EXTENSIVE SEARCH, INTENSIVE SEARCH, AND HIRING COSTS: NEW EVIDENCE ON EMPLOYER HIRING ACTIVITY

This paper presents recent evidence on employer search to fill a position. A 1982 employer survey sponsored by the National Institute of Education and the National Center for Research in Vocational Education provides the basis for analyzing employer search and hiring costs. The paper examines the effects of such factors as employer size, dismissal costs, unionization, on-the-job training, adjustment costs, capital, and labor market conditions on intensive employer search, extensive employer search, and hiring costs. Intensive employer search is measured by the average number of hours the employer spends recruiting, screening, and interviewing per applicant. Extensive search is measured by the number of applicants seen per applicant interviewed and the number interviewed per employment.     

Unemployment Transitions among Brazilians in the United States and Canada

This study uses the job search framework to examine the unemployment experiences of Brazilian immigrants in the North American labour force. Primary data gathered in Canada and the United States is used in these analyses. The model generally used to monitor transitions among the native‐born was modified to make it more appropriate to the immigrant experience. To do this a composite model was constructed that incorporates variables unique to the immigrant experience. Event history analyses revealed that, in general, job search theory is very relevant for examining the transitions of immigrants. However, not all standard measures behaved as predicted (e.g. reservation wage). Several immigrant specific variables were very significant (e.g. target earner and legal status) and improved the overall model fit. Brazilians who worked primarily with other co‐ethnics were more likely to become re‐employed than those who did not, while working for a Brazilian employer had no effect on being re‐employed. US/Canadian comparisons also revealed that residents of Canada endured longer periods of unemployment. We believe this result is because Canadian residents had greater access to public services and, as such, were able to have higher reservation wages.     

Learned helplessness,discouraged workers,and multiple unemployment equilibria

Unemployment varies strongly between countries with comparable economic structure. Some economists have tried to link this to institutional differences in the labour market. Instead, this paper focuses on a model with multiple equilibria so that the same socioeconomic structure can give rise to different levels of unemployment. Unemployed workers’ search efficiency is modelled within an equilibrium search model and lay behind these results. Learned helplessness causes a pro-cyclical behavior of the aggregate search efficiency, also known as the discouraged worker effect. The model also offers an explanation of why unemployment seems to move more easily up than down.     

How attorney representation and adjudication affect Canadian arbitration and labor relations board decisions

Few studies have investigated the effects of either attorney representation or attorney adjudication on arbitration board decisions, and none has investigated these effects on labor relations board decisions. I examine the effects of lawyers, as both representatives and adjudicators, on arbitration and labor relations board decisions in an analysis of 272 Canadian discipline cases involving the right to refuse unsafe work. My results show that the employee is more likely to have management’s discipline overturned if she uses a lawyer when the employer does not. However, the employer gains no comparable advantage by hiring a lawyer when the employee does not. In addition, neither side benefits by hiring a lawyer when both do so. Attorneys are also no more or less likely than non-attorneys to overturn or reduce management’s discipline.     

Employer unfair labor practices and union organizing activity: A simultaneous equation model

A model is estimated that simultaneously determines the extent of alleged employer unfair labor practices and the outcomes of union organizing activity using biennial, state-level data for 1968–1982. The results suggest that employers are unlikely to use ULPs as a union-avoidance strategy when unions are expected to win representation elections and that the extent of employer ULPs depends on legislative, industrial relations, and workplace characteristics within a state. ULPs also increase the likelihood that workers will choose union representation. I am indebted to John W. Ballantine, Frederick W. Cleveland, Gil Rutman, and Leo Troy for their comments on earlier versions of this paper. The usual disclaimer applies.     

The Reverse Gender Gap in Ethnic Discrimination: Employer Stereotypes of Men and Women with Arabic Names,

We examine differences in the intensity of employer stereotypes of men and women with Arabic names in Sweden by testing how much work experience is needed to eliminate the disadvantage of having an Arabic name on job applications. Employers are first sent curriculum vitaes (CVs) of equal merit in a field experiment setup. Arabic‐named CVs are thereafter enhanced with more relevant work experience than Swedish‐named CVs. The results indicate a reverse gender gap in employer stereotypes because initial differences in the number of callbacks disappear for female applicants when Arabic‐named CVs are enhanced but remain strong and significant for male applicants. Thus, contrary to what is often assumed about the interaction of gender and ethnicity, we find that Arabic men face stronger discrimination in the labor market than Arabic women.     

