Labor Economics Commons^™

Deportations And Debt: How The Trump Administration’S Immigration Policies Affect The United States’ National Debt Situation, James D. Webster

Honors Theses and Capstones

The value of the United States’ national debt measured as a share of its economic output, otherwise known as its debt-to-GDP ratio, is projected to reach an all-time high and continue to climb over the span of the next 30 years. This can be attributed to a combination of tax and spending policies which generate annual budget deficits as well as a projected slowdown of economic growth. A major factor contributing to this situation is the slowing growth of the labor force in the United States. As time goes on, the growth of the U.S. population slows, and immigration becomes …

The Implications Of A Rise In The Minimum Wage: Evidence From Female Workers In Mexico, Isabella Cardenas Padilla

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes the 2019 minimum wage reform in Mexico, evaluating its impact on female labor market outcomes, including labor force participation, formal employment, and informal employment. This reform introduced a new geographic minimum wage zone along municipalities bordering the United States, accompanied by fiscal incentives, creating a natural experiment for analysis. Using difference-in-differences regression specifications, the study finds that the minimum wage increase was associated with a rise in formal sector employment and a corresponding decline in informal employment among women with low educational attainment. This study finds a magnitude of 6 percentage points in each direction, an economically …

Three Essays On Local Labor Markets, David Henry Nason

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation consists of three essays that employ applied econometric analysis to examine issues related to local labor markets. These analyses explore three distinct sources of structural change or policy interventions and evaluate their implications for regional labor markets. I examine the impact of occupational skill endowments on regional resilience to a recessionary shock, how exposure to increases in employer skill demand affects local labor markets, and whether grants extended by an existing federally chartered regional commission have a positive impact on distressed local labor markets within its service area.

The first chapter of this dissertation studies the impact that …

When Dollar General Comes To Town, Benjamin Williams

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

Since 2008, Dollar General has grown from 8,222 to 18,130 locations, becoming a staple of rural communities across America. These discount stores have had, and continue to have, a widespread impact on these communities. This lesson aims to inform students of these impacts, while also addressing how towns are responding to the entrance of Dollar Generals. The lesson will equip students to consider the different perspectives involved in this trend. Key concepts that will be discussed include food deserts, rural transportation difficulties, labor costs, and pricing competition.

Addressing Economic Instability And Workforce Turnover In Early Childhood Education: The Role Of Stipends, Wage Supplements, And Professional Development, Lucinda J. Leffler

Endeavors: Mississippi State Undergraduate Research Journal

Child care workers are vital to early childhood education, yet they face persistent economic instability, low wages, and high turnover rates. To address these challenges, states and policymakers have implemented stipends, wage supplements, and professional development programs aimed at improving financial security, job satisfaction, and workforce retention. This literature review examines the effectiveness of these initiatives across the United States, drawing on theoretical frameworks such as Vroom’s Expectancy Theory and Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory to contextualize their impact. Research indicates that financial incentives significantly reduce turnover, while professional development fosters job satisfaction and career advancement. However, sustainability concerns remain, particularly with …

A Statistical Analysis Of Southern Land Grants In Addressing Declining College Enrollment, Kallen Zhou

Endeavors: Mississippi State Undergraduate Research Journal

With declining enrollment of higher education, it is crucial to analyze current mechanics in order to maintain higher education’s benefits to society. Currently, research is aware that land grants serve an important historical role in promoting enrollment, yet additional research is required on their contemporary impact on enrollment and institutional aid. Specifically, this study evaluates land grants universities - institutions established under the Morrill Act of 1862 - and data collected from their respective Common Data Sets on historical enrollment and institutional aid from 2013 to 2023. A point-biserial correlation analysis and two sample t-test are used to understand the …

Migration And Youth Unemployment In Africa: Implications For The African Continental Free Trade Area (Afcfta), S.U.R Aliyu, Afees Adebare Salisu, Oyeyemi Kale

Journal of African Trade

This research explores the impact of migration within Africa on youth unemployment. The study makes two sig nificant contributions to existing literature. First, it investigates how intra-African migration can potentially support intra-African trade to enhance productivity and reduce youth unemployment. Second, it estimates the effects of intra African migration on male and female youth unemployment. The research methodology comprises using a two-level estimation involving the Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) technique and a Two-Stage Least Squares approach addressing endogeneity bias. Furthermore, a Negative Binomial Maximum Likelihood estimator was utilized to test the model's robustness. The results indicate that higher per …

