Is the German apprenticeship system a panacea for the U.S. labor market?

This paper explores the structure of incentives undergirding the German system of apprenticeship training. We first describe characteristics of the German labor market which may lead firms to accept part of the cost of general training, even in the face of worker turnover. We then compare labor market outcomes for apprentices in Germany and high school graduates in the United States. Apprentices in Germany occupy a similar position within the German wage structure as held by high school graduates in the United States labor market. Finally, we provide evidence that – in both countries – the problem of forming labor market bonds is particularly acute for minority youth. JEL classification: J24, J31, J60 Received: July 4, 1996 / Accepted February 4, 1997     

Training and job mobility among young workers in the United States

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth from 1987 to 1992, the determinants of training and the impact of training on job turnover are examined for young private sector workers in the United States. It is found that the receipt of company training is positively correlated with education, ability, and prior tenure at the job. The results provide only limited evidence that company training reduces turnover. There is substantial evidence, however, that training which is not financed by employers increases job mobility. The results imply that training plays an important role in the job search and job matching process among young workers. JEL classification: J24, J41, J63 Received December 11, 1995/Accepted June 27, 1996     

Unskilled labor and wage determination: an empirical investigation for Germany

This article contributes to the ongoing debate on native wage impacts of immigration. I propose a mobile-fixed factor distinction as a framework in which to think about the differential impact of immigration on various labor market groups. Skilled workers are treated as a fixed factor of production since the strong reliance on skill certification in Germany inhibits mobility and shelters from competition. Unskilled workers, in contrast, receive competitive wages. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for 1984–1989 I estimate panel wage regressions for groups of workers separated by skill certification. I find that university graduates‘ wages increase, and the wages of workers without postsecondary degree decrease, as the industry share of unskilled workers increases. The effect for apprentices is ambiguous. JEL classification: F22, J31 Received January 19, 1995 / Accepted August 14, 1995     

Do Social Workers Apply “Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself” to Gay,Lesbian, Bisexual,and Transpersons in the South?

ABSTRACT

Across the United States there has been a spate of legislative bills and initiatives that blatantly stigmatize and discriminate against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. This study was a cross-sectional, exploratory survey designed to measure the attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors of Tennessee social workers and future social workers toward the LGBT population and toward proposed discriminatory legislation. A 3-way factorial ANOVA investigated the effects of political affiliation, religious affiliation, and social contact on the dependent measures. Significant main effects were found. Self-reported political affiliation was found to be the most important factor predicting LGBT acceptance and LGBT respect among this sample.     

SHORT REVIEWS

Books reviewed in this article: Neil J. Diamant, Revolutionizing the Family: Politics, Love, and Divorce in Urban and Rural China, 1949–1968 International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, World Disasters Report 2000: Focus on Public Health Christian Joppke, Immigration and the Nation‐State: The United States, Germany, and Great Britain Peng Xizhe with Guo Zhigang (eds.), The Changing Population of China Sebastiao Salgado, Migrations: Humanity in Transition United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2000 United Nations Population Division, The World at Six Billion United Nations Population Division, World Population Monitoring 1998. Health and Mortality: Selected Aspects World Bank, Can Africa Claim the 21st Century?     

Teenage truancy,part-time working and wages

Part-time work whilst still in full-time education is common in many industrialized countries, and teenagers constitute a significant component of the work force in some sectors of the labour market. In Britain, in the early 1990‘s, some 60% of 16–18 year olds still in full time education also worked part-time. Although the determinants of teenager participation in the labour market have been studied previously (both in the United States and the United Kingdom), there remain a number of neglected questions. We address some of these in this paper, basing our analysis on data taken from the UK National Child Development Study. We first examine how teenagers divide their time between working and studying. We further analyse what explains teenage wages and labour supply. We utilise a rich set of variables describing parental background, as well as parents‘ labour force status and draw on information on physical stature to explain variations in wages. JEL classification: I20, J20, J31 Received March 26, 1996/Accepted May 16, 1997     

