Showing papers on "Job security published in 1999"
TL;DR: In this article, the impact of job insecurity on workers differ according to their professional position, gender, and age, and how important is job insecurity compared to other stressors on the workfloor.
Abstract: Research on the psychological consequences of job insecurity is reviewed, showing that job insecurity reduces psychological well-being and job satisfaction, and increases psychosomatic complaints and physical strains. Next, three additional research questions are addressed, since these questions did not receive much attention in previous research. First, does the impact of job insecurity on workers differ according to their professional position, gender, and age? Second, how important is job insecurity compared to other stressors on the workfloor? Third, how important is job insecurity compared to the impact of unemployment? To analyse these issues, data were used from a Belgian plant, part of a European multinational company in the metalworking industry (N = 336). The results of this exploratory study showed that job insecurity was associated with lower well-being (score on the GHQ-12), after controlling for background variables, such as gender and age. A significant interaction with gender occurred, ind...
1,096 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used longitudinal data from a Swedish organization undergoing downsizing (N =375) and found that self-rated stress reactions are negatively related to employee work attitudes and well-being, and that concerns about the continued existence of one's job and important job features could relate differently to the outcomes.
Abstract: The issue of job insecurity has received growing recognition in connection with increased unemployment and the use of large workforce reductions to improve organizational effectiveness and competitive ability. Although research suggests that job insecurity is negatively related to employee work attitudes and well-being, some issues concerning these relationships have not yet been fully addressed. First, concerns about the continued existence of one's job (quantitative insecurity) and important job features (qualitative insecurity) could relate differently to the outcomes. Second, empirical research has not systematically controlled for mood dispositions, although a growing body of literature suggests that this should be a standard procedure when self-rated stress reactions are measured. Third, most studies are cross-sectional and thus unable to control for prior levels of the outcome variables. Based on longitudinal data from a Swedish organization undergoing downsizing (N =375), this study revealed that ...
757 citations
TL;DR: Developing an understanding of the changing nature of nurses' job satisfaction may help to resolve recruitment and retention problems, and the suitability of existing research approaches and measurement tools for portraying nurses' contemporary work experiences is examined.
Abstract: The changing nature of nurses’ job satisfaction: an exploration of sources of satisfaction in the 1990s
This paper focuses on the changing nature of nurses’ job satisfaction. It compares the major sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction experienced by acute ward nurses in the English National Health Service (NHS) in the early 1990s, with sources identified in previous research. In the light of findings from a pilot study, the suitability of existing research approaches and measurement tools for portraying nurses’ contemporary work experiences is examined. The study comprised content analysis of a random sample of 130 nurses’ comments about ward organizational issues, collected as part of a national survey. Findings suggest that new measurement tools need to be developed, because new sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction emerged, directly associated with change arising out of the introduction of the NHS internal market. These include pressures associated with new roles, role conflict, lack of job security, ‘tight’ resources, using new technology, a perceived lowering of standards of patient care, coping with increased amounts of paperwork, and the experience of working in a rapidly and constantly changing environment. Findings also suggest that the nature of nurses’ job satisfaction is increasingly being shaped by their position within the organization, denoted by clinical grade, and the organizational culture of individual NHS Trusts. Ward leaders experience dissatisfaction as a result of role conflict and strain, while nurses of lower clinical grades are increasingly concerned with managerial and resource constraints on their ability to provide good quality care. Nurses’ satisfaction with management and morale were found to be significantly different between NHS Trusts. While findings may be specific to England, it is argued that they have relevance for the wider, international nursing community. This is because developing an understanding of the changing nature of nurses’ job satisfaction may help to resolve recruitment and retention problems.
208 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors define and analyze job security in the context of implicit contracts designed to overcome incentive problems in the employment relationship, and test these predictions, they estimate binomial and multinomial models of job separations using Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data for the years 1976•93.
