Employment Outcomes of Graduates: The Case of Universiti Utara,Malaysia*

Data on the labor market outcomes of graduates of the Universiti Utara Malaysia were analyzed using an ordered logit model. The type of degree, ethnicity, and number of job applications submitted are found to be significant determinants of labor market outcomes. Accounting graduates were found to obtain the best labor market outcomes. Malay graduates had significantly less favorable labor market outcomes. The findings for unemployed graduates support two current programs in Malaysia: re‐training for the long‐term unemployed and job matching assistance. The findings also suggest that universities should monitor the skill‐demands of job vacancies and give specific consideration to Malay graduates.     

Why is the gender earnings gap greater in Korea than in the United States?

It has long been recognized that the gender earnings gap varies across countries. This paper examines the relatively higher gender earnings gap found in the Korean labor market compared to the US labor market. Using the data set representative of the population for both countries, I found that the significant part of the differences in the gender earnings gap simply arise from the differences in the observed characteristics of women among two countries. In particular, relatively lower labor market experience, current job tenure, and educational attainment by Korean female workers play dominant roles in explaining the observed higher earnings gap. In addition, wage structure and labor market discrimination seem to be against Korean female workers compared to US female workers. J. Japanese Int. Economies 21 (4) (2007) 455–469.     

The Supply Side of the Race Between Demand and Supply: Policies to Foster Skill in the Modern Economy

In his celebrated book on income inequality, Jan Tinbergen (1975) wrote about the race between demand and supply in determining the evolution of wages and inequality. The demand side of the recent labor market is well understood. Skill-biased technical change favors skilled workers in many different economic environments. The supply side is less well understood. In the Netherlands, until recently, the supply side was winning and the returns to education were declining or stagnant. The exact reasons for this phenomenon are not well understood. Recently, however, there is evidence that suggests that the returns to schooling are increasing and that demand is outstripping supply, as it has done in most developed countries around the world. This has produced rising wage inequality. Unless more active supply side measures are undertaken, this trend is likely to continue. This problem, joined with the persistent problem of immigrant assimilation and the growing role of immigrants in the Dutch economy, renews interest in the supply side of the labor market. This lecture examines the determinants of the supply of skills in the short run and the long run. It examines the roles of short- term credit constraints and long-term family factors in fostering or retarding skill accumulation. It summarizes the evidence on a number of policy proposals to foster skills including early childhood programs, programs to alleviate short-term financial pressure, job training and second chance programs, and tax policies. This lecture stresses the cumulative dynamic nature of skill production and the importance of recognizing that skill begets skill in designing suitable policies to reduce inequality and foster economic growth. While the evidence is based on American data, the lessons are relevant for economies around the world. Specific lessons for the Netherlands are emphasized.     

农村劳动力外出就业能力培训体系建设研究

农村劳动力外出就业能力培训是我国农村人力资源开发的重要内容。在当前农村劳动力外出就业能力普遍较低的情况下,通过就业能力培训促进其就业能力的提高具有重要的意义。本文从目前农村劳动力外出就业能力的现状出发,提出了以适应市场经济的职业技能培训、发展农村职业教育和创新就业培训机制为主要内容的农村劳动力外出就业能力培训体系的建设。     

R&D,unemployment, and labor market policies

This paper studies the effects of labor market policies on R&D activities and unemployment. I develop a search and matching model in which firms’ R&D decisions are endogenously determined. The model demonstrates that more intensive labor market policies that protect workers reduce the levels of R&D activities. This study offers a theoretical framework to understand the relationship between R&D activities, labor market policies, and unemployment which is discussed in empirical studies.     

Occupation-specific human capital and local labour markets

Most skills acquired through on-the-job training may be specificto an occupation and therefore transferable to some but notall firms. This paper explores the relationship between thesize of the local market for an occupation-specific skill andjob-training outcomes. The Stevens (1994) model of trainingpredicts that as market size increases, job turnover increasesand training becomes more general. I test these predictionsusing data on blue-collar workers and variation in market sizeacross US metropolitan areas. The empirical results supportthe theoretical predictions and the impacts are most relevantat low levels of market size.     

Golden Rules of Wages

We consider a neoclassical growth model where labor collectively chooses labor share to maximize its steady‐state wage rate. In the basic two‐factor model, labor maximizes the steady‐state wage rate by setting labor share equal to the elasticity of output with respect to labor. This is precisely the competitive outcome. Only when we consider the model with organized and unorganized labor types can organized labor raise its steady‐state wage by choosing a higher than competitive labor share. Organized labor can benefit by choosing a higher labor share only at the expense of unorganized workers; not capital. We also analyze a version of the model that incorporates a tradeoff between collective bargaining opportunities and skill acquisition. All else equal, a higher skill premium leads organized labor to choose a higher labor share. Organized labor benefits again at the expense of skilled workers; not capital.     

