Care earnings in the United States and 24 European countries: The role of social policy and labour market institutions

Care occupations are gendered and remain relatively poorly paid, particularly in the United States. Prior research on the ‘care penalty’ primarily points to individual, relational, and market-valuation factors in explaining the relative earnings of care workers. This study integrates these explanations with a comparative institutional perspective. Using higher-quality data and methods than previous comparative research in the field—that is, harmonized micro-data from the Current Population Survey and EU-SILC from 2005 to 2016, country and year fixed effects models, and a counterfactual analysis—we find that national variance in labour market and welfare state institutions explains most of the difference in the relative earnings of reproductive care workers between the United States and European countries. Higher rates of collective bargaining coverage, stronger employment protection and welfare state spending contribute to higher relative earnings for reproductive care occupations, and lower relative earnings for high-status nurturant care occupations. Differences in the relative earnings of care workers appear to be mostly a construct of social policy and labour market institutions rather than individual, relational, and market-valuation factors.     

Self Selection Bias in the Estimates of Compensating Differentials for Job Risks in India

This study contributes to the hedonic wage literature in developing countries by estimating the collective willingness to pay of a statistical life/injury, using an original data set from the Indian labor market. As self-selection by workers results in biased estimates of the wage premium for job risks, the study uses a modified selectivity bias correction technique. Empirical results indicate substantial heterogeneity in returns to risk. The estimated value of life without selectivity bias is Rs. 56 million (US $3 million), which is substantially larger than the value with selection bias. The estimates provided by the study can aid policy makers, international agencies and other researchers in evaluating health projects in India and other developing countries.     

Dirty money: Is there a wage premium for working in a pollution intensive industry?

Within a compensating wage differential framework we investigate whether there is a wage premium for working in a pollution intensive industry. Our results for the economy as a whole suggest a small wage premium of approximately one quarter of one percent associated with the risk of working in a dirty job. This premium rises to over fifteen percent for those individuals who work in one of the five dirtiest industries. We also find evidence of a fatal risk wage premium, providing estimates of the value of a statistical life of between ￡12 million and ￡19 million (2000 prices).     

网络空间性别不平等的再生产:互联网工资溢价效应的性别差异——以第三期妇女地位调查为例

本文通过倾向值匹配的方法发现：在控制了其他因素之后,互联网使用者的平均工资收入是非使用者的1.38倍;同时,互联网溢价效应存在着显著的性别差异,女性的互联网工资溢价为男性互联网工资溢价的90.6%。此外,本文发现,互联网工资溢价效应与人们的网络行为密切相关。男性相比女性,具有更强烈的使用互联网资源进行再学习和人力资本再积累的偏好;在女性互联网使用者之间,性别观念更平等的女性具有更强烈的使用互联网资源进行再学习和人力资本再积累的偏好。在传统的网络空间性别不平等的研究框架下,本文着重于探析性别文化观念如何影响人们对互联网的使用偏好和使用方式,从而成为导致网络空间性别不平等的再生产的重要原因和机制。     

Compensating wage differentials for fatal injury risk in Australia,Japan, and the United States

Our research infers the effects of institutionalized wage setting and lengthy worker-firm attachment by comparing estimated compensating wage differentials for fatal injury risk in Japanese, Australian, and U.S. manufacturing. Hedonic labor market equilibrium regressions for Japan reveal a statistically fragile compensating wage differential of 0% to 1.4% for exposure to the average fatality risk compared to employment in a perfectly safe workplace. Australian workers receive a statistically robust 2.5% estimated wage premium. Using new data on work-related fatalities, we find a 1% compensating wage differential in U.S. manufacturing that becomes more positive and statistically less significant as data are aggregated.     

集体协商：“民工荒”背景下农民工权益保障的现实路径

缓解当前的＂民工荒＂,首先需要加强对农民工合法权益的保护,笔者认为将集体协商制度的覆盖面落实到农民工群体是一条可行路径。为此,首先需要培育农民工劳动力市场,将市场调节作为集体协商运作的经济基础;其次加强政府对农民工集体协商的宏观指导,为农民工参与集体协商制度提供政策、法规保障;第三要培育规范的谈判主体,使谈判双方主体的地位对等。     

Job Skill and Black Male Wage Discrimination*

Objective. Debate over the causes of wage inequality have raised suggestions that, rather than discrimination, skill differences may be the reason for racial wage disparities. The purpose of this research is to examine what impact on‐the‐job skill differences have on wage inequality. Method. I regress the log wage onto race and a measure of skill. The Multi‐City Study of Urban Inequality Employer Survey is particularly useful in this analysis because it contains the employer's evaluation of the worker's relative skill against other workers. Result. When white and black men have the same employer's competitive performance rating, rather than decreasing racial wage differences, the differences actually increase. Conclusion. The wage gap is not a skills gap, but evidence of racial discrimination in the labor market.     

