Labor Economics Commons^™

A Deep Dive Into Technological Unemployment: A State-Level Analysis On The Employment Effect Of Technological Innovations, Yuqing "Jenny" Cang

CMC Senior Theses

Ever since the first Industrial Revolution, during which many textile artisans lost their jobs to weaving machines, the relationship between technological progress and unemployment has been explored and examined by researchers and policy makers. Existing empirical research, mostly at the microeconomic level, has presented ambiguous results. Procuring data on 51 U.S. states for a period of 19 years and a large number of controls, this paper studies the employment effect of technological innovations with a novel state-level macroeconomic analysis. Using commercially-supplied Research and Development expenditure as a proxy, this paper finds that although technological innovations have a non-significant effect on …

The Relative Impact Of The Ged On Labor Market Outcomes For The Formerly Incarcerated, Sally Vandenberg

CMC Senior Theses

This paper shows that while incarceration is associated with economic losses, the economic benefits associated with a GED may be nearly twice as large for high school dropouts that have been incarcerated than for dropouts who have not been incarcerated. My results, though imprecisely estimated, suggest that this relationship may be one of correlation, rather than causality. I find that among the formerly incarcerated the GED is associated with other positive outcomes, particularly lower rates of drug use.

Four Essays On A Student's Expectation That They Will Complete College, Martin Gray Hunter

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

It has been common practice in the economics literature to utilize data on observed outcomes and negate what individuals believe or expect will happen in the future. Using responses to a unique set of questions in the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97) I show that the literature could benefit in several ways by incorporating such data. The leading essay documents a positive association between a student's subjective probabilistic belief that they will complete a four-year college degree and whether or not they attend and complete college. The results indicate the following. First, although overconfident, individuals as young as …

Compensating Against Turnover: Managers' Talent Retention Decisions In Major League Baseball Under A Budget Constraint, Emma Knoesen

Scripps Senior Theses

From 1997 to 1999 and 2003 to the present, Major League Baseball has had a luxury tax on high payroll teams. This paper analyzes the impact of the tax as a budget constraint on teams’ ability to reward and retain high performing players. In contrast to other papers, we use wins above replacement (WAR), a popular sabermetrics statistic, to measure performance. Using this metric, we quantify the number of top performers, how this performance is rewarded with salary, and how salary impacts players’ mobility decisions. We conclude that when using WAR, the distribution of performance is not heavy tailed and …

Workers' Compensation: Analysis For Its Second Century, H. Allan Hunt, Marcus Dillender

Upjohn Press

Hunt and Dillender review the status of workers' compensation programs on three critical performance areas: 1) the adequacy of compensation for those disabled in the workplace, 2) return-to-work performance for injured workers, and 3) prevention of disabling injury and disease.

The Stem Dilemma: Skills That Matter To Regions, Fran Stewart

Upjohn Press

Fran Stewart dives into the murky waters where education and economic goals meet to confront several key issues facing policymakers and educators, including the role of public investment in human capital, the types of human capital investment that provide the greatest public return, and whether those investments should vary by region.

She shows that not all high-paying jobs require STEM skills; that not all good-paying, highly skilled STEM jobs require college degrees; and that "soft skills" are important for STEM as well as other high-paying jobs.

The Political Impact Of Rising Trade Exposure: Evidence From 2000 - 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections, Xiaoyang Qian

CMC Senior Theses

In this paper we analyze the impact of global imports on regional labor markets, and how such impact translates to changes in voting patterns in the U.S. Presidential elections from 2000 to 2016. We find that imports from different U.S. trading partners influence voting patterns in different ways. In particular, we observe an anti-incumbent effect caused by import competition from OECD countries. Such an effect cannot be observed for imports from low-income countries. There is also evidence that suggests high exposure to import competition tends to drive voters toward the Democratic candidate, who typically proposes better social welfare programs and …

Testing For Nationality Discrimination In Major League Soccer, Matthew Swift

CMC Senior Theses

Using data from the 2014-2016 Major League Soccer (MLS) seasons, this paper finds evidence for nationality discrimination in the MLS. In particular, foreign players receive a wage premium of 15.97 percent, ceteris paribus. Foreign players also receive an additional bump in their salary based on performance. Finally, using an Oaxaca (1973) decomposition, I find that 22-26% of the differences in wages between foreign and domestic players is largely due to discrimination.

Essays On Health And Labor Market Outcomes, Maryam Jafari Bidgoli

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation examines the relationship between health and labor market outcomes using the 1996-2010 longitudinal RAND Health and Retirement Study (HRS). First, it estimates the relationship between health and labor supply using a simultaneous equation model, treating health as endogenous. The effect of health may be overestimated because people may adjust their non-employment status by their health conditions (justification hypothesis). By using a full information maximum likelihood method, we can conduct a true test of exogeneity on the health variable, taking into account the correlation between two labor supply and health equations’ time-varying error components (unobserved heterogeneity). The results confirm …

Structural Change And Productivity Growth In Developing Countries, Ahmed Salim Nuhu

Masters Theses

The dual-economy model predicts that holding productivity constant, labor reallocation from less to more productive sectors, also known as 'structural change' results in improvement in economy-wide productivity. The objective of this thesis is to test the empirical predictions of this model using sectoral-level data from twenty-eight developing countries. Using the shift-share growth decomposition approach, we find regional growth-enhancing effects of structural change in Asia, Latin America and North Africa from, 1980 to 2000 and growth-reducing effects in Sub-Saharan Africa over the same period. However, as intersectoral productivity gaps disappeared after 2000, technological progress led the growth process in much of …

Does Tort Reform Affect The Market For Lawyers? Evidence From The U.S States., Ablaye Camara

Wayne State University Dissertations

This paper investigates the determinants of the market for lawyers with a focus on demand variables including tort reform laws. In this study, I used the Feasible Generalized Least Squared method and a Panel Corrected Standard Error method, with year and State identifiers applied to a panel of U.S states, to estimate the determinants of the Number of Lawyers. I also used the Fixed Effect model with year and state identifiers to evaluate the effects of these determinants on the Earnings of Lawyers.