Abstract: This article defines and analyzes job security in the context of implicit contracts designed to overcome incentive problems in the employment relationship. Contracts of this nature generate predictions concerning the relationship between job security parameters—such as worker seniority and sectoral economic conditions—and the probability of separations. To test these predictions, I estimate binomial and multinomial models of job separations using Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data for the years 1976‐93. The results are consistent with a decline over time in the incentives to maintain existing employment relationships for male workers and for skilled white‐collar women.
189 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that during the 1990s, workers were more pessimistic about losing their jobs in the next 12 months than workers were during the 1980s and were more concerned about suffering future job loss that would have resulted in a decline in earnings or a spell of unemployment.
Abstract: In recent years, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, and many journalists have argued that workers are more anxious about losing their jobs than they were in the past. I use the 1977‐96 General Social Survey to document trends in workers' beliefs about their own job security. During the 1990s, workers have been more pessimistic about losing their jobs in the next 12 months than workers were during the 1980s. Workers have also been more concerned about suffering future job loss that would have resulted in a decline in earnings or a spell of unemployment.
147 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a quasi-experimental field investigation was conducted with blast furnace workers from two German steel companies, where they were compared by means of perceived job insecurity, three aspects of well-being and strain (job satisfaction, irritation/strain, psychosomatic complaints), five facets of social support, and five aspects of control at work.
Abstract: A quasi-experimental field investigation was conducted with blast furnace workers from two German steel companies. Of the 180 workers participating in the study 123 blast furnace workers at comparable work places were taken into the analysis. 48 blast furnace workers of a company offering only highly insecure employment ("Experimental Group", EG) and 75 from a company with no job insecurity ("Control Group", CG) were compared by means of perceived job insecurity, three aspects of well-being and strain (job satisfaction, irritation/strain, psychosomatic complaints), five facets of social support, and five facets of control at work. First, statistical comparisons confirm the strong difference in job security between EG and CG by means of perceived job insecurity and though the validity of the independent variable. Moreover, for the EG comparisons show no substantive increase in psychosomatic complaints or job strain but diminished job satisfaction, they also indicate reduced collective control, hope for con...
141 citations
TL;DR: Recommendations for ways to reduce the stress of human computer interaction at work are presented, which include proper ergonomic conditions, increased organizational support, improved job content, proper workload to decrease work pressure, and enhanced opportunities for social support.
Abstract: There have been a variety of research approaches that have examined the stress issues related to human computer interaction including laboratory studies, cross-sectional surveys, longitudinal case studies and intervention studies. A critical review of these studies indicates that there are important physiological, biochemical, somatic and psychological indicators of stress that are related to work activities where human computer interaction occurs. Many of the stressors of human computer interaction at work are similar to those stressors that have historically been observed in other automated jobs. These include high workload, high work pressure, diminished job control, inadequate employee training to use new technology, monotonous tasks, por supervisory relations, and fear for job security. New stressors have emerged that can be tied primarily to human computer interaction. These include technology breakdowns, technology slowdowns, and electronic performance monitoring. The effects of the stress of human computer interaction in the workplace are increased physiological arousal; somatic complaints, especially of the musculoskeletal system; mood disturbances, particularly anxiety, fear and anger; and diminished quality of working life, such as reduced job satisfaction. Interventions to reduce the stress of computer technology have included improved technology implementation approaches and increased employee participation in implementation. Recommendations for ways to reduce the stress of human computer interaction at work are presented. These include proper ergonomic conditions, increased organizational support, improved job content, proper workload to decrease work pressure, and enhanced opportunities for social support. A model approach to the design of human computer interaction at work that focuses on the system "balance" is proposed.
113 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider how the Dutch government and work organizations prepare themselves for this new flexi-working situation, and how they keep the demand for flexibility in balance with the need for commitment of workers, so as to ensure quality delivery of products and services.
