Labor Economics Commons^™

The Effect Of Yearly Labor Earnings On Commute Time To Work In South Carolina, Peter Trela

All Theses

In this paper, I attempt to ascertain the effect of labor earnings on commute time to work for individuals in South Carolina by using ACS 1-year Public Use Microdata Sample Estimates. First, I use standard linear regression models with controls to determine the direction and magnitude of the association between yearly labor earnings and commute time to work. I later use standard linear regression models with limited controls to determine how the association between yearly labor earnings and commute time changes before and during the events of the COVID-19 pandemic. There exists a positive relationship between yearly labor earnings and …

Two Essays In Human Capital, Illia Polovnikov

All Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of two essays on human capital. I analyze how early-life human capital boost shapes micro-level outcomes among disadvantaged children in the US. In the second chapter, I study the productivity convergence among OECD countries and evaluate to what extent the labor force’s sectoral allocation (due to different human capital profiles across countries) contributes to it. In the first chapter, which is joint work with Jorge Garc´ia and William Dougan, we analyze a large-scale trial of an early-childhood education program targeting premature, low-birthweight children, thereby oversampling twins. We find that failing to account for this oversampling obscures …

The Parental Labor Gap: The Impact Of Daycare Access On The Parental Labor Force During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Acacia Wyckoff

Honors Theses

In the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the landscape for work has shifted dramatically. Many companies and employers switched to telework when the pandemic hit, and many still do not require workers to come into the office. Research suggests these COVID-induced changes have led to a closing of the gap in childcare duties between men and women in households. Comparing parents in positions with telework eligibility versus in-person positions, Heggeness and Suri (2022) found that while telework improved the labor participation rate of mothers slightly, there was still a major gap in labor force participation between mothers and …

Why Are Unemployment Insurance Claims So Low?, Christopher J. O'Leary, Kenneth J. Kline, Thomas A. Stengle, Stephen A. Wandner

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

Why Are Unemployment Insurance Claims So Low?, Christopher J. O'Leary, Kenneth J. Kline, Thomas A. Stengle, Stephen A. Wandner

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

In this paper, we examine the reasons why unemployment insurance (UI) claims have declined so dramatically over the past three decades. The fall in the UI claims rate is concerning because it suggests a reduced countercyclical effectiveness of the UI program. Additionally, weekly initial UI claims are regarded as an important leading indicator of aggregate economic activity, so their meaning has changed. We use a Oaxaca (1973) decomposition approach to identify the main factors for the decline in claims. The procedure suggests what the level of claims would have been later in the period, had values of variables or parameters …

What Happens To Residents Evicted Under California’S Ellis Act?, Brian J. Asquith

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

How Many Independent Contractors Are There And Who Works In These Jobs?, Katharine G. Abraham, Brad J. Hershbein, Susan N. Houseman, Beth C. Truesdale

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Southwest Michigan Wage And Benefits Survey: Van Buren, Kalamazoo, Calhoun, Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph, And Branch Counties, Dakota Mccracken, Val Gipper, Michael Horrigan

Reports

No abstract provided.

The American Dream: Living Paycheck To Paycheck, Benjamin Henwood

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

A debate that has gained traction due to recent economic circumstances is how the United States government should raise the federal minimum wage, and if they should raise it at all. I propose the United States government should raise the federal minimum wage by implementing a living wage or tying the federal minimum wage to inflation. Implementing a living wage would benefit workers as it would cover the cost of living in their geographic area. It would also benefit employers as their employees would be getting paid according to their needs rather than being paid a blanket wage that may …

How Texas Migration Patterns Changed During The Pandemic, Pia M. Orrenius, Madeline Zavodny

Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center Research

The Covid-19 pandemic led to changes in where Americans work and live. The pandemic also affected international migration as borders were closed to nonessential travel and consulates shut down, slowing visa processing. These changes had implications for Texas, a state that has traditionally experienced large-scale domestic and international migration. This project also talks about the factors that positioned Texas to benefit from pandemic-induced changes in domestic migration patterns.

