Alternative Work Arrangements and Job Satisfaction

The pressures of traditional jobs on working families, along with an aging population facing financial need, have contributed to heightened interest in the percentage of workers participating in alternative work arrangements. These include working as an independent contractor or self-employed, and those employed by others on-call, through temp agency, or as contractors. Examining job satisfaction across work arrangements by occupation and gender is one way to investigate a potential increase in the supply of such workers. Higher job satisfaction may indicate that more workers will select into these work arrangements and away from traditional jobs in the future. If this is particularly true for women, it has important implications for firms that would like to retain more women. Moreover, changes in how individuals earn a living may impact the social safety nets of such workers and their families given the nature of how such benefits are provided in the U.S. economy. This study utilizes recent waves of the General Social Survey to explore job satisfaction for workers in disaggregated alternative work arrangements, while controlling for both occupation and gender. The study finds that female workers who are independent contractors and self-employed are more satisfied with their jobs than those in regular salaried jobs, even those in nonprofessional occupations. Job satisfaction for those who work in temp agencies, do on-call work or work for contractors is no different than for those in regular jobs, regardless of occupation and gender.

     

教育收益率、行业与工资的性别差异:基于西部三个城市的经验研究

本文通过使用扩展的性别工资差异分解方法对中国西部城市的性别行业进入差异和行业内部工资差异进行分解,分析了高等教育回报对行业选择和收入差异的影响。经验研究的基本结果包括:(1)在全部的性别工资差异上,由于男女的禀赋差异引起的可解释部分占差异的57.77%,歧视解释了总差异的42.24%,在歧视部分中,行业进入方面的对女性的歧视就占了1/3强的部分,行业内部的工资歧视占2/3左右;(2)对于受过高等教育的女性来说,存在显著的行业进入方面的不利性别偏向,在行业选择方面,女性的高等教育回报率低于男性。在低收入行业中,女性高等教育和"高中/职高"层次的教育其回报率都显著的高于男性,高收入行业内部则相反;(3)在可解释的行业和工资性别差异中,教育解释了其中的5%左右,并且教育具有显著的缩小行业进入性别差异的作用。在高收入行业内部,高等教育显著缩小了男女工资差异,而在低收入行业内部,高等教育解释力较弱,而经验和健康状况对于这部分差异贡献率较大。     

Male–female earnings differentials in early 20th century Manila

How might earnings of men and women have differed in poor countries a century ago? We know very little but a one-worker-in-ten labor market survey conducted in Manila in 1900 can help to establish baseline earnings patterns. In terms of raw means, women's earnings were about 30 percent less than men's, but both were distributed so that in some industries there were women who earned more than the average man. Controlling for hours, occupations and firm characteristics left female earnings discounts that varied by occupation from nothing to nearly half, ceteris paribus. Women workers concentrated in relatively skilled tobacco processing work, paid by the piece. Within this industry, productivity differentials were confounded by occupational segregation, however, in which men made the more expensive cigars and women the cheaper cigars and cigarettes.     

Criminal sentencing in 19th-century Pennsylvania

How law is interpreted and enforced at a particular historical moment reflects contemporary social concerns, attitudes and prejudices. This paper investigates the nature of criminal sentencing in 19th-century Pennsylvania. It finds that juries systematically departed from presumptive sentences based on extralegal factors, such age, sex, nativity and occupation. Older criminals and convicts with higher status preconviction occupations received longer sentences; women and ethnic minorities received shorter sentences. Unlike 20th-century courts, 19th-century courts did not impose longer sentences on black criminals.     

The Impact of Mass Incarceration on the Lives of African American Women

This paper examines the consequences of mass incarceration on various aspects of the lives of African-American women. In particular, it seeks to determine how the historically high growth rate in the prison population over the past 30?years has affected employment outcomes, family relationships, and the physical and mental health of Black women who have been incarcerated.     

Still Slipping: African-American Women in the Economy and in Society

This article focuses on the progress and regress of African-American women since the publication in 1986 of the author’s Slipping through the Cracks: The Status of Black Women. Gaps between African-American women and other groups (including African-American men and white women) are still reported in education, employment, income, health services, and incarceration. Some experts believe that racial equality has been achieved in the U.S., and affirmative action has slowed. However, the evidence demonstrates that disparity still exists, especially for African-American women at the bottom of income distribution. Their economic status lags behind white women’s. For example, according to the Insight Center for Community Economic Development, the average net worth of a single, middle-aged white woman is $42,600; the average net worth of a single, middle-aged Black woman is $5. This disparity affects not just the women but their children and their educational opportunities.     

Technological Change and Returns to Education: The Implications for the S&E Labor Market

Abstract

This paper analyzes the earnings effect of skill-biased technological change (SBTC), focusing on the comparison of science and engineering (S&E) and non-S&E occupations. In the analysis, we assert that S&E occupations and non-S&E occupations differ in the nature of skill requirements and their susceptibility to technological change; and consequently the earnings effects of SBTC also demonstrate a similar impact. For the empirical analysis, the modified Mincerian earnings equations are estimated by quantile regressions as well as the ordinary least squares (OLS) and two-stage estimation method.