Abstract: Since the 1970s the flexible workforce in the Netherlands has been an important factor of labour force growth. The question raised in this article is whether job flexibility gives rise to feelings of job security. It appears that flexiworkers experience more job insecurity than workers with permanent contracts. For this reason most workers prefer a permanent contract in the future. Next, the authors consider how the Dutch government and work organizations prepare themselves for this new flexiworking situation. How do they keep the demand for flexibility in balance with the need for commitment of workers, so as to ensure quality delivery of products and services? Recent legislation (Working Time Law, Shopping Time Law and Law on Flexibility and Security) stimulates flexibility but also protects against job insecurity.
112 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the question how companies can create a different basis for security for their employees now that job security has increasingly become a thing of the past, and the answer is to create a new secure base by developing the employability of workers by sustaining and developing opportunities for work in the future.
Abstract: This article explores the question how companies can create a different basis for security for their employees now that job security has increasingly become a thing of the past? An answer to this question is to create a new secure base by developing the employability of workers by sustaining and developing opportunities for work in the future. Promoting employability is part of a new psychological contract between employer and employee, whereby both are responsible for maintaining the employment situation. The employability of employees is determined by their actual know-how and skills; their willingness to be mobile and their knowledge of the labour market. Although the development of employability is not only a matter for labour organizations (branch organizations, the government, and employers' representatives and unions have to do their part too), we focus primarily on the policy that organizations can set out. Policymakers have to answer the following questions: (1) Is it necessary to develop the ext...
99 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: The authors discusses the role played by labor market institutions in shaping the dynamics of wages, employment, and unemployment across European countries and the United States and discusses the extent to which job security provisions and wage-setting practices can rationalize evidence on cross-sectional job turnover and wage inequality, and reviews the implications of such phenomena for aggregate labor markets' productivity.
Abstract: The chapter discusses the role played by labor market institutions in shaping the dynamics of wages, employment, and unemployment across European countries and the United States. The first part of the chapter uses simple, but formal models to show that the greater job security granted to European employees should smooth out aggregate employment dynamics but, for given wage processes, cannot be expected to reduce aggregate employment. Slow employment creation and high, persistent unemployment are associated with high and increasing wages in cross-country evidence, and the chapter surveys recent work aimed at explaining such differential wage dynamics via insider-outsider interactions and wage bargaining institutions. The following section discusses the extent to which job security provisions and wage-setting practices can rationalize evidence on cross-sectional job turnover and wage inequality, and reviews the implications of such phenomena for aggregate labor markets' productivity. The chapter is concluded by a discussion of recent perspectives on the possible determinants (rather than the effects) of institutional labor market differences across industrialized countries and over time.
97 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors deal with the question of how to manage the processes concerned with motivating people, and keeping their commitment to organizations when job security is no longer a valid concept.
Abstract: This article deals with the question of how to manage the processes concerned with motivating people, and keeping their commitment to organizations when job security is no longer a valid concept. New buzzwords have appeared in the jargon of HR management, such as employability, resilience, post-corporate careers, and psychological contracts. Old paradigms and concepts are no longer applicable in the contemporary business world, which is characterized by constant change. One of the great challenges is to manage the change processes involved during organizational downsizing, and to ensure the continuing commitment and efficiency of those "survivors" who do not experience redundancy. This article draws on previous research by the authors and an extensive literature review to examine critically the nature of the new employment relationships to suggest an analytical framework for the implementation of change.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that for many Russian workers, the dominant form of labour market adjustment has instead been the delayed receipt of wages, and that workers can only exercise the exit option of a job quit from a firm paying wages in arrears if the outside labour market is sufficiently dynamic.