The Future Of Roe And The Gender Pay Gap: An Empirical Assessment, Itay Ravid, Jonathan Zandberg

Indiana Law Journal

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court upheld a Mississippi law that prohibits nearly all abortions after the fifteenth week of pregnancy and overruled the holding in Roe v. Wade. Among the many arguments raised in Dobbs in an attempt to overturn Roe, the State of Mississippi argued that due to “the march of progress” in women’s role in society, abortion rights are no longer necessary for women to participate equally in economic life. It has also been argued that there is no empirical support to the relationship between abortion rights and women’s economic success in society. …

College Majors And Skills: Evidence From The Universe Of Online Job Ads, Steven W. Hemelt, Brad J. Hershbein, Shawn Martin, Kevin M. Stange

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We use the near universe of U.S. online job ads to document four new facts about the skills employers demand from college majors. First, some skills––social and organizational––are demanded from all majors whereas others––financial and customer service––are demanded from only particular majors. Second, some majors have skill demand profiles that mirror overall demand for college graduates, such as Business and General Engineering, while other majors, such as Nursing and Education, have relatively rare skill profiles. Third, cross-major differences in skill profiles explain considerable wage variation. Fourth, although major-specific skill demand varies across place, this variation plays little role in explaining …

El Trabajo De Las Mujeres: Los Impactos Del Feminismo Socialista En La Organización Sindical De Buenos Aires Después De La Crisis Orgánica De 2001 / Women’S Work: The Impacts Of Socialist Feminism On Buenos Aires Union Organizing Following The 2001 Organic Crisis, Elise Williamson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En diciembre de 2001, en Argentina eclosionó una crisis orgánica en donde emergieron múltiples experiencias de participación social, política y cultural. En este período de dura inseguridad política y económica, se desarrolló una relación rejuvenecida entre la clase trabajadora de las fábricas que cerraban y despedían a sus empleados y los movimientos sociales (movimientos de trabajadores desocupados, asambleas de vecinos en los barrios de Buenos Aires y feminismo, entre otros). Poco tiempo después, con la recuperación económica, una nueva generación se incorporó a los nuevos empleos creados a la salida de la crisis. Esta generación, que había vivido las experiencias …

The Role Of Worker-Driven Regulation In The Global Fashion Industry, Jessie Wills

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The global fashion industry continues to exploit workers at the bottom of its supply chains. Multinational brands pressure manufacturers to churn out products at increasingly fast rates for increasingly cheaper costs. Severe problems persist in enforcing labor standards in these factories, and methods like voluntary corporate social responsibility are aspirational at best. A newer method of enforcement, worker-driven regulation (WDR), shows promise in its improved enforceability methods and focus on worker voices. The main research question of this paper is: What are the conditions that trigger and sustain worker-driven regulation at the factory level in the apparel industry?

Research methods …

Grabbing The Paycheck: A Glimpse Into The Modern Economic Livelihoods Of Xe Máy Grab Drivers In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Maddie Davis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Woven into the very fabric of urban life in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam is commuting via motorcycle (Vietnamese: xe máy). The versatility of xe máy can be witnessed in the surge of rush hour traffic, the shipment of a great variety and quantity of goods, and the crunch of people in order to get the whole family atop a single bike. Due to xe máy as the primary way much of the population gets around, Ho Chi Minh City’s transportation infrastructure and traffic patterns are highly conducive to this method of transit. Resulting from these favorable conditions, a multitude …

Physician Workforce In The Mountain West, Hira Ahmed, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Health

Using data from the Association of American Medical College’s State Physician Workforce Data Report, this fact sheet synthesizes Mountain West data on the numbers of active physicians and active physician demographics in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. This fact sheet focuses on active physicians in the Mountain West region by gender, race and ethnicity, as well as the number of students pursuing medical and premedical education.

The Decline Of Routine Tasks, Education Investments, And Intergenerational Mobility, Patrick Bennett, Kai Liu, Kjell Salvanes

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

How does a large structural change to the labor market affect education investments made at young ages? Exploiting differential exposure to the national decline in routine-task intensity across local labor markets, we show that the secular decline in routine tasks causes major shifts in education investments of high school students, where they invest less in vocational-trades education and increasingly invest in college education. Our results highlight that labor demand changes impact inequality in the next generation. Low-ability and low-SES students are most responsive to task-biased demand changes and, as a result, intergenerational mobility in college education increases.

How Many Independent Contractors Are There And Who Works In These Jobs?, Katharine G. Abraham, Brad J. Hershbein, Susan N. Houseman, Beth C. Truesdale

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

The National-Level Economic Impact Of The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Mep): Estimates For Fiscal Year 2022, Brian Pittelko, Iryna V. Lendel, Kassim Mbwana, Kami Ehrich

Reports

No abstract provided.

The Child And Dependent Care Credit: Unlike Trix, Not Just For Kids, Gabrielle Pepin, Yulya Truskinovsky

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

Not Just For Kids: Child And Dependent Care Credit Benefits For Adult Care, Gabrielle Pepin, Yulya Truskinovsky

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

As the U.S. population ages, family caregivers face substantial out-of-pocket costs and financial risks while providing the majority of long-term care. The Child and Dependent Care Credit (CDCC), a tax credit based on income and care spending, subsidizes caregiving expenses but has low participation among adult caregivers. This paper evaluates the CDCC’s current structure, documenting its limited impact on reducing caregiving costs and examining reforms to increase its utility for adult caregivers. Simulations of proposed changes—higher benefits, refundability, and relaxed eligibility requirements—demonstrate potential to expand access and enhance support for family caregivers within the existing policy framework.

