Showing papers in "Journal for Labour Market Research in 2013"

The "Task Approach" to Labor Markets" An Overview

Abstract: An emerging literature argues that changes in the allocation of workplace “tasks” between capital and labor, and between domestic and foreign workers, has altered the structure of labor demand in industrialized countries and fostered employment polarization—that is, rising employment in the highest and lowest paid occupations. Analyzing this phenomenon within the canonical production function framework is challenging, however, because the assignment of tasks to labor and capital in the canonical model is essentially static. This essay sketches an alternative model of the assignment of skills to tasks based upon comparative advantage, reviews key conceptual and practical challenges that researchers face in bringing the “task approach” to the data, and cautions against two common pitfalls that pervade the growing task literature. I conclude with a cautiously optimistic forecast for the potential of the task approach to illuminate the interactions among skill supplies, technological capabilities, and trade and offshoring opportunities, in shaping the aggregate demand for skills, the assignment of skills to tasks, and the evolution of wages.

The PASS panel survey after six waves

Abstract: The aim of the Panel Study “Labour Market and Social Security” (PASS) is to provide a database which allows analysing the dynamics of welfare benefits receipt after the introduction of the Unemployment Benefits II in Germany in 2005. This entails the take up and ending of benefits receipt as well as the social situation of households and individuals receiving benefits, their subjective ways of coping with the situation and the contact to institutions providing the basic income support. PASS is set up as a household panel study with a sample of approx. 10,000 households interviewed in each wave. In addition to household interviews with the heads of the households about 15,000 interviews with individual household members aged 15 and older are carried out. This article provides an overview of the first six waves of PASS. It focuses on the survey’s main goals, the questionnaire, the sampling and study design, the number of interviews, data access and methodological research on PASS. The article closes by describing the outlook for future developments.

Explaining age and gender differences in employment rates: A labor supply side perspective

Abstract: This paper takes a labor supply perspective (neoclassical labor supply, job search) to explain the lower employment rates of older workers and women. The basic rationale is that workers choose non-employment if their reservation wages are larger than the offered wages. Whereas the latter depend on workers’ productivity and firms’ decisions, reservation wages are largely determined by workers’ endowments and preferences for leisure. To shed some empirical light on this issue, we use German survey data to analyze age and gender differences in reservation and entry wages, preferred and actual working hours, and satisfaction with leisure and work.

Changes in workplace tasks in Germany—evaluating skill and task measures

Abstract: The task approach is attracting increasing attention and recognition among scholars in economics, sociology and related fields. However, measurement still presents an important challenge to the task approach. This paper studies the comparability of task measures in the commonly used German BIBB/IAB-BIBB/BAuA employment cross-sections on qualification and working conditions from 1979, 1985/86, 1991/92, 1998/99, and 2006. We hypothesize that findings on task-biased technological change are sensitive to variable choice. The task data differ substantially from other task data, and task items are not readily comparable between survey years. As a result, classifying single task items into distinct domains leads to a number of problems. To test our hypothesis, we use different strategies for classifying tasks into task domains, and analyze whether different operationalizations lead to different conclusions about task change in Germany. Our results show that this indeed is the case. Our paper provides readers with a broader understanding of German task data and gives recommendations for applying the task approach to German employment data.

Unemployment and willingness to accept job offers: results of a factorial survey experiment

Abstract: Matching individuals to jobs is a fundamental problem in any labour market. This paper focuses on job characteristics, such as wages, job quality, and distance from the current place of residence, and the impact of these characteristics on the willingness of employed and unemployed individuals to accept new job offers. Using an experimental factorial survey module (FSM) implemented in the fifth wave of a large population survey (Panel Study Labour Market and Social Security), the willingness of employed and unemployed labour market participants to accept new job offers was compared while considering job characteristics like gain of income or commuting distance. In this study, unemployed and employed individuals received the same set of hypothetical job offers. Consistent with theoretical arguments, the about 20,000 evaluations provided by about 4,000 respondents showed that unemployed participants generally exhibit a greater willingness to accept new job offers than employed ones. Moreover, unemployed individuals were likely to make more concessions than employed individuals with respect to job quality, such as accepting fixed-term job offers. Interestingly, little evidence for different decision-making or weightings of mobility costs was found, which enables us to conclude that interregional unemployment disparities can scarcely be explained by unemployed individuals lacking the willingness to work or relocate.