FIRM SPECIFIC TRAINING, LAYOFFS, AND UNRELIABLE WORKERS

This paper determines the optimal level of firm specific training and the optimal level of layoffs when some workers are unreliable in that they may receive and accept offers from outside the firm; more specifically, the paper determines the evolution of firm specific training and layoffs as a worker acquires a reputation for reliability with his employer. The paper shows, for example, that layoffs may be higher or lower than the level implied by the condition that a worker's value of leisure equal the value of his contribution to output.     

Convergence of long-term care planning and retirement planning at the work place

There is an increasing expectation that the private-sector should provide needed solutions to pressing problems in long-term care. Long-term care insurance has figured prominently in recent discussions. Within the long-term care insurance market, the potential of the employer in making such insurance available to employees has been discussed extensively. This paper traces the increasing convergence of retirement planning and long-term care planning at the work place. The long-term care insurance market has come a long way, and the employer-sponsored segment of the market has recorded the highest rate of growth in recent times. Furthermore, the employer-sponsored market is beginning to diversify. Low take-up rates still remain a problem. Recent rapid growth of the market coupled with the federal government's involvement as an employer offering long-term care insurance is bound to expand the market further.     

DISCRIMINATION, BAYESIAN UPDATING OF EMPLOYER BELIEFS, AND HUMAN CAPITAL ACCUMULATION

This article proposes a dynamic labor market discrimination model based on Bayesian updating of beliefs by the employer. The employer forms initial beliefs of worker ability conditional on group and updates his beliefs each period based on observed output. Inaccurate initial priors lead to diminished human capital investment among members of the undervalued group and may generate inequities lasting many periods or even permanently. Statistical discrimination models in which differing variances drive the inequity are special cases of the model.     

Over the Hill,Under Siege: Labor Force Graying,Labor Market Pushes,and Consequences for Life Chances

Interest in older workers has recently expanded due to concerns over labor force “graying.” Research and policy on aging adults' labor market participation have, thus far, framed the decision to labor as one shaped solely by the desires and capacities of older workers themselves. This perspective fails to recognize how multiple employer‐side barriers play a large role in defining – and limiting – available choices. In this review, I synthesize the multi‐disciplinary literature on employer‐side barriers to older workers' labor market participation. In particular, I identify and discuss individual‐, meso‐, and social structural‐level barriers that uniquely affect this group, noting where gaps in understanding remain. I consider older workers primarily as a whole to demonstrate how age operates as a distinct, important identity; however, I also reflect on how age overlaps with both other identities and cohort membership. Next, I briefly consider the relationship between these employer‐side barriers and aging adults' life chances, particularly in an era of austerity. Although I focus on the United States case, I also note key cross‐national similarities and differences. Finally, reflecting upon the foregoing review, I suggest that a redirection of public policy is necessary to effectively respond to this contemporary demographic shift.     

The relationship between reputation,employer branding and corporate social responsibility

Reputation management requires coordination between internal understanding and external expectations (Cornelissen, 2011). The focus of this study were external expectations of potential employees. The main goal of the study was to contribute to the understanding of corporate reputation and its connections with perceived corporate social responsibility and employer brands. All three concepts were investigated amongst 550 senior college business students. The units of analysis were top twenty national organizations, rated according to a syndicated study on employer attractiveness. The results show that students assign good reputation to those organizations that are perceived as socially responsible and with a good employer brand. Reputation, at least according to our results, seems to be the umbrella concept that encompasses both perceived corporate social responsibility and perceived employer brands. Organizations that develop different strategies, policies and practices with regards to socially responsible behavior and nurturing employer brands have higher levels of perceived reputation among students. Additionally, students' perceptions and position on the list of the most attractive employers is consistent.     

Immigrant and native ethnic enterprises in Mexican American neighborhoods: differing perceptions of Mexican immigrant workers

This study uses original data from a large sample of businesses located in Mexican ethnic neighborhoods (barrios) in Texas and California to analyze how perceptions of the economic roles of Mexican immigrant workers differ among 3 employer groups: native ethnic, immigrant ethnic, and non-ethnic. It was found that the immigrant ethnic employer group depends more on Mexican immigrants as workers and as consumers than does the native ethnic group, which tends in many ways to be more like the non-ethnic group. Differences between results for localities on the border with Mexico and those for non-border localities are also discussed.     

