Employment quality index for the South African labour market

ABSTRACT

While the South African government specifically set targets on job creation in its numerous economic strategies since the economic transition, various local studies examined the levels and trends in labour force, employment and unemployment to evaluate if these targets were met. However, the quality of employment has not been thoroughly examined. This is the first local study that fills the existing research gap by deriving a composite, multidimensional employment quality index by taking 18 indicators from seven dimensions into consideration: wage, work hours and flexibility, employment security, income security, social benefits, skills and participation. Using the 2010–16 Quarterly Labour Force Survey data, the empirical findings indicated that highly educated, white male workers aged at least 35 years, who lived in urban areas of the Western Cape and Gauteng provinces, and were involved in high skilled occupations in the formal, public sector enjoyed significantly better employment quality.     

Elasticity of substitution and technical efficiency: evidence from the US electricity generation

ABSTRACT

The implications of national or regional energy policies for technical efficiency and environmental outcomes in electricity generation depend on fossil fuel input substitution. This study uses state level data to examine fossil fuel (coal and natural gas) substitution in electricity generation under increased availability of natural gas in the United States. We observe that changes in elasticities of substitution from pre-2009 to post-2009 differ across states suggesting that the effects of increased availability of inexpensive natural gas on electricity generation have been spatially heterogeneous. We rely on the observed heterogeneity to assess the effects of fossil fuel input substitution on technical efficiency and CO₂ emissions. The results reveal that state level elasticity of substitution between natural gas and coal has a positive effect on technical efficiency and a negative effect on CO₂ emissions. Therefore, future policy design and analyses should reflect the implications for regional elasticities of fossil fuel substitution and associated environmental outcomes.     

Information technology innovation and its impact on job creation by SMEs in developing countries: an analysis of the literature review

ABSTRACT

This study reviews the literature on the role of technology innovation in job creation through small businesses in developing countries. A seven-step approach to the literature review is used for synthesising relevant data. The results show that technology innovations influence employment creation in small businesses positively and act as a driving force for economic development. The effective use of information technology in small businesses has a major impact on their competitiveness and access to international markets. Thus, the need for the government to develop technology innovative strategies for small businesses to actualise their firm performance and enhance job creation is recommended. The findings and proposed theoretical model of the study enrich existing theories and would help policymakers understand the role of information technology innovation in job creation and economic development.     

知识生产范式转型及对大学学术职业的影响

在高级知识社会，传统线性创新范式逐渐演化为以“三重螺旋”、“四重螺旋”、“五重螺旋”为典型模式的开放式创新生态系统范式。创新范式不断演化为知识生产范式转型提供了适应性情景，模式1知识生产范式开始向模式2 和模式3知识生产范式转型。模式1到模式2和模式3知识生产范式的转型，对大学学术职业产生了直接影响，“核心教职”和“终身教职”开始走向“跨界就业”或“多重就业”。     

我国出口汇率传递的非对称性:来自中日贸易的证据

文章扩展了Yang（2007）的厂商定价模型，对汇率传递非对称性、特点和成立条件进行理论分析，发现对称传递需要满足严格的条件，而现实中更常见的是非对称汇率传递。在一定条件下，商品需求弹性越大，越可能呈现出口国货币贬值传递率高而升值传递率低的特点。利用2000年1月至2011年12月我国出口日本的966种商品价格数据，发现汇率波动向价格传递具有非对称性：（1）人民币升值时，日元价格上涨较少；而贬值时，价格下降较多。我国出口商品的需求弹性较大，在日本市场上面对的是一个强竞争结构。（2）若月度升值超过一定幅度（测算约为2.43%），传递率又会有所上升，说明尽管日元价格易跌难涨，但在升值导致成本上涨较多、明显挤压利润时，厂商不得不适当提高日元售价。采用2000年至2018年9月日本从中国进口单位价值指数进行稳健性检验，得出类似结论。现阶段稳定的人民币名义汇率对我国出口企业是更为有利的。     

Fixed costs and long-lived investments

Fixed costs models are difficult to analyze because they feature non-degenerate, time-varying distributions of capital across firms. If investments are sufficiently long-lived however then the cross-sectional distribution of capital holdings has virtually no bearing on the equilibrium and the aggregate behavior of fixed-cost models is essentially identical to neoclassical models. The findings are due to a near infinite elasticity of investment timing for long-lived investments – a feature shared by fixed-cost models and neoclassical models. “Irrelevance results” found in numerical studies of fixed-cost models are not parametric special cases but instead are fundamental properties of models with long-lived investment goods.     

Who gets the job? First-generation college students' perceptions of employer screening methods

What are first-generation college students' (FGCS) perspectives of employment screening methods? The authors investigate which methods FGCS believe are likely to cause an employer to extend a job offer and which methods yield the best pool of job applicants. Survey data were collected from undergraduate business majors. They were analyzed using means comparisons and bivariate correlation t tests. FGCS perceived resumes and interviews as most likely to help applicants get hired. Implications are discussed.     

Work-limiting health,earnings, and employment: an analysis with SIPP data

ABSTRACT

This study examines the role of work-limiting health conditions on employed people’s earnings, employment status, and working hours, and distinguishes between the different degree and severity of predictable shocks. Using data from the 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), we evaluate the impact of any work-limiting health condition as well as a subset of health conditions that appear to arrive largely exogenously on post-onset earnings, employment, and working hours. We find that people who report being employed and later experience the onset of any work-limiting health condition tend to have lower subsequent earnings, a reduced probability of being employed, and fewer working hours per month compared to those who remain healthy. The adverse impact is even greater for people with health conditions that arrive less predictably. We use a difference-in-differences regression model with person and year fixed effects as the primary estimation method.     

The determinants of capital intensity in Japan and the US

We estimate the determinants of capital intensity in Japan and the US, characterized by striking different paths. We augment an otherwise standard Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) model with demand-side considerations, which we find especially relevant in the US. In this augmented setting, the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor is placed between 0.74 and 0.90 in Japan, and around 0.30 in the US. We also find evidence of biased technical change, which is capital-saving in Japan but labor-saving in the US. These differences help us explain the diverse experience in the capital deepening process of these economies, and lead us to conclude that demand-side drivers, quite relevant in the US, may also be relevant to account for different growth experiences. A close look at the nature of technological change is also needed before designing one-size-fits-all industrial, economic growth, and/or labor market policies.     

汇率、贸易弹性和经常账户

本文在国际收支弹性分析法框架下,讨论汇率变动影响贸易收支状况的临界弹性条件。放弃传统的马歇尔—勒纳条件,采用更符合实际情况的修正BRM条件,并且在实证检验中首次使用了Gamma分布滞后模型来估计相关贸易弹性,为政府通过汇率变动来调节经常账户提供了更精确的参考标准。