Abstract: The initial years of transition in the Russian Federation have been characterised by relatively smaller falls in employment than in other reform-orientated countries of eastern Europe, despite the huge negative shock caused by the move from planned to market economy. Using information from two complementary household survey data sets, we show that for many Russian workers, the dominant form of labour market adjustment has instead been the delayed receipt of wages. Other forms of adjustment at the intensive margin have not been used much. Wage arrears are found across the private, state and budgetary sector in approximately equal proportions. There are large regional variations in the incidence of wage arrears. Workers in the metropolitan centre are significantly less affected by delayed and incomplete wage payments than workers in the provinces. There is less evidence that individual characteristics contribute much toward the incidence of wage arrears, though unobserved heterogeneity may have some role to play. As with the incidence of unemployment, however, there is evidence that the persistence of arrears is concentrated on a subset of the working population. We show that workers can only exercise the exit option of a job quit from a firm paying wages in arrears if the outside labour market is sufficiently dynamic.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, a qualitative approach including observation, unstructured interviews with principals, and focus group interviews with teachers was used in the study, which showed that there is considerable scope for eliminating sources of dissatisfaction among teachers and principals in black urban primary schools.
Abstract: In this article we view job satisfaction as the feeling of pleasure resulting from a person's perceptions of his or her work. We report on research which aimed at exploring the job satisfaction of principals and teachers in three black urban primary schools. A qualitative approach including observation, unstructured interviews with principals, and focus group interviews with teachers was used in the study. The following categories influencing job satisfaction emerged from the content analysis: physical working conditions: support by educational authorities, job security and teachers' salaries; interpersonal relations; appreciation by the community; school culture; environmental factors; nature of work and workload; and physical and emotional effects on teachers. The study showed that there is considerable scope for eliminating sources of dissatisfaction among teachers and principals in black urban schools in South Africa.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors highlight the importance of social safety nets to mitigate the adverse and potentially long-term e ects of economic downturns, and propose a suitable crisis response requires that policy-makers recognize the critical role of financial markets and the existence of time-consuming and nonlinearities of alternative policies.
Abstract: While economic crises are becoming more frequent and severe, our experienceinEastAsiahasdemonstratedhowtheinternationalresponse to these crises remains inadequate. Appropriate policy responses to economic crises entail three essential dimensions: ¢rst, the maintenance of full employment and economic stability through macroeconomic policy; second, complementary structural policy aimed at restoring con¢dence; and ¢nally, a robust social safety net to mitigate the adverse and potentially long-term eiects of economic downturns. A suitable crisis response requires that policy-makers recognize the critical role of ¢nancialmarketsandtheexistenceoftimelags.Suitablepolicyresponses should consider not only an individual economy’s ability to absorb shocks, but also the asymmetries and nonlinearities of alternative policies. As we thus seek to improve our macroeconomic and structural policies for the future prevention and mitigation of crises, it is critical that we bear in mind the protection of the most vulnerable segments of societyfromthecrisesthatwillinevitablyoccur. Economic crises can produce large and rapid increases in inequity. Indonesia’s poverty rate had drifted down from over 60 per cent in 1975 to 7 per cent just prior to the crisis. It is now expected to rise to around 20 per cent by the year 2000. In Korea more than 1 million people have lost their jobs, and many others face lower real wages and less job security. Thailand has also seen increasing poverty, unemployment, and falling real wages. Altogether, prior to the crisis there were 30 million people living on less than $1 a day in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. By 2000 that number could easily double to 60 million. The most important policy for socially equitable development is full employment. The unemployed are not just a statistic or an under-utilized resource that could have increased GDP. They are people, and no numbers can convey the degree of disruption that unemployment brings to their lives, their livelihoods, and the well-being of their families. Although safety nets and targeted assistance may mitigate some of the consequences of unemployment, from an economic, political or psychological perspective, nothing is better than a job. Jobs are the means by which people participate in the productive economy and feel productive themselves. It is one of the most important sources of inclusion in the national economy.
TL;DR: Children's identification with their mothers and fathers moderated the relationship between their perceptions of their mothers' and fathers' job insecurity and their own cognitive difficulties, which affects their academic performance negatively.
