Workforce

About: Workforce is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 32140 publications have been published within this topic receiving 449850 citations. The topic is also known as: labour force & labor force.

Productivity Differences across Employers: The Roles of Employer Size, Age, and Human Capital

Abstract: Recent research using longitudinal microeconomic databases on businesses and individuals has uncovered tremendous heterogeneity Across businesses, even within narrowly defined industrial sectors, we observe large differences in the levels and growth rates of inputs, outputs, and productivity Across workers, even controlling for demographic characteristics, wage and employment outcomes vary a great deal, and there are sizable worker flows across jobs in the economy These worker flows are closely connected to firm outcomes, reflecting in large part the ongoing shift in resources from less productive to more productive employers The primary message is that the continual process of matching and sorting as businesses and workers seek their niches is heterogeneous, with experimentation, learning, and selection all playing important roles Understanding the connection between the matching and sorting of businesses and workers is at the very heart of the overlap between industrial organization and labor economics However, due to the paucity of data linking businesses and workers at the micro level, we know relatively little about these interactions Although a large empirical literature suggests that worker outcomes are associated with firm characteristics (notable examples are firm-size wage effects, compensating wage differentials, and interindustry wage differentials), very little is known about the converse-the process by which business outcomes are associated with the characteristics of their employees There are a number of questions associated with this process Do employers choose different modes of production resulting in skill segregation, as suggested by the sorting and assignment hypotheses in Michael Kremer (1993) and Michael Sattinger (1993), or do all firms in a given industry select roughly the same workforce composition? How do employers change their workforce composition either to accommodate demand shocks or to experiment with new modes of production? In turn, what is the connection between these different decisions regarding workforce composition and observable business outcomes such as survival, growth, and productivity? In this short paper, our empirical objectives are relatively modest compared to these broad research questions Our focus is to provide an initial investigation into the connection between a key measure of firm performance, labor productivity, and the composition of the firm's workforce as measured by observable worker characteristics We exploit longitudinal matched employeremployee micro data developed under a recent pilot project at the US Census Bureau Our data set contains longitudinal information on key outcomes of the businesses, as well as many of the basic demographic characteristics for the universe of workers at these businesses Although longitudinal matched employer-employee micro data have been developed in a variety of countries over the last decade or so (see John Abowd and Francis Kramarz, 1999), ours is the first large-scale micro-level data set in the United States that allows the investigation * Haltiwanger: Department of Economics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, US Bureau of the Census, and NBER; Lane: Department of Economics, American University, Washington, DC 20016, and US Bureau of the Census; Spletzer: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2 Massachusetts Ave, NE, Washington, DC 20212 We thank Adela Luque and Javier Miranda for superb research assistance, and Charles Brown and Marilyn Manser for comments on an earlier draft This research was conducted at the Center for Economic Studies at the US Bureau of the Census while the second author was an American Statistical Association Census Bureau fellow The analysis and results are attributable to the authors and do not necessarily reflect concurrence of the institutions they represent

The Quadruple Aim: care, health, cost and meaning in work

Abstract: In 2008, Donald Berwick and colleagues provided a framework for the delivery of high value care in the USA, the Triple Aim, that is centred around three overarching goals: improving the individual experience of care; improving the health of populations; and reducing the per capita cost of healthcare.1 The intent is that the Triple Aim will guide the redesign of healthcare systems and the transition to population health. Health systems globally grapple with these challenges of improving the health of populations while simultaneously lowering healthcare costs. As a result, the Triple Aim, although originally conceived within the USA, has been adopted as a set of principles for health system reform within many organisations around the world. The successful achievement of the Triple Aim requires highly effective healthcare organisations. The backbone of any effective healthcare system is an engaged and productive workforce.2 But the Triple Aim does not explicitly acknowledge the critical role of the workforce in healthcare transformation. We propose a modification of the Triple Aim to acknowledge the importance of physicians, nurses and all employees finding joy and meaning in their work. This ‘Quadruple Aim’ would add a fourth aim: improving the experience of providing care. The core of workforce engagement is the experience of joy and meaning in the work of healthcare. This is not synonymous with happiness, rather that all members of the workforce have a sense of accomplishment and meaning in their contributions. By meaning, we refer to the sense of importance of daily work. By joy, we refer to the feeling of success and fulfilment that results from meaningful work. In the UK, the National Health Service has captured this with the notion of an engaged staff that ‘think and act in a positive way about the work they do, the people they …

How Changes in Entry Requirements Alter the Teacher Workforce and Affect Student Achievement

Abstract: We are in the midst of what amounts to a national experiment in how best to attract, prepare, and retain teachers, particularly for high-poverty urban schools. Using data on students and teachers in grades 3–8, this study assesses the effects of pathways into teaching in New York City on the teacher workforce and on student achievement. We ask whether teachers who enter through new routes, with reduced coursework prior to teaching, are more or less effective at improving student achievement. When compared to teachers who completed a university-based teacher education program, teachers with reduced coursework prior to entry often provide smaller initial gains in both mathematics and English language arts. Most differences disappear as the cohort matures, and many of the differences are not large in magnitude, typically 2 to 5 percent of a standard deviation. The variation in effectiveness within pathways is far greater than the average differences between pathways.

The Digital Workforce and the Workplace of the Future

Abstract: The authors reflect on ways increased prevalence of technology and digital natives entering the workplace influence how work is approached. They talk about competencies of the digital workforce and suggests both digital natives and digital immigrants could have the skills needed to utilize technology for manipulating data, problem solving, and new product creation. They comment on interpersonal relating and identity development in digital workforces, and the utilization of technology at work.

Communities of Coping: Collective Emotional Labour in Service Work:

Abstract: This article argues that communities of coping among frontline service workers are an important part of what Hochschild has called `collective emotional labour' in service work. The analysis is framed in a sociological understanding of the customer as a key source of both pleasure and pain for service workers. Irate and abusive customers, who are systematically part of the social relations of the service workplace, may occasion real pain to service workers. The structure of workers' social situation means that they are likely to turn to each other to cope with this pain, forming informal communities of coping. Drawing on extensive research in four call centres in Australia and the USA, the article highlights this process in action. The communities of coping were an important social process in these workplaces, creating informal, dense cultures among the workforce. These cultures had important implications for how far the social relations of the workplace were open to management control.