Understanding skilled migrants’ employment in the host country: a multidisciplinary review and a conceptual model

Abstract

Globalization has led to an increase in international mobility in many occupational fields. Therefore, scholars from a variety of disciplines have studied the topic of skilled migration. The purpose of this study is to review and synthesize the empirical research on skilled migrants’ qualification-matched employment across multiple disciplines. Skilled migrants are people on the move who possess university degrees or extensive work experience in professional fields when they leave their countries of origin to seek employment elsewhere. This review synthesizes findings of 106 empirical studies published from 1990 to mid-2017 on skilled migrants’ employment. We develop a conceptual model that includes antecedent conditions associated with skilled migrant qualification-matched employment in their host country and its outcomes. We also highlight the role of multilevel factors and moderating variables associated with skilled migrants’ possibility of obtaining qualification-matched employment. Our review has implications for human resource scholars and practitioners concerned with skilled migrants’ employment and labor market.     

Informal Employment and the Structure of Wages in India: A Review of Trends

The “alternative”, “atypical” or “informal” workforce has grown in developed and developing countries alike. One of the more recent evolutions of informal employment has been of informal employment within formal enterprises. In the interest of flexibility and cost‐reduction, many formal firms increasingly resort to hiring workers on a temporary or informal basis. Alongside, and perhaps, as a result of the persistence and pervasiveness of informal employment, issues relating to inequality have come to the fore. This paper is motivated by these two intertwining aspects of Indian labor market—informality and wage inequality. Using nationally representative sample data, the paper examines trends in wage inequality among various forms of informal workers, overlaying these findings with broader trends in inequality. Using a regression based inequality decomposition, the paper compares the sources of wage inequality across different employment groups and the reasons for differences in wage inequality.     

On the heterogeneous short‐term effects of minimum wages on labor demand

A strand of the literature documents no effects or even positive effects of a higher minimum wage on employment. This evidence is frequently linked to the existence of monopsonistic labor markets or search frictions. However, empirical studies show that these findings could be related to a low short‐term minimum wage–employment elasticity in a competitive labor market. We show that mixed theoretical employment effects of a minimum wage policy can be predicted in the short term in assignment economies with price‐taker agents and no search frictions.     

Trends in undergraduate economics degrees, 1991–2017

Undergraduate degrees awarded in economics by U.S. colleges and universities were stagnant from 2009–10 through 2012–13, increased rapidly (almost 15 percent) over the two years from 2012–13 through 2014–15, but have again leveled off in 2015–16 and 2016–17.     

CHILD CARE PRICES AND MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT: A META‐ANALYSIS

The literature estimates for labor force participation elasticity with regard to child care prices are extensive and varying. While some estimates imply substantial gains from child care subsidies, others find insignificant effects. To determine the causes of the variance, this paper reviews and analyzes the elasticity sizes using estimates from 36 peer‐reviewed articles and working papers in the literature. We start by reviewing the theoretical and empirical aspects related to participation elasticity with regard to child care costs, paying special attention to sample characteristics, methodological aspects, and macro level factors. We conclude by providing a meta‐regression using control variables based on our review of the literature to explain some of the differences between the estimates. As research builds on and improves the methods and assumptions in prior works, elasticity estimates have become smaller over time. This decline might also be partially explained by changes in labor market characteristics. In countries with high rates of part‐time work and very high or very low rates of female labor force participation, we find elasticity rates to be smaller.     

Technological leadership and sectorial employment growth: A spatial econometric analysis for U.S. counties

This paper studies the determinants of technological catch‐up considering spatial and sectoral aggregation of industries. We investigate how geographical and technological proximity to the technology leader impact regional employment growth. We model technological progress by means of a hierarchical process of catch‐up to the technology leader. We also incorporate measures for knowledge spillover effects to test the roles of competition, specialisation, and diversity at the industry level. Empirical results using data at the county level for different economic sectors (2‐dig NAICS) for the United States indicate that human capital plays a crucial role in promoting sectoral employment growth. The association between technological/geographical distance to the technology leader and employment growth varies across sectors.     