Immigration and free trade with Mexico: protecting American workers against double jeopardy

Free trade may well increase immigration from Mexico to the United States before ultimately slowing it down. Rapid population growth, unemployment or underemployment of half the labor force, and vast ethnic and kinship links to the United States have given Mexican migration a stubborn momentum. Increased prosperity from free trade will give many would-be migrants the means to resettle in the U. S. Foreign competition will displace Mexican workers in small farms, state-owned enterprises, and less competitive industries, forcing some to migrate. The noneconomic incentives and expectations driving migration will also remain strong. Mexicans may see free trade as making the border a mere formality or as conferring an entitlement to live in the United States. On the U. S. side, free trade may well deepen the government's traditional complacency about border controls. Over the long-term, however, a successful free trade agreement could reduce immigration by improving Mexico's democracy and the quality of life, diminishing the prospects of mass asylum movements from Mexico, creating a better climate for effective family planning, and luring marginal, immigration-magnet industries from the U. S. to Mexico. In the United States, less- skilled American workers in some industries and regions can expect job displacement and other disruptions from free trade. Particularly vulnerable will be workers in perishable crop agriculture, border retail trade, construction, apparel, and light manufacturing such as furniture, auto parts and glass. Continued heavy immigration of Mexican and other foreign workers into those industries and communities will further impede the adjustment of resident workers by competing for jobs and consuming public resources needed for retraining and job search. To ease the adjustment of displaced workers, the U. S. must make Mexico's cooperation in restraining immigration a condition for free trade. Mexico's cooperation should include enforcement of its own laws against clandestine border crossing; action against alien smugglers, document forgers and transiting illegal aliens from Central America; and curbs on the reentry of aliens deported from the United States. U.S. initiatives that would cushion vulnerable American workers against the added disruption of immigration would be: better identification and screening of applicants for public assistance; tightened enforcement of safety and labor standards in immigrant-impacted firms and provision of legal workers to such firms; protection of public assistance resources through better screening and identification of applicants; and curbs on imports of temporary foreign workers for firms that will now have access to Mexican labor in Mexico. Finally, the United States must consistently press Mexico for higher safety, environmental and labor standards at the workplace to improve the job satisfaction and quality of life of working Mexicans who might otherwise migrate, as well as to narrow Mexico's labor cost advantages over the United States.     

The marginal cost of public funds with an aging population

"As populations in the United States and other advanced economies grow older, the burden of social security and health care financing is expected to rise markedly. Payroll, income, and other taxes on working populations are projected to rise accordingly. The marginal welfare cost to workers of social security and other public expenditures is analyzed within the context of a two-period life cycle model. By relaxing separability assumptions that have become common in the literature, the theoretical structure properly incorporates the effect of these public expenditures on labor supply. Comparative statics results indicate that changing age structure is likely to raise the marginal welfare to workers of social security, education, and other public expenditures. Illustrative calculations for the United States confirm this result, suggesting that the cost to workers of incremental social security benefits may easily double by 2025-2050."     

Religion as a determinant of marital fertility

This paper develops hypotheses about the effects of husbands‘ and wives‘ religious affiliations on fertility. The hypotheses are based on two central ideas. First, religions differ in their fertility norms and corresponding tradeoffs between the quality and quantity of children; differences in religious beliefs between husband and wife may thus lead to conflict regarding fertility decisions and possible resolution through bargaining. Second, a low level of religious compatibility between the spouses may raise the expected probability of marital dissolution and thereby decrease the optimal amount of investments in spouse-specific human capital. Analyses of data from the 1987–1988 National Survey of Families and Households conducted in the United States suggest that both of these effects play important roles in explaining the observed linkages between the religious composition of unions and fertility behavior. JEL classification: J1, J11, J13 Received February 17, 1995 / Accepted February 15, 1996     

The encouragement of emigration by British trade unions, 1850–1900

During the nineteenth century periodic fluctuations in industrial activity, strikes and lock-outs which accompanied the struggle of unions for recognition, and the ever increasing consciousness of the industrial worker that one serious trade setback could wipe out the savings of his lifetime, were important ‘pushes’ to emigration from the United Kingdom. The British trade unions responded to this ‘push’ from their own members and from thousands of unorganized workers for relief through emigration.

