Gender Inequalities in Labor Market Outcomes of Informal Caregivers near Retirement Age in Urban China

ABSTRACT

This study examines the impacts of unpaid family care on labor supply and earnings of women and men near retirement age in urban China. Using the 2011 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) and ordinary least squares (OLS) and instrumental variable approaches, it finds that grandchild care is negatively associated with both women's and men's labor force participation, while there are no effects for eldercare. For women caregivers, caring for grandchildren substantially lowers paid labor hours compared to noncaregivers. No significant relationships are found between eldercare and paid labor hours of women workers. For men workers, neither grandchild care nor eldercare is significantly associated with labor hours. The study also finds no statistically significant relationships between grandchild care and labor earnings for either women or men. Eldercare, however, is positively associated with the earnings of men workers.     

人力资本分层与劳动供给的跨期替代

通过人力资本分层的视角来研究劳动供给的跨期替代.我们发现低收入阶层劳动力由于受到信贷约束以及生活、教育、医疗等基本保障的约束,不能在实际中进行劳动供给的跨期替代,中高收入阶层具备了进行劳动供给跨期替代的条件,但由于传统文化习俗、工作合约和潜在失业威胁的存在,一般也不会轻易进行劳动供给的跨期替代.     

Breaking with Dogma: Unorthodox Consumption Patterns and Women's Labor Market Outcomes in Turkey

Using information about household consumption data from TURKSTAT's Household Surveys for 2007–13 as a sign of religious unorthodoxy, this study explores the effect of religion on women's labor force and educational participation in a Muslim-majority country, Turkey. A household is categorized as “unorthodox” if its members report that they consume goods that contradict conservative Sunni practices, such as alcohol. This information is then used in female labor force participation estimations. Results show that living in an unorthodox household has a positive and highly significant effect on the probability of married women's labor market participation. For single women, the estimations provide weaker evidence regarding the positive effect of unorthodoxy on the probability of participation in education and the labor force. The study concludes that protection of the rights to follow unorthodox practices in society may bear positive implications with regard to women's agency.     

教育与劳动力市场关系研究

教育是多层次递进式的,经过多次甄别筛选,将劳动力纳入高低不同的生产力群体;教育也是多方向发散式的,当具备了基本的学习能力之后,会接受不同类型的专业教育,掌握不同的生产技能。这样,教育甄别筛选出高生产力者,并使其具有不同的生产技能,确定了劳动者所从事的专业领域以及在求职序列中的排位,决定了个体在劳动力市场中的最初定位点,实现了对劳动力的初步配置。本文在研究教育与劳动力市场关系的基础上,建立了教育对劳动力的甄别配置模型,并对我国劳动力市场中教育甄别配置功能的效率问题进行了探讨。     

日本经济起飞时期农村劳动力供给机制研究

20世纪60年代,伴随着日本经济起飞,城市加工产业对劳动力的需求急剧扩大,在城乡巨大收入差距的诱惑下,日本农村的青壮年劳动力大量涌入城市,造成农村劳动力严重短缺,在农户家庭内部劳动力互补机制的作用下,缓解了劳动力不足,在一定程度上稳定了农业生产。从分析日本经济起飞时期农村劳动力的结构变动入手,通过实证分析把握劳动力供给结构变化的经济影响;进而分析未来日本劳动力供给结构变化的趋势,在此基础上结合中国的实际情况说明农村劳动力互补机制对于城市化进程中中国农村的借鉴意义。     

Women Workers in the Maquiladoras and the Debate on Global Labor Standards

Abstract

This paper represents a collective contribution to an ongoing debate on the benefits and disadvantages of export-based, industrial jobs for women as well as on the implications of global labor standards on these types of jobs. On the basis of extensive research on women in Mexico's and Central America's maquiladoras (assembly plants that produce export goods), this paper aims to problematize the viewpoints that present export-based, industrial jobs as dignified alternatives for women in the South and to question the skepticism about global labor standards as a possible alternative for improving work conditions in all sectors producing for export. In so doing, the paper stresses three interrelated issues: a) the relevance of local and regional contexts that inform diverse industrialization paths over time, b) the agency the women workers represent, and c) the legal instruments already existent in our common efforts to improve working conditions.     