Biografische Einflussfaktoren auf den Gender Pension Gap – Ein Kohortenvergleich für Westdeutschland

Abstract: Gesellschaftliche Veranderungen, wie die steigende Zahl von Ehescheidungen und der hohe Anteil nicht-ehelicher Lebensgemeinschaften, fuhren zu einer wachsenden Bedeutung einer eigenstandigen, armutsvermeidenden Alterssicherung von Frauen. Zwar erscheint dieses Ziel aufgrund der gestiegenen Erwerbsbeteiligung von Frauen zunehmend erreichbar, Ungleichheiten auf dem Arbeitsmarkt wirken sich allerdings weiterhin negativ auf die Erwerbs- und Einkommenschancen von Frauen aus. Der Einfluss verschiedener erwerbsbiografischer Faktoren auf den Gender Pension Gap, also den Unterschied zwischen den Alterseinkommen von Mannern und Frauen, wird hier mit den Daten „Altersvorsorge in Deutschland (AVID) 2005“ fur Westdeutschland untersucht. Verglichen werden die projizierten Alterseinkunfte im Hinblick auf die gesetzliche, betriebliche und private Vorsorge fur zwei Kohorten: 1942–1946 sowie 1957–1961 Geborene. Mit Hilfe einer Oaxaca-Blinder-Dekomposition wird der Anteil verschiedener Erklarungsfaktoren an der Entstehung der Lucke quantifiziert. Die Studie kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass bislang weder die gestiegene Bildungsbeteiligung von Frauen noch ihre zunehmende Erwerbsbeteiligung zu einer deutlichen Verringerung des Gender Pension Gaps gefuhrt haben. Dieser betragt bei den Alterseinkommen insgesamt auch fur die jungere Kohorte noch 51 %, im Vergleich zu 58 % in der alteren Kohorte. Die multivariaten Ergebnisse zeigen, dass es vor allem der Vollzeit-Teilzeit-Gap ist, der den weiterhin grosen Unterschied in den Alterseinkommen von Mannern und Frauen verursacht.

The impact of temporary employment and employment protection on labour productivity: evidence from an industry-level panel of EU countries

Abstract: In recent years the availability of new industry-level data allowed to evaluate the impact of labour market policies more consistently than previous standard cross-country studies. In this paper an industry-level panel is exploited to evaluate the impact of Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) for temporary employment (TE), along with permanent employment (PE), in EU countries. Indeed, the advantage of using industry-level data is manifold. The method exploits both cross-country variation in EPL for PE and TE and variation in the relevance of EPL in different industries deriving from a particular diff-in-diff assumption. Differently from the previous literature we apply this idea of the different binding of EPL only for PE, whereas we implement a different strategy for TE which should imply a more accurate identification of the effect of the use of TE on labour productivity. The theoretical literature has not established a clear prediction on the sign of the effects, existing different convincing reasons for both directions. Thus, the results of the analysis have potentially important policy implications. Our main finding is that the use of temporary contracts has a negative, even if small in magnitude, effect on labour productivity. Furthermore, the analysis confirms that EPL for regular contracts reduce labour productivity growth more in those industries requiring a greater employment reallocation.

The effect of housework on wages in Germany: no impact at all

Abstract: This paper presents evidence on the impact of hours spent on housework activities on individuals’ wages for Germany using data from both the German Socio-Economic Panel and the German Time Use Survey. In contrast to most of the international literature, we find no negative effect of housework on wages. This holds for men and women, for married and single individuals, and for part-time and full-time workers both in West and East Germany. Our insights do not change when we distinguish different types of housework activities or address the endogeneity of housework in our wage regressions by using instrumental variables estimators.