Abstract: The authors developed and tested a model in which children who perceive their parents to be insecure about their jobs are distracted cognitively, which in turn affects their academic performance negatively. Participants were 102 female and 18 male undergraduates (mean age = 18 years), their fathers (mean age = 49 years), and their mothers (mean age = 47 years). Students completed questionnaires measuring perceived parental job insecurity, identification with parents, and cognitive difficulties; 3 months later, they also reported their midyear grades. Fathers and mothers each completed questionnaires assessing their job insecurity. Support for the model was obtained using LISREL 8, and as predicted, children's identification with their mothers and fathers moderated the relationship between their perceptions of their mothers' and fathers' job insecurity and their own cognitive difficulties.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore recent expressions of support by employers for the importance of training in creating business success and argue that this change in posture cannot be explained in terms of a growing recognition of the weaknesses of the labour force in intermediate-level skills, because the new focus is on personal development, self-management and "correct" attitudes rather than technical skills.
Abstract: Explores recent expressions of support by employers for the importance of training in creating business success. Argues that this change in posture cannot be explained in terms of a growing recognition of the weaknesses of the labour force in intermediate‐level skills, because the new focus is on personal development, self‐management and “correct” attitudes rather than technical skills. Shows that while the changes in the valuation of training are consistent with Anglo‐Saxon notions of business management, they are more reflective of attempts to reshape the employer‐employee relationship. Observes that competitive pressures on organizations over the last 20 years have undermined traditional expectations of career opportunity and job security. This context has created the conditions under which this emphasis on normative training helps in the development of a new kind of psychological contract based on a rhetoric of partnership. Concludes that employers’ discovery of training is more about finding ways to secure employee commitment in uncertain times than about transforming skill levels.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared the career experiences of women managers who are members of the family that owns the organization and women managers that are not, and found that women family managers enjoy increased status, job security and flexibility.
Abstract: Compares the career experiences of women managers who are members of the family that owns the organization and women managers who are not. Results of a survey show “women family managers” enjoy increased status, job security and flexibility. Many are able to take advantage of this flexibility to combine child rearing and career roles. “Non‐family women managers” perceive themselves as competitive and independent people, they have better academic qualifications and are less likely to be married and have children. However, both groups are unenthusiastic about their training, mentors and personal contacts and consider that career progress is easier for men. In general, all women managers feel they lack power and opportunities to make progress.
TL;DR: A model in which children's perceptions of their parents' job insecurity indirectly affect their grade performance through the effects of beliefs in an unjust world and negative mood is postulated.
Abstract: The authors postulated a model in which children's perceptions of their parents' job insecurity indirectly affect their grade performance through the effects of beliefs in an unjust world and negative mood. A total of 127 undergraduate students (55 male, 72 female) completed questionnaires on their perceptions of their parents' job insecurity and their own beliefs in an unjust world and negative mood. The parents reported on their own job insecurity. In addition, students provided their course grades from the previous semester 3 months after completing the questionnaires. Support for the proposed model was provided using LISREL 8.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the changing industry context and competitive strategies in relation to a number of employment relations practices, such as skill formation and development, work organization, staffing arrangements, job security, compensation, and industrial relations.
Abstract: Once stolid, strictly regulated organizations that epitomized lifetime employment, retail banks are now highly competitive enterprises with fragmented career structures and a new focus on sales and performance. Because banks are a major employer of labor, such changes have important implications for the workplace experiences and job opportunities of a significant proportion of the workforce in OECD and newly industrialized countries. This book is the outcome of intensive study of selected banks in Australia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, and the United States. As part of a larger project on industrial relations and human resource management practices, researchers in each country explored the changing industry context and competitive strategies in relation to a number of employment relations practices, such as skill formation and development, work organization, staffing arrangements, job security, compensation, and industrial relations. The introductory chapter provides an overview of the main research findings. The country chapters present detailed analyses of the findings, and the conclusion assesses the role of markets, technology, and institutions in employment relations and discusses the interpretive frameworks that help make sense of their change and variation across countries.