“新冠肺炎”疫情对我国外贸和就业的冲击及纾困举措

“新冠肺炎”疫情对我国外贸和就业产生何种冲击?本文认为,此次疫情已给我国外贸和就业以及全球产业链和供应链带来严重不利的冲击,需要保持中国出口增长,以支撑进口和就业增长,平稳产业链。此次疫情下我国的内外部经贸环境更加严峻,与2003年“非典”时有着很大的不同。稳就业是当务之急,而稳外贸、稳外资是稳就业的关键支撑力。此次疫情加剧了我国巨量高校毕业生叠加农村城镇化大量人口的就业压力。纾困举措:(1)稳定出口市场维护全球供应链,发挥市场机制的有效配置作用;(2)遏制住疫情,运用财政和货币政策对企业减税降费、增加市场流动性,降低成本和扩大消费;(3)帮助企业有序复工复产,提升营商环境,通过稳外贸和稳外资提升就业;(4)大力提升贸易投资便利化和公共产品服务来支持企业开拓市场;(5)教育部可根据高校实际招生能级,授权其适度增加研究生招生比重来缓解毕业生集中就业压力。     

The Macro Pedagogy Debate: Teaching DSGE to Undergraduates Symposium

Dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models have become the workhorse of modern macroeconomics and the standard way to communicate ideas among applied macroeconomists. Undergraduate students, however, often remain unaware of their existence. The lack of specialized knowledge can hurt them if they decide to attend graduate school. Indeed, many first-year PhD students discover that the material they are currently learning differs significantly from what they mastered in college. But this can change. In this article, the author describes how to teach a full-fledged macroeconomics course where DSGE models take center stage. He discusses how to arrange such a course within a one-semester time frame, details the main components of instruction, and finishes with some thoughts based on his teaching experience at Macalester College.     

The trade-offs between economic efficiency and job creation in olive grove smallholdings

Cooperation among farmers is an effective alternative to reduce production costs in smallholdings of traditional olive groves and increase their low profitability. However, an increase in efficiency reduces working hours and the labour required for the management of farms. This fact can lead to negative effects in rural areas, especially considering the importance of the social aspect of the crop. Therefore, to contribute to the global discussion on the transition towards more sustainable farming, it is important to know, ex ante, what level of employment is generated by olive groves and what could be lost under more competitive and efficient scenarios. The purpose of the work is to quantify the expected impact on employment by the implementation of cooperative management methods in order to generate true and accurate information that can be used in the design of future policies that aim to increase the economic profitability of small olive farms. The results make clear that this way of managing farms, by increasing the efficiency of agricultural work, has a significant negative impact on employment. However, this management formula does encourage the professionalisation of the sector by generating quality employment, in addition to contributing to the preservation of small farms and the socio-cultural and territorial benefits they generate.     

Interlocking Lives: Employment Mobility and Family Fixity in Three Gentrifying Neighbourhoods of Montreal

This article explores the relationship between employment mobility, family fixity, and gentrification in the lives of 36 residents in and extended commuters to Montreal's southwest borough. Once described as the birthplace of industry in Canada, the neighbourhoods of Saint-Henri, Little Burgundy and Point Saint-Charles have undergone sweeping changes in recent decades. Inner-city areas are not necessarily where one expects to find mobile workers, but this is changing due to shifting gender roles, the rise of dual-income households and gentrification. Michael Savage's concept of ‘elective belonging’ proved particularly useful in understanding this connection. With its proximity to childcare, schools, stores and workplaces, the central city permits a more equitable division of labour within the household. Our place-based approach to mobile work enables us to capture a wide spectrum of experience, ranging from people with extended daily commutes to those whose work takes them away from home for days, weeks or months at a time. Our interviews reveal a connection between employment mobility and family gentrification, as upwardly mobile families find ways to localize other aspects of their lives. The simultaneity of mobility and immobility are often essential, especially in dual-income households. One parent's mobility often leads to the relative immobility of other family members.