From Conscientious French Canadian To Enterprising American: Making Memory & Measuring Social Mobility Of French Canadians 1880-1940, Brooke S. Schwaderer

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This thesis studies the social mobility of French-Canadian immigrants to the Keweenaw Peninsula 1880-1940 and memory among their descendants to explain how French-Canadian culture in the Keweenaw faded over time. Oral histories were conducted to gain an understanding of the current French-Canadian culture in the Keweenaw, understand how the current generation perceives changes in culture over time, and provide possible explanations for why French-Canadians thrived in the Keweenaw. Tax records from the Michigan Technological University Archives and social mobility scores, mother tongue, and homeownership information from the United States census was analyzed to measure language loss, and the social mobility …

Essays On Technological Change And Scientific Research, Max Mayca

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

The primary objective of economic science has long been to understand and promote growth, as it contributes to a more prosperous civilization and improves individual well-being. The core drivers of growth—capital accumulation, human capital development, and technological progress—are well-established. While capital deepening enables scaling of production, and human capital enhances labor productivity, technological and scientific advancements remain the most critical, as they continually redefine the efficiency frontier. Given this centrality, it is essential to understand how technological progress affects labor markets, how research resources should be allocated, and how technology relates to human capital formation.

The first part of this …

Determinants Of Remote Suitability Of Jobs And Residential Distance From The Workplace After The Covid-19 Pandemic, Abizer Mamnoon

CMC Senior Theses

Immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic, workers performed 14% of their paid hours from home, but this figure increased to 38% after the pandemic (Chen et al. 2023). This thesis contributes to our understanding of the determinants of remote work and the factors affecting how far an individual lives from the workplace in the post-pandemic period.

I use 1.95 million observations of worker-specific LinkedIn data from August 2023. I construct a measure of remote suitability using Dingel and Neiman’s (2020) method to assign each job title a remote suitability score based on the associated occupation. I use a Tobit regression to …

Skilled Immigrant Labor And Ai Innovation: A Longitudinal Panel Analysis Of H-1b Sponsorship Effects On Ai Patenting, Xinyue Zhang

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines how firm-level access to high-skilled immigrant labor, measured through H-1B visa petitions and approvals, affects innovation in artificial intelligence (AI). Using a panel dataset linking firm-year H-1B filings from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Employer Data Hub to AI patent records from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) between 2009 and 2019, the analysis estimates fixed effects regressions predicting AI patenting activity. The results show that H-1B approvals are positively and significantly associated with future AI patent counts, while petitions alone are not. Alternative specifications using inverse hyperbolic sine transformations and changes in …

Clutch Or Comfortable? How Franchise Tags Influence Qb Performance In The Nfl, Justin Edwards

CMC Senior Theses

Abstract

The National Football League (NFL) has a type of contract known as the Franchise Tag. The Franchise Tag is a one-year contractual extension often used when a player and a team cannot come to terms regarding the details of a contract extension. Usually, the player expects to be paid more than the organization can afford that year due to restrictions imposed by the salary cap. Because of this, Franchise-Tagged players tend to have a greater incentive to perform well in hopes of being signed into a long-term contract. My findings show that the incentive of future earnings and job …

An Analysis Of Mental Health And Workplace Absenteeism, Kristin Marie Vrona

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the effect of mental health on own health-related absenteeism among employed adults in the United States, using data from the 2010–2014 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). The MEPS uniquely differentiates between absences due to one’s own health and those due to another person’s health, enabling causal estimation of individual-level factors influencing absence decisions.

The analysis incorporates both mental and physical health measures, including diagnostic indicators and self-reported general well being, which are used as proxies for severity that may affect both diagnosed and undiagnosed individuals. Results reveal a consistent pattern: individuals experiencing high psychological distress but lacking …

The Gender Wage Gap In An Online Labor Market: The Cost Of Interruptions, Abi Adams, Kotaro Hara, Kristy Milland, Chris Callison-Burch

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper analyses gender differences in working patterns and wages on Amazon Mechanical Turk, a popular online labour platform. Using information on 2 million tasks, we find no gender differences in task selection nor experience. Nonetheless, women earn 20% less per hour on average. Gender differences in working patterns are a significant driver of this wage gap. Women are more likely to interrupt their working time on the platform with consequences for their task completion speed. A follow-up survey shows that the gender differences in working patterns and hourly wages are concentrated amongst workers with children.