Labeled In Your Youth: The Effects Of A Youth Disability Diagnosis In The Workplace, Landon M. Mcfarland, Joanne T. Cao, Edward Sayre

AMTP Proceedings 2023

In recent years, corporate social responsibility policies and an international focus on workplace inclusion have led to an increase in workers’ quality of life and an attempt to end workplace discrimination. Past discrimination research has found many barriers to entry for people with disabilities, a group subject to discrimination based on their perceived competence from the perceptions of employers, co-employees, and customers. Along with negative perceptions, studies find people with disabilities to be subject to wage discrimination. This exploratory study uses the National Longitudinal Study of Youth of 1997 from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to understand how much …

The Independent Contractor Workforce: New Evidence On Its Size And Composition And Ways To Improve Its Measurement In Household Surveys, Katharine G. Abraham, Brad J. Hershbein, Susan N. Houseman, Beth Truesdale

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Good data on the size and composition of the independent contractor workforce are elusive, with household survey and administrative tax data often disagreeing on levels and trends. We carried out a series of focus groups to learn how self-employed independent contractors speak about their work. Based on these findings, we designed and fielded a large-scale telephone survey to elicit more accurate and complete information on independent contractors, including those who may be coded incorrectly as employees in conventional household survey data and those who are independent contractors in a secondary work activity. We find that, upon probing, roughly one in …

Michigan Unemployment Insurance: Background For Planning Analysis, Christopher J. O'Leary

Presentations

No abstract provided.

State Tax Strategies To Reduce Care Costs, Gabrielle Pepin

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

How Do Broad Non-Disclosure Agreements Affect Labor Markets?, Jason Sockin, Aaron Sojourner, Evan Starr

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Essays On Entrepreneurship, Yoshiko Oka

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores the determinants of successful entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial entry. It consists of three chapters.

Chapter 1 estimates the effect of regional concentrations of related industrial firms and business owners' cognitive and non-cognitive traits on their business survival. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and the County Business Patterns, I find that incorporated businesses that operate in a location where similar businesses are clustered together have a significantly higher chance of survival. However, the effect of location appears to be insignificant for unincorporated businesses. On the other hand, the results show that businesses that are …

Estimating The Effects Of The Ada Amendments Act On The Hiring And Termination Of Individuals With Disabilities, Using New Disability Categorizations, Patrick Button, Philip Armour, Simon Hollands

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Disability discrimination laws are often used to potentially increase employment for individuals with disabilities. However, legal theory and empirical economics research do not provide conclusive answers as to how expansions in disability discrimination laws affect economic outcomes, namely hiring rates, for individuals with disabilities. We estimate the effect of the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) on employment transitions: hirings and terminations for individuals with disabilities relative to those without disabilities. To calculate employment transitions, we use data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). We also use the SIPP to develop additional measures and categorizations of disability based on …

The Environmental Contingencies, Capital Structure And Firm Performance Of Listed Firms, Sunday Amos Adeusi Dr, Oluwabunmi Akindele Olawaye

International Review of Business and Economics

Going concerns of business empires is predicated on the externality effect of environmental contingencies that influence the decisions of capital users. And the capability of capital users to circumnavigate both macro and micro environmental contingencies which cumulate to shareholders’ wealth maximization is crucial. Hence, the study aims of dissecting effect of macro and micro environmental contingences on the capital structure and firm performance. Generalized Method Moment (GMM) statistical tool is used to dissect perceived association amidst endogenous and exogenous variables. The results show that micro contingences such debt to equity, debt to assets and short-term liability have negative and statistically …

Analysis Of The Emerging Pilot Workforce, James Birdsong, Kurt Reesman

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

The pilot workforce grew by approximately 20,000 pilots between 2011 – 2019 before shedding almost 6,500 jobs in 2020 due to COVID-19. Long-term forecasts predict industry recovery and growth and the need for robust pilot hiring since approximately 50% of today’s pilot workforce will meet the mandatory retirement age within 15 years.

The current workforce consists of four generations, with the youngest (Generation Z) just beginning to join the airline ranks. The oldest generation (Baby Boomers) will be exiting the workforce within ten years, leaving three generations (Generations X, Y, and Z), two of which have spent their entire lives …