HIGH AND LOW EARNINGS JOBS: THE FORTUNES OF EMPLOYERS AND WORKERS

The focus of the literature on the effect of job changes has been on the consequences of job destruction on the individual worker. In this paper we analyze the impact on the earnings distribution of both job creation and job destruction. We establish a link between job reallocation and the movement of workers into and out of the tails of the earnings distribution. Both job creating and job destroying employers shed jobs mostly from the middle and lower tails of the earnings distribution, although this is cyclically very sensitive. Labor mobility (triggered by job reallocation) is risky: mobile workers will generally end up in the upper or lower tail of the distribution rather than in the middle. If workers move across industry boundaries, they typically move to the lower tails of the distribution. In sum, the fortunes of workers depend on the fortunes of their employers.     

The impact of job mobility on earnings: using occupational and industrial classifications to identify job changes

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median number of years that a US worker has been with their current employer is 4.4 years. Although many job changes may not be classified as ‘career changes,’ any type of job change may have an impact on a person’s future earnings. In the present study, the following three types of job changes are examined in order to determine which ones result in higher incomes: a change in occupational status; a change in industry; or a change in both. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), a log-linear wage regression with a correction for self-selection is estimated. Results suggest that changing jobs within the same industry or within the same occupation both increase a person’s income. However, a job change that is characterized by both a change in industry and occupation reduces a person’s income. The present study is one of the few studies to examine the effects of job mobility on earnings when mobility is defined in the context of changes in occupational and/or industrial classification.     

DO STATE EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION LAWS AFFECT JOB TURNOVER?

State laws requiring employers to verify workers' employment eligibility may reduce employment and earnings among unauthorized workers and make it difficult for them to switch jobs. Using data from the 2005–2014 Quarterly Workforce Indicators, we find evidence of a reduction in employment and job turnover among Hispanics as a whole in states that require all employers to verify employment eligibility. These adverse effects become larger as the share of likely unauthorized Hispanic workers falls. The drop in job turnover may be due to the laws trapping some Hispanic workers in their jobs. There is little effect on employment or job turnover among non‐Hispanic whites or blacks. There is no effect on average pay for all groups of workers. (JEL J15, J61, J68)     

Compensating wage differences

The paper develops a model of the allocation of workers to jobs based on individual's preferences for job satisfaction vs earnings. Given the distribution of levels of job satisfaction and productivities, it is possible to solve explicitly for wages as a function of job satisfaction. More productive individuals will take more (less) satisfying jobs whenever the elasticity of substitution between job satisfaction and earnings is less (greater) than one. The paper also discusses the effects of inequality on earnings of high and low productivity workers and the effects of compensating wage differences on the distribution of earnings.     

THE EFFECT OF JOB MOBILITY ON ACADEMIC SALARIES

The hypothesis that individuals increase future earnings by investing in themselves through job change has considerable empirical support. To date, this hypothesis has not been tested on the academic labor market. Using a national faculty survey that includes respondents' complete work history, the authors estimate the impact of job mobility on faculty salaries. The rate of job mobility among faculty members appears low compared to that of other workers. Salaries overall are not significantly related to the number of academic jobs held until the number of jobs reaches four, and then the effect is negative. An examination by gender reveals that women incur a salary penalty of 8% in moving to the second job.     

Where to go? Workers' reasons to quit and intra- vs. interindustry job mobility

We show that workers' reasons for quitting their job affect their decision to stay in or leave their industry, using survey data among public sector employees in the Netherlands. Workers quitting for e.g. pay, work pressure, or job duties move relatively often to another industry, in contrast to workers quitting for commuting time or the atmosphere at work. This suggests that workers use their experience in the initial job to update their expectations on other jobs in the industry, as the first set of job aspects is more likely to be related among jobs within an industry than the latter. Furthermore, it is shown that workers' reasons to quit fully explain the differences in wage growth between intra- and interindustry job movers. Lastly, we find that workers who quit for pay or management often leave the public sector altogether.     

On the persistence of income shocks over the life cycle: Evidence,theory, and implications

How does the persistence of earnings change over the life cycle? Do workers at different ages face the same variance of idiosyncratic earnings shocks? This paper proposes a novel specification for residual earnings that allows for an age profile in the persistence and variance of labor income shocks. We show that the statistical model is identified, and we estimate it using Panel Study of Income Dynamics data. We find that shocks to earnings are only moderately persistent (around 0.75) for young workers. Persistence rises with age, up to unity, until midway through life. The variance of persistent shocks exhibits a U-shaped profile over the life cycle (with a minimum of 0.01 and a maximum of 0.05). These results suggest that the standard specification in the literature (with age-invariant persistence and variance) cannot capture the earnings dynamics of young workers. We also argue that a calibrated job turnover model can account for these nonflat profiles. The key idea is that workers sort into better jobs and settle down as they age; in turn, magnitudes of wage growth rates decline, thereby decreasing the variance of shocks. Furthermore, the decline in job mobility results in higher persistence. Finally, we investigate the implications of age profiles for consumption–savings behavior. The welfare cost of idiosyncratic risk implied by the age-dependent income process is up to 1.6 percent of lifetime consumption lower compared with its age-invariant counterpart. This difference is mostly due to a higher degree of consumption insurance for young workers, for whom persistence is moderate. These results suggest that age profiles of persistence and variances should be taken into account when calibrating life-cycle models.     

