Informal pay gaps in good and bad times: Evidence from Russia

Informal work is traditionally large in Russia and has further increased in the recent years. We explore the implications of this shift in terms of wage dynamics. Our characterization is based on the estimation of informal pay gaps at the mean and along the wage distribution, relying on the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey for 2003–2017. Our approach comprises three original features: we rely on unconditional quantile effects of informality, we incorporate quantile-specific fixed effects using a tractable approach, and we suggest a treatment of the incidental parameter bias. Over the whole period, informal wage penalties are relatively small and do not suggest heavily segmented labor markets, even at low wage levels. Yet, in the past decade, a substantial negative selection into informal employment and self-employment has taken place, on average and especially at low earnings. Economic downturns and labor market policies have likely contributed to the shakeout of less productive workers in the formal sector, making the low-tier informal sector more of a last resort.     

Institutional dynamics and access to non-farm employment in rural China, 1950–1996

This article examines non-farm employment in the context of Chinese rural institutional change, based on evidence from discrete-time logistic models for event history analysis using the Life History and Social Change survey. We find the transition to non-farm sector rose rapidly during the Great Leap Forward and market reform, while the Cultural Revolution saw it reach the lowest ebb. While male advantage prevailed exclusively during the Cultural Revolution and early marketization, education possessed a stable positive effect in all historical periods. Although the returns to different kinds of political capital vary along with institutional dynamics, intergenerational reproduction was greatly reduced after the Cultural Revolution.     

Human resource management practices and voluntary turnover: a study of internal workforce and external labor market contingencies

We tested relationships between employee quit rates and two bundles of human resource (HR) practices that reflect the different interests of the two parties involved in the employment relationship. To understand the boundary conditions for these effects, we examined an external contingency proposed to influence the exchange-based effects of HR practices on subsequent quit rates – the local industry-specific unemployment rate – and an internal contingency proposed to shape employees’ conceptualization of their exchange relationship – their employment status (i.e. full-time, part-time and temporary employment). Analyses of lagged data from over 200 Canadian establishments show that inducement HR practices (e.g. extensive benefits) and performance expectation HR practices (e.g. performance-based bonuses) had different effects on quit rates, and the former effect was moderated by unemployment rate. The effects of HR practices on quit rates did not differ between FT and PT employees, but a different pattern of main and interactive effects was found among temporary workers. These findings suggest that employees’ exchange-based decisions to leave may be less affected by the number of hours they expect to work each week, and more by the number of weeks they expect to work.     

Welfare under friction and uncertainty: General equilibrium evaluation of temporary employment in the U.S.

Temporary contracts usually fall outside of employee protection litigation, thus they are often cheaper than permanent contracts and are offered on-demand by firms. In the last two decades, there has been a sharp growth in such contracts in the U.S. labor market. This paper investigates the welfare consequences of offering temporary contracts in the U.S., an environment with low employee protection litigation and high production risk for firms. Employee protection litigation creates firing rigidity in regular labor markets. Pairing firing rigidity with high production risk, firms reduce employment and output, which generates welfare loss. The inexpensive and flexible nature of temporary contracts offers firms a buffer strategy in making employment decisions under risk and navigating the firing rigidity of the regular labor sector, thereby reducing welfare loss. However, temporary contracts cannot fully compensate for the efficiency cost from rising firing rigidity and risk.     

Does studying abroad enhance employability?

Over 200,000 European students study abroad under the Erasmus programme. It appears that studying abroad may impart skills which are helpful for professional careers after graduation. Approximately, 54% of European students report that participation in the Erasmus exchange programme helped them to obtain a first job; however, interestingly, those from Central and Eastern European countries report it much more often—in 73% of cases. The aim of this paper is to find out whether studying abroad enhances the employability of higher education graduates in Poland. Using the propensity score matching method and data from a nationwide tracer survey of Polish graduates, we find that Polish students who completed at least one semester of their studies abroad do not benefit in terms of a higher employment rate after graduation.     

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.     

就业结构调整对水库移民土地流转的影响研究*——以南水北调中线工程移民为例

[目的]为促进水库移民的生计恢复及转型,探寻就业结构和土地流转间的交互机制,分析两者间耦合作用对当前移民安置模式及政策的影响。[方法]文章从移民就业结构变迁出发,通过超边际理论构建了安置区移民土地的流转机制模型,推演了从业决策对土地流转行为的影响路径,并运用南水北调农业安置移民数据进行实证检验。[结果]大面积转出土地是移民搬迁后土地处置的主要行为,移民中土地转入户有所增加,但土地集中度却有所减少。移民非农就业较搬迁前有明显上升,并有向当地兼业转移的趋势,但与土地流转间并不互为因果,农村社保还难以弱化其对土地养老的依赖。劳动力数量、非农就业时间、非农收入占比、土地政策等对移民土地流转行为和规模均有显著影响,而外出就业前景和地租水平在促进土地流转行为的同时,却不一定能增加土地流转面积。[结论]移民外迁中可以采用无土安置代替农业安置,推动移民土地流转的关键在于技能培训、政策保障和地租补贴,简单的就业推荐和土地权属划分的作用有限。而对于移民中的农业大户,则需在满足土地转入面积的基础上,保障其在安置区的各项土地权益。     

就业保护法对私营企业经营绩效的影响——基于倍差法的证据

以中国私营企业为样本，采用倍差法研究2008年《劳动合同法》实施对私营企业经营绩效的影响。通过与微型企业比较，研究发现《劳动合同法》显著提升了中小企业的人均年销售水平；这种影响在非外贸企业和管理水平较低的企业中更显著。同时有证据显示，《劳动合同法》的实施并没有导致私营企业通过增加临时用工来控制劳动成本，相反，该法引起企业用工和解雇水平下降，并可能促使私营企业调整人力资源策略，增加人力资源培训开支，从而提升企业经营绩效。     

The role of uncertainty in forecasting employment by skill and industry

We show that the macroeconomic uncertainty series from Jurado, Ludvigson, and Ng (2015) contains information to forecast employment. The results indicate that the uncertainty measure is weak at forecasting the skilled labour but significantly carries forecasting information on the unskilled labour. The forecasting information increases if the sample is restricted to construction and manufacturing industries. Using rolling regressions to conduct a simulated out-of-sample forecasting exercise, we find that the uncertainty measure contains forecasting information for the unskilled labour in those industries for two quarters ahead. By providing detailed information about the forecasting power of uncertainty by skill and industry, this study will be helpful in designing more efficient labour market policies.     

Effect of Participation of Foreign Migrant Workers in Labour Market on Native Workers: Evidence Based on Change Noticed in College Premium in Taiwan ROC

Using Manpower Utilization Survey data for 14 years from 1999 to 2012, we applied the DDDD (Differences–in–differences–in–differences–in–differences) estimation method to check if rising presence of foreign migrant workers in Taiwan’s domestic labour market had any impact on employment opportunities and wages earned by native Taiwanese workers over time. We used the data capturing the effect of college premium (viz., the additional cost to be borne for getting admission into college) paid by the natives on domestic wage rate during this period. College premium is an indicator of demand and supply for educated labour and we intend to see if the premium has grown with time when influx of foreign migrant workers has grown too. From the results, two interesting phenomena caught our attention. First, labour policy adopted by the Government in Taiwan has played an important role in increasing the influx of foreign workers into domestic labour market, which resulted in significant change in college premium paid by the natives. And, this effect lasted even when instances of strikes and reported cases of labour disputes were relatively higher. Second, the effect of the policy has been varying across genders as our data shows that policy on employment of foreign workers has affected job opportunities of native men workers more than it affected job opportunities of their female counterpart.