Evaluating Role Of Household And Individual Characteristics On Femlae Labor Force Participation: Case Of Mgnrega, Anisha Jain

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This paper evaluates the role of household and individual characteristics on labor force participation to get insights into female labor force participation in India. In addition, the paper evaluates the role of household and individual characteristics in estimating the likelihood of employment in government jobs, permanent jobs, and MGNREGA jobs. The household characteristics that this paper focuses on include the number of elders in the family, children and teens in the household, literacy in the household, household income, and income from other sources. The individual characteristics that this paper focuses on include relation to the head, gender, age and marital …

Labor Heterogeneity, Labor Adjustment Costs, And Externally Financed Firm Growth, Enxi An, Kenneth Yung

Finance Faculty Publications

Highlights

• Because skilled workers entail higher hiring and firing expenses, firms tend to retain skilled workers in the face of the high labor adjustment costs (LACs).

• The retention of skilled workers imposes inflexibility on business operations and exposes firms to cash flow shocks.

• Firms with high LACs hoard precautionary cash in the face of higher cash flow risk.

• We find a positive relationship between LACs and externally financed firm growth.

• Equity is the major source of external funds for firm growth in the face of high LACs.

• The retention of skilled workers elevates conflicts …

Young Women In Cities: Urbanization And Gender-Biased Migration, Yumi Koh, Li Jing, Yifan Wu, Junjian Yi, Hanzhe Zhang

Research Collection School Of Economics

Young women outnumber young men in cities in many countries during periods of economic growth and urbanization. This gender imbalance among young urbanites is more pronounced in larger cities. We use the gradual rollout of Special Economic Zones across China as a quasi-experiment to establish the causal impact of urbanization on gender-differentiated incentives to migrate. We highlight the role of the marriage market in increasing rural women’s chance of marrying and marrying up in urban areas during rapid urbanization.

Road To Progress Or Bumpy Detour? Jeepney Drivers’ Lived Experiences Amidst Ongoing Phaseout, Reignchielle Jcynd D. Lacsina, Ivan Karlo S. Pating, Marjorie L. Paloma, Joy F. Galleon

Sinaya: A Philippine Journal for Senior High School Teachers and Students

This study utilizes a phenomenological research design to explore the lived experiences of jeepney drivers amidst the ongoing government’s initiative to phase out and modernize traditional jeepneys in the Philippines. It focused on six jeepney drivers operating in the Tarlac public transportation system, selected based on specific inclusion criteria. The Theory of Change was used to delve deeper into the findings, revealing that the government's initiatives have challenged the stability of jeepney drivers’ livelihood during the modernization transition. Their lives were in jeopardy due to this abrupt transformation. It left them powerless to adapt to the changes or boycott. The …

What Is The Value Of The Child And Dependent Care Credit?, Gabrielle Pepin

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The Child and Dependent Care Credit (CDCC) subsidizes child care costs for working families. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 increased the CDCC’s generosity during 2021 only. I find that while the CDCC is of relatively little value in its current form, increases in eligibility rates and conditional benefits under the pandemic expansion increased the credit’s value dramatically. Conditional on CDCC eligibility, higher-income households experienced the largest increases in benefit levels under the expanded CDCC, but lower-income households benefited disproportionately when measuring benefits as a share of income or child care spending.

Five Key Lessons For Five Core Groups Shaping Place-Based Policy, Kathleen Bolter, Timothy J. Bartik, Brad J. Hershbein, Michelle Miller-Adams, Alfonso Hernandez, Kyle Huisman, Bridget Timmeney

Reports

No abstract provided.

New Employer Payroll Taxes And Entrepreneurship, Audrey Guo, Melanie Wallskog

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

How costly are taxes for young firms? In this paper, we demonstrate that even small payroll taxes significantly distort entry, growth, and hiring decisions. First, leveraging cross-sectional variation in the taxes faced by new employers, we find that higher taxes discourage new firms from hiring their first workers, with an elasticity of the number of new employers to taxes of −0.1. Second, studying changes in taxes after entry, we find that higher taxes lead more firms to exit, while also reducing employment for those who survive and leading some firms to avoid taxes by using non-taxable contract labor.

