Labor Economics Commons^™

Is It Worth Your Time? Biggest Contributors To Starting Salary For Bryant University Students, Brittany Sarza

Honors Projects in Finance

Students often wonder what curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities contribute to initial starting salary. Previous studies on this topic have indicated that the factors GPA, major/field of study, gender, and having an internship all increase starting salary. Prior research showed a positive and significant relationship between GPA and starting salary (Jones and Jackson, 1990), fields that require mathematical abilities had higher starting salaries in comparison to those fields without quantitative abilities (Paglin and Rufolo, 1990), 95% of the gender gap in starting salaries with women earning less than men could be attributed to college majors selected (McDonald and Thorton, 2007), …

Labor Market Challenges In Europe With Respect To The Migrant Crisis, Thomas M. Segerstrom

Student Publications

Advocates and opponents of European refugee policy have disagreed often over the economic impact of new asylum seekers. This paper analyzes characteristic qualities of the European labor market and how they relate to the recent changes in migration from the Middle East and Africa. Within is analysis of the impacts to gross domestic product, unemployment, and the welfare state that the arrival of additional persons to the low-wage market will bring. The paper also argues that a plan to distribute asylum seekers across the European Union is an equitable solution to the issue.

Unhappy Cities, Edward L. Glaeser, Joshua D. Gottlieb, Oren Ziv

Dartmouth Scholarship

There are persistent differences in self-reported subjective well-being across US metropolitan areas, and residents of declining cities appear less happy than others. Yet some people continue to move to these areas, and newer residents appear to be as unhappy as longer-term residents. While historical data on happiness are limited, the available facts suggest that cities that are now declining were also unhappy in their more prosperous past. These facts support the view that individuals do not maximize happiness alone but include it in the utility function along with other arguments. People may trade off happiness against other competing objectives.

Domestic Outsourcing In The United States: A Research Agenda To Assess Trends And Effects On Job Quality, Annette Bernhardt, Rosemary L. Batt, Susan N. Houseman, Eileen Appelbaum

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The goal of this paper is to develop a comprehensive research agenda to analyze trends in domestic outsourcing in the United States—firms’ use of contractors and independent contractors—and its effects on job quality and inequality. In the process, we review definitions of outsourcing, the available scant empirical research, and limitations of existing data sources. We also summarize theories that attempt to explain why firms contract out for certain functions and assess their predictions about likely impacts on job quality. We then lay out in detail a major research initiative on domestic outsourcing, discussing the questions it should answer and providing …

Use Of Online Career Development Tools By Vocational Rehabilitation Professionals, Rebecca Goe, Catherine Ipsen, University Of Montana Rural Institute Rural Institute

Employment

Online career development refers to using online resources such as social media and job boards for finding employment and advancing careers. Social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter allow users to connect with potential employers and advertise their strengths to a diverse audience. Online job boards connect employers and job seekers based on specific interests, skills and locations. Unfortunately, the same online tools that can help people find employment and advance their careers can also limit opportunities if the job seeker’s online presence is unprofessional or absent (Brown & Vaughn, 2011).

Wage Distribution Impacts Of Higher Education Faculty Unionization, Charles S. Wassell Jr, David W. Hedrick, Steven E. Henson, John M. Krieg

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

The literature on the effects of unions on the distribution of wages at the macroeconomic and inter-industry levels has given little attention to the effects at the firm level. At the same time, research on collective bargaining impacts in higher education has focused on the overall wage level rather than on the distribution of salaries. Using panel data on individual faculty members, we find faculty unionization to be associated with a significant flattening of the wage distribution across academic disciplines. This has implications for why faculty might choose to unionize, even in the absence of an overall wage premium.

James Livingston Interview, Jennifer Thomson

Bucknell: Occupied

Jennifer Thomson, assistant professor of History at Bucknell University, interviews James Livingston, professor at Rutgers University in the department of History about his new book tentatively entitled F--- Work. Thomson and Livingston discuss cultural ideas about work and full employment. Livingston describes the cultural changes necessary for the adoption of ideas related to transfer payments.

U.S. Employment Outlook For 2016, Randall W. Eberts

Periodical Articles

No abstract provided.

Wage Insurance As A Policy Option In The United States, Stephen A. Wandner

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Wage insurance is a program that attempts to help permanently displaced workers transition to employment rapidly, effectively, and equitably. Because displaced workers have been found to suffer substantial earnings losses when they become reemployed, a wage insurance program provides a temporary wage supplement that partially reduces the wage loss experienced by targeted, newly reemployed workers. While participating workers receive a “wage supplement,” the program is called “wage insurance” because of its design as a social insurance program rather than an income transfer program. This paper provides a discussion of the development of wage insurance as a policy option in the …

The Impact Of Nurse Turnover On Quality Of Care And Mortality In Nursing Homes: Evidence From The Great Recession, Yaa Akosa Antwi, John R. Bowblis

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We estimate the causal effect of nurse turnover on mortality and the quality of nursing home care with a fixed effect instrumental variable estimation that uses the unemployment rate as an instrument for nursing turnover. We find that ignoring endogeneity leads to a systematic underestimation of the effect of nursing turnover on mortality and quality of care in a sample of California nursing homes. Specifically, 10 percentage point increase in nurse turnover results in a facility receiving 2.2 additional deficiencies per annual regulatory survey, reflecting a 19.3 percent increase. Not accounting for endogeneity of turnover leads to results that suggest …

"Extra-Activism", Dorothy Kidd

Media Studies

No abstract provided.

