Do E‐verify mandates improve labor market outcomes of low‐skilled native and legal immigrant workers?

We examine the impact of the 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA) on employment outcomes of low‐skilled legal workers. We use the synthetic control method to select a group of states against which the labor market trends of Arizona can be compared. Our results suggest that contrary to its intent, LAWA does not appear to have improved labor market outcomes of legal low‐skilled workers who compete with unauthorized immigrants, the target of the legislation. In fact, we find some evidence of diminished employment and increased unemployment among legal low‐skilled workers in Arizona. These findings are concentrated on the largest demographic group of workers—non‐Hispanic white men. While they are less likely to find employment, those who do have on average higher earnings as a result of LAWA. The pattern of results points to both labor supply and labor demand contractions due to LAWA, with labor supply dominating in terms of magnitude.     

How Do Local Labor Markets and Human Capital Affect Employment Outcomes after Job Loss?

This article uses the Longitudinal Employer‐Household Dynamics to evaluate how local industry concentration affects earnings losses for displaced workers. “Concentrated industries” are those industries with a high employment share within a labor market. This article compares earnings changes between displaced workers and job stayers within concentrated industries to the same within less concentrated industries. A separate comparison is made based on the expected level of job availability within the labor market. The findings show that earnings changes for displaced workers relative to job stayers are 7–13% higher within concentrated industries when job loss occurs during periods of high job availability. Earnings changes are 4.5–6% lower, however, when the same comparison is made during periods of low job availability. When firms are hiring workers, they are more likely to hire those previously employed within the same industry, since these workers have accumulated more relevant human capital.     

ON THE MOTHER AND CHILD LABOR NEXUS UNDER CREDIT CONSTRAINTS: FINDINGS FROM RURAL INDIA

There is an emerging consensus that lack of credit is a major cause of child labor and inequality in the intrahousehold distribution of resources. At the same time, patterns in how children spend their time appear to be strongly influenced by maternal employment decisions. This paper includes an assessment of the effect of credit constraints on maternal employment and that of maternal employment on the intrahousehold allocation of labor, a nexus which has been left unexplored by existing studies. Three findings emerge: (1) a mother is more likely to work outside when a household lacks resources, and her domestic labor can be easily replaced by other members, (2) credit market accessibility is one of the major determinants of maternal labor, and (3) elder daughters assume a large part of the burden of maternal employment by providing domestic labor. Under binding credit constraints, results of this study support the collective as opposed to the unitary model of households.     

Tattoos,Employment, and Labor Market Earnings: Is There a Link in the Ink?

The popularity of tattooing has increased substantially in recent years, particularly among adolescents and young adults. Moreover, tattooed images are permanent unless the individual opts for expensive, time consuming, and painful removal procedures. Given the increasing popularity of tattooing, and the permanent nature of this action, it is of interest to know whether tattooed workers are more or less likely to be employed and, conditional on employment, if they receive wages that are different from the wages of their non‐tattooed peers. To investigate these questions, we analyze two large data sets—from the United States and Australia—with measures of tattoo status, employment, earnings, and other pertinent variables. Regardless of country, gender, specific measures, or estimation technique, the results consistently show that having a tattoo is negatively and significantly related to employment and earnings in bivariate analyses, but the estimates become smaller and nonsignificant after controlling for human capital, occupation, behavioral choices, lifestyle factors, and other individual characteristics related to labor market outcomes. Various robustness checks confirm the stability of the core findings. These results suggest that, once differences in personal characteristics are taken into account, tattooed and non‐tattooed workers are treated similarly in the labor market. We offer suggestions for improving future surveys to enable a better understanding of the relationships between tattooed workers and their labor market outcomes.     

The effect of import competition on labor income inequality through firm and worker heterogeneity in the Japanese manufacturing sector

This study estimates the effects of import competition from Asia on the labor income inequality of Japanese manufacturing workers, considering firm and worker heterogeneity. Parameters are obtained from regression results of annual salary by using constructed worker–establishment panel data. The estimated salary change is positively and negatively larger for higher- and lower-paid workers, respectively, implying that labor income inequality among industry–size–skill–gender groups has increased due to imports from Asia. However, the actual evolution of income inequality during 1998–2014 is not successfully explained by Asian imports: other shocks overshadow import competition to determine actual income inequality.     

Product market competition, unemployment and income disparities

Product Market Competition, Unemployment and Income Disparities. — We discuss how promoting competition in product markets affects unemployment and wage differentials. We examine a general equilibrium model with real wage rigidities in labor markets and market power in product markets. We illustrate how more intense competition reduces unemployment. A decrease of markups would induce an increase of real wages if real wages were flexible. This enables the employment of more low-skilled people above a real reservation wage. More intensive competition, however, widens wage and income differences between low-skilled and high-skilled workers. Differences of income distributions across countries could also be caused by differences in the intensity of product market competition.     

