The labor market costs of conflict: closures, foreign workers, and Palestinian employment and earnings

In this paper, we provide a lower bound estimate of the labor market costs of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The conflict is quantified by the number of overseas foreign workers in the Israeli labor market and the frequency of temporary closures of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. IV estimates, which exploit a source of exogenous variation in the number of overseas foreign workers, yield significant negative effects of the conflict on Palestinian employment rates in Israel and monthly earnings. Our cost-of-conflict estimates are also relevant for the literature on the economics of immigration.     

ETHNIC LABOR MARKETS, GENDER, AND SOCIOECONOMIC INEQUALITY:

The research examines the way in which the economic structure of the Arab labor market in Israel, coupled with gender-linked occupational segregation affects gender differences in socioeconomic attainment. The analysis is based on the 1983 Israeli Census of Population. The concept of ethnic labor market is discussed in a comparative perspective, shifting the focus to public sector employment which is central to the Arab labor market in Israel. The analyses led to a twofold conclusion: first, the Arab labor market in Israel operates as a protected labor market, and second, it interacts with gender in the determination of socioeconomic outcomes. In the absence of competition minority workers are able to achieve in the ethnic labor market high status occupational positions that are typically denied them in the wider society. The occupational advantages are especially pronounced among Arab women. For men, employment in the ethnic labor market increases occupational status but provides lower earnings than employment outside.     

Farm Wives' Labor Force Participation and Earnings

Abstract The decisions of farm wives to work off the farm and the earnings they make in that off-farm employment should be considered simultaneously. Previous studies of wives' off-farm earnings have included only employed wives in their analyses of the factors affecting earnings, which results in biased estimates. This study tests, via Tobit analysis, a model which includes all farm wives and examines the effects of wives' human capital, farm and family constraints, and labor market characteristics on both their off-farm employment decisions and their earnings. Wives' off-farm earnings are found to be related to wives' education, labor market experience, presence of children, other family income, farm size, and debt/income ratio. Changes in these factors have a greater influence on the labor market participation decisions of farm wives than on the variation in their earnings, once employed.     

The Impact of Labor Market Structure on Sex Differences in Earnings

This research examines how structural features of a labor market affect the size of the male-female earnings differential in that market. Theoretical predictions are tested using data on the earnings of male and female academics in the US. Measures of labor market structure are shown to be significantly associated with the size of the earnings differential in 56 labor markets corresponding to specific academic disciplines. As predicted, an oversupply of labor within a market and greater career embeddedness in a single organization within a market increased the size of the earnings gap between men and women. Contrary to predictions, greater flows of information in the market and market permeability had no impact on the size of the earnings differential within markets. In addition, higher percentages of women in the market decreased the wage differential within markets. Additional analysis at the individual level found that men were penalized less than women when labor market conditions led to lower wages. Findings generally support the theoretical position that structural characteristics of the labor market affect the ability of employers to engage in salary discrimination against women.     

Institutional Structure and Immigrant Integration: A Comparative Study of Immigrants' Labor Market Attainment in Canada and Israel1

The present study focuses on the incorporation of immigrants from the former Soviet Union in two receiving societies, Israel and Canada, during the first half of the 1990s. Both countries conducted national censuses in 1995 (Israel) and 1996 (Canada), making it possible to identify a large enough sample of immigrants and provide information on their demographic characteristics and their labor market activity. While both Canada and Israel are immigrant societies, their institutional contexts of immigrant reception differ considerably. Israel maintains no economic selection of the Jewish immigrants and provides substantial support for newcomers, who are viewed as a returning Diaspora. Canada employs multiple criteria for selecting immigrants, and the immigrants' social and economic incorporation is patterned primarily by market forces. The analysis first examines the characteristics of immigrants who arrived in the two countries and evaluates the extent of selectivity. Consistent with our hypotheses, Russian immigrants to Canada were more immediately suitable for the labor market, but experienced greater difficulty finding and maintaining employment. Nevertheless, immigrants to Canada attained higher‐status occupations and higher earnings than their compatriots in Israel did, although the Israeli labor market was more likely to reward their investments in education.     

Income taxation and the allocation of market labor

The allocation of work effort within the market economy will be unaffected by taxation if all returns from labor market activity are taxed equally. However, if the earnings from certain types of market employment are taxed at relatively lower rates, labor will shift into these areas until after-tax earnings are equal across all types of employment. This paper presents evidence suggesting that income taxation induces labor to move from high- to low-tax geographic areas and from wage and salaried jobs into self-employment activities. By affecting the allocation of market labor, the income tax generates a welfare loss in addition to that resulting from the tax’s effect on total work effort.     