Global Climate Change, Fair Trade, And Coffee Price Volatility, Thomas M. Segerstrom

Gettysburg Economic Review

Fair Trade coffee sales have grown exponentially over the past fifteen years amidst a volatile and shaky coffee commodity market. This paper incorporates the prior research that global climate change will lead to more climate shocks with research on the coffee market’s volatility and farmer welfare. In accordance with prior research on commodity volatility, I develop an OLS estimator of the volatility of prices received by growers and evaluate the effect of climate shocks on it. I find that, when control variables are introduced, the volatility of the coffee price does increase at a statistically significant level with a climate …

The Determinants And Trends In Public-Private Wage And Fringe Benefit Differential, Sun Ki Choi

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

The decline in private sector wages in the aftermath of the Great Recession reopened a longstanding debate about whether public sector employees make more than private sector employees. However, much of this debate has only focused on the difference in wages over the past few years. This paper uses the Current Population Survey from 1995-2013 to examine how the federal-private wage differential has evolved over time. Wage regressions are estimated by year for federal and private sector workers. I then use these estimates to calculate the federal-private wage differential. This is augmented with selectivity bias corrections for each year. Probit …

My Two Factor Model Of Income Distribution, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Distribution of labor income in Turkey: Gender, urbanization and geographical region differences by Anwar Shaikh and Hale Kirer (unpublished work).
• Shaikh, A. (2016, April 12). Folder label notation NA-24-22. (Unpublished manuscript note).
• Shaikh, A. (2016, April 12). An probability. (Unpublished manuscript note).
• Shaikh, A. (2016, April 12). Even though men have higher average incomes than women, & whites have higher average incomes than African Americans, the distribution of income within groups are all essentially exponential. (Unpublished manuscript note).
• Shaikh, A. (2016, April 12). Gender differences in income levels are much greater. (Unpublished manuscript …

Distribution Of Labor Income In Turkey, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Distribution of labor income in Turkey: Gender, urbanization and geographical region differences by Anwar Shaikh and Hale Kirer (unpublished work).
• Shaikh, A. (2016, April 12). Folder label notation NA-24-22. (Unpublished manuscript note).
• Shaikh, A. (2016, April 12). An probability. (Unpublished manuscript note).
• Shaikh, A. (2016, April 12). Even though men have higher average incomes than women, & whites have higher average incomes than African Americans, the distribution of income within groups are all essentially exponential. (Unpublished manuscript note).
• Shaikh, A. (2016, April 12). Gender differences in income levels are much greater. (Unpublished manuscript …

Does Informal Employment Exist In Developed Countries, Carlos Eduardo Siqueira

Gastón Institute Publications

No abstract provided.

Three Essays On Unemployment Insurance In The 21St Century, Lewis H. Warren

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

My dissertation consists of three essays focusing on unemployment insurance (UI) and how it affects recipients. The first essay examines how UI generosity affects the search intensity of recipients through matching American Time Use Survey respondents to all of their observations in the Current Population Survey (CPS), the population from which they are drawn. Earnings from the CPS are then run through a benefit calculator that determines eligibility and benefit amounts which are used to determine how UI generosity affects search times. The second essay uses the Survey of Income and Program Participation to examine how lesser known policies affecting …

The Impact Of Cash Transfers On Labor Force Participation And Household Consumption: Evidence From Post-Apartheid South Africa, Steve M. M. Muchiri

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

The Old Age Pension (OAP) program for elderly South Africans puts a significant cash transfer in the hands of many poor households. This dissertation investigates its impact on labor force participation and consumption of selected household items. In the first half of the dissertation, we take advantage of a policy reform that lowered men's OAP eligibility age from 65 to 60 for men to match that of women for estimation identification. Using the General Household Survey data, we first demonstrate that both men and women respond to the eligibility age by dropping from labor force participation at the eligibility age, …

The Impact Of State-Provided Paid Family Leave On Wages: Examining The Role Of Gender, Aimee Samantha Abrams Widdicombe

Scripps Senior Theses

The U.S. is the only OECD country that does not offer any form of federal paid parental leave. Only three states—California, New Jersey and Rhode Island—have state-provided paid leave policies; implemented in 2004, 2009 and 2014, respectively. Through descriptive statistics and difference-in-difference-in-difference regression analyses of the wages of women and men of childbearing age (19-45 years) in those three states, we assess whether the paid leave programs have effected wages, and whether these effects vary depending on gender. Our results show that wages of women of childbearing age saw negligible net effects post-policy in policy states, although statistically insignificant. On …