Wage Consequences of Rapid Tertiary Education Expansion in a Developing Economy: The Case of Thailand

In recent years, Thailand has experienced the emergence of “overeducated” workers as the supply of university graduates in Thailand has outpaced growth in high‐skilled employment opportunities. Using the 2007 to 2009 Thai Labor Force Survey, this paper quantifies the incidence of overeducation and estimates overeducation wage penalties among male university graduates. The results show that the incidence of overeducation is greatest among younger cohorts. Quantile wage regression results suggest that overeducation wage penalties for older workers capture the impact of unobserved low ability on wages. In contrast, persistent wage penalties of 11–26% across the wage/ability distributions for younger workers are consistent with structural imbalances in the Thai labor market. These imbalances make it difficult for university graduates to find jobs commensurate with their level of formal education and to achieve their full earning power. The wage penalties are especially large for new entrants into the labor market.     

THE DETERMINANTS OF EMPLOYMENT: A SECTORAL ANALYSIS FOR TURKEY

This paper analyzes the effects of wages, openness, and demand on employment in the private manufacturing industry in Turkey based on panel data for the period of 1973–2001. The wage elasticity of employment increases after trade liberalization. Nevertheless, output elasticity of labor demand is higher than wage elasticity in the total manufacturing sector for the whole estimation period, and in the high- and medium-skilled sectors in the post-1980 period. Trade effects, after controlling for output, seem to have a low economic significance. The positive effects of exports on the labor intensity of production are low or are offset by labor saving effects of foreign trade, particularly in the high- and medium-skilled sectors. On the other hand, there is some evidence of a negative import effect in the low-skilled sectors, whereas in the high- and medium-skilled group a complementary relation between domestic labor and imported inputs dominates the effects.     

Trends in worker displacement penalties in Japan: 1991–2005

We examine the period from 1991 to 2005 to document the effects of a changing Japanese labor market on the consequences of job change for workers, focusing on the change in the wages between initial and subsequent employment. During this period, job changes caused by separations from the initial job that were involuntary from the workers point of view increased and the wage losses from job change grew. As well, while age-earnings profiles for continuously employed career workers remained the same in 1993 and 2003, the age-earnings profiles of newly hired workers grew flatter during the period. Hence, an erosion in the earnings of newly hired workers relative to incumbent workers occurred and the effect was to increase the job change wage losses for older workers. Thus, while the losses from changing jobs grew in general, they also grew more age-related over the sample period.     

Local and Personal Networks in Employment and the Development of Labor Markets: Evidence from the Cut Flower Industry in Ethiopia

We examine the roles of local and personal networks in the employment process and the emergence and development of the labor market in Ethiopia’s growing cut flower industry. Using primary survey data of 320 workers randomly sampled from all 64 farms, we find that workers who were recruited informally using the social ties were paid less than the formally-recruited workers at hiring. However, these workers quickly increased their productivity, and the effect of social ties on wages disappeared over time. Further, we find that the development of labor market for this newly-emerged industry took place particularly within the industrial cluster.     

THE POLITICS OF REREGULATION: GLOBALIZATION,DEMOCRATIZATION, AND THE TAIWANESE LABOR MOVEMENT

Since the early 1990s, Taiwanese workers have faced two simultaneous trends: democratization and globalization. These two trends have different, if not exactly opposite, implications for the labor movement. Democratization has empowered the working class and made its members more effective in the political process. Globalization, however, has led to an increase in the flexibility of the labor market and made workers more vulnerable to changes in the economic environment. This paper begins with a discussion of the general characteristics of Taiwan's labor movement and the general impact of globalization on labor institutions. Then, by examining the transformation of Taiwan's labor institutions in recent years, and specifically the process of union reorganization and the revisions of the Labor Standards Law, the paper shows how, against the background of globalization, Taiwanese workers have used their newly acquired political power to maneuver between different political forces and set the development course for the labor movement.     

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.     

THE RISE OF LABOR MOVEMENTS AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE INDONESIAN SYSTEM OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS: A CASE STUDY

This study analyzes a case of labor conflict at a garment company in West Java with particular reference to the rules and strategics among the parties involved. Using game theory, the study analyzes the formation of the critical point of labor conflict and examines the negotiations that led to the formation of stable industrial relations. At that point, the Nash equilibrium was at the company strategy of collaboration and at the workers' strategy of hostility, the company having assumed that the workers would mount a strong resistance to the company's hostile strategy. Under circumstances of weak law enforcement, the effective strategy for the workers was not only to obtain knowledge concerning the law but also to gain the support of the community, as well as solidarity among union members, and to pursue creative strategies. This study also shows that an important rule for stabilizing industrial relations is continual communication among the company, labor unions, and the members of the workers' organizations.     