Fitted to Korean panel data, the earning-enhancing effect of SBTC is observed for male workers, not only for those in S&E occupations but also for those in non-S&E occupations. Such an effect is not observed for women in S&E occupations, and rather turns even negative for women in non-S&E occupations; envisaging a relatively large occurrence of work interruption of married women in Korea, we conjecture that this may reflect women workers’ skill deterioration taking place during a work interruption. The earnings effect of SBTC is most apparent for male workers in the higher quantiles of earnings distribution, implying that those who are highly educated and have high unobserved ability gain most from SBTC.     

Do black and white women hold different jobs in the same occupation? A critical analysis of the clerical and service sectors

Employing 1960 and 1981 census data at the three-digit level, the study finds that black and white women were employed at different jobs in the predominantly female clerical and service occupations in both 1960 and 1981. However, there appears to be a slight reduction in black female job dissimilarity with white females between 1960 and 1981 in both occupations. Moreover, while employment of black women, relative to white women, in 1960 was observed to be generally skewed toward the low-paying, low-status jobs in clerical and service occupations, there was little evidence of this trend by 1981. The present results, then, complement previous findings at the more aggregative two-digit level of black female occupational advancement since the mid-1960s.     

Utilization of minority employees in small business: A comparison of nonminority and black-owned urban enterprises

Structural changes in the urban economy are causing African-American workers in blue collar occupations to rely increasingly upon the small business sector for employment. This study finds that most of the nonminority-owned small businesses operating in large urban areas do not employ minorities. Even among the businesses physically located within minority communities, the majority of the workers in the nonminority small firms are white. Black-owned businesses, in contrast, rely largely on minority workers even when their firms are located outside of minority neighborhoods.     

The gap at the top: Relative occupational earnings disadvantages of the black middle class

Data are presented in this article indicating that the disparity in the earnings of blacks and whites in upper level white-collar occupations is greater than that between their counterparts in blue-collar occupations. Moreover it appears that very little of the racial earnings differences in either occupational category can be explained by so-called human capital differences.     

Job tasks and wages in the Japanese labor market: Evidence from wage functions

Based on the microdata from the Basic Survey on Wage Structure and the original survey, we estimate the Mincerian wage function, incorporating job tasks, to examine the importance of job task wage premiums as well as long-term changes in the Japanese labor market. In the estimation, we found that the association between abstract tasks and wages is positive and that a one standard deviation increase in the abstract task scores was associated with a 21.2% wage premium, while that of routine and manual task wage premiums are negative. We also found that the total explanatory power of three task scores (routine, abstract, and manual tasks) is higher than that of the education dummies or the major occupation group dummies. We also confirmed two testable implications from the Roy model regarding the workers’ self-selection into occupations in the Japanese labor market. These findings are similar to those obtained by Autor and Handel (2013). On the other hand, we found no major changes between 2005 and 2016 in the coefficients of routine, abstract, or manual task scores as well as their explanatory powers in the wage function. We then observed that demand for labor increased in many occupations involving many non-routine or manual tasks, but at the same time, the supply of labor to those occupations also increased. Therefore, we discussed that the change in labor demand and supply may be one of the reasons for the stable relationship between job tasks and wages.     

The Glass Ceiling and Relative Arrest Rates of Blacks Compared to Whites

A simple theoretical model is presented in which higher relative arrest rates for blacks compared to whites lead to higher relative absenteeism (including tardiness) and ultimately a lower likelihood of placement in occupations where absenteeism is more costly, such as supervisory positions. Though the data do not allow for a direct test of the model, partial correlations provide some suggestive evidence. Controlling for city fixed effects and using an occupation prestige index to proxy for occupations with more costly absenteeism, higher relative arrest rates for blacks compared to whites are associated with relatively worse occupation placement compared to whites. The model and suggestive evidence make a case for further research into the spillover effect of criminal justice outcomes and for consideration of spillover effects in the costs and benefits of enforcement mechanisms which disproportionately affect blacks.     

Nineteenth Century Black and Mixed-Race Physical Activity,Calories, and Life Expectancy: Nutrition,Sanitation, or Medical Intervention?

Using data from late 19th and early twentieth century US prisons, this study considers how black and mixed-race basal metabolic rates and calories varied with economic development. During the nineteenth century, African-American physical activity and net nutrition decreased across their BMR and calorie distributions, and increasing black life expectancy indicates that decreasing mortality was not likely due to improved nutrition. Physically active farmers had greater BMRs and required more calories per day than workers in other occupations. Black diets, nutrition, and calories varied by residence, and rural blacks in the Deep South required the most calories per day, while their Northeastern urban counterparts required the least. Policy implications are that public sanitation facilities may be of greater import than nutrition during economic development.     

