staff subsist in a field characterized by low pay, low status, and high turnover and what the impacts of these factors are on the quality of child care provided.

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