工作经验对外来务工人员收入差异的影响——基于群体内部异质性的探讨

从群体内部异质性的角度考察了工作经验对外来务工人员收入差异的影响。基于对大连市1032名外来务工人员的经验研究,发现工作经验对外来务工人员获得高收入的可能性会依户籍性质或教育程度的不同而产生不同的影响:外来工人与农民工的收入差异随着工作经验的积累呈现出先扩大后缩小的趋势,户籍制度以及由此产生的户籍歧视在很长一段时期内仍将是影响农民工群体收入劣势的一个主要原因;工作经验与教育程度的交互作用对收入的影响呈现出倒"U"型关系,工作经验在一定时期内对高教育程度的外来务工人员收入上升具有显著的动力作用。     

农民工的社会保障与城市融入分析

农民工城市融入问题已经成为当前学术界和各级政府关注的焦点。利用2010年湖北省流动人口动态监测数据,对农民工在城社会保障状况做了分析,并从微观经济学的视角,借助计量经济学工具,研究了社会保障状况对农民工城市融入的影响。参与医疗保险和失业保险对于农民工城市融入水平的提高有着显著的正向作用。签订无固定期限劳动合同对农民工的城市融入有积极影响。缴纳过住房公积金的农民工相比未缴纳者城市融入水平更高;居住在廉租房对农民工的城市融入起正向作用,而居住在免费房或租房则起着反向作用。     

城市流迁就业新格局下的农民工收入问题思考——基于主观感知视角的实证研究

随着代际更替的完成,农民工城市流迁模式出现新的变化。新生代农民工行业选择性增强,劳动力回流返城再就业比重上升,安居乐业正在成为"家庭迁徙型"农民工城市生活的写照。尽管还有部分农民工仍往返于城乡与地区之间,但这种"候鸟型"流迁模式已在明显弱化。因此,以北京5区县为样本取集聚地,针对不同流迁模式下的农民工收入状况及幸福感知进行计量分析。研究结果表明:收入边际效用影响力在下降,农民工积极感知呈上升趋势,表明作为"城市边缘人"的农民工社会待遇不公、幸福感低下境遇正在改善,这与社会关注度提高、新生代农民工成为群体主导有关。在收入水平短期内难以获得大幅提升的现阶段,政府应致力于教育、职业发展以及社会保障权利等国民待遇平等环境创造,尽可能激发农民工群体正向心理潜能,以其积极品质提升主观幸福感。     

Earnings mobility in Spain: the role of job mobility and contractual arrangements

This paper analyses the relationship between earnings mobility, job mobility and changes in the contractual arrangement in Spain using a sample of Spanish workers aged 16–60 years extracted from the European Community Household Panel Survey (ECHP 1995–2001). Overall, earnings mobility remains mostly unchanged over time, although clear differences, both in terms of levels and trends, can be perceived among different types of workers. Results show that, in general, job mobility contributes to increase earnings mobility. Switching into permanent contract are associated with the highest probability of upgrading among those workers who remain with the same employer. In contrast, the highest risk of downgrading among stayers appears when changing from permanent to temporary. An analysis on low pay/no low pay transitions reveals that job mobility always increases the probability of moving from low pay to better-paid jobs among females. For males, in contrast, this occurs only when they were initially employed on a temporary basis. Furthermore, for females it is found that either switching into permanent contract while staying with the same employer, or changing employer while being employed on a permanent basis yield a higher chance of upgrading than staying with the same employer with a permanent contract.      

农民工就业流动的工资效应研究——以南京市为例

将农民工的就业流动区分为同一城市内部的流动和不同城市之间的流动,分别从理论上讨论了两种情况对工资水平的影响机制;对相关的理论假设作了实证检验。在控制住相关变量的情况下,农民工的工资水平与其更换就业城市的次数之间存在着显著的正相关关系;农民工的工资水平与其在本地更换工作单位的次数之间成显著的负相关关系,而与在本单位工作时间的长短之间存在着显著的正相关关系。     

Earnings differences in the labor market of the Arab Gulf states: The case of Kuwait

The Arab Gulf states of Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been experiencing common trends of growth and development. The shared features include a large and expanding government sector, ambitious development programs, high standards of welfare and income and high dependence on migrant workers. Without the expatriate manpower it would have been virtually impossible for the economies of these countries to implement their development programs. Yet the presence of expatriates has a direct impact on the size distribution of labor income. Using the rich data of the 1972/73 budget survey this paper shows that the distribution of labor income is more equitable within the indigenous labor force, i.e., Kuwaitis, than within the migrant workers who come from different environments and have varied experiences and educational attainments. The institutional rules prevailing in Kuwait, as well as other Arab Gulf States, discriminate against migrant workers. The paper shows that about 50% of the wage difference between Kuwaiti and non-Kuwaiti workers is due to discriminatory practices in the labor market. In view of the projected increase in demand for foreign workers in the Arab Gulf States, policy makers are in urgent need of manpower planning and a reconsideration of their discriminatory policies against foreign workers.     

