{"title":"Labor market regulation and the cyclicality of involuntary part-time work","authors":"Theresa Markefke, Rebekka Müller-Rehm","doi":"10.1186/s12651-024-00363-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12651-024-00363-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In times of economic crisis, many employers in liberal labor markets reduce their employees’ working hours, which leads to an increase in the incidence of involuntary part-time work. We analyze the effectiveness of working time regulation in preventing such an increase during downswings. For this we look at the case of Germany, where hours adjustments are highly restricted by law. Using a state-level panel regression approach, we find that the incidence of involuntary part-time work is positively associated with the unemployment rate but that the association is much weaker than in the US and in the UK. Transition probabilities between employment states over the cycle suggest two particular underlying mechanisms: First, already employed workers are more likely to want a full-time position in economic downturns (“added hours effect”). Second, job seekers make concessions with regards to their desired hours when labor market conditions are bad (“reservation hours effect”). We are the first to document these margins of cyclical hours adjustments which are fundamentally different from those in less regulated labor markets, where the cyclicality of involuntary part-time work is predominantly driven by hours changes at the same employer.</p>","PeriodicalId":45469,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Labour Market Research","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140098218","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Personnel adjustments during the Covid-19 pandemic: did co-determination make a difference?","authors":"Daniel Fackler, Claus Schnabel, Jens Stegmaier","doi":"10.1186/s12651-024-00362-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12651-024-00362-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Using a unique dataset of establishments in Germany surveyed during the Covid-19 pandemic, this study investigates whether personnel adjustments during the crisis differed between establishments with and without a works council. Our regression analyses show that the hiring and dismissal rate as well as the churning rate were lower in establishments with a works council. In contrast, the net employment growth rate over the pandemic and the implementation of short-time work did not differ significantly between establishments with and without a works council. We conclude that worker co-determination did indeed make a difference in terms of higher employment stability for the incumbent workforce during the pandemic.</p>","PeriodicalId":45469,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Labour Market Research","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139760679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maiken Skovrider Aaskoven, Jørgen T. Lauridsen, Trine Kjær
{"title":"Live longer, work longer? An investigation of the health capacity to work at older ages in Denmark using combined register and survey data","authors":"Maiken Skovrider Aaskoven, Jørgen T. Lauridsen, Trine Kjær","doi":"10.1186/s12651-024-00360-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12651-024-00360-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Publicly funded pension systems are facing the challenge of remaining financially sustainable without lowering pensions. Raising the statutory retirement age gradually in line with the increase in life expectancy has been a key measure to solve the problem. The implicit assumption is that the additional years of life are lived in good health, or as a minimum that health status is compatible with work. However, some individuals may not have the ability to work. Furthermore, a uniform retirement age ignores the different exposures to morbidity and mortality risks across social groups. Consequently, it is important to examine whether the health of older individuals will allow them to continue working and whether there is significant heterogeneity in the ability to work. Combining the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) with data from the Danish registers enables us to create a composite health index that includes an extensive range of health indicators. Utilising the health capacity to work approach, we estimate the health capacity to work among Danes aged 55 and above. We divide health capacity into physical and mental health. We investigate heterogeneity in health capacity across educational and occupational attainment. Substantial additional work capacity is found for older Danes. Depending on the type of health index applied, the health capacrk varies. There is evidence of a socio-economic gradient in work capacity. Results thereby show that policies that intend to utilise the additional work capacity should consider heterogeneity in health.</p><p><b>Highlights</b></p><ul>\u0000<li>\u0000<p>We provide new evidence of the health capacity work in Denmark.</p>\u0000</li>\u0000<li>\u0000<p>The combination of survey and register data allow for comprehensive health indices.</p>\u0000</li>\u0000<li>\u0000<p>There is substantial additional health capacity to work.</p>\u0000</li>\u0000<li>\u0000<p>There is variation across health indices.</p>\u0000</li>\u0000<li>\u0000<p>There is variation across educational and occupational attainment.