TL;DR: The ongoing time delay for management to implement the threatened layoff and peer rankings for a new job performance appraisal contributed to a decline in worker solidarity because of concerns about career and job security, which reduced worker productivity and effective teamwork.
Abstract: This is a cross-sectional study consisting of self-administered survey instruments to measure psychological distress and stress-inducing work demands after 6 months of rumors about an upcoming corporate downsizing event. The workforce consisted predominantly of white males who were married, college-educated, and nonsmokers. Higher stress levels were seen among older, more educated workers, who had longer company tenure. Role boundary problems, noxious physical environments, and company tenure were retained in the final multivariable model predicting distress level. The ongoing time delay for management to implement the threatened layoff and peer rankings for a new job performance appraisal contributed to a decline in worker solidarity because of concerns about career and job security. These uncertainties reduced worker productivity and effective teamwork.
TL;DR: In this paper, the relative costs of dismissing young versus older workers resulting from job security provisions that are related to tenure were investigated. And they found that job security is associated with a substantial decline in the wage employment-to-population rate of young workers.
Abstract: This paper develops and tests a mechanism by which job security affects the age-composition of employment. This mechanism is based on the relative costs of dismissing young versus older workers resulting from job security provisions that are related to tenure. Using 39 consecutive annual household surveys from Chile, we find that job security is associated with a substantial decline in the wage employment-to-population rate of young workers. In contrast, we do not find such decline in young self-employment rates or in the wage-employment rates of older workers. Our results also indicate that the negative effect on youth employment rate is driven by the slope of the severance-pay profile. Regarding aggregate employment rates, we find that a raise in tenure-based severance pay reduces long-run employment, while a raise in a flat severance pay would marginally increase it.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the job insecurity of secondary schoolteachers in the public and private sectors in Israel and found that public-sector teachers tend to emphasize intrinsic job features, while private-sector school teachers tended to emphasize extrinsic ones.
Abstract: In light of environmental and organizational trends toward privatization, and in response to changes in sectoral traditional differences, this paper investigated job insecurity (JI) of secondary schoolteachers in the public and private sectors in Israel. The study sample consisted of 326 Israeli schoolteachers. Using a multi‐dimensional measure of JI, where various job facets were addressed, two distinct JI profiles were found: public‐sector schoolteachers tended to emphasize intrinsic job features, while private‐sector schoolteachers tended to emphasize extrinsic ones. Sectoral differences were also found in regard to the adverse effect of JI on work attitudes: in the public sector JI affected organizational commitment, perceived organizational support, and tendency to quit, and in the private sector only tendency to quit was affected. These findings are partly explained by differences in employment structures, and have implications for human resource strategies regarding the provision of job security.
TL;DR: The fastest growing group in postsecondary education is part-time faculty as mentioned in this paper, and the authors examine why the number of parttime faculty has increased so rapidly and then discuss some of the problems that part-timers face.
Abstract: The fastest-growing group in postsecondary education is part-time faculty The authors examine why the number of part-time faculty has increased so rapidly and then discuss some of the problems that part-timers face Part-timers are increasing in academe, and administrators need to treat and evaluate them effectively and fairly The authors recommend mentoring, job security, compensation, and self-worth as ways to improve performance
TL;DR: The authors analyzes individual records from the 1995 Labor Force Survey, and time series for wages in the formal and informal sectors of the economy, and finds substantial rents associated with jobs in the public sector, and in activities protected by high tariffs or covered by job security regulations.
