Labor Economics Commons^™

Brain Drain In Mississippi, Clifford Adam Conner

Honors Theses

Brain drain is the out-migration of educated individuals from an area. It is a problem with which Mississippi is overly familiar. This thesis uses data gathered from a survey of 965 respondents to identify who is leaving the state and for what reasons. The data gathered suggest confirmation that brain drain is an issue for the state, with roughly two-thirds of respondents having left the state or seriously considering doing so. The impetus for this varies with each individual, but respondents underscore economic and societal factors within Mississippi as pushing them away from the state. Quality of life factors are …

How The Level Of Job Complexity Impacts The Gender Wage Gap Across Occupations, Zytlaly Magaña Corona

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The present study focused on unpacking the social and structural aspects of job complexity to better understand its effects on the gender wage gap. Previous research on the job complexity-compensation dynamic has primarily focused on cognitive complexity. Job complexity across occupations were examined using work activity data from O*NET and merging it with the Current Population Survey data sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (N=67,003). Results revealed that higher complexity jobs in this study yielded greater wage disparities across different occupations as predicted. Furthermore, physical activities and gaining knowledge from the Generalized Work Activities were the two most …

An Assessment Of The Economic Conditions In The City Of Battle Creek, Kathleen Bolter, Jim Robey, Gerrit Anderson

Reports

The City of Battle Creek offers current and future residents many benefits including a lower cost of living, growing health care and manufacturing sectors, and relatively high wages for the region. At the same time, the City of Battle Creek, like many small-sized midwestern cities, faces many challenges. Its workforce is shrinking and aging. Residents lack the educational attainment needed to compete in the twenty-first-century economy. And, economic, social, racial, and ethnic divisions exist within the city. Together, these issues could risk the ability of the City of Battle Creek to reach a new level of competitiveness and attract new …

Youth Disconnection During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mark Borgschulte, Yuci Chen

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

Youth Disconnection During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mark Borgschulte, Yuci Chen

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper studies the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth disconnection—i.e., the share of young people who were neither in school nor at work. Youth disconnection offers important advantages, relative to unemployment or participation rates, as a measure of the labor market for the most marginal and disadvantaged youth. Before the pandemic, approximately one out of eight young people between the ages of 18 and 24 were disconnected. The disconnection rate increased dramatically in April 2020 because of the pandemic; however, it has decreased quickly since that time. The increase in the disconnection rate at the beginning of the …

Community Health Assessment: Van Buren County, Kathleen Bolter, Jim Robey, Gerrit Anderson

Reports

No abstract provided.

Community Health Assessment: Kalamazoo, Kathleen Bolter, Jim Robey, Gerrit Anderson

Reports

No abstract provided.

Ward 7 And The Hough Neighborhood: Insights From Regional And Local Data, Jim Robey

Reports

No abstract provided.

Workforce And Demographic Profile Of Berrien, Cass, And Van Buren Counties, Jim Robey

Reports

The Whirlpool Corporation, located in Benton Harbor Charter Township, asked the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research to develop a dashboard of indicators portraying the current and future (where possible) “economic” health of the region.

Mccamly Plaza Economic Impact Report, Jim Robey

Reports

In August of 2020, leadership at Battle Creek Unlimited (BCU) requested that the Regional and Economic Planning Services Team at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research (Upjohn) create a set of estimates for the renovation and operation of the McCamly Plaza Hotel and Plaza located in downtown Battle Creek.

Impact Estimates For Fort Custer Multi-Tenant Industrial Space, Jim Robey

Reports

In support of a grant application to be submitted to the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), Battle Creek Unlimited (BCU) asked the Regional and Economic Planning Services Team at the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research (Upjohn) to estimate the economic impact of the building and operations of a multi-tenant industrial incubator in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Impact Estimates For The Freshwater Center, Jim Robey

Reports

Lake Superior State University, in support of a U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant application, asked the Regional and Economic Planning Services Team at the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research (Upjohn) to estimate the economic impact of building and operating the Freshwater Center (Center) in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

How College Enrollment Changed For Kalamazoo Promise Students Between Fall 2019 And Fall 2020, Daniel Collier, Isabel Mcmullen, Brad J. Hershbein

Upjohn Institute Policy Papers

The COVID-19 pandemic greatly reduced the college enrollment rate for students during the Fall 2020 semester. National data show that although enrollment of new students declined overall, it varied substantially by institution type and student characteristics. What national data do not reveal is how certain communities with already high college-going rates responded to the pandemic. We use data from Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS) and the tuition-free program the Kalamazoo Promise to compare the immediate college enrollment of graduating high school students from the class of 2019 to that of the class of 2020. Overall, immediate college enrollment of KPS graduates …

Rethinking Credentials For Aviation Sustainability: A Dacum Approach, Leila Halawi

Publications

The pandemic of COVID-19 Millennials aren't the youngest working generation anymore, and Gen Zers are the new kids on the block. This group of individuals, born between 1995 and 2019, already makes up 5% of the total U.S. labor force, roughly 9 million people. However, the skills gap is real and exists, one in which research shows that new college graduates either do not have all the skills employers want, or they are not doing an excellent job of demonstrating those skills in their resumes.

