Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Labor Economics Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year

Articles 271 - 300 of 315

Full-Text Articles in Labor Economics

Promoting Self Employment Among The Unemployed In Hungary And Poland, Christopher J. O'Leary Feb 1999

Promoting Self Employment Among The Unemployed In Hungary And Poland, Christopher J. O'Leary

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

To evaluate the effectiveness of self-employment assistance to the unemployed in Hungary and Poland more than 5,500 follow-up interviews were conducted in early 1997 by employees of local labor offices with persons in self-employment participant and comparison group samples. Wide ranging differences were observed between the demographic composition of self-employment samples and the general population of unemployed. Program effects were therefore computed as net impact estimates controlling for systematic sample selection using observable characteristics including information on job search assistance from the employment service. While self-employment assistance yielded a favorable set of net impact estimates in both countries, there was …

Go to article

The Labor Supply Effects Of Welfare Reform, Timothy J. Bartik Jul 1998

The Labor Supply Effects Of Welfare Reform, Timothy J. Bartik

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Will welfare reform increase unemployment and reduce wages? The answer depends in part on how much welfare reform increases labor supply. This paper considers the labor supply effects of the welfare reforms that have occurred since 1993, when President Clinton entered office with a promise to "end welfare as we know it." The paper reviews previous estimates, and provides new estimates, of how many additional labor force participants have entered the labor force due to welfare reform. I estimate that welfare reform from 1993-96 increased the U.S. labor force by between 100,000 and 300,000 persons. Between 1996, when the major …

Go to article

The Optimal Dole With Risk Aversion And Job Destruction, Carl Davidson, Stephen A. Woodbury Feb 1998

The Optimal Dole With Risk Aversion And Job Destruction, Carl Davidson, Stephen A. Woodbury

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper extends earlier research on optimal unemployment insurance (UI) by developing an equilibrium search model that encompasses simultaneously several theoretical and institutional features that have been treated one-by-one (or not at all) in previous discussions of optimal UI. In particular, the model we develop allows us to determine the optimal potential duration of UI benefits as well as the optimal UI benefit amount; assumes (realistically) that not all workers are eligible for UI benefits; allows examination of various degrees of risk aversion by workers; models labor demand so that the job destruction effects of UI are taken into account; …

Go to article

Preliminary Evidence On Impacts Of Active Labor Programs In Hungary And Poland, Christopher J. O'Leary Oct 1997

Preliminary Evidence On Impacts Of Active Labor Programs In Hungary And Poland, Christopher J. O'Leary

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

To ease the hardship associated with worker dislocation and to maintain social stability during the transition to markets, the governments of Hungary and Poland provide labor force members with unemployment compensation and a variety of active labor programs (ALPs). Follow-up surveys of participants in retraining, public works, wage subsidies, self-employment, and comparison groups were done in Hungary and Poland in early 1997. Preliminary analysis suggests positive net impacts for most ALPs and additive benefits from the use of the employment service in both countries. Strong evidence of nonrandom assignment to programs means that great care should be used in interpreting …

Go to article

The Use Of Profiling To Target Services In State Welfare-To-Work Programs: An Example Of Process And Implementation, Randall W. Eberts Oct 1997

The Use Of Profiling To Target Services In State Welfare-To-Work Programs: An Example Of Process And Implementation, Randall W. Eberts

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The purpose of this paper is to provide preliminary information about the design of a pilot project to test the efficacy of profiling and referring welfare-to-work participants. Welfare reform requires welfare recipients, with few exceptions, to participate in work activities and ultimately become economically self-sufficient. Welfare recipients possess a wide variation in job readiness skills, ranging from those who are ready and able to work to those who face significant barriers to employment. The challenge of the local administrator of welfare-to-work programs is to target services to those who need them the most. Yet, most programs provide the same services …

Go to article

Short-Term Employment Persistence For Welfare Recipients: The "Effects" Of Wages, Industry, Occupation And Firm Size, Timothy J. Bartik Jun 1997

Short-Term Employment Persistence For Welfare Recipients: The "Effects" Of Wages, Industry, Occupation And Firm Size, Timothy J. Bartik

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Using data from 13 years (1983-95) of the March Current Population Survey, this study examines how the types of jobs held by welfare mothers during the preceding year affects their employment and earnings at the time of the March interview. The estimates suggest that the wages of last year's job affect current employment and earnings, but the effects of wages are more modest than might be expected. The industry and occupation of last year's job make a great deal of difference, with industry being more important than occupation. The industries with the most positive effects on current employment are hospitals …

Go to article

Unemployment Insurance Policy In New England: Background And Issues, Robert Tannenwald, Christopher J. O'Leary Apr 1997

Unemployment Insurance Policy In New England: Background And Issues, Robert Tannenwald, Christopher J. O'Leary

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Most states have exhausted their unemployment insurance (UI) trust fund and borrowed from the federal government at least once during the past 35 years. Under such circumstances, states are required by law to raise UI taxes to replenish their trust funds and to pay off their debts to the federal government. Since higher UI taxes increase employer costs, replenishment forces states into a trade-off between economic competitiveness and trust fund adequacy. Competitive pressures have raised questions about prevailing standards of adequacy and the speed at which they should be attained. Consequently, several states are contemplating tax reductions despite low reserves. …