The findings show that the Lagged Number of Lawyers and the Lagged Alternative Earnings are both significant …

Exploring The Impact Of Collective Bargaining Agreements On Employee Performance Management, Nana Gyesie

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As of 2014, union density in the United States had dropped compared to union density during the 1950s. Collective bargaining agreements are the foundational agreement for all issues related to salary, benefits, and working conditions. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore how collective bargaining agreements hindered or enabled managers from creating and sustaining high performance work practices. The conceptual framework included Walton and McKersie's work on behavioral theories for labor negotiations, human capital, and collective bargaining, and Huselid's work on high performance work practices. Fifteen respondents across 5 labor unions in Washington DC were selected through …

Employee Selection Strategies In Casual Dining Restaurants, Tim Racey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Annual turnover for hourly employees in the hospitality industry averages 102%. The costs associated with hiring and training new employees are estimated at 150% of an employee's salary for businesses with more than 30 employees. The purpose of this case study was to examine the personnel selection strategies used in the casual dining sector. The sample for this study was 6 casual dining restaurant managers in the central Georgia area. Three of the participants used online selection strategies and 3 participants used intuition-based strategies. The objective of this study was to compare the similarities and differences between each respective personnel …

Trust In Union Leaders And Decline In Union Membership, Seth Ellery Francois

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As of 2015, public opinion of the ethical and honesty standards of labor union leaders was low, with 36% of the public reporting a low or very low rating, and only 18% reporting high or very high ratings. Grounded in leadership behavioral theory, the purpose of this correlation study was to examine the relationship between union members' perceptions of union leadership consideration, union members' perceptions of leadership initiation of structure, and union members' perceptions of leadership trust. Forty-four union members completed a brief demographic survey, the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire XII, and the Trust and Employee Satisfaction Survey. The results …

Worker Selection, Hiring, And Vacancies, Ismail Baydur

Research Collection School Of Economics

The ratio of hirings to vacancies in the U.S. has the following establishment level properties: (i) it steeply rises with employment growth rate; (ii) falls with establishment size; and (iii) rises with worker turnover rate. The standard Diamond-Mortensen Pissarides (DMP) matching model is not compatible with these observations. This paper augments selection of workers prior to hiring into a random matching model with multi-worker firms. In the calibrated model, worker selection accounts for about 30% of the variation in the hiring-vacancy ratio observed in the data. Compared to the standard model, the worker selection model has both qualitative and quantitative …

Retirement Adequacy Of Mature Workers In Singapore, Rhema Vaithianathan, Stephen Hoskins

Research Collection School Of Economics

In the last decade, the Singapore resident population has grown older with more elderly and fewer younger people. As Singapore Department of Statistics noted, the proportion of residents aged 65 years and over has increased from 9% to 13% over the past ten years. There are now fewer working-age adults to support each resident aged 65 years and over as indicated by the falling resident old-age support ratio from 7.7 in 2007 to 5.1 in 2017. The support ratio is expected to halve to 2.5 by 2030. As Singaporeans are both living and working longer, it is vital for the …

Relationships Between Job Satisfaction, Supervisor Support, And Profitability Among Quick Service Industry Employees, Joseph Carl Vann

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Low profit margins threaten the sustainability of quick service restaurants (QSRs). In the United States, low levels of employee job satisfaction and low employee perceptions of supervisor support decrease organizational profitability by as much as $151 million annually, depending on the size and type of organization. Guided by the 2-factor theory of motivation, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between employee job satisfaction, employee perceptions of supervisor support, and organizational profitability. A convenience sample of employees from 86 QSR franchise locations in Houston, Texas completed the Job Satisfaction and Perceived Supervisor Support surveys. Multiple linear …

Leadership Strategies For Employee Retention In Small Lodging Establishments, Adi Raz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 2015, turnover in the lodging accommodations and food services industry was 72.1%, accounting for 6.5 million incidents of voluntary quits. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between antecedent independent variables and employee turnover in bed and breakfasts (B&Bs) and inns. The independent variables were ethical leadership, organizational support, coworker support, work-family conflict, employee empowerment, employee voice, and work schedule. Organizational support theory provided the theoretical framework for the study. Survey data were collected from 105 B&B and inn managers in California, Arizona, Oregon, and Washington. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, a correlation matrix, chi-square …

The Effect Of Health Insurance On Young Adults' Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence From The Affordable Care Act's Dependent Coverage Expansion, Quazi Hassan

Theses and Dissertations

The Affordable Care Act’s dependent coverage mandate extended young adults’ parental coverage to age 26. I study the expansion’s impact on young adults’ labor market outcomes using a control function method. Following the expansion, I find dependent coverage lowered labor force participation, lowered incomes, and mixed evidence regarding labor supply.

Net Impact And Benefit-Cost Estimates Of The Workforce Development System In Washington State, Kevin Hollenbeck, Wei-Jang Huang

Upjohn Institute Technical Reports

No abstract provided.