Sustainability programs consistently encounter challenges that threaten the future as a viable academic discipline. It …

Trade And Informality In The Presence Of Labor Market Frictions And Regulations, Rafael Dix-Carneiro, Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg, Costas Meghir, Gabriel Ulyssea

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We build an equilibrium model of a small open economy with labor market frictions and imperfectly enforced regulations. Heterogeneous firms sort into the formal or informal sector. We estimate the model using data from Brazil, and use counterfactual simulations to understand how trade affects economic outcomes in the presence of informality. We show the following: 1) Trade openness unambiguously decreases informality in the tradable sector but has ambiguous effects on aggregate informality. 2) The productivity gains from trade are understated when the informal sector is omitted. 3) Trade openness results in large welfare gains even when informality is repressed. 4) …

Covid-19’S Impacts On The Labor Market In 2020, Brad J. Hershbein, Harry J. Holzer

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Making The Child Care Tax Credit Permanently Refundable Could Benefit Low-Income Families, Gabrielle Pepin

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Bedford County Economic Needs Assessment, Dennis Burnside, Jim Robey, Brian Pittelko

Reports

Bedford County Development Association (BCDA) engaged Juniper Solutions (“Juniper”) and The W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research (“Upjohn”), collectively the “Team,” to study the current economic conditions of Bedford County to assess potential opportunities from a workforce development and commercial real estate perspective. As part of this effort, the initial process entailed creating a baseline assessment leveraging a multitude of data sources, ranging from U.S. Census Bureau to subscription-based platforms like CoStar for commercial real estate and BurningGlass for job posting metrics. During the quantitative data collection, the the Team also met with stakeholders including public officials, County administrators, real …

Industrial Policy In Context: Comparative Experiences From Chile And Zambia, Frank Chansa, Ngao Mubanga, Dale Mudenda, Manenga Ndulo

Zambia Social Science Journal

This article tries to draw lessons from Chile for Zambia on innovative industrial policy and strategies that lead to industrial transformation and job creation. The creation of quality jobs for the increasingly skilled youth requires significant efforts. Industrial policy has been argued to have the potential to contribute to the creation of employment through support for new and old initiatives in the economy. In the case of Zambia, the economy has mainly been dominated by the mining sector, where the creation of jobs has been very small, whereas the comparator country Chile developed an institutional framework for industrial policy that …

Nebraska Recovers From The Pandemic Economy, Eric Thompson

Business in Nebraska

The COVID-19 Pandemic threw the United States economy into a severe and sharp recession during the first half of 2020. A combination of government “shutdown” restrictions and private actions led to a particularly severe decline in economic activity in late March and April. The lifting or reduction of government restrictions across the United States led to a fast recovery in subsequent months, especially as businesses and consumers learned to adapt to their new operating conditions. However, the rate of recovery has slowed recently as the spread of Covid-19 has accelerated and many businesses have curtailed travel, maintained “work from home” …

Employment Trends And Poverty Status: Men And Women In The New York City Metro Area Between 2000 And 2017, Sarah Kostecki

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction:

This report examines employment trends and poverty status among men and women aged 25-54 in the New York City metropolitan area. The report assesses the characteristics of these persons, while examining trends and differences in poverty status by sex, race/ethnicity, and across the five largest Latino nationalities.

