Labor Market Search and Optimal Retirement Policy

A popular and long‐standing view is that social security is a means for young, unemployed people to “purchase” jobs from older workers. Can social security, by encouraging retirement and hence creating job vacancies for the young, improve the allocation of workers to jobs? Maybe, according to a standard model of labor market search, but public retirement programs currently pay the elderly substantially more than their jobs are worth. An important effect is that retirement reduces the value of other vacant jobs. Our results imply that recent reforms aimed at reducing retirement incentives are likely to improve labor market efficiency.     

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.     

The Influence of Age and Type of Job on Gender Differences in Pay Expectations

This study examined the extent to which gender and type of job influenced pay expectations in elementary school, secondary school, and college students. Participants were presented with a list of 12 jobs evenly divided between primarily female, primarily male, and gender neutral occupations. Using a relative rating scale, participants were asked to indicate how much they should make if they were in the occupation. A significant interaction was found between type of job and gender for pay expectations. Suggestions for using this information in applied settings are provided.     

Gender Differences in Job Challenge: A Matter of Task Allocation

Challenging job experiences are considered important prerequisites for management development and career success. Several researchers have suggested that women are given fewer challenging assignments than their male colleagues. To test this idea we performed two studies. The first examined possible gender differences in challenging job experiences at middle job levels. The results indicated that female employees had fewer challenging experiences in their jobs than their male counterparts. The second explored the proposition that differential assignment of challenging tasks to male and female subordinates underlies gender differences in job challenge. The results indeed suggest that supervisors' task allocation decisions are not gender‐blind and may result in women having fewer challenging job experiences than men.     

Job Segregation and Gender Differences in Work-Family Spillover Among White-Collar Workers

We test two propositions in this paper: (1) work-family conflict varies with gender composition and hours on the job; and (2) women will experience more tension between work and family responsibilities than will men. Using a sample of white-collar workers, we measured work-family conflict with a composite scale tapping negative job-to-home spillover. Workgroup composition had no effect on men's reported work-family conflict, while work hours was positively associated with work-family conflict. For women, longer work hours and tokenism in the immediate workgroup increased perceptions of work-family conflict, but unexpectedly, the interaction of work hours and tokenism was negatively related to work-family conflict. We explored several possible arguments for this contrary finding.     

Job Insecurity Perceptions and Media Coverage of Labor Market Policy

This study employs a panel data set that combines information obtained from media content analysis, micro-level survey data, and macroeconomic variables to investigate the impact of media coverage on individual perceptions of job insecurity in Germany. Estimates indicate that these perceptions increase in years with greater quantity of news reporting. This volume effect is larger for socio-demographic groups with a generally low incidence of insecurity perceptions (e.g., highly educated and remunerated employees), which implies that unequally distributed perceptions converge when media coverage is strong. Moreover, the results suggest that information processing is subject to an optimism bias.     

Leaving Science: Gender Differences in Career Continuity Following a Job Loss

This study investigates gender differences in the postdisplacement experience of nonacademic science and engineering (S&E) workers. Using a pooled sample created from the Displaced Worker Surveys conducted between 1994 and 2008, it finds that (1) this S&E work force is particularly vulnerable to job loss and potential career disruption; (2) displaced female S&E workers are more likely than comparable male workers to exit the work force, a gender difference that is conditional on and explained by marital and parental status; and (3) reemployed female S&E workers are also more likely to leave science for non‐S&E occupations, but this gender difference is limited to unmarried workers. A concluding section discusses the implications of these findings for interpreting gender differences in career outcomes.     

人力资本、劳动力市场分割与性别收入差距

本文利用"中国家庭动态跟踪调查"2010年全国代表性数据,使用多层线性交互分类模型来综合考虑个体人力资本和劳动力市场分割对收入水平和性别收入差距的影响。结果表明,女性劳动者由于受教育水平低而大量在第一产业和非正式劳动力市场中就业是造成性别收入差距的重要原因。职业分割影响性别收入差距主要通过纵向分割,在不同职业内没有发现显著的性别收入差异。女性教育收益率高于男性主要是教育配置作用的结果,较高的受教育程度有助于女性进入收入水平高的行业和部门以及性别歧视程度较低的部门。     

How to Succeed in a Transnational Labor Market: Job Search and Wages among Hungarian,Slovak, and Czech Commuters in Austria

This paper deals with job search strategies and wages among cross‐border commuters residing in the Central European Region (CENTROPE). Our main aim is to investigate the role of social networks as constitutive for job searching and for successful labor market integration. We build upon a theoretical framework developed by Aguilera and Massey, reflecting on the nexus of social networks, job search methods, and related labor market outcomes. Methodologically, we use a new quantitative survey on the employment careers of cross‐border commuters residing in the regions of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary bordering on Austria, conducted in the winter/spring of 2012/2013 (N = 2,573). Our results corroborate the hypothesis that human and social capital resources as well as labor market characteristics serve as key factors for job search and labor market integration among cross‐border commuters in the CENTROPE transnational labor market.     

Gender Differences in Union Formation in Mexico: Evidence From Marital Search Models

Although increasingly appreciated for their explanatory power in developed societies, marital search models have yet to be widely applied to developing nations. This article evaluates the applicability of marital search models to marriage timing in Mexico. The analysis compares separate models of union formation for men and women that include individual and marriage market predictors. Results show that union formation is closely linked to the uncertainties surrounding the transition to adulthood and the availability of marriageable partners. Improvements in women's economic position do not diminish the attractiveness of marriage, as female independence arguments would suggest. Instead, they are a central force behind the stability of marriage behavior in Mexico. A central transformation identified in the analysis is the reduction in sex differences in age at marriage as women expand their education and labor force participation.     