Contrary to the statements of historians of the English trade-union movement, emigration was not a project of British trade unions in the 1850 decade only; in fact, most of the unions in England's basic industries, mining, iron, textiles and engineering, as well as in many other smaller industries such as glass, cutlery and the building trades, looked upon emigration as necessary to improve the standard of life of the English workers. This viewpoint was natural to the ‘New Unionists’ of the 1850's, who accepted the principle that supply and demand regulated wages and prices. The trade unions, however, disapproved of emigration to the United States where workers would go to a rival trade; such emigration could not diminish the absolute number of workers in the industry. Instead, they advocated emigration to farms in the British colonies; but, nevertheless, most of the persons aided by English trade unions to emigrate went to the United States. The hesitancy of skilled workers to leave a familiar occupation appeared to be the most important reason for this.

Desirable as emigration was to trade unionists in times of trade crises, the leaders met overwhelming difficulties when they tried to use it as a safety valve. In the cotton famine and the iron-trade lock-outs of the sixties, for example, unions had no money to aid emigration, and were forced to seek grants from United States manufacturers to help needy workers to go to America. Although they were relatively helpless in times of crisis, the trade unions assisted emigration during good years, believing that such a policy would ease the severity of the inevitable next crisis. Most of the established unions had regularly operating emigration grants by which members in good standing could receive a sum of money in aid of emigration, usually enough to pay at least one passage to America. This benefit helped some of the most skilled workers and loyal union members to leave England for America.

The trade unions, in making these grants, had to adjust the amount of money given to the ‘state of health’ of the union treasury; thus, during crises when the treasuries were low the emigration benefits were often discontinued. As the years passed and the number of British workers in America increased, the unions hesitated to send men abroad during depressions or strikes in the United States. Not only did American workmen complain of such competition, but also English workers disliked to see men whom they had previously assisted to ‘take their labour abroad’ return home.

From 1850 until well into the 1880's, when most of the English trade unions were encouraging and aiding emigration, their influence actually was most effective toward that end in times of prosperity in the United States. It was the depression of the eighties and the rise of unions of unskilled workers and leaders who looked for improvement through Socialism rather than through adjusting the supply of labour, which finally eclipsed emigration as a panacea for the English working class.     

Methods of decomposing the difference between two rates with applications to race‐sex inequality in earnings

Four general methods of decomposing the difference between two rates into several components are provided. For data cross‐classified by several factors, all four methods can be used treating the factors either hierarchically or symmetrically, and within each treatment, the methods are expected to give very similar results. Since the results may differ significantly depending on whether the factors are hierarchical or symmetrical and since there is no objective way of arranging the factors hierarchically, symmetrical treatment of the factors is recommended. The latter approach is used to study race‐sex inequalities in mean annual earnings for year‐round full‐time workers in the United States based on the 1980 census data cross‐classified by education, age, and occupation.     

Worker training: A review, critique, and extension

Why does employee training in the US lag behind that of our industrial counterparts? We provide an overview of employee training in the US and a review of American employee training literature and concepts. Our criticism of this literature is based on its limited conceptual structure that derives from an over-reliance on the distinction between “general” versus “specific” training. We find this dichotomy to be both empirically and theoretically imprecise. We also provide a brief overview of employee training in other industrialized nations. In combination, the critique of the American literature and the review of the international literature provide a framework for suggesting new approaches to training and its study in the United States. We argue that such a new approach is needed both to understand employee training in the US and to provide an empirical framework for guiding its growth and development.     