THE MEANING OF RACE TO EMPLOYERS:

The unemployment problems of blacks in the United States have been the subject of considerable research in the social sciences since the 1980s. One way of studying the barriers to employment faced by blacks has been to interview employers, face to face, and directly ask them about their racial attitudes. These studies have concluded that a majority of employers believe that blacks, compared with other racial and ethnic groups, are uncooperative, unreliable, and lack sufficient skills for entry-level employment. The present study critically reexamines employer racial attitudes toward blacks and other groups through a case study of employer hiring in the electronics industry in Los Angeles. Using a different set of interview questions, employers reported (1) that blacks are reluctant to accept unskilled jobs due to a higher reservation wage, not because they lacked skills or a work ethic, (2) that employer racial attitudes varied by level of occupational skill, and (3) that affirmative action regulations modified the hiring process such that employers were less likely to rely on negative racial stereotypes in their hiring and more likely to rely on objective criteria when screening job seekers. I conclude by suggesting that employer racial attitudes are dynamic and, in large measure, shaped by institutional relationships within the workplace.     

The impact of right-to-work laws on employer unfair labor practice charges

The expected impact of right-to-work (RTW) laws on employer unfair labor practices is discussed within a resource allocation framework. How RTW laws affect the relative prices of different organizing tactics is also considered. Empirical analysis based on cross-sectional data for 1970, 1975, and 1980 shows that the impact of RTW laws on employer unfair labor practice charges is insignificant. Other variables that affect charge activity are also discussed in terms of their effect on employer/union organizing resource allocation decisions.     

Collective bargaining,compulsory arbitration,and salary settlements in the public sector: The case of New Jersey’s municipal police officers

This study investigates the effect of the use of final-offer arbitration on the salaries of municipal police officers in New Jersey using a regression model to control for the possible biases introduced by non-random use of the procedure. The results indicate that salary settlements which resulted from final-offer arbitration awards were not significantly higher or lower than conventionally arbitrated settlements or nonarbitrated settlements, despite the fact that arbitrators chose union final offers more frequently than they chose employer final offers. The results also contain evidence of asymmetric behavior by the parties under final-offer arbitration with the unions appearing more risk averse than the employers. An earlier version of this study was circulated under a different title as Working Paper No. 129 of the Industrial Relations Section, Princeton University. The author wishes to thank Joseph Altonji, Orley Ashenfelter, James Bennett, Gilles Grenier, Thomas Kochan, Richard Lester, John Pencavel, Jeffrey Tener, and an anonymous referee for their valuable comments on an earlier draft of this paper. The author also wishes to acknowledge the support for this study provided by the Center for New Jersey Affairs at Princeton University.     

Chapter 21: A Commentary on the Integration of EAPs

Abstract

This article addresses the notion of integration-past and present. The author discusses his earlier experiences and research in the field when the dominant model of service delivery was occupational alcoholism programs and counselors of the day sought to integrate these programs into the personnel management function as a means of more effectively serving the employee and the employer. This article also reviews the evolution of this earlier model into employee assistance programs and points out the success and continued growth of these programs was the direct result of empirical research that demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of EAPs. The author reminds the reader to be mindful of the need to maintain the core technology ascribed to EAPs as the range of workplace human service programs continues to expand. Lastly, the author reiterates the necessity of empirical research to demonstrate the value of adding of work-life and wellness services to the broadening scope of programs aimed at maximizing human capital.     

Information search,coherence effects,and their interplay in legal decision making

Legal judgments require one to make sense of a complex set of typically contradicting pieces of information that can easily be interpreted in a biased manner. This systematic judgment bias can be caused by biased information search (i.e., confirmatory search) as well as biased information processing (i.e., coherence effects) in which the interpretation of information is changed to fit the emerging favored option. In four studies, we investigate the complex interplay between both kinds of influences. Participants completed three legal cases in which they could freely search for information. We manipulated between subjects whether systematic search was possible or not and measured the assessment of each selected piece of information. In line with previous studies, we observe strong coherence effects in each study, in that the evidence interpretation strongly depended on the current tendency towards acquittal or conviction. In contrast to our expectation, however, people searched for information that was contrary to their current belief in the given case (i.e., disconfirmatory information search). We also observed a trend towards an interaction between both factors, in that coherence effects were slightly stronger for neutral and pro-guilty evidence when systematic information search was possible. Our results underline an unconscious striving for coherence when making complex judgments that is not easily corrected.     

PAYING MORE TO HIRE THE BEST? FOREIGN FIRMS,WAGES, AND WORKER MOBILITY

In the context of the debate on the labor‐market consequences of globalization, we adopt an original approach toward the identification of the wage differences between foreign and domestic firms: worker mobility. Using matched employer‐employee panel data for Portugal, we consider virtually all spells of interfirm mobility over a period of 10 yr. We find that foreign firms offer significantly more generous wage policies, although there is also a (smaller) selection effect. The results are robust to the consideration of displaced workers, wage growth differences in the new firms, and different subsets of workers. (JEL J31, J63, F23)