Internal migration and external benefit: The impact of labor migration on the wage structure in urban China

China provides a unique experience of massive internal (within-country) migration but with high segregation of jobs between migrants and natives. Thus, migration has a complementary external effect on native wages: the elasticities of complementarity of migrants are about 31.7%, 20.3%, and 19.9% for native workers with a college, high school and less than high school education, respectively. After the wage is deflated by the housing price, the elasticities decline to 11%, 8.2% and −4.4% for the respective education groups, which provides the lower-bound analysis results. In addition, migration has widened wage dispersion, as well as increasing the education premium and residual inequality. The elasticity of substitution in jobs between migrants and natives is very low due to the hukou restriction, and increasing proportions of migrants in any given labor force widen the migrant/native wage gap. Job segregation is an important factor that explains particular labor market findings in China.     

International Labour Migration in East Asia: trends, patterns and policy issues

This paper examines emerging patterns of labour migration in East Asia and related policy issues from the perspective of labour-importing countries. Following a survey of the characteristics of labour flows stemming from, but more importantly occurring within, the region, it probes inter-country differences, both in the timing of the entry of migrant workers and the degree of dependency on migrant labour in the context of rapid economic growth and labour market change. There is clear evidence that labour migration is now a structural feature of the economic landscape in these countries. The policy challenge is to design market-based systems for making the new reliance on labour inflows consistent with changing domestic labour market conditions and the priorities of national development policy, while minimising social resentment and adverse implications for political relations with neighbouring labour-sending countries.     

产业转型升级背景下的新生代农民工失业和离职——基于就业能力的分析框架

当前,新生代农民工与城市各个产业尤其是制造业有机相连,成为城市社会生活不可或缺的一部分。然而,随着国内产业转型升级的不断推进,许多企业和众多新生代农民工都面临用工与就业的严峻考验。对于新生代农民工而言,就业能力是决定其就业的核心与本质问题。文章采用Fugate(2004)对就业能力的划分,从职业认同、个人适应性、人力和社会资本分析新生代农民工就业能力的现状。在此基础上,提出新生代农民工失业和离职问题的分析框架:就业能力无法满足市场和用人单位的需求导致新生代农民工失业;就业能力虽满足市场和用人单位的需求,但由于企业无法满足其基本诉求,导致新生代农民工离职频繁。基于此,提出对未实现就业的新生代农民工,应通过政府政策支持和新民工自我管理,提升其就业能力,进而实现就业;对已实现就业的新民工,应建立组织支持契合,积极开展指导关系项目,降低其离职倾向,在实现稳定就业的基础上实现优质就业。     

Older Female Workers in Britain and its Regions Millennium prospects

In the context of demographic and workforce ageing, this paper examines the participation of older females in the labour market. While there has been increasing interest in lower employment rates amongst older males, little attention has been paid to older females. The paper reviews some of the determinants of female participation rates. It then moves on to explore issues and policies associated with education, training and learning; age discrimination and equal opportunities; and pensions and benefits. In conclusion, a suggested research agenda - providing information to help guide the formulation and implementation of policy - is outlined.     

Trade Policy Versus Competition Policy: Substitutes or Complements?

This paper deals with the difference between trade policy and competition policy for domestic prices, wages, and employment when product and labour markets are imperfectly competitive. We show that in the presence of country-specific institutions like trade unions, trade policy and competition policy are no longer substitutes in disciplining product and labour market distortions. While both domestic entry and foreign imports affect domestic price-cost margins, they differ in their effectiveness and their impact on the domestic labour market. The results in this paper suggest that enforcement of competition policy without a sufficient degree of openness to imports is typically not a first-best outcome. While domestic entry increases union welfare, foreign imports reduce it. Competition policy in the presence of labour unions is insufficient to reduce labour market distortions, while international competition reduces both labour and product distortions.     

Non-standard Employment in Sweden

In Sweden, as in many other countries, marginal groups tend to be overrepresented in non-standard employment. A decomposition of the employment rate of full-time workers on permanent contracts reveals that non-standard employment contributes to a substantially weaker labour market attachment for females and the foreign born than suggested by conventional employment figures alone. Our econometric analysis shows that the negative wage premia associated with fixed-term employment are considerably smaller in Sweden, both for natives and foreign born, than those that have been found for other countries. This may be due to a highly compressed wage structure and extensive coverage of collective bargaining in Sweden. On the whole, the type of fixed-term contract seems not to matter for the estimated wage premia.     

Education and the labour market in Botswana

Using primary data from a 1993/4 Household Income and Expenditure Survey in Botswana, this article presents empirical results on occupational attainment, its determinants, and the extent of filtering down in Botswana's labour market, given changes in labour market conditions over time. It was found that the Botswana labour market has been characterised by some ‘filtering down’ of educated workers into less skilled jobs as the supply of skilled manpower exceeded demand. Those who entered the labour market earlier, those with more education, those located in the urban areas and male workers are more likely to occupy jobs that are higher up in the hierarchy than to be in an unskilled blue-collar job. Jobs higher up in the hierarchy are also more rewarding financially. The article shows that there is occupational segregation of workers by gender in Botswana's labour market in that female workers are generally confined to a narrow range of occupations. The policy implications are that employment creation has to be pursued vigorously and the issue of gender discrimination investigated further.     