Attributes of articles impacting contemporary accounting literature*

Abstract. This paper describes and analyzes four attribute dimensions that have impacted contemporary accounting literature (CAL) between 1976 and 1984, and develops a model that predicts attribute levels in 1985 and 1986. The attribute dimensions studied are: accounting area, research method, school of thought, and geographical focus. Publication counts and citation analyses are performed on a data set of 1,110 accounting articles. The results suggest that linear trends exist over time in the publication and citation measures of selected attributes of accounting papers; that new or emerging attribute areas are more likely to be influential than are papers published in established areas; and that it is easier to predict the relative influence of publications that will exhibit certain attributes than it is to predict the number of papers that will be published with these attributes. Résumé. Les auteurs décrivent et analysent quatre aspects de préoccupation qui ont eu des répercussions sur les publications contemporaines en comptabilité entre 1976 et 1984 et créent un modèle permettant de prévoir les niveaux de préoccupation des années 1985 et 1986. Les aspects de préoccupation faisant l'objet de l'étude sont les suivants: le domaine comptable, les méthodes de recherche, les écoles de pensée et l'optique géographique. Les auteurs precèdent au dénombrement des publications et à l'analyse des citations sur un corpus de 1110 articles comptables. Les résultats donnent à penser qu'il existe des tendances linéaires, dans le temps, dans les mesures des publications et des citations relatives à des préoccupations choisies dans les articles comptables; que les publications dans des domaines de préoccupation nouveaux ou en émergence sont plus susceptibles d'influencer que ne le sont les publications dans des domaines établis; et qu'il est plus facile de prédire l'influence relative des publications portant sur certaines préoccupations qu'il ne l'est de prédire le nombre de documents qui seront publiés relativement à ces préoccupations.     

Marginalization Revisited: Women's Market Work and Pay,and Economic Development

A substantial literature argues that women have been left out of economic development, but evidence from labor force surveys in middle-income developing countries suggests otherwise. Women's participation rates in the market labor force have been increasing, women have shifted into white-collar occupations, and certain previously male-dominated occupations have become female-dominated (clerical work in Asia, for example). Women's relative pay has risen somewhat faster in Asia and Latin America than occurred during industrialization in the United States. Although inequalities remain, there is no evidence that women on average are being marginalized.     

Domestic service,gender, and wages in rural England,c.1700–18601

Domestic service was a vital occupational sector in England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—particularly for women. This article uses a new series of wage observations from across England, focusing on rural areas. Analysis of the dataset shows that wages paid to servants in rural England slightly increased over the period considered, but at uneven rates dependent on region and precise occupation of servant. The majority of servants, particularly maids, did not experience any significant increase in the wages they were paid. This article also shows a widening wage gap between male and female servants. When differences between regions were analysed, it was shown that the wages paid to servants did not match the model of the north becoming the high wage zone of England by the mid‐nineteenth century, although rates of growth there were the highest. For servants the south generally remained an area of higher wages even in the mid‐nineteenth century. Geography was probably not the key variable in determining wage levels. The type of household in which a servant was employed was more important than where it was located. The most important variables were the servants' gender, and their occupations in the household.     

Converging Mainlander and Native Taiwanese, 1949–2012

This paper uses a surname‐based methodology to estimate the intergenerational correlation between native Taiwanese and mainlanders during 1949–2012. It finds that mainlanders, who initially had an advantage in higher education and high profile occupations, regressed towards population average at a relatively constant rate, which is much higher than suggested by previous studies. This paper argues that the difference either reflects a group‐level inequality because of the impacts of kinships and extended families, or it measures the intergenerational correlation of an unobservable variable, the true underlying social status, which is imperfectly correlated with income, education, or occupation at the individual level.     

Occupations after WWII: The legacy of Rosie the Riveter

WWII mobilization led to a permanent increase in female employment. Using Census micro data we study the effects of this increase on the occupations women held after the war. Almost three decades after its end, WWII had lasting effects on the occupational landscape. For women of working age in the early 1940s, the war caused a permanent shift towards blue-collar occupations – particularly in manufacturing and service jobs – and a decline in employment in white-collar jobs. A reduction in educational attainment due to the draft, accumulation of occupation-specific experience and relatively high wages in blue-collar sectors can largely account for these patterns. WWII mobilization also influenced the occupational outcomes of the next generation of women who were too young to be working at the time of the war. This cohort shifted away from lower-skill jobs and towards clerical occupations.     

The Subprime Mortgage Calamity and the African American Woman

Many media and scholarly reports have focused on the subprime mortgage crisis and the resultant global financial meltdown. Most of the literature notes unequivocally that discrimination in the mortgage market has been, and remains, race-based and that it has damaged the African-American population disproportionately. This paper discusses the consequences of the subprime mortgage calamity and its negative impact on the Black community, women in general, and African-American women in particular. After controlling for individual, credit and housing characteristics, research shows that disparities in lending have persisted. Studies indicate that 63% of those given subprime mortgages qualified for prime mortgages. African-American females received the most high-cost loans and were over twice as likely to be given a subprime mortgage compared to White females. Moreover, African-American women were five times more likely to have received a subprime loan than similarly situated White males. Upper-income Black women were more often targeted for high-cost loans than lower-income women of color. As a result, the subprime mortgage crisis has precipitated an enormous loss of home equity and wealth among African-Americans that will affect generations to come.