Gender Ideology and Women's Labor Market Transitions Within Couples in the Netherlands

Objective

This study examines the role of women's and their partners' gender ideology in shaping women's labor market entries, exits, and changes in hours of employment.

Background

Recent research argues that women's gender ideology is crucial for understanding women's contemporary labor market participation. However, the role of male partners' gender ideology for partnered women's labor market participation has received less attention.

Method

The analysis uses three waves of a large‐scale household panel survey based on a random sample of individuals within Dutch households. Random‐effect models are applied to study whether women's and their partners' gender ideology are associated with women's labor market transitions and whether relevant household characteristics' associations with women's labor market transitions are conditional on both partners' gender ideology.

Results

Women's gender ideology is associated with the probability of women's labor market entries and exits, but not with changes in women's hours worked, whereas their male partners' ideology is related only to the probability of women's labor market exits. Furthermore, the negative association of having children with changes in women's hours worked is stronger for traditional compared to egalitarian women. There is no clear evidence that gender ideology moderates the association of the male partner's labor market resources with women's labor market transitions.

Conclusion

Women's labor market transitions are not only reactions to economic pressure and institutional constraints but also women's and marginally their partners' gender attitudes.     

Domestic Division of Labor and Self/Organizationally Employed Differences in Job Attitudes and Earnings

This study analyzes the association between self-employment and work-related outcomes including negative spillover between work and home, earnings, and job attitudes. National Study of the Changing Work Force 1997 data support the idea that self-employment provides workers with more scope for matching work activities to their presumed roles in the domestic division of labor. Among married women, the self-employed experience is associated with less negative spillover from job-to-home, greater job satisfaction, and less job burnout. Where pre-school children are present, the earnings of self-employed women are much less than the earnings of the organizationally employed. Among men, self-employment is associated with more job-to-home spillover when there are small children in the family, and with greater job satisfaction.     

The Organizational Practice of Gendered Employment: Disparate Impact and Gender Segregation in the Japanese Entry-Level Labor Market

Abstract

This article discusses the supposedly “gender-neutral” Japanese organizational hiring practice of using a track-based employment system. In this system, prospective employees are required to accept nationwide transfers in residence to obtain career-track positions. Women have difficulty fulfilling this requirement because of cultural expectations to settle down and tend to domestic affairs (day care is often hard to access). Using job placement data on graduates from a Japanese university, I found that women are more likely to be hired into firms without this track system, where they are mostly hired for non-career-track positions. Therefore, seemingly gender-neutral bureaucratic rules actually disparately affect women, maintaining gender inequality in the corporate-centered economy of Japan.     

大学毕业生工作搜寻时间演变特征

从大学毕业生工作搜寻时间的演变来分析大学生就业难问题是一个较独特的视角。对上海某大学毕业生工作搜寻时间演变特征的实证分析发现,目前大学生工作搜寻时间在变长,签约时间分布也呈现明显的集中化趋势。这些演变特征与毕业生的期望薪资、工作搜寻成本、就业工作规律、心理压力等有关。因此,大学毕业生应调整期望工资水平、利用签约时间规律,相关部门也要加强就业信息网络建设,提高大学毕业生的就业效率。     

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.     

Labor Market Institutions and Job Mobility in Asian Societies: A Comparative Study of Japan and Taiwan

In this article we focus on job mobility patterns in Japan and Taiwan, exploring how local institutional settings are linked to patterns of job mobility. Previous studies have distinguished between involuntary and voluntary job mobility. However, more diverse patterns of job mobility may also exist, which are not captured by this dichotomy. In this study we used representative national survey data from Japan and Taiwan and analyzed five types of job turnover: involuntary, positive voluntary, negative voluntary, family related and other. Using event history models we found significant differences between the two societies. First, the effect of higher education on voluntary job mobility was weaker in Japan than in Taiwan. Second, the effect of organizational size on voluntary job mobility was stronger in Japan than in Taiwan. Third, these tendencies were more significant for men than for women. These results suggest that the local institutional filters affect the turnover process.     

为了男女平等理想

Gender equality is closely related to the customs and social development of a country. Given the different cultures between East and West, gender issues vary from one nation to another. The advancement of gender equality, whether in developed or developing countries, also differs from one nation to another.     

Gender Differences in Managerial Intention

This study focuses on existing gender differences within management and within vertical career mobility. Some theoretical explanations of these differences are discussed, with behaviour and motivation theories as the base for the present study. The influence of different variables, such as outcome expectancies, perceived self-efficacy, subjective norm, work-role salience and perceived motivating job characteristics are examined. Data were gathered in two separate organizations. It was hypothesized that the motivation for a managerial job is less for females than males, which can be explained by the variables under study. In both studies perceived self-efficacy was the most important predictor of intention to assume a managerial job. Multiple regression analysis revealed significant relationships among the different variables of the theoretical model and the strengths of these relationships. In one of the two organizations, men showed a greater disposition to a managerial job, and their perceived self-efficacy was higher. It is concluded then that managerial intention can be influenced by the organizational context.