Perceived Problem, Partnership, And Training Effect On Productivity And Export: Evidence From Micro And Small Manufacturing Firms In Indonesia, Rifai Afin

Economics and Finance in Indonesia

The primary objectives of this study are threefold: first, to investigate whether the challenges faced by micro and small industries motivate them to enter into partnerships; second, to assess the impact of partnerships on company productivity; and third, to explore the causal relationship between productivity and exports. We aim to determine whether productivity influences exports and vice versa or if a two-way relationship exists. The data used in this study consists of annual survey data from micro and small manufacturing companies, randomly collected by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2015, with a total sample of 58,290 observations. The methodologies …

The Importance Of The Safety Net Program For Informal Workers’ Food Security Amid The Covid-19 Pandemic In Indonesia, Rodhiah Umaroh, Amirusholihin Amirusholihin, Yuliawati Yuliawati

Economics and Finance in Indonesia

This study examines the effects of social safety-net programs on food security among vulnerable groups, focusing on households with informal workers. Utilizing data from the High-Frequency Monitoring of the COVID-19 Impacts 2020 (HiFy) and estimates with the Longitudinal Propensity Score Matching (LPSM) method, the findings reveal that cash and food assistance significantly reduce food insecurity among informal workers’ households. The households receiving these safety net programs experienced an 8–11% lower probability of food insecurity compared to non-recipients, as indicated by the Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATT) value. The study highlights the need for continued investment in inclusive and …

Striking A Balance: Market Shock & Responses In Automotive Components Manufacturing, Emma Lane Mcgahey

All Theses

This thesis examines the effects of extreme market shocks on supply chain dynamics within the automotive industry. Through an analysis of demand data from an automotive manufacturer to its component suppliers (January 2018 to May 2024), the study investigates the relationship between market shocks and supply chain responses, providing insights into how auto components inventory management handles downstream responses to market shocks. With supporting public data—from FRED, BLS, and the U.S. Census Bureau resources—we explore two primary relationships: the impact of market shocks on the Average Standard Deviation of Demand (SDO) and the effect of demand variability on expedited pricing …

Practice Unveils Weaknesses: Analysing The Implementation Of Regulations On Seafarers’ Work/Rest Hours, Bikram S. Bhatia

World Maritime University Ph.D. Dissertations

Seafarers’ fatigue risk management is rooted in regulations on manning and work/rest hours. These regulations establish a minimum fatigue management standard achieved through work/rest hours compliance. Seafarers must maintain daily records of their work/rest hours and report any non-compliance to their company. However, adjustments to these records have been reported in the literature. Such malpractice obscures instances of non- compliance and hinders the feedback necessary for resolving these issues, including flag State review and amendments to minimum safe manning documents. It compromises the integrity of fatigue risk management and underscores the need for further research.

This study examined the implementation …

Impact Of State-Level Family Policies On Female Labor Force Participation And Entrepreneurship, Kathryn Staczek Rudloff

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to investigate the impact of state-level family policies on women's participation in the labor force in the United States, focusing specifically on the rise of self-employment and solopreneurship among women. The research seeks to answer the following question: "How do family policies at the state level impact participation of American women in the labor force?"

The study utilized a convergent parallel mixed-methods design. A composite index of state level family policies was created to conduct cross-sectional exploratory data analysis of female labor force participation. Additionally, a qualitative phenomenological study of solopreneurs provided a deeper understanding of the …

Predicting Rail Transit Impacts With Endogenous Worker Choice: Evidence From Oahu, Justin Tyndall

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The provision of public transportation can improve the accessibility of work opportunities. However, predicting the labor market effects of new transit infrastructure is difficult because of endogenous worker decisions. I examine a large public-transit rail project on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Using block-level commuter-flow and travel-time estimates, I propose and estimate a quantitative spatial model of location and mode choice for workers. I estimate that the new rail system increases public-transit-mode share and the employment rate but does not reduce the average commute duration, because of endogenous worker sorting. Low-income workers on Oahu capture a significant share of transit’s …

Introducing Slms: Spillover-Based Local Labor Markets, Timothy J. Bartik

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Strengthening Work Requirements? Forecasting Impacts Of Reforming Cash Assistance, Josep M. Nadal-Fernandez, Gabrielle Pepin, Kane Schrader

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Work requirements are perhaps the most controversial aspect of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, America’s sole federal cash assistance program for low-income families with children. In 2025, for the first time in nearly 20 years, the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (FRA) will implement policy changes intended to strengthen states’ work requirements. However, researcher’ and policymakers’ understanding of how FRA will impact states’ compliance with federal requirements is hampered by a lack of research and publicly available data.

We tie information from reports submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that are collected to …

Resource Gaps For Minority Entrepreneurs In The Dayton Ecosystem, Iryna V. Lendel, Megan Zabik, Molly Schnoke, Jack Yochum

Reports

No abstract provided.