Labor market effects of immigration in the United States and Europe: substitution vs. complementarity

This paper examines the impact of immigrants on the income of various groups of resident workers in the United States and Europe. Our approach features the use of a production technology incorporating education, experience, and unskilled labor as inputs. This contrasts with the assumption used in earlier studies that native-born and immigrant labor are distinct inputs into production. We find that in both United States and European production, education, unskilled labor and experience are complementary inputs. Based on these results, simulations of the impact of immigration on residents are carried out. The absolute magnitude of these effects is found to be very small.This paper was presented at the Centre for Economic Policy Research Workshop, The Economics of International Migration: Econometric Evidence, February 26 and 27, 1993, Konstanz, Germany. We benefitted from the discussion at the conference and, particularly, the comments of Anton Muscatelli. We thank three referees and the managing editor of this journal for their suggestions. We also thank Selig Sechzer for his significant contributions to the empirical analysis in this paper. Ira Gang's work was partially supported by the Rutgers University Research Council.     

Undocumented workers in the labor market: an analysis of the earnings of legal and illegal Mexican immigrants in the United States

This paper studies the differences in earnings between Mexican legal and illegal immigrants in the United States. The analysis includes a cross-sectional examination of the wage differences between legal and undocumented workers as well as a longitudinal analysis examining the impact of legalization on the earnings of previously-undocumented workers. It is shown that the average hourly wage rate of male Mexican legal immigrants in the United States was 41.8% higher than that of undocumented workers while female legal immigrants earned 40.8% more. Though illegal immigrants have lower education and English proficiency, and a shorter period of residence in the United States, than legal immigrants, it is shown that differences in the observed characteristics of legal and illegal immigrants explain only 48% of the log-wage gap between male legal and illegal workers and 43% of the gap for women. An analysis of undocumented immigrants legalized after the 1986 U.S. immigration policy reform shows significant wage growth in the four years following legalization. These gains are due mostly to the change in legal status itself, not to changes in the characteristics of immigrants over time. Received: 7 July 1997/Accepted: 16 March 1998     

Hidden in Plain Sight: Global Labor Force Exchange in the Chinese American Population, 1880–1940

Despite a once‐conspicuous presence in the Western United States, little is known demo‐graphically about the Chinese in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in the United States. The widely accepted model of a declining male “sojourner society,” beset by draconian restrictions on immigration and the impossibility of family formation, is seemingly contradicted by the continuous economic vitality of urban Chinatowns in the United States. This article tests the largely unexamined demographic structure of the Chinese population in the United States through the application of cohort‐component projection on census data from 1880 through 1940, including data recently made available as part of the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS). The results fail to support the model of passive population decline, suggesting instead that the Chinese actively engaged in a collective strategy of long‐distance labor exchange to maximize economic productivity among Chinese workers in the United States.     

Net immigration of gainful workers into the united states, 1870–1930

This paper presents a socioeconomic occupational grouping of the foreign-born gainful workers of the United States at each census from 1870 through 1930. This series is then used to estimate the net immigration of gainful workers into the United States during each of the six decades from 1870 to 1930 cross classified by occupational group and sex. The following three conclusions are then drawn from the above two series. First, the socioeconomic position of the foreign-born population of the United States remained relatively stable from 1870 to 1910 but then increased appreciably from 1910 to 1930. Second, although most of the contribution that immigration made to the United States labor force was in the form of semiskilled and unskilled workers, the relative importance of professional, clerical, and skilled workers increased almost continuously from 1870 to 1930. Third, the “new immigration” was not less skilled than the “old immigration”. On the contrary it was actually more skilled than the “old immigration”.     

The state and structural vulnerability: Policy egalitarianism and household income

The distribution of household income in the United States is remarkably unequal. Stratification researchers predict levels of income in terms of individual characteristics and structural features of the economy and society. These researchers, however, often neglect the role of the state. Political sociologists have begun to examine the impact of the state on aggregate levels of inequality across nations. I build on this literature to explain household income in the United States. Utilizing 2000 IPUMS data, I clarify how household income varies across the sub-national U.S. states according to policy configurations. I find that sub-national states with more egalitarian policies help to buttress the relative incomes of groups vulnerable to low incomes, particularly service workers and single mother families. These results suggest that studies of income and income inequality should consider the role of policies.     

