Trade Competitiveness and Employment: Job Creation or Job Destruction

This paper empirically examines the impact of fluctuations in international trade competitiveness on employment in the UK manufacturing sector over the period 1999–2010. We find statistically significant but economically small effects of a shock to international trade competitiveness on the level of employment. Our results show that the adjustment process in employment mainly works through job creation. We also find that compared to large firms, small firms contribute more toward job creation than job destruction. Our results that changes in GDP growth rate and average wages are significantly related to employment suggest that the UK labour market significantly responds to market forces. Finally, we find that the effect of changes in the real exchange rate on both job creation and job destruction differs between exporting and non-exporting firms.     

U.S. Labor Market Dynamics Revisited

The picture of U.S. labor market dynamics is opaque. This paper aims at its clarification by (i) listing data facts that can be agreed upon; these indicate that there is considerable cyclicality and volatility of both accessions to and separations from employment and hence both are important for the understanding of the business cycle; (ii) presenting the business‐cycle facts of key series; (iii) pointing to specific gaps in the data picture, showing that the definite characterization of labor market dynamics depends upon the closing of these data gaps.     

Technological Progress, Job Creation, and Job Destruction

New technology embodied in capital equipment can be adopted either through destruction of existing jobs and the creation of new ones or by renovation, updating the job's equipment. Under the assumption that the destruction of jobs generates worker layoffs, we show that higher productivity growth induces lower unemployment when renovation costs are low, but that the response of employment to growth switches from positive to negative as the cost of updating existing technology rises above a unique critical level. The effects of idiosyncratic productivity differences and cross sector mobility on the aggregate relationship between growth and unemployment are also studied.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Numbers: D92, E24, J41, J63, J64.     

我国劳动收入比重偏低的成因分析——基于劳动力市场的视角

近年来我国劳动收入在初次分配中的比重呈下降趋势。劳动收入比重偏低会对收入分配公平、消费投资平衡和经济增长质量产生负面影响。文章基于劳动力市场的视角对我国劳动收入比重偏低的成因进行了理论研究,并采用我国2000-2011年省级面板数据,构建了一个劳动收入比重决定模型,实证检验了经济发展过程中,二元经济转型和劳动力市场分割对我国劳动收入比重变化的影响。研究结果表明,我国劳动收入比重偏低是二元经济转型的特定发展阶段和劳动力市场分割的制约力量协同作用的结果。在二元经济转型过程中,劳动收入比重的变化趋势呈U型规律。我国劳动收入比重偏低的原因在于,劳动力市场城乡分割和劳动力市场行政垄断行业分割延缓了二元经济转型进程,增加了劳动收入比重在下降阶段的停留时间。因此,稳定我国劳动收入比重的关键是削弱劳动力市场分割,加快二元经济转型。     

JOB REALLOCATION, EMPLOYMENT CHANGE AND AVERAGE JOB TENURE: THEORY AND WORKPLACE EVIDENCE FROM AUSTRALIA

We explore determinants of job reallocation, employment change and average job tenure in this paper. A model which associates technological advances with the process of economic growth is modified and analysed. The features of this model allow for the possibility of asymmetric behaviour when looking at the net change in employment. Workplace data from Australia (AWIRS95) are used to test the predictions generated from the model for both employment change and average job tenure. Results are presented that provide clear evidence as to the nature of workplaces in which net employment growth is concentrated. We find that employment growth is asymmetrically related to expected changes in demand for the output of the workplace. We also find that employment is lower for workplaces that are larger, older, have greater union density, offer higher relative earnings, or are operating in a more competitive environment. The impacts on average tenure are as expected from the model and from these changes in employment. Overall there is a substantial degree of agreement between the predictions of the model and our empirical results.     

Job Creation, Job Destruction, and the International Division of Labor

The authors incorporate equilibrium unemployment due to imperfect matching into a model of trade in intermediate inputs. Firms are assumed to be price‐takers and their size is given by technology. Firms enter the market as long as expected profits cover the search cost they incur initially; jobs are endogenously destroyed by random shocks that affect firms’ price–cost margins. Trade increases productivity in the final good and then demand for each intermediate input. Steady‐state unemployment is reduced after trade integration because the rate of job destruction is reduced, which in turn induces an indirect positive effect on job creation. A more volatile environment faced by firms does not necessarily increase unemployment. However, the rate of job destruction unambiguously rises, and rises more under free trade.     