Foreign-owned firms around the world: A comparative analysis of wages and employment at the micro-level

This paper provides the first microeconomic cross-country analysis of the effects of foreign ownership on wages, employment and worker turnover rates. Using firm-level and linked worker-firm data, we apply a standardised methodology for three developed (Germany, Portugal, UK) and two emerging economies (Brazil, Indonesia). We find that wage effects are larger in developing countries, and that for each country the largest effect on wages comes from workers who move from domestic to foreign firms. Employment growth after foreign takeover is concentrated in high-skill jobs. In contrast to widespread fears, there is no evidence that wage gains come at the expense of greater job insecurity; separation rates actually fall slightly after takeover. We conclude that the positive effect of foreign ownership on wages is not primarily driven by its impact on incumbent wages, but by its impact on the creation of high-wage jobs.     

LATE CAREER JOB LOSS AND THE DECISION TO RETIRE

This article provides an empirical analysis of the effect of involuntary job loss on the lifetime income and labor supply of older workers. I develop and estimate a dynamic programming model of retirement with savings, costly job search, and exogenous layoffs. The average cost of job loss is equivalent to one year of predisplacement earnings, 70% due to the wage reduction and 30% to the search frictions. Displaced workers on average retire 14 months earlier. Workers who approached retirement during the Great Recession will work approximately five months longer in response to the contemporaneous financial and labor market shocks.     

Duration of disability,job mismatch and employment outcomes

Workers with disabilities have functional limitations that affect their productivity in some, but not necessarily all, jobs. Workers who find a job that is a good match for their functional limitations (i.e. a job where their limitations have little or no impact on important job functions) should expect better employment outcomes (e.g. higher wages, longer job tenure) than workers with similar disabilities who are mismatched in their jobs. Merging data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation with O*Net data on job demands, we construct two continuous measures of job mismatch for workers with physical disabilities. We then extend the literature on disability and employment by exploring relationships between duration of disability, job mismatch, wages and hours worked. The results indicate that workers with long durations of disability are employed in jobs that are a better match to their physical limitations than are similar workers with shorter durations of disability. And, workers who are mismatched earn lower wages and work fewer hours than their counterparts whose jobs are a better match. Overall, the findings suggest that disability employment policies should include systematic efforts to help workers with disabilities find good job matches.     

Why it Pays to Major in Economics

In this article, the authors use a large, recent, and accessible data set to examine the effect of economics major on individual earnings. They find a significant positive earnings gain for economics majors relative to other majors, and this advantage increases with the level of education. Their findings are consistent with Black, Sanders, and Taylor (2003), documenting that about two-thirds of the bachelor's degree premium for economics majors can be attributed to the type of job economics majors perform, and about one-third is a premium that economics majors earn over other workers within the same job.     

Subsidized temporary jobs: lock-in and stepping stone effects

This article evaluates the effectiveness of subsidized temporary jobs as stepping stones to regular employment. We study a French program that allows job seekers to work part-time while remaining registered with the unemployment agency. In this program, insured individuals concurrently receive part of their unemployment benefits and wage income. Using administrative data, we find that subsidized temporary jobs have both a significant lock-in effect and a significant positive post-treatment impact on the hazard rate to employment. Since individuals facing a high implicit tax rate have incentives to self-select into better part-time jobs, we also find that a higher tax rate leads to a weaker lock-in effect and a stronger post-treatment effect. Simulations suggest that the lock-in effect first dominates, but that the overall effect eventually becomes positive. They also point to ways of improving the effectiveness of the policy.     

建筑业农民工人力资本产权结构研究

建筑业由于其项目管理要求,就其工作性质而言具有很强的工作范围不确定性、工作内容一次性、工作地域分割性等特点,决定建筑业农民工人力资本在资本取得、价值实现、基本权益保障等方面都具有一定的特殊性.在文献梳理基础上,本文借鉴人力资本产权理论提出建筑业农民工人力资本产权权能结构包括所有权、收益权和发展权三种权利束.在此基础上,研究三类权利束的特征:在所有权方面表现为投资主体的非系统性、在交易过程中弱抵押性和制度失衡引起的基于所有权的基本权利受损;在收益权方面表现为先天弱势资本导致的产权主体交易能力低下、折价交易以及交易的被动性;在发展权方面表现为人力资本定价的滞后、人力资本价值折损高风险以及人力资本价值提升的曲折.     

The impact of minimum wages on employment of low‐wage workers

This study provides empirical evidence on the impact of a minimum wage increase on employment of workers in the formal sector who have wages below the minimum level in Vietnam. Using the difference‐in‐differences with propensity score matching and the Vietnam Household Living Standard Surveys of 2004 and 2006, the article finds that the minimum wage increase in 2005 reduced the proportion of workers having a formal sector job among low‐wage workers. Most workers who lost formal sector jobs became self‐employed.