中国当前劳动力技能短缺与企业应对

随着人口红利减弱,中国技能短缺问题愈发突出,如何有效应对技能短缺成为当前经济社会发展面临的紧迫问题。文章就雇主应对技能短缺的方式提出四个假设,并基于中国人民大学劳动人事学院"中国雇主—雇员匹配数据追踪调查",采用Tobit模型考察了雇佣条件在改善技能短缺上发挥的作用。结果表明：工资对技能短缺的影响并不显著,没有证据显示上调工资能改善企业的技能短缺问题,而签订长期劳动合同有利于缓解高技能劳动力短缺,强化在职培训和劳动保护有助于改善低技能劳动力短缺。本研究为破解技能短缺难题提供参考,企业应对技能短缺应因事为制,避免提高工资的惯性思维,注重高技能劳动者在职业发展上的需求,关注低技能劳动力在劳动保护上的诉求,并保证持续有效的在职培训。     

Earnings and education in China's transition to a market economy Survey evidence from 1989 and 1992

Analyses of returns to educational investments in China, based on 1981, 1985, and 1986 data, have yielded surprisingly low and sometimes negative rates. Given the extent of wage compression in prereform China, it is expected that human capital accumulation be increasingly recognized and rewarded as the Chinese economic reforms progress and market forces permeate the work place. Econometric analysis of newly available data, gathered in 1989 and 1992, reveals that returns to education for new labor force entrants, for workers who have recently obtained their current positions, for young people, for workers in recently established firms, and for collective, joint-venture, and private-sector workers are in the range expected of East Asian market economies with well-functioning labor markets.     

Offshoring,wages, and heterogeneity

Considering heterogeneous responses by skill group to material and service offshoring, we examine the relationship between offshoring and the individual wages of workers in the U.S. labor market. We find that offshoring has been beneficial for high-skill workers but detrimental for middle- and low-skill workers. In particular, service offshoring, which has been widespread since 2000, has severely affected the labor market, compared to material offshoring.     

INFORMALIZATION OF INDUSTRIAL LABOR IN INDIA: EFFECTS OF LABOR MARKET RIGIDITIES AND IMPORT COMPETITION

Since the 1980s, industrial labor in India has been increasingly informalized, manifested in a rising share of unorganized sector employment and the growing use of temporary and contract workers, and subcontracting in organized manufacturing. Using unit‐level data from the National Sample Survey employment–unemployment survey for 2004–5, the paper investigates econometrically whether labor market rigidities and import competition have been responsible for the informalization of industrial labor in India. The results of econometric models show that labor market reforms tend to increase the creation of regular jobs, while import competition tends to raise casual employment among workers with education levels above primary.     

The interrelation of job vacancies and workforce in Russia: Gender-specific features

The article is devoted to the joint dynamics of male and female labor and vacancies in Russia. A model of population and labor mobility is proposed, which takes account of gender differences in labor. The dynamics of the model coefficients is analyzed and the efficiency of adjustment current labor demand and supply is retrospectively estimated by decomposing the impact of individual factors on general change in the indicators under analysis. The model coefficients are evaluated for the future, and the dynamics of change in major parameters of the labor market, including gender characteristics, is forecasted.     

Multinationals, skills, and wage elasticities

The increase in foreign direct investments raises concerns about labor market consequences in many countries. It is feared that multinational firms are inclined to shift jobs abroad and increase job volatility. We use firm-level data to examine if multinationality and foreign ownership affect the wage elasticity of labor demand. Unlike previous studies, we distinguish the effect on different skill groups of employees. We find no general difference in wage elasticity between foreign and domestic firms but the wage elasticity is higher in multinational firms than in national firms, in particular for medium-skilled workers.     