从职业病防治看我国集体合同制度的不足与完善

职业病防治法的规定已经较落后,应当对其进行修改,扩大职业病的范围,同时为集体合同约定职业病条款预留空间。改革职业病的管理体制,积极完善工会组织,充分利用行业集体合同、区域集体合同和专项集体合同等现有机制,通过集体协商,引导劳动者和用人单位通过集体合同解决职业病防治问题,无论对于合同双方主体还是对于整个社会都是有益的。     

A longitudinal examination of earnings inequality and mobility among young, full-time workers in the United States

This paper analyzes longitudinal data on earnings inequality and mobility for young, year-round full-time wage and salary workers in the United States. In general, we find that although real earnings across quintiles increased during the 1990s, earnings inequality continued to grow and upward earnings mobility declined slightly during the decade.     

The Obese Smoker's Wage Penalty*

Objective. Smoking and obesity are associated with significant wage penalties when considered separately. We assess the combined effects of those behaviors. Methods. We estimate the effects of smoking and obesity on wages using multivariate regression analysis with 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data. Results. The raw data indicate that obese smokers experience large earnings penalties. However, these penalties are not found to be interactive or directly causal for most of the demographic subgroups we examine. One exception is the wage penalty associated with obesity for females, which remains significant throughout the analysis. Conclusions. In the absence of a demonstrable direct causal effect of those behaviors on wages, associated individual‐specific socioeconomic factors appear to be the driving forces behind the obese smoker wage penalty. Not included, but potentially significant, are the effects of employer and customer discrimination against obese smokers and the possible labor policy implications of such discrimination.     

集体谈判的内部国家机制：以温岭羊毛衫行业工价集体谈判为例

集体谈判作为西方社会劳资冲突制度化的社会发明,不但得到工人和工会的拥护,同时也引起了雇主的兴趣。通过协商的程序、承诺的遵守以及共同利益的形成,可以构筑消解工人集体怨恨、制造工人认同的内部国家机制。在中国,工会受组合主义限制,尚不能成为集体谈判的有效发起者,愈演愈烈的劳资冲突却有可能使雇主成为实际的“发动引擎”。本文通过对温岭羊毛衫行业工价集体谈判过程的描述,探讨在竞争和斗争的背景下,雇主和工人在集体谈判过程中的互动,以及在以生存伦理为基础的工人群体中逐步形成从“无序抗争”到“有序遵守”的内部国家机制。     

Compensating wage differentials for workplace accidents: Evidence for union and nonunion workers in the UK

This article measures compensating wage differentials for job risks for union and nonunion workers. Job risk is made endogenous to avoid a selectivity bias arising if more able people choose safer jobs. We find that this adjustment has a considerable effect on the union group, raising their fatal risk premium above that of non union workers. This implies that there is more variation in unmeasured ability in the unionized group, and that job risk is an inferior good. The fact that unionized workers are also found in safer jobs might therefore be attributable to their greater wealth, rather than to greater“knowledge” in the unionized plant. The estimated statistical value of a life is £8.8 million in 1990 prices for union workers, with nonunion workers about 20% lower.     

Gender gaps in STEM in Japanese academia: The impact of research productivity,outside offers,and home life on pay

To understand differences in labor market outcomes between genders, economists must examine a complex array of potentially significant factors, such as institutional context, productivity differences, child-bearing and home production, and bargaining behavior. Many of these factors are not well captured by standard data sources. We use a new survey of academics in Japan to better understand the sources of gender pay differences. We find a 6% pay gap which persists when we control for research productivity, despite an institutional context shaped by explicit salary tables. We do not find a motherhood wage penalty, and the gender salary we document is not affected by differences in outside job offers.     

Global–regional interaction to extend access to social protection for migrant workers: Insights from ASEAN and MERCOSUR

Universal access to social protection for migrant workers is emerging as a problematic issue in the implementation of free movement regimes at a regional level. This article focuses on the concept of regional governance as a possible mechanism to address the unsolved challenges of social security regimes to extend coverage. To this end, the article looks at current legal developments in two regional projects (ASEAN and MERCOSUR) to identify a creative approach to strengthen the development of national floors of social protection. The interest of using these case studies lies in exploring whether the regional integration process can play a major role in the progressive extension of social protection rights to migrant workers by facilitating the adoption of social security agreements.     