The Effects of Metropolitan Residence on the Off-Farm Earnings of Farm Families in the United States1

Abstract Previous research on the effects of urbanization on farming and farm families has focused on the consequences of urban expansion on farming practice rather than on the well-being of farm families. Proximity to urban areas has been found to alter the way farm families utilize the nonfarm labor market. In this study, the off-farm earnings of husbands and wives in farm families are compared across metropolitan (metro) and nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) areas using data from the March supplement to the 1989 Current Population Survey. Censored regression models (tobit) and decomposition are used to demonstrate the effects of nonfarm labor market differences on off-farm labor force participation and earnings. The analysis reveals that farm family members, as expected, have significantly higher rates of participation and earnings in metropolitan areas. But this analysis also reveals that increases in off-farm participation are likely to have a larger effect on total off-farm earnings in nonmetropolitan areas than returns to those already working off-farm. The potential for increases in off-farm earnings will be underestimated in nonmetro areas when changes in participation in the off-farm labor market are not taken into account.     

SUBURBAN LABOR MARKETS, URBAN LABOR MARKETS, AND GENDER INEQUALITY IN EARNINGS

This study focuses on the role of labor market location in generating gender inequality in earnings. Specifically, the article examines whether suburban versus urban labor market conditions differentially affect gender-based earnings inequality. Tel Aviv metropolitan area labor force data support the thesis that women's tendency to settle for jobs in the vicinity of home is an exchange between economic opportunities and convenience, to avoid conflict with traditional roles. The cost of staying in the suburban labor market is greater for women than men, and suburban exceeds urban labor market gender-linked economic discrimination.     

Nationality and Income Attainment among Native and Immigrant Hispanic Men in the United States*

This study examines earnings inequality between Hispanic-origin men and non-Hispanic white men (referred to as white) using the 1976 Survey of Income and Education. Results show that human capital and labor supply variables have more impact on Hispanic earnings than labor market characteristics. Post-school job experience and weeks worked conform most consistently to the predictions of micro-economic labor theory. Formal schooling, while positively related to earnings, does not uniformly influence job rewards among Hispanic-origin groups. Ecological variables (social and economic organization) of the labor market have less impact on earnings. There is some evidence that whites benefit from the presence of large concentrations of minority workers, while two Hispanic groups—native Mexican and other Spanish men—are negatively affected by high concentrations of Hispanic workers. A composition analysis shows that from 10 to 50 percent of the earnings gap between Hispanic and white men may be attributable to discrimination.     

Studienmotivation, Erwerbspartizipation und der Einstieg in den Arbeitsmarkt

Increased student enrollment in public universities has led to a debate on curricula reform with a view to limiting the length of study, particularly by introducing tuition fees for long-time students. It is implicitly assumed in this debate that all students are full-time students. We investigate why and to what extent students participate in the labor market. Furthermore, we study the effects of part-time work on the time it takes to graduate, to find employment and on the level of earnings. We analyze two data sets, first, a survey among students enrolled at the University of Bern conducted during summer 2001 (N = 3360) and secondly, a survey of all university graduates in Switzerland conducted in 2001 (N = 7005). The results show that labor market participation increases the time it takes students to reach graduation. However, labor market experience reduces the time it takes graduates to find employment and increases their earnings by 4 percent if their experience was related to the subject being studied. Labor market participation bearing no relation to university studies has no negative effects on graduate entrance into the labor market. Thus, the study suggests that student participation in the labor market has more beneficial effects than disadvantages. In light of these results curricula reforms should take into account the possibility of gaining labor market experience.     

The Disability Screening Process and the Labor Market Behavior of Accepted and Rejected Applicants: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study

This paper uses Social Security earnings records linked to data from the Health and Retirement Study to examine the labor market behavior of rejected and accepted disability applicants prior to their application. We find that rejected applicants have substantially lower earnings and labor force participation rates during the decade prior to application than beneficiaries. Also, we find some evidence of a divergence between these groups, with rejected applicants leaving the labor force at a faster rate than beneficiaries as their application date approaches. One interpretation of these results is that the disability screening process on average separates those who are at least partially motivated by adverse economic circumstances when applying for disability benefits from other applicants.     

The earnings of Asian male immigrants in the Canadian labor market

"The earnings of Asian-born immigrants in the Canadian labor market declined relative to the earnings of native-born workers between 1981 and 1986. Analysis of the labor market performance of immigrants from four regions of Asia--Southern Asia, South East Asia, Eastern Asia and Western Asia--shows that Asian immigrants are a heterogeneous group. However, changes in the birthplace composition of Asian immigrants cannot explain the fall in the relative earnings of the Asian aggregate. Attention is drawn to the switch in the distribution of immigrants across the admission classes as a possible explanation of this phenomenon."     

Sexual orientation and full-time monthly earnings, by public and private sector: evidence from Swedish register data

In this paper we explore annual earnings as well as full-time monthly earnings differentials resulting from sexual orientation. We observe that gay males are at an earnings disadvantage compared to male heterosexuals regardless of which earnings measure we use. This earnings disadvantage is found to be larger when we compare gay and heterosexual males who are working full-time. In addition, the disadvantage is larger in the private than in the public sector. Lesbians, however, earn more than heterosexual females. This earnings advantage is considerably smaller when we study full-time monthly rather than annual earnings but an earnings advantage for lesbians at the top of the earnings distribution is documented regardless of which earnings measure we use. In addition, lesbians are doing better than female heterosexuals in the public sector. To sum up, the results indicate that gay males face obstacles on the labor market that hinder them from reaching top-level positions and high earnings. The earnings advantage observed for lesbians is likely to stem from the fact that lesbians devote more time to market work than heterosexual females do.     