Legal Protections and Advocacy for Contingent or “Casual” Workers in the United States: A Case Study in Day Labor

Contingent, non-standard or “casual” work is present in large numbers in virtually every sector of the United States economy. Staffing strategies that use subcontracted or contingent work – strategies that once characterized only some low-wage workers such as garment and agriculture – have now spread to virtually every area of industry, including high tech and finance. United States law is a patchwork of provisions in separate federal statutes – and sometimes in each of the 50 states – governing whether a particular individual is an “employee.” Day laborers in the United States have particular challenging enforcing their limited rights. To address the issues of vulnerable low-wage workers being locked out of labor protections, activists have developed a number of strategies, including litigation and legislative campaigns. These strategies have more recently been broadened to facilitate developing leadership in a new social movement. In this article I draw a portrait of the day labor workforce from city- and state-based surveys of day laborers themselves. I then discuss strategies employed by day laborers to advance their workplace rights.

‘The Right to Enter Every Other State’ – The Supreme Court and African American Mobility in the United States

Abstract

In 1857, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney stated in the Dred Scott case that if one African American was free to move unhindered throughout the United States, then all African Americans, enslaved or otherwise, would have ‘the right to enter every other State’. Such a situation, he argued, was untenable. The Supreme Court thus suggested that if U.S. citizenship included a de facto right to mobility, then African Americans could not be considered citizens. Although not formally written into the U.S. Constitution, numerous Supreme Court rulings since 1857 have underpinned the right to mobility in the United States. Yet the ability to be mobile in the United States has been fundamentally intertwined with the construction of racial identities. It was the white settlers that were free to move westward, the mobile nomadic lifestyles of the peoples they encountered being understood as primitive and inferior. Native peoples subsequently became immobilized on reservations. Similarly, African Americans in the era of slavery were immobilized on plantations and movement away from plantation space was illicit, codified as illegal, and required the hidden networks of the Underground Railroad. An African American moving through white American spaces faced often deadly consequences. African Americans should, in the parlance of the times, ‘know their place’ and not have the ambition, or the right, to move freely around the USA. To explore these contentions, I draw on four landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions that elaborate on the mobility, or curtailment thereof, of African Americans in the United States.     

The ambiguities of U.S. temporary foreign worker policy

Expansion of temporary worker programs has figured prominently in recent proposals to reform United States immigration policy. The Florida sugar cane industry has been using foreign workers from the English-speaking Caribbean since 1943. The 8000 to 9000 workers annually admitted under section H-2 of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act to cut cane constitute the largest legal nonimmigrant labor force in the United States. Examination of the Florida H-2 program reveals that existing temporary worker policy is ambiguous, if not contradictory, on the issues of the displacement of domestic workers; the characteristics and value of H-2 workers; their impact on local communities in the United States; and the effects of seasonal labor migration on the migrant and his country. Suggestions for improving policy include strengthening of statutory guidelines and administrative agencies, adoption of a more market-sensitive adverse effect wage rate, making farm labor more attractive to American workers, removing distinctions between foreign and domestic workers, and measures to improve the lot of the migrant and his home society.This article is drawn from a study funded by a grant from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (R01-HD-14277-01). The Center for Latin American Studies and the Division of Sponsored Research of the University of Florida provided additional financial support for field work in the Caribbean. Fuller discussions of the results are found in McCoy (1984a), McCoy and Wood (1982) and Wood and McCoy (forthcoming). The author would like to acknowledge the suggestions of Jose Alvarez, Robert Bach, Marian Houston, Steve Sanderson and Charles Wood, his collaborator on the larger project. The comments of David North and especially Edwin Reubens on an earlier version, presented at the 1984 meeting of the American Political Science Association, are also appreciated.