Modelling Job-Search Duration from the Italian Labour Force Data

ABSTRACT: Micro (and possibly panel) data from the Labour Force Surveys are a valuable source for analysing the labour supply behaviour. Among the information collected by the quarterly Italian Labour Force Survey conducted by ISTAT (the Italian national statistical agency), there are data on the duration of job-search. From a single survey, one can only know the duration of search up to the time of the interview. Nonetheless, by appropriately exploiting the longitudinal structure of the survey (the sample scheme is a rotated one, with a 50|X% overlapping of the sample units in two subsequent quarters) it is possible to measure, although imperfectly, some completed spells of job-search. In this paper, we try to model the duration of job-search for a sample of young unemployed. Considerable attention is devoted to the measure of duration of search, and to the evaluation of its accuracy. A one state proportional hazard model is specified and estimated, accounting also for unobserved heterogeneity. The model is estimated on a sample of young (15 to 29 years old) unemployed in January 1986 reinterviewed in April, in an Italian region (Lombardy). The major finding is a fairly clear evidence, both for males and females, of negative duration dependence, even after accounting for the unobserved heterogeneity that turns out to affect the female population.     

Brain Emotion Systems,Personality, Hopelessness,Self/Other Perception,and Gambling Cognition: A Structural Equation Model

The aim of this study was to explore the relations between gambling, brain emotion systems, personality, self/other perception, and hopelessness in an Italian community. Dimensions of gambling, positive and negative emotions, self/other perception, personality and hopelessness were assessed in a community sample of 235 adults aged 19–59 years. Two structural models were tested. We found a significant correlation between problem gambling and impulsivity, which in association with aggressivity and negative personality dimensions may help explain the psychopathology factor, i.e. a latent variable involving neurotic personality, hopelessness, high sensation seeking, low metacognitive responsiveness, and disorganized patterns of interpersonal relationships. These results contribute to develop a theoretical framework of gambling in relation with personality factors and provide a new approach for clinical intervention of problem gambling that relies on a solid multidimensional perspective.     

Unemployment and Search for Work: Exploratory Analyses of Labour Market Attachment using CPS-Type Data

Abstract. This paper deals with measuring unemployment and labour market attachment in Italy, on the basis of CPS-type survey data. It is shown that the size and rate of unemployment are highly sensitive to modest variations in the definition of unemployment. This motivates a different approach. Based on the answers to a set of questions on search for work, a cluster analysis is performed, which yields four well established groups. Comparing them with the official labour force classifications, two “grey areas” appear at the borders between employment, unemployment and inactivity, which are of some interest in interpreting labour market attachment.     

What is Qualitative in Research

Qualitative Sociology - In this text we respond and elaborate on the four comments addressing our original article. In that piece we define qualitative research as an “iterative process in...     

What is Qualitative in Qualitative Research

Qualitative Sociology - What is qualitative research? If we look for a precise definition of qualitative research, and specifically for one that addresses its distinctive feature of being...     

The Effect of a Longer Eligibility to a Labour Market Programme for Dismissed Workers

Liste di Mobilità is an Italian programme targeted to dismissed workers. It combines a ‘passive’ and an ‘active’ component. Eligibility duration varies with the worker's age at dismissal. Using a new panel data set, we identify the impact of extending the duration of eligibility on re‐employment probabilities and wages, via Regression Discontinuity Design. We validate the design by a set of overidentification tests. For most subgroups we find no significant impact, with a peculiar pattern for women entitled to monetary benefits. A major negative impact emerges for workers aged 50 or more granted monetary benefits, likely due to the fact that they can use the programme as a bridge to retirement.     

Livestock in the Household Economy: Cross‐Country Evidence from Microeconomic Data

The development of the livestock sector can contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction, but there is inadequate understanding of livestock‐livelihoods linkages. This article draws on household‐level data from 12 developing countries to investigate the livestock‐asset position of rural households and its contribution to their income. The majority keep livestock; the less well‐off are more likely to keep livestock than the better‐off, but the very poor often lack the resources to invest in small animals. The key policy conclusion is that, contrary to common belief, there are no universal messages about livestock: policy needs to be tailored to farming systems, species, uses of livestock and different wealth groups.     

Choosing between alternative classification criteria to measure the labour force state

Summary.  Labour force counting relies on general guidelines that are set by the International Labour Office to classify individuals into three labour force states: employment, unemployment and inactivity. However, the resulting statistics are known to be sensitive to slight variations in operational definitions which are prima facie consistent with the general guidelines. We consider two interpretations of the general guidelines, operationalized by the criterion that is currently followed by Eurostat and a criterion that was followed by the Italian Statistical Office up to 1992. After showing that the labour force statistics resulting from the two criteria differ considerably, we compare individuals whose classification depends on the criterion that is adopted with individuals whose classification is common between criteria to study the boundary between unemployment and inactivity. An application of our strategy is presented using data from the Italian Labour Force Survey, painting a picture neatly against the criterion that is currently followed by Eurostat.     

Semiparametric predictive mean matching

Predictive mean matching is an imputation method that combines parametric and nonparametric techniques. It imputes missing values by means of the Nearest Neighbor Donor with distance based on the expected values of the missing variables conditional on the observed covariates, instead of computing the distance directly on the values of the covariates. In ordinary predictive mean matching the expected values are computed through a linear regression model. In this paper a generalization of the original predictive mean matching is studied. Here the expected values used for computing the distance are estimated through an approach based on Gaussian mixture models. This approach includes as a special case the original predictive mean matching but allows one to deal also with nonlinear relationships among the variables. In order to assess its performance, an empirical evaluation based on simulations is carried out.