Poverty and the social participation of young people—an analysis of poverty-related withdrawal mechanisms

Abstract: This paper analyses poverty-specific withdrawal mechanisms of children and adolescents. A lower social participation rate in extracurricular organisations decreases opportunities for informal learning and consequently reduces life chances. Poverty research has demonstrated that financial constraints and the social withdrawal that result from feelings of shame cause lower participation rates. By dividing extracurricular leisure activities into fee-based and noncontributory activities, it is possible to discriminate between the two mechanisms. Our empirical crosssectional analysis is based on the panel study “Labour Market and Social Security” (PASS). The results demonstrate that primarily financial shortages explain decreased participation opportunities and to a substantially lesser extent social withdrawal. Additionally, the findings suggest that social deprivation occurs only in situations of long-lasting poverty.

Why to employ both migrants and natives? A study on task-specific substitutability

Abstract: This paper analyses the performance of migrants on the German labour market and its dependence on the tasks performed on their jobs. Recent work suggests quantifying the imperfect substitutability relationship between migrants and natives as a measure for the hurdles migrants have to face. Our theoretical framework adopts that migrant shares vary with qualification, task categories, and experience. Hence, substitution elasticities of an aggregate production function can be quite different regarding different job cells. Finally, we estimate elasticities of substitution for different aggregate CES-nested production functions for Germany between 1993 and 2008 using administrative data and taking into account the task approach. We find significant variation in the substitutability between migrants and natives across qualification levels and tasks. We show that especially interactive tasks seem to impose hurdles for migrants on the German labour market.

Stigma consciousness among the unemployed and prejudices against them: development of two scales for the 7th wave of the panel study “Labour Market and Social Security (PASS)”

Abstract: This paper develops scales to measure stigma consciousness in the unemployed and prejudices against them, using a quantitative survey. The requirement for these scales is illustrated in the introduction. The theoretical substantiation of the scale development includes a definition of stigmatisation, an overview of the current state of research regarding the consequences of stigmatisation for individuals, and the possible causes of stigmatisation processes. The argumentation is based on reflections on the significance of employment in people’s lives. How the prejudice and the stigmatisation scales are developed is the subject-matter of the main section. Using data from a pre-test of both scales, the final version of the scales is then carved out. We conclude with a summary of our theoretical considerations and some thoughts about possible applications for the scales.

The distribution of the gender wage gap in Austria: evidence from matched employer-employee data and tax records

Abstract: We examine the gender wage gap in Austria using new matched employer-employee data from 2007. We estimate quantile regressions and investigate the gender wage gap at the conditional wage distribution of men and women. We decompose the gender wage gap into the parts which are due to different characteristics and different returns to these characteristics. About 60 % of the gender wage gap cannot be explained by differences in human capital or other observable indicators of productivity. Taking differences in the characteristics into account, we find that women earn on average about 11 % less than men. We further estimate that differences in the returns for women and men increase over the wage distribution.

Erwerbspersonen- und Arbeitsvolumenprojektionen bis ins Jahr 2060

Abstract: Diese Arbeit analysiert die Auswirkungen des demografischen Wandels auf das Arbeitsangebot und leitet auf Basis verschiedener Szenarien Politikempfehlungen ab, um dem demografisch bedingten Arbeitskrafteruckgang zu begegnen. In einem ersten Schritt werden hierbei Erwerbspersonenprojektion anhand eines Kohorten-Komponenten-Modells vorgenommen und durch verschiedene Modellrechnungen erganzt. Neben einer Abschatzung der Erwerbspersonenzahl bei einer Erhohung des effektiven Renteneintrittsalters werden die Konsequenzen eines fruheren Erwerbseintritts, einer steigenden Erwerbsbeteiligung der uber 60-Jahrigen, einer verstarkten Erwerbsbeteiligung von Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund sowie einer erhohten Erwerbsbeteiligung der Frauen untersucht. In einem zweiten Schritt werden die Effekte einer sinkenden Erwerbslosenquote sowie einer steigenden Arbeitszeit je Erwerbstatigen betrachtet, um so Ruckschlusse uber das zukunftige Arbeitsvolumen zu ziehen. Unsere Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass eine hinreichende Stabilisierung des jahrlich geleisteten Arbeitsvolumens moglich ist, so dass bereits geringe Produktivitatssteigerungen dafur ausreichen werden, das Bruttoinlandsprodukt je Einwohner auf dem heutigen Niveau zu stabilisieren.