劳资合股抑或让劳动值钱

中国总体小康的关键在于提升众多低端劳动者的收入水平和生活水平 ,要做到这点 ,笔者以为应先让劳动值钱 ,相应的对策和办法主要有 :一是通过系统的知识技能培训和人文的社区认同教化全面提升低端劳动者素质 ;二是建立强有力的多层次的工会系统 ;三是转变企业的经营思路和赢利     

Who is Better Off from Trade Liberalization? An Experience from Urban China*

Empirical studies have found that the skill wage gap (difference between wages earned by skilled and unskilled workers) narrowed in the case of the ‘Four Asian Dragons’ as they underwent trade liberalization during the 1960s and 1970s, whereas the gap widened in most of the Latin American countries after they liberalized their economies in the 1980s. China's integration into the world economy since 1978 has been used to explain this phenomenon, but few formal studies have been carried out in China regarding the effects of trade liberalization on the skill wage gap because of the limited availability of data. The present study uses unique household surveys conducted in ten provinces of China in 1988 and 1995 to study this issue. Results show that trade liberalization that occurred in China between 1988 and 1995 was responsible for an average increase of 28.73 yuan (approximately 20 percent of the total increase) in average monthly wages. However, trade liberalization significantly widened the urban skill wage gap in China by introducing an increase in income only for those who had 13 years or more of education (at least junior high school graduates). Interestingly, import liberalization also only benefited those who had more than 9 years of schooling; whereas export liberalization brought wage increases for people with 7–12 years of education. Finally, those with specific production skills from technical schools, rather than those with several years of general education, were mostly favored in the labor market in China between 1988 and 1995.     

A Picture of Wage Inequality and the Allocation of Labor Through a Period of Trade Liberalization: The Case of Brazil

This paper constructs a picture of the labor market impact of trade liberalization in Brazil. We examine the level and dispersion of wages, the skilled wage premium, and employment composition before and after trade liberalization. After trade reform, there was a rise in the returns to college education which, since the share of college workers also rose, is attributable to rising demand. This change did not increase overall wage dispersion because of the small share of college-educated workers and because of decreasing returns to intermediate levels of education.     

新生代农民工教育问题

新生代农民工的教育培训问题关系到我国未来产业劳动力素质和技术水平。新生代农民工相比上一代农民工文化素质总体上有所提高,但是相比城镇新增劳动力人均受教育年限依然较低。政府应建立新生代农民工的补偿教育体系,通过流入地政府提供补偿教育培训、建立技术工种认证体系,把新生代农民工阶层转化为技术工人阶层、发放教育培训券,扶助成人教育、关注新生代农民工子女教育,防止农民工身份代际相传这些系统化的努力来解决新生代农民工教育问题。     

Trade liberalization and the wage gap: the role of vertical linkages and fixed costs

This paper studies the labor market impacts of trade liberalization, and specifically tariff reductions, with a focus on the wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers in presence of vertical linkages in the fixed costs of production. To that purpose, we develop and empirically test a monopolistic competition model with variable elasticity of substitution and labor differentiated by skill level, where skilled workers are the residual claimants of savings on imported inputs. Consistently with the model predictions, we find that a 10% reduction in tariffs implies on average a 3.8% increase in the wage gap. In addition, the same level of tariff reduction is expected to lower unskilled employment in domestic production by 3.3%, which is partially offset by an expansion of unskilled employment in the export segment of production. These results are obtained matching detailed international trade data with World Input–Output Tables and EU KLEMS data on country-sector wage by skill level on 17 OECD countries from 1996 to 2005.     

Can older workers stay productive? The role of ICT skills and training

This paper quantitatively examines the effects of aging on labor productivity using individual worker data in Korea. We find that information and communications technology (ICT) skills and participation in job-related training can help older workers stay productive. The estimation results present that ICT skills, a measure incorporating an individual’s proficiency in ICT skills and their utilization in the workplace, has a positive effect on the wages of the older workers aged 50–64 with a high level of education or in a skill-intensive occupation. Job training also has a significant positive effect on the wages of older workers. These results imply that compared to younger workers, well-educated older workers can obtain greater productivity increase through ICT skill attainment and their adequate use, and job-training. The evidence suggests that a productivity decrease in line with the aging process can be mitigated by training aging workers to equip themselves with ICT skills.     

FDI,labor market flexibility and employment in China

This paper discusses the influence and underlying mechanisms of foreign direct investment (FDI) and the labor market on Chinese employment. We analyze data from 30 Chinese provinces and municipalities over the period 2000–2015, in the first instance to examine employment effects of both FDI and labor market flexibility through the moderating effect; here we verify the moderating effect with respect to labor market flexibility. Second, using subsamples, we explore the effects of regional and skill differences on the employment. Finally, to test the three mechanisms, we employ a mixed model of moderating and mediating effects. Contrary to previous studies, we observe a positive employment effect of FDI, with labor market flexibility playing a significant positive moderating role, a 1% increase in FDI is associated with an expected employment increase of 0.216. Additionally, wages, human capital, and R&D investment play positive mediating roles when labor market flexibility moderates the employment effect of FDI.