Abstract: High unemployment in Sri Lanka has been attributed to unrealistic expectations, to queuing for public sector jobs, and to stringent job security regulations. However, the empirical evidence supporting these explanations is weak. This paper analyzes individual records from the 1995 Labor Force Survey, and time series for wages in the formal and informal sectors of the economy. The paper rejects the unrealistic-expectations hypothesis by comparing the impact of education on the actual wages of those who have a job and on the lowest acceptable wages of the unemployed. But it finds substantial rents associated with jobs in the public sector, and in activities protected by high tariffs or covered by job security regulations. A time-series analysis of the impact of unemployment on wage increases across sectors suggests that many among the unemployed are waiting for “good” job openings, but are not interested in readily available “bad” jobs.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: This paper provided the first detailed analysis of job stability in large corporations in the 1990s using a sample of 51 firms that are clients of Watson Wyatt Worldwide, finding that mean tenure and the percentage of employees with 10 or more years of service have actually increased in their sample.
Abstract: The prevailing wisdom in media accounts is that job stability has vanished, especially for those in large corporations Academic studies of job stability have found little difference between the 1990s and earlier decades, but these studies have not been able to focus on large firms This paper provides the first detailed analysis of job stability in large corporations in the 1990s using a sample of 51 firms that are clients of Watson Wyatt Worldwide We find that mean tenure and the percentage of employees with 10 or more years of service have actually increased in our sample Even in large firms with shrinking employment, the odds that a worker would be with the same employer five years later were higher than the same odds for the labor market as a whole There is no evidence that mid-career employees have been singled out in downsizing decisions; their turnover rate is the same in both growing and downsizing firms Regression analysis shows that the impact of downsizing is still being borne by the most junior workers and that there is no evidence that rising wage differentials by experience are encouraging firms to substitute junior for senior workers
TL;DR: The large research literature in urban labour market analysis is reviewed, with the emphasis ranging from attempts to model aggregate simultaneous interactions between residential and workplace location to more modern econometric work researching individual labour market behaviour as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The large research literature in urban labour market analysis is reviewed, with the emphasis ranging from attempts to model aggregate simultaneous interactions between residential and workplace location to more modern econometric work researching individual labour market behaviour. The job search process is central to the operation of the labour market, yet research is hampered by variable data availability and the limited observability of the search mechanism. Individual responses to major employer relocations have been recently studied, especially the substitutability of the move or quit decision, and relationships to race and gender. The variation of commuting patterns by income and professional status has also been analysed, and the functioning of the dispersed service-dominated modern urban labour market raises challenging research issues including willingness to search and commute over substantial areas, interacting with family circumstances and expected job security. The continued growth in all developed economies of female labour force participation and numbers of female-headed households have raised the importance of urban labour market research focusing on gender, including the economic understanding of patterns in the length of the female journey to work. Study of the influence of racial segregation on outcomes in the urban labour market has a longer history, with the “spatial mismatch hypothesis” having developed a large literature since the 1960s. With higher quality microdata and modern computational power and econometric techniques, statistical research has advanced considerably. Similar spatial relationships between race and labour market and commuting outcomes are also intrinsic to the European urban labour market, and have received particular attention from British, Dutch, Austrian and French researchers. The chapter concludes with an overview of contrasts between inter- and intraurban labour market adjustment processes.
TL;DR: The authors discusses the role played by labor market institutions in shaping the dynamics of wages, employment, and unemployment across European countries and the United States and discusses the extent to which job security provisions and wage-setting practices can rationalize evidence on cross-sectional job turnover and wage inequality, and reviews the implications of such phenomena for aggregate labor markets' productivity.
Abstract: The chapter discusses the role played by labor market institutions in shaping the dynamics of wages, employment, and unemployment across European countries and the United States. The first part of the chapter uses simple, but formal models to show that the greater job security granted to European employees should smooth out aggregate employment dynamics but, for given wage processes, cannot be expected to reduce aggregate employment. Slow employment creation and high, persistent unemployment are associated with high and increasing wages in cross-country evidence, and the chapter surveys recent work aimed at explaining such differential wage dynamics via insider-outsider interactions and wage bargaining institutions. The following section discusses the extent to which job security provisions and wage-setting practices can rationalize evidence on cross-sectional job turnover and wage inequality, and reviews the implications of such phenomena for aggregate labor markets' productivity. The chapter is concluded by a discussion of recent perspectives on the possible determinants (rather than the effects) of institutional labor market differences across industrialized countries and over time.
