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Full-Text Articles in Labor Economics

Labor Standards In The United States And Canada, Richard N. Block, Ronald O. Clarke, Karen Roberts Jan 2003

Labor Standards In The United States And Canada, Richard N. Block, Ronald O. Clarke, Karen Roberts

Upjohn Press

Block, Roberts, and Clarke offer a method for comparing ten labor standards across political jurisdictions. They then apply this method to the United States and Canada, an exercise that allows them to settle the long-running dispute over whether or not Canada has higher standards than the U.S., and if so, to what degree.


Can Temporary Employment Scar Your Future Earnings? Wage Mobility By Type Of Work Contract In Spain, Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes, Ricardo Serrano-Padial Apr 2002

Can Temporary Employment Scar Your Future Earnings? Wage Mobility By Type Of Work Contract In Spain, Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes, Ricardo Serrano-Padial

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


How Late To Pay? Understanding Wage Arrears In Russia, John S. Earle, Klara Sabirianova Peter Mar 2002

How Late To Pay? Understanding Wage Arrears In Russia, John S. Earle, Klara Sabirianova Peter

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We organize an empirical analysis of Russian wage arrears around hypotheses concerning factors that create incentives for firms to pay late and for workers to tolerate late payment, both reinforced by a prevalent environment of overdue wages. Our analysis draws upon nationally representative household panel data matched with employer data to show substantial interfirm variation with the probability of arrears positively related to firm age, size, state ownership, and declining performance. Estimation of a constrained multinomial logit model also reveals intrafirm, variation related to job tenure and small shareholdings in the firm. Workers tend to have higher arrears in rural …


How New Is The "New Employment Contract"?: Evidence From North American Pay Practices, David I. Levine, Dale Belman, Gary Charness, Erica L. Groshen, K. C. O'Shaughnessy Jan 2002

How New Is The "New Employment Contract"?: Evidence From North American Pay Practices, David I. Levine, Dale Belman, Gary Charness, Erica L. Groshen, K. C. O'Shaughnessy

Upjohn Press

This book explores this apparent change in the employment contract. Whereas earlier studies in this area focused on the rigidities in the quantity side of the employment relationship, e.g., changes in job tenure and rates of displacement, the authors focus on the price side of the contract - whether wage structures have become more flexible.


Risk Sharing Through Social Security Retirement Income Systems: A Comparison Of Canada And The United States, John A. Turner Oct 2001

Risk Sharing Through Social Security Retirement Income Systems: A Comparison Of Canada And The United States, John A. Turner

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


The Benefits Implications Of Recent Trends In Flexible Staff Arrangements, Susan N. Houseman Aug 2001

The Benefits Implications Of Recent Trends In Flexible Staff Arrangements, Susan N. Houseman

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Workers in flexible staffing arrangements - including temporary agency, direct-hire temporary, on-call, and contract workers - are much less likely than regular, direct-hire employees to be covered by laws mandating or regulating workplace benefits. Workers in such arrangements, in turn, are much less likely to receive pension, health insurance, and other benefits on the job. This paper documents these differences in coverage by benefits regulations and differences in benefits receipt. The paper also reviews evidence on the incentives employers have to use workers in these various flexible staffing arrangements. Although reducing benefits costs is not the only reason employers use …


Pay At Risk: Compensation And Employment Risk In The United States And Canada, John A. Turner Editor Jan 2001

Pay At Risk: Compensation And Employment Risk In The United States And Canada, John A. Turner Editor

Upjohn Press

The contributors to this book investigate the compensation and employment risks for U.S. and Canadian workers. They examine both wage and nonwage aspects of compensation, and whether workers in the U.S. or Canada face more job-related risks. They also seek to identify trends in risk bearing and whether they differ by country.