</p>\u0000</li>\u0000</ul>","PeriodicalId":45469,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Labour Market Research","volume":"170 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139590068","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Going green: estimating the potential of green jobs in Argentina","authors":"Pablo de la Vega, Natalia Porto, Manuela Cerimelo","doi":"10.1186/s12651-023-00359-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12651-023-00359-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper aims to identify and characterize the potential of green jobs in Argentina, i.e., those workers that would benefit from a transition to a green economy, using occupational green potential scores calculated in US O*NET data for the period 2015–2021. We apply the greenness scores to Argentine household survey data and estimate that between 23 and 25 percent of workers are in green jobs, i.e., have a high green potential. However, to promote and ensure an inclusive and effective green transition, we consider the decent work dimension (through legal informality measures), and find that between 11 and 12 percent of wage earners are in green formal jobs. We then analyze the relationship between the green job indicators and various labor and demographic variables at the individual level. We find that the green potential is relatively greater for men, the elderly, those with very high qualifications, and those in specific sectors such as construction, transportation, mining, and industry. These are the groups that are likely to be the most benefited by the greening of the Argentine economy. The green potential score is positively associated with informality, thus the green transition may be incompatible with decent work.</p>","PeriodicalId":45469,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Labour Market Research","volume":"106 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139375545","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gesine Stephan, Matthias Dütsch, Christopher Osiander
{"title":"Short-time allowances in times of crisis: a survey experiment","authors":"Gesine Stephan, Matthias Dütsch, Christopher Osiander","doi":"10.1186/s12651-023-00358-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12651-023-00358-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries used short-time work schemes, i.e., subsidies for temporary working hours reductions due to production drops. In Germany, regulations on entitlements and benefits have been much more generous during the pandemic than they were in noncrisis times. This paper conducts a factorial survey experiment among the workforce to investigate which amounts of short-time benefits and which associated replacement rates were perceived as appropriate during the pandemic. We interpret our findings in the context of the deservingness theory. Our results show that the assessments are partly consistent with the legal design features in Germany. One of our key findings is that, according to respondents, the short-time allowance should decrease slightly with an increasing duration of short-time work. In Germany, however, with the onset of the pandemic, a rule was temporarily implemented that step-wise increased short-time work benefits with the duration of short-time work.</p>","PeriodicalId":45469,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Labour Market Research","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138628319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The impact of lower caseloads in public employment services on the unemployed","authors":"René Böheim, Rainer Eppel, Helmut Mahringer","doi":"10.1186/s12651-023-00357-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12651-023-00357-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In a randomised controlled trial in Austria, lowering caseloads for caseworkers in a Public Employment Office led to more meetings with unemployed clients, more job offers, more programme assignments, and more sanctions for noncompliance with job search requirements. It shortened unemployment spells through faster job entry, but also through more exits from the labour force in the 2 years following treatment. The duration of unemployment was reduced for a number of subgroups of the unemployed, but not all benefited from increased employment. For women and foreigners, lower caseloads led to more time out of the labour force. The quality of jobs after unemployment, measured by wages, did not change. A cost–benefit analysis suggests that lower caseloads not only shorten unemployment but also save public costs.</p>","PeriodicalId":45469,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Labour Market Research","volume":"1177 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138506314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Job market polarization and American poverty","authors":"Abu Bakkar Siddique","doi":"10.1186/s12651-023-00356-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12651-023-00356-5","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The article posits that the puzzles of stagnating poverty rates amidst high growth and declining unemployment in the United States can be substantially explained by polarized job markets characterized by job quality and job distribution. In recent decades, there has been an increased number of poor-quality jobs and an unequal distribution of jobs in the developed world, particularly in the United States. I have calculated measures of uneven job distribution indices that account for the distribution of jobs across households. A higher value of the uneven job distribution indices implies that there are relatively large numbers of households with multiple employed people and households with no employed people. Similarly, poor-quality jobs are those jobs that do not offer full-time work. Two-way fixed-effect models estimate that higher uneven job distribution across households worsens aggregated poverty at the state level. Similarly, good-quality jobs help households escape poverty, whereas poor-quality jobs do not. This paper suggests that eradicating poverty requires the government to direct labor market policies to be tailored more toward distributing jobs from individuals to households and altering bad jobs into good jobs, rather than merely creating more jobs in the economy. This paper contributes