Labor Economics Commons^™

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 …

Report On A Survey Of Unemployment And Active Labour Market Programmes In Hungary, Martin Godfrey, György LáZáR, Christopher J. O'Leary

Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Suggested Revisions To The Polish Employment Law, Christopher J. O'Leary

Reports

No abstract provided.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

A Net Impact Analysis Of Adult, Job-Specific Training Programs Funded By The Ohio Department Of Education, Kevin Hollenbeck, William Anderson

Upjohn Institute Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Innovation In Planning Hungarian Labor Market Programs, Christopher J. O'Leary

Conference Papers

This paper summarizes the important features of the Hungarian ALPs (active labor market programs) and reports on the system to assess the effectiveness of ALPs which is now being implemented in Hungary. The system being introduced in Hungary is an example of "entrepreneurial government" in the sense of Osborne and Gaebler (1992). The paper lists performance indicators (PI) used for each program, and explains how they are used with administrative and follow-up data. The system of PI is designed to monitor performance while allowing decentralized decision making and avoiding adverse incentives. The system is designed to promote superior performance through …

The Impact Of Work History On Economic Security At Old Age Among Africans In South Africa, Martha Tshitshi S. Mbatha

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Work histories of most Africans in South Africa determine whether or not they will be poor at old age. To illustrate this point, the author uses the literature and data collected from elderly Africans. Findings show racial discrimination in education and in the labor market as resulting in the concentration of the majority of Africans in low paying jobs. Low wages and the absence of a national pension scheme prevent most Africans from saving for their retirement. African workers constitute the largest percentage of the working poor in South Africa. Their circumstances are unlikely to change even after retirement. At …

Economic Payoffs To Participation In Adult Education, Kevin Hollenbeck

Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

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.

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 …

Does Employment Protection Inhibit Labor Market Flexibility?: Lessons From Germany, France And Belgium, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Laws in most West European countries give workers strong job rights, including the right to advance notice of layoff and the right to severance pay or other compensation if laid off. Many of these same countries also encourage hours adjustment in lieu of layoffs by providing prorated unemployment compensation to workers on reduced hours. This paper compares the adjustment of manufacturing employment and hours in West Germany, France and Belgium, three countries with strong job security regulations and well-established short-time compensation systems, with that in the United States. Although the adjustment of employment to changes in output is much slower …

Classrooms In The Workplace: Workplace Literacy Programs In Small And Medium-Sized Firms, Kevin Hollenbeck

Upjohn Press

Hollenbeck, using a combined qualitative/quantitative approach, estimates the linkage between workplace literacy programs and the reason for their existence - increased productivity requirements. He utilizes in-depth case studies as well as a large database to look at the costs and benefits of such programs, also the determining factors for why firms choose to implement literacy programs.

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

Economic Restructuring And Emerging Patterns Of Industrial Relations, Stephen R. Sleigh Editor

Upjohn Press

This book's essays analyze innovative responses by unions, corporations and governments to job loss caused by economic restructuring, drawing on examples from Western Europe and the U.S.

The Costs Of Worker Dislocation, Louis S. Jacobson, Robert J. Lalonde, Daniel G. Sullivan

Upjohn Press

The authors use findings from this study, in conjunction with their comprehensive interpretation of existing worker dislocation literature, to develop policy recommendations concerning prevailing and potential assistance programs. They conclude by proposing that any new policies designed to compensate dislocated workers should target those suffering the greatest losses while providing incentives to take new jobs - even if lower paying - as soon as possible. Programs which allow dislocated workers to receive compensation after regaining employment (modified earnings subsidies) are promoted as practical and financially feasible.

Unemployment Insurance In The United States: The First Half Century, Saul J. Blaustein, Wilbur J. Cohen, William Haber

Upjohn Press

Blaustein offers the definitive summary of the U.S. unemployment insurance system. This is the first of a two-volume update of Haber and Murray's Unemployment Insurance in the American Economy.