Women in the Rural and Industrial Labor Force in Nineteenth-Century Spain

Abstract

This contribution analyzes determinants of women's labor force participation (LFP) in northwest coastal Spain (Galicia) in the second half of the nineteenth century. The study uses census takers' notebooks from 1857 and 1870 in three municipalities with different economic structures: Nigrán, an agricultural municipality in southern Galicia on the estuary of Vigo, where women predominantly worked in agriculture; Bueu, an industrial town where 80 percent of women were employed in fish processing and related activities; and Coruña, Galicia's biggest city in 1857, where commerce and services were the main economic activities. The sample represents 2 percent of the region's population. The study focuses both on demand – how the local economic structure influenced the entrance of women into the labor market; and supply – how age, civil status, and number of children influenced women's LFP. The industrialization of coastal Galicia impelled women's high participation rates.     

Structural Changes in the Labor Market and the Rise of Early Retirement in France and Germany

The rise of early retirement in Europe is typically attributed to the European system of taxes and transfers. A model with an imperfectly competitive labor market allows us to consider also the effects of bargaining power and of matching efficiency on pre‐retirement. We find that lower bargaining power of workers and declining matching efficiency have been important determinants of early retirement in France and Germany. These structural changes, combined with early retirement transfers and population aging, are also consistent with the employment and unemployment rates, labor share and seniority premia.     

Labor Market Regimes,Family Policies,and Women's Behavior in the EU

Using the EU-SILC database (2005–06) for twenty-four European countries, this article develops a comparative perspective on labor market situations of women and mothers with very young children in relation to labor market institutions and policies (especially childcare and leave schemes). Using multilevel multinomial logit models, our results show firstly the heterogeneity of national arrangements of women's labor market integration in Europe (including among new member states). Secondly, our results show the links between some national policy variables and women's behavior, despite the fact that individual factors explain labor market situations the most. Women's employment is positively related to formal childcare and to characteristics of national labor market regimes. The use of informal childcare is associated with lower women's employment rates, which might be explained by a substitution effect. The employment rate of mothers with very young children is positively related to public childcare and negatively to parental leave.     

Against the Wind: Labor Force Participation of Women and Economic Instability in Iran

In the last three decades, Iranian women's educational attainment has continuously increased while their fertility rate has fallen rapidly. Yet in spite of these developments, which in many countries have a positive effect on women's labor force participation, female labor force participation (FLFP) rates have remained at low levels. This paper argues that despite its overall static trend, FLFP of some Iranian women responded to economic pressures induced by macroeconomic instabilities. Looking at the Iranian economic crisis of 1994–5, the study shows that, controlling for individual fixed effects, married women in rural areas and never-married women in urban areas increased their participation rate by as much as 38 percent. No change in hours worked was found for any group of women. The differences in responses and their underlying reasons have policy implications for many developing countries.     

人口老龄化视角下家庭照料与城镇女性就业关系研究

随着我国人口老龄化,女性在家庭劳动与职业劳动之间的角色冲突日益凸显。文章利用1991-2009年"中国营养与健康调查"(CNHS)数据及面板数据分析和工具变量方法,实证检验了老人家庭照料责任对城镇女性职业劳动参与决策的影响,以期为女性就业、养老政策的制定提供科学依据。研究发现,照料老人显著降低了女性的劳动参与率,尤其是长时间、高强度的照料活动。与无照料责任的女性相比,与父母(公婆)同住、有照料责任的女性劳动参与率将下降0.215;高强度照料活动对女性劳动参与的影响更大,劳动参与率将下降0.695。     

论复杂劳动与简单劳动协同创造价值--关于马克思主义劳动价值论现代化的一般思考

本文认为,复杂劳动与简单劳动的协同劳动是当今时代的基本事实,这个基本事实可以归结为马克思主义劳动价值论的公理性假设,可以归结为复杂劳动与简单劳动协同创造价值.本文并以生产力二重性质理论作为重建的马克思主义劳动价值论的理论基础和现代演绎的叙述方法作为它的现代拓展的方法基础,提供较为充分而有力的证明.文章最后并倡导了一个解决劳动创造价值中时间异质因素难题的重要的理论分析工具:内生生产力.     

