Racial and Gender Wage Differentials in South Africa: What can Cohort Data tell?

Three subsequent years of the October Household Survey data are used to construct a synthetic panel. Preparing cross sectional data that way allows to better utilise individual information and to address temporal developments also in the absence of genuine panel data. This paper focuses on gender and race specific cohort wages. Average earnings of birth cohorts of African and White workers employed full-time in formal sector jobs are followed over time and wage differentials as well as the mobility of cohort wages are studied in detail. A decomposition of African cohort wages into age, cohort, and year effects gives information about the existence of cohort effects. Results suggest that especially for African women such generational trends may differ from the theoretical expectation. However, to arrive at assured results a greater number of periods is needed

Overeducation in the early career of secondary education graduates : an analysis using sequence techniques

Based on monthly observations of their labour market status in the first seven years after leaving education, this paper uses optimal matching sequence analysis to construct a typology of entry-patterns of Flemish secondary education graduates. Our main finding is that for a significant number of young people overeducation constitutes a persistent problem, affecting about half of the sample for nearly the full observation period. Investigating the risk factors involved, we find that some factors, such as having lower human capital endowments or facing job search constraints, enhance the risk of following disadvantageous trajectories. Having a lower reservation wage seems to make being persistently overeducated more likely. Yet, starting as ‘overeducated’ does not necessarily lead to being stuck in that state for the rest of the career. About 7% of our sample succeeds in entering an adequate position even after being overeducated for a relatively long period

Racial and Gender Wage Differentials in South Africa: What can Cohort Data tell?

Three subsequent years of the October Household Survey data are used to construct a synthetic panel. Preparing cross sectional data that way allows to better utilise individual information and to address temporal developments also in the absence of genuine panel data. This paper focuses on gender and race specific cohort wages. Average earnings of birth cohorts of African and White workers employed full-time in formal sector jobs are followed over time and wage differentials as well as the mobility of cohort wages are studied in detail. A decomposition of African cohort wages into age, cohort, and year effects gives information about the existence of cohort effects. Results suggest that especially for African women such generational trends may differ from the theoretical expectation. However, to arrive at assured results a greater number of periods is needed.Cohort data; Gender and racial wage differentials; Generational trends

WHO GETS THE JOB AND WHY? AN EXPLORATIVE STUDY OF EMPLOYERS’ RECRUITMENT BEHAVIOR

In the literature of labor economics we find many examples of studies analyzing job seekers search behavior, but few examples of the corresponding analysis of the recruitment behavior of employers. This paper gives a picture of the recruitment behavior of Swedish employers. The analysis is based on about 800 telephone interviews with employers regarding the last person they had hired. This paper relates the lemon’s problem in Akerlof with the Spence signaling model, and then it proceeds to relate indices and signals to the hiring behavior of employers. Employers mainly recruit personnel in order to expand a certain activity of their firm. On an average the total recruitment process takes about a month. In first round employers mainly look for job seekers with good education and experience. During the job interview the employer search for persons with professional knowledge, personal engagement and social competence.labor market; recruitment behavior; vacancies

Racial and gender wage differentials in South Africa: What can cohort data tell?

High poverty rates as well as a very unequal distribution of income and wealth are distinctive features of post Apartheid South Africa. Studies analysing the extent of income inequality show that since the end of Apartheid the distribution of income has at best not changed at all, but depending on the measure, might also have worsened in the last decade. The data used in most of these studies are repeated cross sections, allowing a snapshot of the extent of income inequality at several points in time. Analysing temporal changes at an individual level is not possible. This paper proceeds differently. By using subsequent waves of the October Household Surveys and Labour Force Surveys a synthetic panel will be constructed. Preparing cross sectional data that way allows us to better utilise individual information and to address temporal developments also in the absence of genuine panel data. The paper focuses on gender and population group specific cohort wages to get a more detailed description of wage inequality. Average earnings of birth cohorts of African and White workers employed full-time in formal sector jobs are followed over time and wage differentials as well as the mobility of cohort wages are studied in detail. A decomposition of African cohort wages into age, cohort, and year effects gives information about the existence of cohort effects. Results suggest that especially for young African women such generational trends may differ from the theoretical expectation. --cohort data,wage differentials,generational trends

Migrants in the job centre: Qualitative findings on migrants' experiences with public employment support services in Germany

The inclusion of migrants into the labour market is considered a key issue in order to achieve better overall integration. However, compared to the German population, unemployment rates are around twice as high among foreigners. One important knob to improve access to the labour market lies in publicly funded counselling and services, a field which has undergone fundamental policy reforms in recent years. In order to illuminate the realities of everyday-encounters between authoritative services and unemployed migrants, to identify possible shortcomings and draw some conclusions for policy development, this paper focuses on the subjective views and experiences of migrants related to the various employment services and agencies. On the basis of a qualitative interview sample, several patterns of experiences within public employment-related agencies are identified, including the perceived role of counsellors, courses and training measures, questions of diversity, discrimination and transparency as well as the overall outcome in terms of job referral and service evaluation. --

Asymmetries in union relative wage effects in Ghanaian manufacturing - an analysis applying quantile regressions

The authors analyze the determinants of earnings in Ghanaian manufacturing, focusing on the impact of unions in terms of the"union relative wage effect", and the possible asymmetries of this effect across the earnings distribution. They find evidence of a union relative wage effect occurring through two distinct channels. First, there is a direct effect through individual union membership, the standard"union premium", well known from the empirical literature on unions. Second, there is a spillover effect to non-union members. The authors also find evidence of an additional union effect, that comes through firm-specific training. They confirm their conjecture that there is an asymmetry in the union relative wage effect: unions benefit mainly at the lower end of the wage distribution. This finding is in line with earlier research, which generally finds that unions reduce income inequality, and wage discrimination. An evaluation of the non-union sub-sample, using the estimated union wage structure, confirms the presence of structural differences between the union, and non-union segments of Ghanaian manufacturing: for given characteristics, a worker in the union sector earns more than a worker in the non-union sector.Geographical Information Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Management and Relations,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Economic Theory&Research

Teamwork and Intra-Firm Wage Dispersion among Blue-Collar Workers

Using data on a sample of manufacturing establishments in Germany, we find that the use of self-managed teams is associated with increased intra-firm wage inequality between skilled and unskilled blue-collar workers. We also show that moderating factors play an important role. While teamwork interacts positively with employer-provided further training and a production technology of the most recent vintage, it interacts negatively with the age of the establishment and the coverage by a collective bargaining agreement.technology, training, skill-biased organizational change, wage inequality, establishment age, collective bargaining

Migrant Minds: A Proposed Explorative Survey Examining Cultural Barriers and Mental Health Aid in Mexican Immigrant Women

Women on the Move (WOM) are an at-risk population of women who leave their home countries with the hope of a better quality of life (QOL). WOM is a wide umbrella term and for this paper, it encompasses documented, undocumented, migrating, immigrating, and emigrating women. This proposal focuses on Mexican WOM and their mental health; to better understand their experiences with professional mental health in the United States and any barriers they face. This topic is under-researched, and the quantitative studies on the topic are prone to “frequently inconsistent and contradictory” generalizations. This exploratory study will collect qualitative data. By using Braun & Clark\u27s (2006) thematic approach to data analysis, we will be able to formulate themes that start to answer the question: How do Mexican migrant women make decisions about professional mental health seeking, and what barriers do they experience in seeking mental health help? My proposed study will add to the limited literature based on Mexican women migrants and their mental health. This proposal strives to offer insight, from first-hand sources, to help better accommodate immigrants, and thus help formulate recommendations for mental health professionals to design more effective depression treatments that are better informed