Should local public employment services be merged with local social benefit administrations

Abstract: The German Federal government has allowed local governments of some regions (Approved Local Providers) to be solely responsible for the care of unemployment benefit II recipients. In the remaining regions Joint Local Agencies were formed, where the local social benefit administrations work together with the local public employment services. We find that despite positive self-selection Approved Local Providers do not perform better than Joint Local Agencies. Even more interestingly, using a unique data set on organisational characteristics we are able to show that the organisational features implemented primarily by Approved Local Providers are positively correlated with the job finding probability of the unemployment benefits II recipients. Thus, local governments that self-selected into Approved Local Providers seem to have implemented a better organisational structure. However, their relatively poor performance overall compared to Joint Local Agencies suggests that they underestimated the benefits of having the local public employment service merged with the local social benefit administration.

An accounting exercise for the shift in life-cycle employment profiles of married women born between 1940 and 1960

Abstract: Life-cycle employment profiles of married women born between 1940 and 1960 shifted upwards and became flatter. We calibrate a dynamic life-cycle model of employment decisions of married women to assess the quantitative importance of three competing explanations of the change in employment profiles: the decrease and delay in fertility, the increase in relative wages of women to men, and the decline in child-care costs. We find that the decrease and delay in fertility and the decline in child-care cost affect employment very early in life, while increases in relative wages affect employment increasingly with age. Changes in relative wages, in particular returns to experience, account for the bulk (67 percent) of changes in life-cycle employment of married women.

Ältere Arbeitslose am Scheideweg zwischen Erwerbsleben und Ruhestand: Gründe für ihren Rückzug vom Arbeitsmarkt

Abstract: In Deutschland waren ab 58-jahrige Erwerbslose bis zum Jahr 2007 von einem Grundprinzip aktivierender Arbeitsmarktpolitik ausgenommen: Sie hatten das Recht, Arbeitslosenunterstutzung bis zur Rente zu beziehen, ohne eine neue Arbeit suchen zu mussen (Paragraph 428 SGB III). Vor dem Hintergrund der politischen Bemuhungen um eine starkere Teilhabe Alterer am Arbeitsleben beschaftigt sich der Beitrag mit der Frage, aus welchen Grunden sich die uberwiegende Mehrheit der alteren Langzeitarbeitslosen mit Hilfe des „erleichterten Leistungsbezugs“ (ELB) vom Arbeitsmarkt zuruckgezogen hat. Die Untersuchung des Arbeitsmarktverhaltens dieser Gruppe anhand des ELB verringert dabei ein methodisches Problem: Da arbeitslose Bezieher von Transferleistungen dem Arbeitsmarkt zur Verfugung stehen mussen, durften Fragen nach deren Erwerbsneigung, Konzessionsbereitschaft und Suchaktivitaten vielfach zu sozial erwunschten Antworten fuhren. Solche Verzerrungen sind hingegen bei denjenigen Leistungsbeziehern, denen der Gesetzgeber explizit das Recht eingeraumt hat, sich vom Arbeitsmarkt abzuwenden, in geringerem Mase zu erwarten. Die empirische Analyse zeigt auf Basis einer Befragung von Beziehern des Arbeitslosengelds II, dass mangelnde Arbeitswilligkeit nur selten der Grund fur den Wechsel in den Vorruhestand war. Besonders Personen mit einer unzureichenden Absicherung fur das Alter wollten meist noch arbeiten. Stattdessen begrundete die Mehrheit der Betroffenen ihre Entscheidung mit der Einschatzung, den beruflichen Anforderungen nicht mehr gewachsen zu sein, keine Beschaftigungschancen mehr zu haben und auch von der Arbeitsvermittlung keine ausreichende Hilfe zu erhalten. Der Ruckzug in den Vorruhestand lasst sich somit nicht in erster Linie auf nutzenmaximierende Entscheidungen zugunsten von Freizeit und gegen Erwerbsarbeit zuruckfuhren, sondern ist insbesondere bei Frauen in Ostdeutschland vorrangig Ausdruck fehlender Erwerbsperspektiven.

