Labour Market Structure and Inequality: A Comparison of Italy and the U.S.

Markets with rigid labour regulations and centralized wage setting are often thought to be inefficient but egalitarian. Using a model of off-and on-the-job search and event-history, individual-level data for Italy and the U.S., we show that while the cross-sectional wage distributions of young Italian males are much more compressed than are the comparable distributions for young white U.S. males, the estimated search model implies that the distribution of lifetime welfare is no more disperse in the U.S. than it is in Italy. Our model implies that the high frequency of movements between labour market states leads to both a relatively equitable distribution of "long run" welfare in the U.S. and a high level of cross-sectional inequality.     

Displacement Effects of Active Labour Market Policy: The Youth Labour Market in Finland

In 1994 the number of workers participating in active labour market programmes in Finland was 299,000. On average there where 125,000 workers in these programmes at any one time, the average length of participation in a programme being about 5 months. In relation to the 2.5 million-strong Finnish labour force, these figures are proportionally large. In 1994 the total expenditure on unemployment amounted to 6.7 per cent of GNP of which the share spent on active labour market programmes was about 25 per cent. The study investigates the displacement effects of active labour market programmes in the youth labour market in Finland. The two age groups analysed are 15-19-year-olds and 20-24-year-olds. The results, based on a VAR analysis of quarterly data from the period 1981.1-1995.2, suggest that the displacement effects of job-creation programmes may be substantial. The study cannot, however, provide any robust estimates of the likely size of such displacement effects on youth employment in Finland. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

劳动力市场歧视的分析及对策

本文首先介绍了劳动力市场歧视的概念、来源 ,然后就劳动力市场歧视的几种类型和中国的现状进行了全面系统的分析 ,最后提出了解决劳动力市场歧视问题的对策。文章主张 :通过反歧视教育、反歧视立法、反歧视补贴、创造劳动力市场充分信息、减少职业隔离、减少人力资本投资中的歧视 ,来解决劳动力市场歧视的问题。     

The Spanish Labour Market: Reforms and consequences

The institutional design of the Spanish labour market has been subjected, during the last three decades, to permanent pressure fuelled by two beliefs. On the one hand, by the assumption that a higher degree of flexibility would help to reduce unemployment; on the other, by the assumption that such increased flexibility would also help to reduce inflation rates and, consequently, the inflation gap between Spain and the rest of the European countries. The recent history of the Spanish labour market is, therefore, the history of the reforms implemented to increase the flexibility in such a market. The aim of this paper is, firstly, to describe the main features of these reforms, showing the measures implemented in order to increase the flexibility in the labour market and, secondly, to show the degree of flexibility reached in the labour market. Finally, we will briefly analyse the macroeconomic consequences of these reforms.     

The Youth Labour Market in Australia*

This paper uses unit record data from the 1985 Australian Longitudinal Survey to review the major features of the youth labour market. It is shown that education plays an important role in determining the incidence of unemployment, wages, hours of work and access to training opportunities. Analyses of labour market dynamics indicates that the probability of leaving unemployment falls off substantially as the duration of the unemployment spell increases. A major conclusion of the paper is that the longer term unemployed appear to be segmented from other labour market participants. An implication of this finding is that there b very little which the longer term unemployed can do at the margin to influence their success other than adopt the most productive method of job search.     

Labour Market Policies and Long-term Unemployment in a Flow Model of the Australian Labour Market

This paper develops a general equilibrium job matching model, which is used to assess the impact of active labour market policies, reductions in unemployment benefits and reductions in worker bargaining power on long-term unemployment and other key macro variables. The model is calibrated using Australian data. Simulation experiments are conducted through impulse response analysis. The simulations suggest that active labour market programs (ALMPs) targeted at the long-term unemployed have a small net impact and produce adverse spillover effects on short-term unemployment. Reducing the level of unemployment benefits relative to wages and worker bargaining power have more substantial effects on total and long-term unemployment and none of the spillover effects of ALMPs.     

Compulsory Superannuation and Labour Market Responses

Compulsory contributions to superannuation have significant second round effects on labour market outcomes. The effects of employer, employee and government contributions are compared and contrasted for markets with different degrees of wage flexibility. With a flexible wage, the market wage adjusts to offset most of the initial effects of the superannuation levies. However, compulsion means that many employees perceive the present value of the future retirement income to be less than the levy. The levies as a form of tax on labour lead to lower overall remuneration for employees and lower employment     

Labour Market Flexibility and Immigrant Adjustment

A comparative analysis of adult male immigrant earnings and unemployment in the US and Australia using a measure of expected earnings shows that immigrants in the US perform relatively well, and the pattern of the differences between immigrant adjustment in the US and Australia appears to have links to differences in methods of pay determination. The results suggest an advantage to a more flexible labour market. A simulation exercise demonstrates the sensitivity of the findings to cohort effects.     

基于劳动力市场分割的劳动力流动模型的构建

国内外学者对于劳动力流动进行了大量深入的研究,成果颇丰.然而,由于历史的原因,我国在劳动力流动方面呈现出与其他国家不同的特性,目前,我国的劳动力市场尚未发展成熟,劳动力流动存在很严重的不合理现象.因此,结合我国的现实情况对其进行研究意义更加重大.本文试图结合以往学者的研究成果,构建基于劳动力市场分割的劳动力流动模型,对其进行深入的探讨,为实现劳动力的合理流动提供帮助.     

The Welfare State, Budgetary Pressure and Labour Market Shifts

Public debate about the welfare state in OECD countries has emphasized the need for reform to meet a twofold set of shocks: budgetary pressure and a labour market shift against unskilled workers. The aim of the paper is to set out a framework for examining the implications of these shocks for the optimal scale of social transfers and, in particular, the impact on different societies, distinguishing a restricted welfare state, labelled the United States and a more extensive welfare state, labelled Continental Europe.     

Market Demand Elasticity and Income Inequality

This paper deals with the analysis of the relation between aggregate demand for a consumption good and the distribution of income across consumers. We obtain sufficient conditions under which changes in income inequality lead to an increase or decrease in the market demand elasticities. The conditions are satisfied for individual demand functions commonly used in economic models, in particular, for the typical demand functions on luxury goods and necessities. An earlier version of this paper was titled “Market demand elasticity, equilibrium stability and income inequality”. The authors are grateful to an anonymous referee, Aydin Cecen and Herbert Scarf for helpful comments and suggestions. R. Ibragimov gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Yale Graduate Fellowship and the Cowles Foundation Prize.