Internet Job Search and Labor Market Outcome

This study examines the effect of the use of internet job search (IJS) on individual wages. The data utilized in the study are obtained from the Internet and Computer Use Dictionary in the Current Population Survey of September 2001 and October 2003. An Oaxaca Decomposition is used to examine the extent to which wage differences are influenced by IJS. The results show that accessibility to the internet is a crucial factor in the decision of an individual to utilize the internet for job search activities. However, no clear evidence exists that IJS increases individual wages. Additionally, the study also demonstrates that IJS is subject to self-selection bias. Thus, failure to control for self-selection bias results in a very serious bias in estimation.     

就业再选择与劳动力市场效率

本文认为就业再选择是劳动力市场的基本特征。通过就业再选择使企业内部劳动力市场与外部劳动力市场连接在一起而成为一个整体。劳动者进行就业再选择的频度和难易程度,决定企业内外劳动力市场一体化的程度和劳动力市场的效率水平。因此,企业的人力资源管理,则必须摆脱“员工属于组织”的传统观念,以员工的就业再选择为出发点,并且,促进劳动者进行就业再选择才是建立健全劳动力市场机制的根本途径。     

就业体制改革不应忽视内部劳动力市场

本文吸收了西方劳动经济学和企业理论的新成果，论述了内部劳动力市场的基本原理，重新审视了我国以往的就业体制改革思路及其成本与收益．提出发展内部劳动力市场是当前深化我国就业体制改革亟待解决的一个重要问题，并阐述了若干具体的操作思路。     

Information Cascades in the Labor Market

A model of herding behavior in the labor market is presented where employers receive signals with limited precision about the workers types, and can observe previous employers decisions. Both the employer and the worker can influence the signal probabilities. In particular, the employer tries to increase the precision of the signal about the workers type whereas the worker wants to get a good signal, independent of her type. In a two-period model, we derive conditions for an equilibrium in which only down-cascades occur, i.e., the second employer does not hire a worker with a bad history even if he receives a favorable private signal about the workers type, but he follows his own signal if the workers history is good.     

Heterogeneity, Job Creation and Unemployment Volatility

In this paper, I explore the impact of match‐specific heterogeneity at the job creation margin on business cycle fluctuations. I show that this form of heterogeneity alone does not help to amplify labor market volatility, either under full or under asymmetric information. First, I show analytically that, under full information, heterogeneity has no first‐order effect on the response of unemployment and job creation to productivity, and actually tends to dampen the response of market tightness. Then, in a series of calibrations, I show that with both full and asymmetric information, the model delivers labor market volatilities close to the representative‐agent, full‐information benchmark.     

中国劳动力市场就业信息机制的完善

劳动力市场是要素市场的重要组成部分,其发展程度直接影响着经济的发展和社会的稳定。由于信息不对称,导致劳动力市场运行效率低下,社会运行成本加大,为此,需要从政府、劳动力市场、企业、求职者四个方面优化劳动力市场就业信息传播机制。     

户籍特征对城市劳动力市场状态的影响——以北京市为例

中国城市劳动力市场存在四种不同户籍特征的劳动力群体——本地非农业户籍、本地农业户籍、外地非农业户籍和外地农业户籍劳动力。根据对北京市2005年1%人口抽样调查数据的分析,发现在上述四种户籍特征的劳动适龄人口中,劳动参与率和就业率逐次上升,而失业率则逐次下降。进一步的经济计量分析发现,户籍特征对劳动适龄人口的市场状态具有显著影响,与本市非农业户籍相比,包括本市农业户籍、外地农业户籍、外地非农业户籍等在内的其他各种户籍特征都不易于使劳动适龄人口处于失业和退出劳动力市场状态,户籍身份的差异确实对劳动适龄人口的劳动力市场状态产生了显著影响。     

论我国劳动力市场分割

我国劳动力市场处于一种多元分割状态,城乡之间、城市内部、农村内部都没有统一的劳动力市场,城市内有头等和次等劳动力市场,农村中有农业和非农业劳动力市场,其中尤以城乡分割最为严格.在二元结构下.以户籍管理制度为基础的一系列正式制度安排,使劳动力市场分割有了制度基础,它非正式制度相呼应,形成了我国劳动力市场分割的特殊形态.本文从综合角度研究了我国劳动力市场分割现状并对其原因进行了探讨.     