TL;DR: The authors provided the first detailed analysis of job stability in large corporations in the 1990s using a sample of 51 firms that are clients of IBM and found that mean tenure and the percentage of employees with 10 or more years of service have actually increased in their sample.
Abstract: The prevailing wisdom in media accounts is that job stability has vanished, especially for those in large corporations. Academic studies of job stability have found little difference between the 1990s and earlier decades, but these studies have not been able to focus on large firms. This paper provides the first detailed analysis of job stability in large corporations in the 1990s using a sample of 51 firms that are clients of Watson Wyatt Worldwide. We find that mean tenure and the percentage of employees with 10 or more years of service have actually increased in our sample. Even in large firms with shrinking employment, the odds that a worker would be with the same employer five years later were higher than the same odds for the labor market as a whole. There is no evidence that mid-career employees have been singled out in downsizing decisions; their turnover rate is the same in both growing and downsizing firms. Regression analysis shows that the impact of downsizing is still being borne by the most junior workers and that there is no evidence that rising wage differentials by experience are encouraging firms to substitute junior for senior workers.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors extend Lee's two-stage structural probit analysis to test (with data from a recent urban household survey) and measure the existence and scope of such a queue for public sector jobs in Ethiopia.
Abstract: The public sector's share in wage employment is higher in Africa - including Ethiopia's urban labor market - than in developed economies. Fuller unionization, greater job security, and more generous non-wage benefits in the public sector lead one to assume that workers might queue up for public sector jobs. Do higher wage rates in Ethiopia's public sector create such a queue? The author extends Lee's two-stage structural probit analysis to test (with data from a recent urban household survey) and measure the existence and scope of such a queue for public sector jobs in Ethiopia. The results reject the absence of job rationing in favor of an implicit queue of most private sector workers for public sector jobs. The queue exists mainly because of popular expectations of a wage premium (between 11 and 40 percent) in the public sector. Controlling for individual differences in expectations of the sectoral wage differences, the author finds that skill does not significantly affect a worker's sector preferences, but some social characteristics do. A worker with a traditional farming background is more likely to be in the queue than is a second-generation urban dweller. This is interesting, considering that the influx of rural migrants to urban centers in the last few decades has been partly fueled by hopes of public sector employment. On average, women are more likely than men, and workers in provincial towns more likely than workers in the capital, to prefer public sector jobs. Level of schooling and job experience do not seem to affect preferences for the public over the private sector. The probability of a worker's being selected from the public sector queue decreases with the wage rate the worker potentially commands as a public sector employee. Workers on the lower end of the pay scale are more likely to be selected. Among workers who join the queue for public sector jobs, men are more likely to be hired than women and skilled workers are more likely to be hired than less-skilled workers.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used Ordered Probit analysis to analyze the determinants of an academic's overall satisfaction at work as well as satisfaction with promotion prospects, job security and salary.
Abstract: This paper considers job satisfaction in the academic labor market drawing upon a particularly detailed data set of 900 academics from five traditional Scottish Universities. Recent studies have revealed that in the labor force as a whole women generally express themselves as more satisfied with their jobs than men. Our results show that reports of overall job satisfaction do not vary widely by gender. This result is explained through the nature of our dataset, limited as it is to a highly educated workforce, in which female workers are likely to have job expectations comparable to their male counterparts. Ordered probit analysis is used to analyze the determinants of an academic's overall satisfaction at work as well as satisfaction with promotion prospects, job security and salary. Comparison salary is found to be an important influence on academics' overall job satisfaction, although evidence suggests that academics place a lower emphasis on pecuniary relative to non-pecuniary aspects of work than other sectors of the workforce.