Economic Assimilation For Immigrants In Chile: An Employment Convergence Analysis, Emily C. Long

Scripps Senior Theses

Blending migration studies and labor economics, this thesis explores the economic implications of immigrant assimilation in Chile by using probit models to test for employment convergence and labor market convergence between immigrant groups and native Chileans. Using census data from 1992 and 2002, we find significant differences in the employment and labor force participation rates for these demographic groups, affected by the immigrants’ gender, decade of arrival, and country of origin. We see evidence of the nascent care industry in Chile, as well as the implications of the Chilean visa system and employment contracts. Additionally, we see employment probabilities fall …

Sustaining Social Security In An Era Of Population Aging, John A. Turner

Upjohn Press

John A. Turner offers a set of reforms for restoring solvency to Social Security that are deemed to have merit in the current political climate. These reforms relate to several vexing issues including increased life expectancy, the growing relationship between income and life expectancy, the declines in the physical demands of jobs, growing income inequality, and the pattern of poverty increasing at older ages.

Surviving Job Loss: Paper Makers In Maine And Minnesota, Kenneth A. Root, Rosemarie J. Park

Upjohn Press

Root and Park examine the plight of long-tenured workers displaced from two paper mills—their paths to reemployment, retirement decisions, and the personal struggles they confront.

Reducing Employee Turnover In Retail Environments: An Analysis Of Servant Leadership Variables, Beatriz Rodriguez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In a competitive retail environment, retail store managers (RSMs) need to retain retail customer service employees (RCSE) to maximize sales and reduce employee turnover costs. Servant leadership (SL) is a preferred leadership style within customer service organizations; however, there is disagreement regarding the usefulness of SL in the retail industry. The theoretical framework for this correlational study is Greenleaf's SL theory. Seventy-four of 109 contacted human resources managers (HRMs) from a Fortune 500 United States retailer, with responsibility for evaluating leadership competencies of the RSMs they support, completed Liden's Servant Leadership Questionnaire. RCSE turnover rates were available from company records. …

The Nature And Role Of Temporary Help Work In The U.S. Economy, Susan N. Houseman, Carolyn J. Heinrich

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Persistence Of Working Poor Families In A Changing U.S. Job Market: An Integrative Review Of The Literature, Richard J. Torraco

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

This article explores the persistence of working poor families in the United States— families that live on the threshold of poverty despite at least one family member working full-time. The persistence of poverty in the United States has been exacerbated by recent changes in the job market that have altered the composition and availability of jobs due to technological unemployment, the polarization of jobs, declining job quality, and stagnation in job growth. The relationships between the persistence of working poor families and these changes in the job market are examined. The article concludes with a review of human resource development …

Paying For Performance At The Plate: An Investigation Of Variable Pay Systems In Major League Baseball, Mitchell S. Bremermann

CMC Senior Theses

Previous empirical research on variable pay systems have suggested that possible gains can come from paying for performance, but highlight the difficulty firms face in measuring performance. Using contracts signed in Major League Baseball’s free agent market, I find that over the 2010-2014 period, teams utilized variable pay schemes with players that were more productive or signaled greater risk, either in their contract terms or via overspecialization. However, not all forms of risk signaling were correlated with greater use of performance incentives, including age and proxies for injury history. These findings have significant implications for labor practices more broadly, as …

Balancing Business Owners' Corporate Social Responsibility And Stakeholder Profitability, Andrew O. Arumemi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some business owners lack experience balancing corporate social responsibility (CSR) and shareholder profitability. Grounded in stakeholder theory, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore business owners' experiences regarding balancing corporate social responsibility of hiring ex-inmates and shareholder profitability. The target population included 20 business owners in Newark, New Jersey who integrated CSR as part of their firms' formal business plans, were committed to hiring ex-inmates, and feared the consequential loss of profit such engagement might incur. Data were collected using in-depth semistructured interviews and analyzed using the modified van Kaam method. Three prominent themes included social perceptions of …

Domestic Outsourcing Reduces Wages And Contributes To Rising Inequality, Johannes Schmieder, Deborah Goldschmidt

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Social Justice And Worker Cooperatives, Gurveer Shaan Dhillon

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Social Justice (SJ) is an organizing principle of contemporary community psychology (CP); however, the concept and understanding of social justice in community psychology is undertheorized and narrow. Specifically, the concept of distributive justice, which has been a popular notion of social justice in community psychology discourse, does not translate well into transformative action. In order to address this issue, the research uses a qualitative approach to explore the understanding of social justice from the perspectives of worker-members of 5 worker cooperatives in Ontario, with the aim to contribute to an understanding of SJ that has transformative implications. A worker cooperative …