人力资本、就业机会与我国农村劳动力迁移

具有较高人力资本的农村劳动力容易获得就业机会,农村剩余劳动力的迁移是实现农村城镇化,增加农民收入,提 高就业机会的必经之路。本文通过人力资本与就业机会的相关理论分析我国农村剩余劳动力迁移存在的问题及有效途径。     

人口迁移流动对城镇区域劳动力市场的影响

人口迁移流动对于城镇劳动力供给和区域劳动力市场一体化均有显著影响。农村迁移劳动力与城镇居民就业存在一定的替代关系,但对城镇劳动力就业冲击不大。城-城迁移人口对迁入地人口的失业率和劳动参与率均无明显影响。我国劳动力市场从计划经济时期的高度一体化逐步演变为省际之间的分割,再次走向大经济区之间的分割和区内的融合。这种融合是借助农民工的迁移流动来实现的,因而在本质上依旧是分割的。     

我国城市劳动力市场的就业效率

本文借助协整分析、面板数据模型等方法和工具，运用劳动部门公布的全国部分城市劳动力市场供求情况的数据和国家统计局公布的经济运行的相关数据，分析经济形势的变化对劳动力市场的影响，发现我国的经济增长与城市劳动力市场的求人倍率之间存在着较为稳定的均衡关系，发展第三产业是吸纳更多劳动力的有效途径，各行业投资吸纳就业的能力没有差别，因此，着重投资于居民服务和其他服务业等行业，可以有效引致更多劳动力需求。     

农村工业化以及人力资本在农村劳动力市场中的角色

农村劳动力市场从多个渠道给教育带来了回报。用Heckman模型估计 ,教育的工资回报在 1 991— 1 997年为 0— 5% ,而且不显著。但是教育显著提高了人们到工业部门工作的机会 ,由此带来的回报在 5%— 7%。教育还提高了人们到高工资部门工作的机会 ,改善了人们的工作方式。     

Couple Formation in France: The Changing Importance of Labor Market Early Career Path

This article shows that couple formation and labor market early career path (as measured by unemployment, insecure employment, and characteristics of the first job) are intrinsically linked. We use data from the 1997 ‘Jeunes et Carrières’ survey to consider the experience of two different generations. We show that, with the arrival of mass unemployment, labor market early career path has become an important factor in couple formation, while the effect of education has diminished for young men in recent cohorts. The rise of the two-earner couple has gone hand-in-hand with greater symmetry between men and women in terms of couple formation: specifically, unemployment now reduces couple formation for both sexes. Some more traditional aspects persist however: (i) Women who are inactive on the labor market form couples earlier than do other women; (ii) Low wages in the first job encourage (discourage) couple formation for women (men); (iii) Higher education favors men's couple formation, but not that of working women; and (iv) Temporary work does not discourage couple formation by women. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

劳动力市场的所有制分割与城乡收入差距

目前缺少系统的农民工工资的面板数据妨碍了对城镇劳动力市场的所有制分割如何影响城乡收入差距的研究。本文证明城镇集体经济部门的平均工资可以作为农民工工资的代理变量,并将城镇国有部门的平均工资与集体部门的平均工资的比例作为衡量城镇劳动力市场所有制分割的指标。笔者通过对中国1978—2008年间省际面板数据的回归分析发现,劳动力市场的所有制分割本身具有扩大城乡收入差距的效应,但是,非国有部门职工比重的增加会削弱所有制分割的影响,从而有助于缩小城乡收入差距。