by elaborating on relations of employment and poverty, addressing employment quality and distribution, and providing empirical evidence.","PeriodicalId":45469,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Labour Market Research","volume":"63 7","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135933642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Determinants of overlapping mismatch in the Turkish labour market","authors":"Ahmet Alper Ege, Erkan Erdil","doi":"10.1186/s12651-023-00355-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12651-023-00355-6","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Using a micro dataset from labour force survey of Turkey and employing a multinomial logistic regression, this paper examines the determinants of mere overeducation, mere field of study mismatch and full-mismatch (who are both overeducated and field of study mismatched simultaneously). The target group consists of full-time wage-based employees who graduated from higher education and are aged 20–65. The determinants of mismatch are analysed under four variable groups which are labour market context, demography, field of study and job-specific characteristics. In line with the earlier empirical evidence, we find that the unfavourable economic conditions at the time of entry into the labour market might affect the behavioural pattern of individuals while searching for a matching job. Moreover, the sharp increase in university graduates increased further the fierce competition for the limited jobs available in the labour market, and resulted in a high likelihood of mismatch especially for the recent graduates. In sum, the estimation results yield that any mismatch category is responsive to those determinants where fully-mismatched employees are more responsive. Hence, we propose that the policy implications should better focus on the full-mismatch category.","PeriodicalId":45469,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Labour Market Research","volume":"51 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135199963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How tuition fees affected student enrollment at higher education institutions: the aftermath of a German quasi-experiment","authors":"Ralf Minor","doi":"10.1186/s12651-023-00354-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12651-023-00354-7","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study examines the impact of the charging of tuition fees between 2006 and 2014 in several German federal states on the number of first-year student enrollments. Since Germany is known for a tuition-free education policy at public institutions, the fundamental question arises of whether, and if so, to what extent, the temporary tuitions influenced the number of first-year-student enrollments. In this regard, Becker’s human capital theory suggests that rising fees should be associated with declining enrollment rates. The analyses to test the hypothesis are based on a longitudinal administrative panel data set for 206 universities and universities of applied sciences from 2003 to 2018; this means there are 3296 observations before, during, and after the tuition treatment. While no previous study has covered the full period of the policy or undertook more aggregate-level analyses, this study applies an analytical research design that uses several panel-data models and robustness checks to examine causal relations based on a quasi-experimental setting. The results of Fixed effects regressions confirm the hypothesized negative impact and even reveal a persistent negative effect of the treatment. The comparison of higher education institutions with and without tuition fees shows that the former institutions lost approximately between 3.8 and 7 percent of their first-year student enrollments on average.","PeriodicalId":45469,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Labour Market Research","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135347681","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Neither backlash nor convergence: dynamics of intra-couple childcare division during the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany","authors":"Christina Boll, Dana Müller, Simone Schüller","doi":"10.1186/s12651-023-00353-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12651-023-00353-8","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Using unique (bi)monthly panel data (IAB-HOPP) covering the immediate postlockdown period from June to August 2020, as well as the subsequent period up until the second lockdown in January/February 2021, we investigate opposing claims of widening/closing the gender gap in parental childcare during the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany. We consider prepandemic division as a reference point and provide dynamics rather than snapshots. Our results suggest a slight initial shift toward a more egalitarian division that, however, faded out in subsequent months. Starting from a fairly “traditional” prepandemic childcare division, the lockdown stimulus was not nearly strong enough to level the playing field. Subgroup analysis differentiating between individual lockdown-specific work arrangements shows that the drivers of the observed shift were mothers with relatively intense labor market participation who cannot work from home. Fathers’ work arrangement instead did not play a significant role. We conclude that the shift emerged out of necessity rather than opportunity, which makes it likely to fade once the necessity vanishes. Further, a shift is observed only if fathers were to some extent involved in childcare prepandemic, which points to the crucial role of initial conditions.","PeriodicalId":45469,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Labour Market Research","volume":"23 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135826344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}