The labor supply of male Hispanic immigrants in the United States

"Several recent studies have begun the systematic analysis of the labor market characteristics of Hispanics in the United States. This research has focused on two related issues: a) how the immigration and assimilation experience affects Hispanic earnings; and b) the measurement of wage differentials between Hispanics and non-Hispanics. The main findings of this research are that the earnings of (some) Hispanic immigrants rise rapidly after immigration; and that the wage differential between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites is generally due to differences in observable skill characteristics. This article extends previous research by focusing on another labor market characteristic: the labor supply of Hispanic immigrants."     

The returns to seniority in academic labor markets

Although earnings and seniority are believed positively related in most labor markets, the earnings of academics were thought to be an exception to this rule. Using the National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty, from 1993, we find that earnings and seniority are positively related once adequate controls for past labor market mobility are included among the regressors. In particular, we find that individuals who are currently tenured at their initial job have the steepest seniority profile of any group we examined. We also find a handsome premium paid to individuals who are hired-with-tenure. These results suggest a market characterized by competitive “raiding” of top faculty.     

The Big Five personality traits and earnings: A meta-analysis

The past two decades have witnessed increased interest in the relationship between personality and labor market outcomes, as well as the emergence of the Five-Factor Model as the key reference framework for the study of personality. In this paper, we provide the first meta-analytical review of the empirical literature on the association between personal earnings and the Big Five personality traits. The analysis combines the results of 62 peer-reviewed articles published from 2001–2020, from which we retrieved 896 partial effect sizes. Overall, the primary literature provides robust support for a positive association between personal earnings and the traits of Openness, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion, while simultaneously revealing a negative and significant association between earnings and the traits of Agreeableness and Neuroticism. We find no evidence of a substantial publication bias. Meta-regression estimates suggest that Openness and Conscientiousness are positively associated with earnings even when primary researchers control for individual cognitive abilities and educational attainments. Similarly, the studies that include labor market control variables exhibit weaker associations between earnings and Extraversion and Agreeableness. The results of the primary studies seem unaffected by the time at which the Big Five are measured, as well as by the scale and number of inventory items. Meta-regression estimates suggest that the results of the primary literature are not stable across cultures and gender, and that the ranking and academic field of the journal matter.     

SOURCES OF EARNINGS INEQUALITY IN THE BLACK AND WHITE FEMALE LABOR FORCES

Earnings inequality trends and their sources from 1975 to 1986 are evaluated for two historically subordinate working groups—black and white women—using Current Population Survey data. The dual nature of women's employment, improved earnings opportunities, and continuing segregation into low-paying positions create conditions under which earnings inequality in these two groups is expected to increase. Two sources of changing inequality levels are examined to determine which better explains inequality trends: the redistribution of women across labor market positions, which should have occurred due to industrial restructuring; and changes in the rates of earnings returns to labor market positions. For both groups, changes in returns better explain positive inequality trends in the 1980s, although black women's earnings are somewhat more influenced than whites' by their redistribution across labor market positions.     

Language as Both Human Capital and Ethnicity1

In this study, we estimate earnings differentials for knowledge of thirteen minority languages in Canada's three largest urban area. We find that conditional on knowledge of a majority language, knowledge of a minority language is associated with lower earnings. However, the negative differential diminishes for those languages with large local populations. This suggests a positive human capital effect which is for the most part swamped by a negative factor. We argue that this factor is a reflection of ethnicity operating either through ethnolinguistic labor market enclaves or labor market discrimination against minorities.     

Women’s Earnings Before and After Marital Dissolution: Evidence from Longitudinal Earnings Records Matched to Survey Data

This paper investigates the change in women’s earnings following marital dissolution from a longitudinal approach. Using unique data that matches the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) with Social Security longitudinal earnings records, we examine marital dissolution events occurring between 1985 and 2003. Results show significant increases in women’s labor market involvement and earnings following marital dissolutions over the past two decades. We find greater labor force involvement prior to the dissolution event among more recent divorcees; however, among those already in the labor force, the pattern of change in earnings associated with divorce has changed little over the examined period. Human capital and family characteristics were associated with the change in earnings after marital dissolution.     

Can earnings equations estimates improve CPS hot-deck imputations?

Some participants in income and labor market surveys fail to report their earnings. We use data on imputed and reported wages for the same workers, taken from the 1988 change in the CPS processing system to compare actual earnings to both hotdeck and earnings-equations imputations. Our results indicate that failure to correct for non-participation is a serious and continuing problem in the current CPS processing system.