Pension Policy For A Mobile Labor Force, John A. Turner, Tabitha A. Doescher, Phyllis A. Fernandez

Upjohn Press

Employers often create a conflict between job mobility and retirement security when they deny future pension benefits to workers who quit a job before reaching retirement age. Unfortunately, this deterrent to job-changing inhibits the labor market's ability to adjust. It also means workers may be unprepared financially upon retirement. Turner describes why pension losses are such a significant problem and presents empirical evidence as to the number of workers affected and the amount of losses they incur. He also probes pension portability policy options and looks at portability options in effect in Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

An Empirical Analysis Of The Recent Decline Of Union Membership In The United States, Mojgan Tajbakhsh Izadi

Masters Theses

The union membership in the United States has declined since 1970 and reached less than 14 percent of labor force in 1989. A number of studies have been conducted to examine the causes of decline in union membership. Among researchers nearly all believed that structural change in the United States economy plays an important role. The theories of managerial opposition and substitution of government and employers for unions were also supported by many researchers. This study examined the effect of the number of female and part-time workers from the labor force as a measure for structural change in the economy. …

The American Social Gospel And Korean Minjung Theology Look At Labor: A Comparison, Kee Hyang Ro

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Today, current global economic crises are forcing us to examine what the capitalist, industrial economy has done to workers and to explore alternatives to the prevailing concept of labor. For Koreans, who are involved with the Korean Labor Movement, their American counterpart that played a significant and an important role fighting the capitalists for the rights of laborers has taught them many lessons.

The Social Gospel Movement in America was started to fight "the real powers of darkness"—the economic corruption in high places and grinding poverty among lower sectors—both arising from industrialization and urbanization. Seeing that the labor movement coalesced …

An Economic Opportunity Concept For The Northside Of The City Of Kalamazoo, Timothy J. Bartik, George A. Erickcek

Reports

No abstract provided.

The Policy Response Of Agriculture, Leyla Abdu Prahim Hashim

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Child Care And The Employment Behavior Of Single And Married Mothers, Jean Kimmel

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper examines the relationship between the cost of child care and the employment behavior of married and single mothers. The data used in this paper are from the 1987 SIPP, the first SIPP panel to utilize an improved probing of child care usage and expenditures. A primary contribution of this paper stems from the use of these improved child care data. A second contribution is to provide a clear comparison between single mothers and married mothers. A third contribution of this paper is its detailed discussion of participation elasticities, with a comparison of elasticities derived from different measures of …

Employer Training Needs In Hawaii: Summary Report, Stephen A. Woodbury, University Of Hawaii At Manoa, Industrial Relations Center

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The Survey of Employer Training Needs in Hawaii was undertaken to gather information and data on the needs and preferences of employers in Hawaii regarding government assistance with training. The need for such information was created by passage of Act 68, Session Laws of Hawaii 1991, which created the Hawaii Employment and Training Fund "to assist employers and workers through innovative programs to include, but not be limited to, business-specific training, upgrade training, new occupational skills, management skills, and support services to improve the long-term employability of Hawaii's people."

The Ceo Council Retention Survey: Results Of 1992 Survey, George A. Erickcek, Norman Terry, Perry K. Wolfe

Reports

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Kentucky’S Agricultural Performance Using Shift-Share Analysts, David Neal Cundiff

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In this paper the theory that Kentucky has a comparative advantage in agricultural employment, when compared to the United States, is examined. In order to test this hypothesis, a dynamic shift-share analysis was conducted using the thirteen major economic sector of Kentucky over the period 1970 to 1989. The resulting regional shift components, or competitive components, give support to the theory that a comparative advantage for Kentucky in agriculture does exist. Annual regional shift components, as well as their dynamic counterpart, possess predominately positive values, indicating outperformance by Kentucky’s agricultural sector when compared to the United States economy as a …

Does Sex Discrimination Exist In Faculty Salaries At Western Kentucky University? An Empirical Examination Of The Wage Gap, Reed Vesey

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis examines wage differentials between male and female faculty salaries at Western Kentucky University. A human capital model of salary determination is examined by using regression analysis on relevant personal and job characteristics of faculty members. A large portion of the wage gap between men and women is explained through differences in the personal and job characteristics. A portion of the wage gap remains unexplained, however, the probability of discrimination playing a substantial role in salary is very small.

Workplace Education Programs In Small- And Medium-Sized Michigan Firms, Kevin Hollenbeck, William Anderson

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper presents a systematic, baseline picture of workplace education programs in small and medium-sized businesses (less than 500 employees) in Michigan. Specifically, it addresses why some firms are offering and other firms are not offering workplace education programs, what are the characteristics of the programs being provided, and what are the impacts of these programs on firms and employees. The paper draws upon two data sources. Case studies of 28 Michigan businesses were undertaken between May 1991 and July 1992 and a combination mail/telephone survey of small businesses in Michigan was conducted in early 1992. The paper finds that …