金融危机背景下农民工就业问题的三维模式研究

妥善应对全球金融危机给我国农民工就业市场带来的消极影响,应建立一套以政府为主体、城市社会为补充、兼之以农民工自身不断完善的三维对策。文章认为,政府方面应采取相关经济政策扶植中小企业,建立农民工就业信息服务网络,鼓励农民工回乡创业并为其提供相关培训,建立健全针对农民工的各种保障体系等;城市方面则应首先从心理上消除对农民工的身份歧视,帮助他们扩大社会关系网络;农民工自身则应转变就业观念,提高自身素质。     

Utilising a Demand-led Approach in a Local Labour Market

Traditional labour market activation policies have tended to be focused on labour supply and improving the opportunities for new entrants or re-entrants to obtain appropriate paid employment. This emphasis was encouraged in the 1980s and 1990s by shifts in the location and nature of employment (deindustrialisation), growing and persistent levels of unemployment and policy concerns with labour market disadvantage. More recently, the need to ensure international competitiveness, often by minimising local labour costs and enhancing labour flexibility, has been accompanied by a concern amongst employers at the impact of skill shortages. One response has been to shift the policy focus from supply to demand, essentially by seeking to understand the changing nature of local labour demand and by developing appropriate labour market initiatives. This paper analyses the case study provided by a labour market initiative in a regional labour market in New Zealand to assess the utility of such an approach. The Waitakere Employment and Skills Project (WESP) is a collaborative approach to labour demand, involving a number of economic development and local/national government agencies, as well as a university research team (including the author).     

Are Older Workers Disadvantaged in the Hong Kong Labour Market?

Using data collected from two surveys on the labour market in Hong Kong, this paper shows that older workers on average are more likely to be unemployed than younger ones. Unemployed workers aged above 45 tend to face a longer spell of unempoyment, receive fewer job offers and expect lower future wages than the unemployed younger workers. Older employed workers may also be disadvantaged. This paper compares the promotion and training opportunities available to olderand younger employed workers. We found that older workers are less likely to bepromoted or selected for training.     

Labour-Market Outcomes of Older Workers in the Netherlands: Measuring Job Prospects Using the Occupational Age Structure

This paper analyses changes in job opportunities of older workers in the Netherlands in the period 1996–2010. The standard human capital model predicts that, as a result of human capital obsolescence, mobility becomes more costly when workers become older. We measure and interpret how changing job opportunities across 96 occupations affect different age and skill groups. Older workers end up in shrinking occupations, in occupations with a lower share of high-skilled workers, in occupations facing a higher threat of offshoring tasks abroad, more focus on routine-intensive tasks and less rewarding job content. This process is not only observed for the oldest group of workers, but for workers aged 40 and above. Observing older workers in declining occupations is to a large extent a market outcome, but declining job opportunities in terms of less satisfying working conditions and job tasks and content could potentially raise incentives to retire early.     

Poverty,gender and migrancy: Lesotho's migrant farmworkers in South Africa

During the 1990s, eastern Free State vegetable farmers increasingly relied on migrants from neighbouring Lesotho for seasonal labour. This coincided with a major downsizing of the mine labour force in South Africa, hitherto the major employer of Basotho migrant workers. However, there was no simple process of transfer of unemployed migrants from the mining to the farming sector; rather, decisions were mediated by domestic relationships and household poverty in Lesotho. Basotho women and girls have been a major casualty of mine retrenchments and the drying up of remittances, and those with domestic skills but little formal training have been forced into the labour market, mainly domestic work in towns and labour on farms. This article examines the Basotho migrants' experiences and conditions of employment, the regulatory environment within which they are recruited and employed, and their future in the context of changing immigration and migration legislation in South Africa.     

The impact of female employment on male salaries and careers: evidence from the English banking industry, 1890–1941

The late nineteenth‐ and early twentieth‐century British labour market experienced an influx of female clerical workers. Employers argued that female employment increased opportunities for men to advance; however, most male clerks regarded this expansion of the labour supply as a threat to their pay and status. This article examines the effects of female employment on male clerks using data from Williams Deacon's Bank covering a period 25 years prior to and 25 years subsequent to the initial employment of women. It is shown that, within position, women were substitutes for younger men, but not for senior men. In addition, the employment of women in routine positions allowed the bank to expand its branch network, creating new higher‐level positions, which were almost always filled by men.     