Replication issues in social experiments: lessons from US labor market programs

Abstract: When evaluating a pilot or demonstration program, there are risks from drawing inferences from a single test. This paper reviews the experiences of replication efforts from demonstrations using randomized controlled trials in the initial evaluation and the replications. Although replications of promising programs are primarily gathered to increase sample size, replications are also used to learn if the intervention is successful for other target groups and geographic locations, and to vary some of the intervention’s features. In many cases, replications fail to achieve the same success as the original evaluation, and the paper reviews reasons that have been suggested for such failures. The paper reviews what has been learned from replications where random assignment was used in six instances: income maintenance experiments, unemployment insurance bonus experiments, the Center for Employment Training program, job clubs, job search experiments, and the Quantum Opportunity Program. The paper concludes by summarizing lessons learned from the review and areas where more research is needed.

What drives the intention of Bavarian crafts apprentices to change employer or occupation? An empirical study in the crafts sector

Abstract: This paper combines several job related factors such as occupational enjoyment, job security, financial attractiveness, working conditions and social relations for the first time and estimates their impact on the intention of crafts apprentices to leave their training establishment or occupation In contrast to previous analyses, we consider the dimension of the intended change by taking into account whether crafts apprentices intend to change establishment and/or occupation We find that occupational enjoyment, regional proximity to the employer and job security are the most important drivers for the intention to stay with the training establishment In contrast to other studies, monetary incentives do not drive the intention to leave the training establishment or occupation Our results have far reaching implications for training establishments and institutions in the Bavarian crafts sector concerning incentive systems, initial screening of apprentices, further training as well as improvement of the image of the crafts sector to the public through crafts chambers

Microeconometric analysis of earnings mobility of immigrants and ethnic minorities: evidence from the UK

Abstract: This paper analyzes intergenerational earnings mobility of immigrants and ethnic minorities in the UK. We use a two-sample technique and utilize the British Household Panel Survey for estimating the mobility coefficient. The estimation provides the evidence of differences in generational mobility based on immigration status and ethnic origin. Earnings of the native population tend to have a strong correlation with that of their fathers, a mobility coefficient of 0.34. However, for immigrants as well as ethnic minorities, the fathers’ earnings have a smaller impact on childrens’ earnings with a much lower coefficient estimate.

Occupational change and status mobility

Abstract: The impact of changes of the occupational field on the socio-economic status after unemployment has not received much attention in the literature so far. Due to a possible loss of occupation specific human capital the effects are assumed to be detrimental. This seems especially probable if the individual has attained specific human capital in the form of vocational training. A sample from the panel study “Labour Market and Social Security” (PASS) was used to analyse the occupational changes of unemployed individuals upon re-entry into the labour market. Compared to occupational changes from employment, changes in the unemployment group have stronger negative effects on the difference in socio-economic status between the last and the current job. The International Socio-Economic Index (ISEI) was used as the status measure. For unemployed individuals without vocational training no significant effect could be found, whereas those with training did incur substantial status losses. In conclusion the loss of occupation specific human capital due to changes of occupation does seem to be detrimental to the socio-economic situation of unemployed individuals after re-employment. This should be considered when applying strict labour market policies possibly pressuring individuals to change their occupation in order to take up employment more quickly.