Does Welfare Participation Affect Women's Wages?*

Objectives. This study examines how welfare participation and employment affect women's wages. Methods. We use longitudinal data from the 1996 Survey of Income and Program Participation and fixed‐effects regression models to test our hypotheses. Results. Our results indicate that time spent on welfare while unemployed results in a wage penalty that is similar to the penalty associated with nonwelfare work breaks. Time spent on welfare while employed has no effect on wages, unlike the strong positive impact of nonwelfare work periods. Conclusions. Working while on welfare does appear to prevent further wage deterioration, but does not lead to substantial wage growth.     

Immigration and wage inequality in the 1990s: Panel evidence from the current population survey

In spite of record economic growth in the 1990s, income inequality continued to escalate in the United States. One popular explanation is that the proportion of unskilled immigrant inflows has increased due to policy reforms over the last four decades. This study evaluates the impact of immigrant skills on inequality using a panel data set of states derived from the March Current Population Survey (CPS). The data set provides unique insights into local impacts of immigration due to its ability to discern shorter-term annual adjustments versus the traditional longer-term focus of the Decennial Census. Using a basic theoretical model to develop testable hypotheses, the dynamic analyses reveal that increased relative inflows of unskilled immigrants indeed increase wage inequality. The impact on native wage inequality is especially pronounced, with an effect nearly twice as large as that on overall wage inequality.     

Gender Pay Differentials in Portugal: Contributions to the Employment Policy Debate in the European Union

Since the implementation of the European Employment Strategy in the 1990s, the issue of gender gaps in the European Union labour markets has been granted a high profile. The Portuguese labour market has performed well on various indicators relating to gender equality, namely, participation and employment rates. Nevertheless, a persistent pay gap remains despite the recent evolution of the labour market, especially concerning the average education level of workers. This article investigates the main factors explaining the gender pay gap across two decades and the way those factors perform along time. We also discuss the means of closing the gap in the context of the European Employment Strategy, considering the lessons from other member states. We used wage decomposition techniques to analyse the relative importance of differences in the productive characteristics of workers, differences in the way men and women are distributed among jobs and the relative importance of discrimination practices. Our findings suggest that most of the pay gap is due to discrimination practices. Individual action by economic agents is insufficient to solve the persistent pay gap. Social partners must incorporate this issue within collective bargaining in order to construct an adequate strategy for reducing the gap, which can only be done by engaging men and women, employees and employers.     

Risk aversion in bargaining: An experimental study

This paper reports the results of three experiments designed to test the predictions of the principal game-theoretic models of bargaining concerning the influence of risk aversion on bargaining outcomes. These models predict that risk aversion will be disadvantageous in bargaining except in situations in which potential agreements are lotteries with a positive probability of being worse than disagreement. The experimental results support the models' predictions. However, in the range of payoffs studied here, the effects due to risk aversion may be smaller than some of the focal point effects observed in previous experiments. Implications for further theoretical and experimental work are considered.     

最低工资管制的就业效应分析

非线性规划分析表明,最低工资管制的就业后果不仅取决于最低工资管制本身, 还取决于外部监管环境,当监管环境强化到一定程度时,最低工资管制的就业冲击会扩大。基于粤闽两省439家企业调查数据的实证分析表明,2008年提高最低工资标准对农民工的就业冲击明显强于2007年,但对城镇劳动力没有造成明显强化的冲击。进一步分析证明,农民工就业冲击的扩大主要源于《劳动合同法》引起的监管环境的强化,而城镇劳动力就业冲击没有扩大主要源于二元就业制度对城镇劳动力利益的优先保护。这提醒我们,《劳动合同法》对就业的影响很可能会通过强化最低工资管制等其他管制措施的效果来间接实现。     

Modeling agricultural risk management policies – The implementation of the Income Stabilization Tool in Italy

This paper investigates the potential impact of the income stabilisation tool (IST), currently introduced in the European Common Agricultural Policy to reduce farmers’ income risks using Italian agriculture as case study. The paper extends the existing literature by investigating the effects of two implementation issues: level of aggregation of mutual funds (MF); definition of farmers’ contribution (i.e. premium) to MF. We use a simulation approach based on a FADN panel data set of 3421 farms over a period of 7 years to investigate effects on (i) farm-level income variability, (ii) the expected level and variability of indemnifications at the level of mutual funds and (iii) the distribution of net benefits from this policy instrument across the farm population. We find that the introduction of the IST would lead to a significant reduction of income variability in Italian agriculture. Our results support the establishment of a national mutual fund due to the high volatility of indemnification levels at more disaggregated (e.g. regional or sectoral) levels. In addition, our results propose that farmers’ contribution to mutual funds, i.e. premiums paid, should be modulated according to farm size as this reduces the inequality of the distribution of benefits of such tool within the farm population.