“稳就业”还是“毁就业”？ 数字经济对农民工高质量就业的影响

在"数字中国"和"就业优先"战略背景下,数字经济释放就业效能被社会寄予诸多厚望,但其在理论文献上缺乏直接的经验证据。文章利用2017年中国流动人口动态监测调查数据和278个城市数据的匹配数据,采用腾讯研究院发布的"互联网+数字经济指数"对数字经济进行测度,考察了数字经济对农民工高质量就业的影响。研究发现,数字经济对农民工高质量就业具有显著的正向影响。为克服实证模型的内生性问题,文章选取历史数据作为工具变量,所得结果依然支持数字经济对农民工高质量就业的正向效应。基于广义倾向得分匹配法分析发现,数字经济尽管正向影响农民工高质量就业,但在影响效应上却呈现"先上升后下降"的"倒U型",当数字经济为中等发展水平时,农民工高质量就业的边际效应达到最佳。这意味着今后以数字经济为抓手推动农民工高质量就业需遵从"适度"原则,需谨防过度数字化带来的"就业无效"和"就业低效"问题。进一步异质性分析发现,数字经济对"新生代"、"高技能"、从事制造业、交通运输业和居民服务业的农民工就业质量促进作用更明显。本研究为目前国家倡导"大力发展数字经济,促进就业提质扩面"提供了实证支撑,结论对推动农民工高质量就业具有重要政策启示。     

Unemployment of Non-Western Immigrants in the Great Recession

This paper examines whether unemployment of non-western immigrant workers in the Netherlands was disproportionally affected by the Great Recession. We analyze unemployment data covering the period November 2007–February 2013 finding that the Great Recession affected unemployment rates of non-western immigrant workers in absolute terms more than unemployment rates of native workers. However, in relative terms there is not much of a difference. We also find that the sensitivity of individual job finding rates to the aggregate state of the labor market does not differ between natives and non-western immigrants. In combination our findings suggest that the Great Recession did not have a different impact on the unemployment of non-westerns immigrants and native Dutch.     

经济回暖形势下民工荒与就业难并存现象的经济学分析

本文从民工荒与就业难两种现象之间的联系出发,用经济学角度分析在中国经济回暖的新形势下两者仍然并存的原因,指出民工荒与就业难并存局面是市场的一种自我调整方式,是中国经济结构与生产方式弊端的显现。只有加快经济结构调整、生产方式转变,才能防止民工荒与就业难并存现象的长期性存在,才能保证经济持续正常的增长。     

日本劳动市场雇佣形态的多样化及其存在的问题

20世纪90年代以来,随着社会经济环境的剧烈变化,日本的雇佣体制和劳动力市场发生了很大变化。终身雇佣理念被淡化,企业为了节约劳动成本,大规模缩减正式员工,并积极雇佣临时工。于是劳动力市场上出现了前所未有的多样化和流动化。这对企业来说,增加了雇佣的灵活性,但不利于长期发展;对劳动者来说,扩大了择业范围,但出现了和正式员工之间的待遇差距问题。     

The Impact of Foreign Trade on the Employment of Unskilled U.S. Workers: Some New Evidence

This paper explores four empirical relationships reflecting the impact of foreign trade on the employment of unskilled workers: (i) the direct relationship between net exports and embodied education of the corresponding goods; (ii) the changes in domestic prices accompanying changes in net exports; (iii) the relationship between real or potential import competition and defensive measures such as more investment or increasing the skill level of the labor force; and (iv) the relationship between foreign trade and domestic prices. None of these exercises suggests that foreign trade has much impact on the employment of less skilled U.S. workers.     

当前落户城市阶段农民工市民化的风险分析

农民工市民化的顺利推进需要管控相关风险。系统分析当前农民工落户城市阶段的市民化,发现农民工面临落户与未能落户的风险、城市面临落户农民工较少或较多的风险、与农民工市民化相连的农村面临振兴的风险、整个国家面临人的现代化的风险。风险的成因,与市场的非均衡、政策的渐进主义惯性及环境的不确定性等相关。治理相关风险,需要对农民工市民化的主体进行预期引导、行动调节与利益支持。本文可能的贡献,在于提出并系统分析了落户阶段农民工市民化的风险,特别是在落户农民工、落户少的城市、人的现代化等的风险分析上贡献了有新意的观点;同时,对风险的成因与对策的分析在实践中有一定的启发与应用价值。     

我国农民工劳动合约签订率低的原因分析——基于劳动力市场分割和产业分割的分析框架

劳动合约签订是劳动保护的重要形式,但我国农民工劳动合约签订率却只是在2008年《劳动合同法》实施后有暂时较大幅度的上扬,此后随时间推移却几近停滞。文章以劳动力市场分割和产业分割框架为基础,构建了不同劳动力市场特征和产业组织特征组合的四象限分析框架,探讨了不同象限中劳动合约的运行机制,并结合我国边缘产业和农民工现状,就劳动合约签订问题建立了一个简单的博弈模型。分析得出,在边缘产业与次级劳动力市场的组合下,农民工劳动合约签订存在着"组织失灵"、"市场失灵"和"政府失灵"三重困境,这是我国农民工劳动合同签约率停滞不前的主要原因。文章最后提出了相应的结论和政策建议。