Methods:

This report uses the American Community Survey PUMS (Public Use Microdata Series) data for all years released by the Census Bureau and reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa, (https://usa.ipums.org/usa/index.shtml). See Public Use Microdata Series Steven Ruggles, J. Trent Alexander, Katie Genadek, Ronald Goeken, Matthew …

Career Paths With A Two-Body Problem: Occupational Specialization And Geographic Mobility, Valeria Rueda, Guillaume Wilemme

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We develop a model of joint job search and occupational choice in which job opportunities can be incompatible inside the couple. Typically, incompatibilities may arise because jobs are not in the same location. We show that the existence of incompatible jobs pushes some couples to sacrifice the career of one partner. The model predicts occupational switches throughout the career and at the time of couple formation. Gendered equilibria, whereby all women (or men) choose the accommodating occupation, may arise. Any element of ex-ante unfavorable gender gaps—for instance, due to discrimination or norms—is amplified and can generate large systemic differences in …

Barriers To Post-Secondary Success, Douglas Swanson, Najeana Henderson, Maritza Sloan

Dissertations

This study reviews factors that prior studies have identified or failed to consider as barriers to post-secondary success. The three main areas include academic success for Latinx students after high school, organizational systems and their impact on African-American students’ postsecondary readiness, and what workers think of their high school education with regards to career preparedness.

Five factors are identified as major barriers for Latinx students to continue in a higher education system. A survey of former students from Saint Louis, Missouri, and Dallas, Texas, metroplex area identified 56 Latinx students that participated in an initial survey. This led to a …

Economic Outlook For Lakeshore Advantage: Getting To 2030, Jim Robey, Kathleen Bolter, Gerrit Anderson, Emily Boyle, Claudette Robey, Brian Pittelko, Jennifer Nichols, Minh Dang

Reports

Lakeshore Advantage, a nonprofit economic development organization serving businesses in Allegan and Ottawa counties, teamed up with the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research to better understand the long-term economic health of its region. The Upjohn Institute conducted an analysis of Allegan and Ottawa counties to hone in on the strengths of these communities and offer insights on where improvements are needed to grow the region and achieve Lakeshore Advantage’s 2030 goals which include ranking at or above selected comparative communities for median household income, average annual pay, total employment growth, and educational attainment. This study includes an examination of …

Making The Child Care Tax Credit Permanently Refundable Could Benefit Low-Income Families, Gabrielle Pepin

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

How Would A Permanently Refundable Child And Dependent Care Credit Affect Eligibility, Benefits, And Incentives?, Gabrielle Pepin

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The federal Child and Dependent Care Credit (CDCC) subsidizes child care costs for working families. Before 2021, the CDCC was nonrefundable, so only families with positive tax liability after other deductions benefited. I estimate how CDCC eligibility, benefits, and marginal tax rates would change if the credit were made permanently refundable, relative to 2020 CDCC parameters set to be restored in 2022. Under refundability, some 5 percent of single parents gain eligibility and receive on average over $1,000 annually. Eligibility increases are largest among Black and Hispanic households. Increases in marginal tax rates among moderate-income taxpayers are small.

Labor Market Trends And Outcomes: What Has Changed Since The Great Recession?, Erica L. Groshen, Harry J. Holzer

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We describe trends in wages and labor force participation for the “working class”—whom we define as workers with high school or less education—compared to those with college or more. We compare cyclical peaks over the entire period 1979–2019, with particular focus on the Great Recession (2007–2010) and recovery (2010–2019). We also present results by gender and race. We find real wage growth in the latter period for all workers, but not enough to change the long-term trends of growing inequality and stagnant wages for the less-educated; and we also find that labor force participation continued to decline for the less-educated, …

Globalization, Trade Imbalances, And Labor Market Adjustment, Rafael Dix-Carneiro, João Paulo Pessoa, Ricardo Reyes-Heroles, Sharon Traiberman

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We study the role of global trade imbalances in shaping the adjustment dynamics in response to trade shocks. We build and estimate a general equilibrium, multicountry, multisector model of trade with two key ingredients: 1) consumption-saving decisions in each country commanded by representative households, leading to endogenous trade imbalances, and 2) labor market frictions across and within sectors, leading to unemployment dynamics and sluggish transitions to shocks. We use the estimated model to study the behavior of labor markets in response to globalization shocks, including shocks to technology, trade costs, and intertemporal preferences (savings gluts). We find that modeling trade …

Workforce Outcomes Of Tuition-Free College: Early Findings, Brad J. Hershbein, Michelle Miller-Adams

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Human Capital And Black-White Earnings Gaps, 1996–2017, Owen Thompson

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper estimates the contribution of human capital to the Black-white earnings gap in three separate samples of men spanning from 1966 through 2017, using both educational attainment and performance on standardized tests to measure human capital. There are three main findings. First, the magnitude of reductions in the Black-white earnings gap that occur after controlling for human capital has become much larger over time, suggesting a growing contribution of human capital to Black-white earnings disparities. Second, these increases are almost entirely due to growth in the returns to human capital, which magnify the impact of any racial differences in …