Why Employers Use Flexible Staffing Arrangements: Evidence From An Establishment Survey, Susan N. Houseman Oct 2000

Why Employers Use Flexible Staffing Arrangements: Evidence From An Establishment Survey, Susan N. Houseman

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper examines which employers use flexible staffing arrangements, why they use these arrangements, and their implications for workers and public policy, drawing on a nationally representative survey of private sector establishments. Use of flexible staffing arrangements-including temporary help agency, short-term, on-call, regular part-time, and contract workers-is widespread and two-thirds of employers believe this use will increase in the near future. Traditional reasons concerning the need to accommodate fluctuations in workload or absences in staff are the most commonly cited reasons for using all types of flexible staffing arrangements. Many employers also use agency temporaries and part-time workers to screen …


Rising Wage Inequality In Urban Labor Markets, Thomas Hyclak Jul 2000

Rising Wage Inequality In Urban Labor Markets, Thomas Hyclak

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


Rising Wage Inequality: The 1980s Experience In Urban Labor Markets, Thomas Hyclak Jan 2000

Rising Wage Inequality: The 1980s Experience In Urban Labor Markets, Thomas Hyclak

Upjohn Press

Hyclak analyzes information not utilized in previous studies of wage inequality. Whereas researchers previously relied on data derived from the national labor market, Hyclak draws on data from the Area Wage Surveys (AWS), which allows him to focus on changes in the wage structure in a sample of 20 local labor markets for the period of 1974 to 1991. This source also allows him to examine changes in the structure of wages paid for some 40 different jobs found in four different occupational groups. In addition, Hyclak is able to concentrate on jobs and the skills required as the primary …


Employee Benefits And Labor Markets In Canada And The United States, William T. Alpert Editor, Stephen A. Woodbury Editor Jan 2000

Employee Benefits And Labor Markets In Canada And The United States, William T. Alpert Editor, Stephen A. Woodbury Editor

Upjohn Press

Alpert and Woodbury present a comprehensive set of explorations into the impacts that the provision of various types of employee benefits (or lack thereof) have on labor markets. And while there are, as the editors point out, substantial differences between the employee benefits systems of Canada and the U.S., these differences showcase the impacts of specific policies related to employee benefits on labor markets.


Changes In Income Inequality Within U.S. Metropolitan Areas, Janice Fanning Madden Jan 2000

Changes In Income Inequality Within U.S. Metropolitan Areas, Janice Fanning Madden

Upjohn Press

In studying MSA data that link the characteristics of metropolitan economies to significant changes in income inequality, Madden is able to study changes in poverty rates, household income inequality, and wage inequality within 182 of the largest MSAs and to identify what she says are the three factors most likely to influence changes in income inequality in metropolitan areas.


Testimony Before The Working Group On The Benefit Implications Of The Growth In The Contingent Workforce, Susan N. Houseman Sep 1999

Testimony Before The Working Group On The Benefit Implications Of The Growth In The Contingent Workforce, Susan N. Houseman

Testimonies

No abstract provided.


Pensions And Productivity, Stuart Dorsey, Christopher Mark Cornwell, David A. Macpherson Jan 1998

Pensions And Productivity, Stuart Dorsey, Christopher Mark Cornwell, David A. Macpherson

Upjohn Press

Employers typically view their investment in pension plans as a means of providing retirement income for their workers. Economists, on the other hand, view pension programs as a way to increase workplace productivity. Dorsey, Cornwell and Macpherson explore the theoretical and empirical basis for this perspective and, in the process, offer a complete and up-to-date discussion on the productivity theory of pensions.


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 …


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 …


Poverty And Inequality: The Political Economy Of Redistribution, Jon Neill Editor Jan 1996

Poverty And Inequality: The Political Economy Of Redistribution, Jon Neill Editor

Upjohn Press

Despite the nation's significant and prolonged economic growth during the 1990s, the portion of aggregate income going to the poorest 20 percent of the population declined, while that of the richest 20 percent grew. The contributors to this volume examine the extent and reasons behind this distribution.


Pension Incentives And Job Mobility, Alan L. Gustman, Thomas L. Steinmeier Jan 1995

Pension Incentives And Job Mobility, Alan L. Gustman, Thomas L. Steinmeier

Upjohn Press

Using models developed for this study which incorporate an array of behaviors generally omitted from conventional models relating backloading to turnover, Gustman and Steinmeier find that backloading plays only a slight role in explaining mobility differences associated with pension coverage. They propose that higher wages often paid at pension-covered jobs play a greater role in reducing mobility than do pensions.