Determinants of Labor Market Participation and Wages of North Korean Female Refugees in South Korea

This paper uses data from a survey on 289 North Korean female refugees who arrived in South Korea in 2007 to understand the determinants of their economic adaption in the South Korean labor market. More specifically, we look at the effects of job finding channels and government policies on the labor market participation and wages of these women. We find that job finding through both personal contacts and public employment networks increases the probability of finding employment, but the former, especially job finding through contacts with South Koreans, is the most effective route to finding employment. In addition, jobs with higher wages are acquired in employment attained from South Korean referrals, followed by South Korean government agencies and those from North Korean refugee contacts. We further find that labor market participation is negatively affected by both public benefits and private transfers possibly because of increases in the reservation wages of job seekers.     

Labor-Leisure Choice and Relative Income Concerns in the Shadow of the Housing Market

We theoretically examine the connection among labor productivity, work time, and housing costs in an economy with households differing in wages and neighborhoods differing in quality. We argue that the location rent component of housing cost is key to explicating the connection. We trace how the housing market makes relative income instrumental for maximizing utility even if households’ utility functions are not interdependent. Over time, productivity growth yields higher wages but households compete some of that away on the housing market. This structural inflation of location rents counteracts preferences to work less as wages rise and hinders the expansion of leisure. Relative income effects are shown to arise as a consequence of a market institution that monetizes socially-imbued preferences.     

Availability of Long‐term Care Facilities and Middle‐aged People's Labor Supply in Japan

This paper estimates the effect of the availability of long‐term care facilities in the prefecture or medical district where middle‐aged men and women reside on their labor supply. Prefecture‐ and medical district‐ level panel datasets of the capacity of long‐term care facilities are merged with individual level employment data, and each individual's employment status is regressed on the capacities of long‐term care facilities. I find no evidence for a positive impact of the long‐term care availability on labor supply, although the estimates are unstable in sign and not estimated precisely enough to draw any strong conclusions.     

Differences in Work Hours and Hours Preferences by Race in the U.S.

Significant differences exist in actual and preferred work hours by race. Specifically, black males work 20 percent fewer annual hours than white males. The differences between black and white women are small. Black workers are significantly more likely than white workers to prefer additional work and fewer are satisfied with their current hours of work. I use the hours-inequality hypothesis of Bell and Freeman (1995,1997) to evaluate the extent to which race differences in work hours and hours preferences are related to race differences in incentives. I demonstrate that whereas white workers work longer hours in response to overall wage variation in their relevant labor market cell, black workers react to the wage variation among black workers but not to the variation overall. The fact that labor market incentives are different for otherwise similar black and white workers is difficult to reconcile with standard competitive theory.     

劳动力转移与工资差距同时扩大的“悖论”研究——基于市场分割的视角

从市场分割的角度出发,对劳动力流动与工资差距同时扩大的"悖论"和中国市场化过程中的"迁移谜题"进行了深入分析,认为劳动力市场的地区分割和城乡分割导致了劳动者之间必然存在工资收入差距,而且即使存在劳动力转移,也不能使工资差距收敛。这种制度性偏好导致的劳动力市场分割,对劳动者工资收入差距的扩大起了推波助澜的作用,因此构建全国统一、自由竞争的劳动力市场是非常必要的,并提出有关的政策建议。     

Unilateral Divorce for Women and Labor Supply in the Middle East and North Africa: The Effect of Khul Reform

ABSTRACT

This contribution investigates whether the introduction of Khul, Islamic unilateral divorce rights for women, helps to explain recent dramatic increases in women's labor supply in Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries over the 1980–2008 period. It shows, using data for eighteen countries, that Khul reform increased the labor force participation of women relative to men. Furthermore, we find evidence that the effect of Khul is larger for younger women (ages 24–34) compared to older women (ages 35–55). Younger women increased their labor force participation by 6 percent, which accounts for about 10 percent of the increase in their labor force participation from 1980 to 2008.