Job Mismatch and On‐the‐job Search Behavior Among University Graduates in Malaysia

This paper examines the incidence and the effects of job mismatch on workers' job search behavior while working in Malaysia. Using the 2007 Graduate Tracer Study (GTS‐07) dataset, approximately 32 percent of workers were deemed mismatched and 52 percent were actively looking for another job. Using a logit model, the risk of being engaged in on‐the‐job search activity was higher among the mismatched workers and the magnitude of the effects was greater for the severely mismatched than for the moderately mismatched workers. This suggests that the mismatched workers are heterogeneous. This might be due to different traits of workers or there may be unobserved heterogeneity that varies from one mismatched to another mismatched worker.     

Job displacement and reemployment in North Carolina: The relative experience of the black worker

This article examines the unemployment experiences of workers in North Carolina involved in mass layoffs and plant closings, focusing on the differential impacts between black and white workers. The results of this research not only support earlier findings but also suggest that blacks are laid off in numbers disproportionate to their membership in the labor force. Several different explanations for this result are examined and attempts made to control for several of these factors, such as industry and occupational differences. However, even after controlling for such factors, evidence of differential treatment continues to persist. The authors wish to thank William Darity, Jr., for his helpful comments throughout the project and also to acknowledge the helpful suggestions of several anonymous referees.     

Delayed firm‐paid general training

This article adds the empirically verified, but analytically neglected, fact of delayed worker training to a model of general training. By delaying training, firms can gain partial information on worker‐firm matches, generating wage compression. Analytical results differ from those of other training models. In the noncooperative regime, all firm‐paid training is delayed, all worker‐paid training is immediate. With no externalities to other firms, the cooperative result is Pareto‐optimal. In a continuous‐time extension, firms choose a probationary period after which workers are trained. With longer probations, fewer bad‐match workers are trained and wage compression rises. Government training mandates are also studied.     

Union status and merger activity in the U.S.

Theories on merger activity and union membership suggest that conglomerate mergers should enhance the probability of managers employing nonunion workers, while nonconglomerate mergers should be associated with a greater probability of union membership. To test this hypothesis, a standard sample-selection derived union status equation is estimated which includes measures of three types of merger activity as explanatory variables. The findings suggest that being in an industry with substantial conglomerate mergers reduces the chance that a worker is a union member. All other types of mergers are positively associated with the probability of union membership. This pattern holds even after controlling for the possibility of merger endogeneity.     

Do ‘Boss Effects’ Exist in Japanese Companies? Evidence from Subordinate–Supervisor Matched Panel Data*

This article investigates whether supervisors can significantly enhance their subordinates' performance using a five‐waves panel dataset from a medium‐sized Japanese firm comprising around 400 employees. The dataset includes all regular non‐managerial employees working in one manufacturing company. About 40 supervisors were matched to their subordinates, and the evaluation outcomes were used to evaluate the worker performance. The results showed that supervisor effects were heterogeneous, displayed a one‐year lag, and lasted for two years. We proved the existence of the supervisor effect on current performance, by using current supervisor dummies or past supervisor dummies. Irrespective of the supervisor being switched, the effect of the past supervisor on workers’ current performance continues to exist. It was also found that these effects remained significant, even when workers were assigned new/different supervisors.     

农民工社会保障制度探析

农民工为我国经济、社会发展做出了巨大贡献,但他们的正当权益却屡遭忽视,社会保险也不容乐观。本文从农民工社会保障的现状出发,探讨了农民工社会保障制度的构想,如:要设计合理的农民工社会保障体系,尽快建立和完善农村社会保险制度,制定有关农民工方面的法律法规等。     

Foreign-owned plants and job security

We investigate the hypothesis that workers in foreign-owned plants face greater job insecurity than those in domestic-owned plants. Using linked employer-employee data from Germany, we examine whether foreign-owned plants are more likely to close down, and whether workers in foreign-owned plants face higher separation rates. Our results show that, in Germany, foreign-owned plants per se are not associated with greater job insecurity, either through plant exit or worker separation. However, small, non-exporting and privately owned foreign-owned plants do face a higher risk of closure than equivalent domestic plants.     

Full-Time and Part-Time Work and the Gender Wage Gap

Using hourly and weekly wages from the Canadian Labour Force Survey from 2000 until 2018, workers were separated into full-time and part-time and the following striking observation was documented. The overall gender wage gap is larger than either the full-time pay gap or the part-time pay gap, even after controlling for detailed personal and job characteristics. This result is a consequence of two findings: (i) part-time wages are lower than full-time wages, and (ii) the majority of part-time workers are women. In aggregation, this brings down the average female wage, leading to a larger aggregate gender wage gap. This was further linked to a differential selection by gender into full-time and part-time work, with women of higher earnings potential being overrepresented in the pool of part-time workers, resulting in no gender pay gap in the part-time worker category. Policies targeted at encouraging full-time employment for women should therefore reduce the gender wage gap.

     

Growth or stagnation? Farming in England, 1200–1800

Estimates of English income in Broadberry et al.’s British economic growth, 1270–1870 are founded upon a fourfold growth of farm output, and output per farm worker, over this interval. This article shows, using four separate tests, that farm output growth must have been much more limited. The tests are, first, whether in 1300 there was enough work at harvest to employ all the labour force; second, whether the value of output per worker in agriculture was greater than the annual earnings of workers; third, whether the implied relative outputs per acre of arable versus pasture were reasonable; and fourth, whether a much shorter medieval work year was possible. An alternative index of farm output consistent with the labour supply, wages, and farm rents is derived. This shows much less growth during the period 1270–1800. Overall economic growth in England during these years must consequently have been far less than Broadberry et al. estimate.     