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 …


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 …


Profit Sharing: Does It Make A Difference?: The Productivity And Stability Effects Of Employee Profit-Sharing Plans, Douglas L. Kruse Jan 1993

Profit Sharing: Does It Make A Difference?: The Productivity And Stability Effects Of Employee Profit-Sharing Plans, Douglas L. Kruse

Upjohn Press

Kruse details the reasons profit sharing plans are implemented and the systemic factors within firms, particularly in relation to unions, that influence whether or not they are successful. Presented is evidence based on a unique database developed from 500 public U.S. firms - matched to firm performance over the period of 1979-1991 - on the two central theories related to profit sharing: 1) The Productivity Theory, and 2) the Stability Theory


Wage Flexibility And Unemployment Dynamics In Regional Labor Markets, Thomas Hyclak, Geraint Johnes Jan 1992

Wage Flexibility And Unemployment Dynamics In Regional Labor Markets, Thomas Hyclak, Geraint Johnes

Upjohn Press

Hyclak and Johnes explore the extent to which wage rigidity differs across regional labor markets in the U.S. and how it affects the unemployment response to shifts in regional aggregate demand. They also look at the determinants of differences in wage rigidity across regional labor markets.


The Effects Of Metropolitan Job Growth On The Size Distribution Of Family Income, Timothy J. Bartik Mar 1991

The Effects Of Metropolitan Job Growth On The Size Distribution Of Family Income, Timothy J. Bartik

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper examines how a metropolitan area's job growth affects its income distribution. The research uses annual Current Population Survey data on the income distribution in different metropolitan areas from 1979 through 1988. Faster metropolitan job growth increases real family income in the lowest income quintile by a significantly greater percentage than for the average family. Metropolitan job growth also increases the value of property owned by upper income quintiles, but property value effects are not large enough to offset the progressive effects of growth on labor income. Simulations indicate that economic development programs to increase metropolitan job growth will …


The Employment And Earnings Impacts Of The Targeted Jobs Tax Credit, Kevin Hollenbeck, Richard J. Willke Feb 1991

The Employment And Earnings Impacts Of The Targeted Jobs Tax Credit, Kevin Hollenbeck, Richard J. Willke

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The Targeted Jobs Tax Credit (TJTC) is intended to stimulate the employment of individuals who are members of certain groups of the labor force by providing a wage subsidy (in the form of a tax credit) to employers of recently-hired eligible workers. This intervention into the labor market has direct and indirect earnings and employment consequences for both eligible and ineligible individuals. The paper evaluates the impacts of TJTC by using a treatment and comparison group methodology. Corrections for nonrandom selection are undertaken. The primary sources of data are state quarterly wage record data from the Unemployment Insurance system and …


The Tax Treatment Of Fringe Benefits, Stephen A. Woodbury, Wei-Jang Huang Jan 1991

The Tax Treatment Of Fringe Benefits, Stephen A. Woodbury, Wei-Jang Huang

Upjohn Press

Woodbury and Huang use econometric models to investigate how changes in the tax treatment of fringe benefits can be expected to influence the level of benefits and compensation provided by employers, federal revenues, and income inequality.


The Economics Of Comparable Worth, Mark R. Killingsworth Jan 1990

The Economics Of Comparable Worth, Mark R. Killingsworth

Upjohn Press

Killingsworth provides a clear statement of the definitional and conceptual issues surrounding comparable worth as well as an examination of its actual and potential effects. He also shows how comparable worth might work in alternative labor market settings and provides evidence of the effects of the comparable worth measures implemented in San Jose, Calif., the State of Minnesota, and Australia.


Two-Tier Compensation Structures: Their Impact On Unions, Employers, And Employees, James Martin, Thomas D. Heetderks Jan 1990

Two-Tier Compensation Structures: Their Impact On Unions, Employers, And Employees, James Martin, Thomas D. Heetderks

Upjohn Press

Martin conducted a study at a large company where its various wage tier systems allowed assessment of the long-term impact of tiers. Part of this study included the development of a survey designed to explore eight research questions related to tiers and to test five hypotheses of low-tier v. high-tier employees.


Current Economic Issues In Employee Benefits, Stephen A. Woodbury Sep 1989

Current Economic Issues In Employee Benefits, Stephen A. Woodbury

Book Chapters

No abstract provided.


Statement [For] Distribution And Economics Of Employer Provided Fringe Benefits: Hearings Before The Subcommittee On Social Security And Subcommittee On Select Revenue Measures Of The Committee On Ways And Means, House Of Representatives, Stephen A. Woodbury Sep 1984

Statement [For] Distribution And Economics Of Employer Provided Fringe Benefits: Hearings Before The Subcommittee On Social Security And Subcommittee On Select Revenue Measures Of The Committee On Ways And Means, House Of Representatives, Stephen A. Woodbury

Testimonies

No abstract provided.