DEVELOPING EMPLOYMENT EFFECTS OF INNOVATIONS: MICROECONOMETRIC EVIDENCE FROM TAIWAN

This paper aims to identify the effects of innovation on employment and labor composition in Taiwan. Using a new and detailed firm‐level data set, the empirical results determine that innovations, measured by R&D investments or patent counts, have a positive impact on employment. Both of the estimated employment effects of product and process innovations are overall significantly positive. Although the effects of process innovations differ between high and low R&D‐intensive industries, the process innovation tends to expand the firms’ output and then increase employment for high R&D‐intensive industries. However, it frequently results in laborsavings in terms of production work and reduces jobs in low R&D‐intensive industries. Moreover, technological innovations are found to be non‐neutral, leading to a shift in labor composition in favor of skilled and more educated workers.     

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.     

我国的动态劳动需求及就业保护制度的影响:基于动态面板数据的研究

动态劳动需求描述了劳动力应对外部冲击的调整过程,是劳动力市场灵活性的重要体现,本文首次使用动态面板数据,对我国的动态劳动需求进行了研究,并检验了就业保护制度对动态劳动需求的影响。结果发现,我国国有及具有规模以上非国有工业企业的就业调整存在明显的刚性,遇到外部冲击时,企业需要2.56年时间完成劳动力调整的50%,对雇佣和解雇行为进行管制的就业保护制度显著减缓了劳动力调整速度。当经济环境变好时,就业保护制度减缓了企业劳动力投入的增长速度;当经济环境恶化时,就业保护制度减缓了企业裁减劳动力的速度。总体来说,就业保护有利于维护已经就业的劳动者的利益,但会使失业劳动者和新进入劳动力市场的劳动者寻找工作更加困难。     

UNION EFFECT ON THE USE OF NON‐REGULAR LABOR IN THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Our paper aims at analyzing the union effect on the externalization of employment relations, focusing on how labor unions affect management's strategic use of non‐regular labor within the Korean context of industrial relations. Our study presents several interesting implications. Firstly, the unions' motivator role for managerial use of non‐regular labor is more evident than its constrainer role. Secondly, union power exerts a “U‐type” impact on the use of indirect non‐regular labor, while affecting directly employed non‐regular labor in a positive linear way. Thirdly, labor unions in large establishments are more active and influential in representing their members' interests than their counterparts in small establishments with limited financial resources. In particular, the interactive function of the union's power and union leaders' attitudinal inclinations is found to be significant in the negative direction among large establishments.     

Racial inequality and white employment: An interpretation and test of the bargaining power hypothesis

This article disputes the argument and the evidence used to conclude that white workers are hurt by discrimination against blacks. Racism may increase the bargaining power of white workers if it unifies white ethnics, and may benefit them if it reduces job competition. The distributional consequences of discrimination will vary with the intensity of aggregate unemployment and the degree of racial segmentation in the labor market. The impact of racial inequality on the probability of employment is evaluated with a cross-sectional model using census summary data on SMSAs. Results show that racial inequality improves white male and female employment prospects in 1980, and suggest the same for 1970.     

Does family planning help the employment of women? The case of India

This paper gives some insight into the existence of a positive effect of family planning programmes on women's employment in developing countries. We study married women aged 15–49 living throughout India using a sample drawn from the National Health Family Survey (NFHS-2) for 1998–1999. We focus on a programme of doorstep services delivered by health or family planning (FP) workers who are sent to visit women in their assigned areas. Results derived from the estimation of fixed effect linear probability and conditional logit models show a positive and significant correlation of the share of women living in a local area (village, town or city) that has been visited by FP workers with the probability of women's employment. A multinomial analysis also shows that the largest positive effect of FP in rural India is to be found on paid work, as opposed to unpaid work, suggesting a potential empowering feedback of demographic measures through labour earnings.     

农民工劳动力供给行为异动与或然走向

从"民工潮"到"民工荒"再到新一轮的"民工荒",农民工劳动力供给行为呈现动态变化过程。劳动力转移和就业的不同时期,包括劳动力供给主体、劳动力供给的区域结构、劳动力供给的代际差异等诸多方面都呈现出不同的特征。农民工劳动力供给行为的动态变化有利于实现产业结构和就业结构的均衡配置;有利于进一步推动生产方式的变革;有利于加快产业转移和产业升级;有利于建立针对不同代农民工群体的回流和畅流机制,全面解决农民工就业问题,拓宽农民工的就业出路。