Health Status and Earnings of Migrant Workers from Rural China

The migration of rural laborers into cities for employment has been one of the main driving forces of China's economic growth over the past three decades. Based on a dataset collected by the Ministry of Agriculture of China from 2003 to 2007, this paper examines the impact of health on the earnings of migrant workers engaging in physically‐intensive work requiring good health. Our findings indicate that a poor health status not only weakens the incentive of rural laborers to participate in the migrant labor force but also significantly reduces their earnings. A migrant worker in poor health only earns 67 percent of what a healthy worker makes. Among all the human capital characteristics and family economic factors, health status is the most influential on earnings for less educated workers. Labor productivity has a greater impact on earnings than the annual number of days that a person works. Ongoing health‐care reforms aimed at the improvement of the health‐care services available to rural laborers are urged to help reduce poverty in rural China.     

Is Bigger Still Better? The Decline of the Wage Premium at Large Firms

This study shows that the wage premium paid by large firms fell over the past 20 years and that this decline in the size premium is most pronounced among the least educated workers. Empirical evidence supports several explanations for the shrinking size premium. First, there has been a convergence in the returns to worker characteristics at large and small firms over time. Second, small and large firms are hiring more workers with similar characteristics. Particularly important are the declining share of workers at large manufacturing firms and the rising share of workers at large retail firms. Also, the greater decline of unionism at large firms has contributed significantly to the decline in the size premium.     

珠三角"民工荒"的原因与启示

自2004年起,珠三角地区许多企业遇到了招工难问题,由过去的"民工潮"转变为"民工荒". "民工荒"现象的产生最直接的原因就是农民工工资低,生活就业环境差,但深层的原因是我国农民工文化和技能水平低,人力资本不足与珠三角地区产业结构升级矛盾所引起的.因此,化解珠三角"民工荒"的出路在于:一是加强对农民工的人力资本投资,提高民工就业能力;二是加快产业结构升级和转移,实现区域经济协调发展.     

Nonlinear taxes for spatially mobile workers

This article examines optimal nonlinear taxes with worker mobility. We devise a model in which two qualitatively different types of workers choose to live in either of two jurisdictions. Residence decisions and labor–leisure choices are influenced by the tax schedules operating in the two regions. Within worker category, individuals may differ in attachment to one or the other of the regions. We show how worker mobility affects the optimal tax schedule, and address the spatial distribution of the population under optimal taxation. We examine a special case in which it is possible to make statements about the second-best distribution of population.     

Sabotage versus Discouragement: Which Dominates Post Promotion Tournament Behavior?

We explore the behavior of losers of promotion tournaments after the tournament is concluded. We do so with an experiment in which we vary the design of the promotion tournament to determine how tournament design affects post tournament effort. Our design allows us to discriminate between two possible reasons tournaments might lead to decreased work effort among the tournament losers: strategic sabotage and a worker becoming discouraged by the tournament outcome. We examine behavior after the tournament and find evidence suggesting that bad tournament design can lead to workers being discouraged. This discouragement effect is strong for low ability workers but not for high ability workers. Conversely, we do find evidence that some high ability workers engage in strategic sabotage but the incidence does not vary with the design of the promotion tournament and the incidence of it is low.     

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。     

浙江中小企业的现状、问题及发展对策

沐浴着新世纪的阳光 ,新一代的思想政治工作者接受着瞬息万变的政治、经济、科技、道德、文化辐射 ,该怎样面对新实际、新情况 ,探索工作新思路、新途径成为现实课题。本文试图提出学习型思想政治工作者概念 ,以研究新时期思想政治工作者如何跨越“老政工”干部形象光环 ,塑造     

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.     

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.     

Trade liberalization and wage inequality: Evidence from Korea

This paper investigates the heterogeneous income distribution effects of trade liberalization using Korean survey data from years of 2000–2015. Following the Stolper-Samuelson theorem most of previous research studying the effects of trade liberalization on wage differences focus on workers’ characteristics (e.g., skilled or unskilled) while heterogeneity within the same worker group has not been yet substantially investigated. To fill this gap, this paper provides empirical evidence of wage inequality across firms within the same group of workers caused by trade liberalization, potentially implied in the new-new trade models with firm heterogeneity. Employing a difference-in-differences (DID) specification, we find that the wages of unskilled workers in Korea have increased since its FTAs with more advanced countries, such as members of EU and the US, came into effect, while the effects on the wages of skilled workers are negative but not statistically significant. We also show that wage effects are heterogeneous across firms within unskilled and skilled worker groups, while the positive effects are statistically significant and largest for unskilled workers in medium-large sized firms. These findings are in line with both traditional and new-new trade models.     

The impact of foreign direct investment in China on employment adjustments in Taiwan: Evidence from matched employer–employee data

Using a unique matched employer–employee dataset on Taiwanese manufacturing, we examine the impact of foreign direct investment in China on domestic employment adjustments controlling for firm and worker heterogeneity as well as for potential endogeneity of firms’ expansion in China. Our findings suggest that workers employed at firms with higher levels of investment in China are more likely to leave the firm, compared with workers at firms with zero or lower levels of investment in China. We provide evidence that foreign expansion in China decreases worker employment security at parent companies, particularly for low-skilled workers. Employment adjustments through employer-to-employer transitions are found to be highly associated with wage losses, with the strongest wage effects for low-skilled workers who shift employment between industries. Moreover, we find no evidence that FDI in China contributes to skill upgrading at parent companies.