Go to article

Employee Benefits And Tax Reform, Stephen A. Woodbury Jul 1996

Employee Benefits And Tax Reform, Stephen A. Woodbury

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The current tax treatment of pensions and health insurance in the United States is a hybrid that lacks consistency under either an accrual income tax system or a consumption tax system. Under an accrual income tax, employer contributions to pension plans represent an addition to wealth that would be taxed at the time they are made. The interest earned on pension contributions also represents an addition to wealth that would be taxed annually. When a worker retires, all applicable taxes would already have been paid on the benefit, and the flow of retirement income received by the worker would not …

Go to article

Design Of The Worker Profiling And Reemployment Services System And Evaluation In Michigan, Randall W. Eberts, Christopher J. O'Leary Apr 1996

Design Of The Worker Profiling And Reemployment Services System And Evaluation In Michigan, Randall W. Eberts, Christopher J. O'Leary

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The Unemployment Compensation Amendments of 1993, Public Law 103-152, require each state employment security agency to implement a Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services (WPRS) system. WPRS systems are intended to identify unemployment insurance beneficiaries who are most likely to exhaust their regular benefits, and refer them quickly to reemployment services to speed the transition to new employment. This brief paper was prepared for a national colloquium on WPRS held June 11-14, 1996 in Atlanta. The paper summarizes work done by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research for the State of Michigan to design and implement a UI profiling model, …

Go to article

Unemployment Insurance And Unemployment: Implications Of The Reemployment Bonus Experiments, Carl Davidson, Stephen A. Woodbury Apr 1996

Unemployment Insurance And Unemployment: Implications Of The Reemployment Bonus Experiments, Carl Davidson, Stephen A. Woodbury

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We translate the results of the three reemployment bonus experiments that were conducted during the 1980s into (a) impacts of a 10-percentage point increase in the Unemployment Insurance (UI) replacement rate on the expected duration of unemployment; and (b) impacts of adding 1 week to the potential duration of UI benefits on the expected duration of unemployment. Our approach is to use an equilibrium search and matching model, calibrated using data from the bonus experiments and secondary sources. The results suggest that a 10-percentage point increase in the UI replacement rate increases the expected duration of unemployment by .3 to …

Go to article

Reducing The Welfare Dependence Of Single-Mother Families: Health-Related Employment Barriers And Policy Responses, Jean Kimmel Mar 1996

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 …

Go to article

A Framework For Assessing The Economic Benefits And Costs Of Workplace Literacy Training, Kevin Hollenbeck Jan 1996

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 …

Go to article

Job Growth And The Quality Of Jobs In The U.S. Economy, Susan N. Houseman Aug 1995

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 …

Go to article

Optimal Unemployment Insurance, Carl Davidson, Stephen A. Woodbury Apr 1995

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 …

Go to article

Who Moonlights And Why? Evidence From The Sipp, Jean Kimmel, Karen Smith Conway Jan 1995

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 …

Go to article

An Impact Analysis Of Employment Programs In Hungary, Christopher J. O'Leary Jan 1995

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 …

Go to article

Wage-Rate Subsidies For Dislocated Workers, Carl Davidson, Stephen A. Woodbury Jan 1995

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 …

Go to article

A Review Of Retirement Income Policy Models, Kevin Hollenbeck Jan 1995

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 …

Go to article

Using Performance Indicators To Improve The Effectiveness Of Welfare-To-Work Programs, Timothy J. Bartik Jan 1995

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."

Go to article

Urban Labor Markets, Randall W. Eberts Jun 1994

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, …

Go to article

Rural Wages And Returns To Education: Differences Between Whites, Blacks And American Indians, Jean Kimmel Jun 1994

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 …

Go to article

Labor Adjustment Under Different Institutional Structures: A Case Study Of Germany And The United States, Susan N. Houseman, Katharine G. Abraham Apr 1994

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 …

Go to article

Evaluating Pooled Evidence From The Reemployment Bonus Experiments, Paul T. Decker, Christopher J. O'Leary Jan 1994

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, …

Go to article

Earnings Inequality In Germany, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman Nov 1993

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 …

Go to article

Culture, Human Capital, And The Earnings Of West Indian Blacks, Stephen A. Woodbury Sep 1993

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 …

Go to article

The Effects Of Local Labor Demand On Individual Labor Market Outcomes For Different Demographic Groups And The Poor, Timothy J. Bartik Sep 1993

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 …

Go to article

The Economic Payoffs To Workplace Literacy, Kevin Hollenbeck Aug 1993

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 …

Go to article

Reemployment Incentives For Unemployment Insurance Beneficiaries: Results From The Washington Reemployment Bonus Experiment, Christopher J. O'Leary, Robert G. Spiegelman, Kenneth J. Kline Aug 1993

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 …

Go to article

The Intertemporal-Substitution Hypothesis Is Alive And Well (But Hiding In The Data), Jean Kimmel, Thomas J. Kniesner Apr 1993

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 …

Go to article

The Michigan Disability Prevention Study: Research Highlights, H. Allan Hunt, Rochelle Virginia Habeck Apr 1993

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.

Go to article

First Prev Next Last