Self-employment as first job choice in Spain: Evidence by nationality

Los efectos positivos del autoempleo sobre el crecimiento económico y la creación de empleo han sido contrastados ampliamente en la literatura económica. Recientemente, el fenómeno del autoempleo se ha analizado desde una perspectiva longitudinal, centrándose en las transiciones y permanencia en dicho estado laboral. Este trabajo sigue esta línea de investigación, ofreciendo evidencia empírica sobre la elección entre el empleo autónomo o asalariado que realizan los individuos al iniciar su vida laboral, y la duración que presentan en ambas situaciones laborales.Autoempleo, empleo asalariado, transiciones, nacionalidad

ICTs usage and skills matching at work: some evidence from Spain

This research is a post-print version of the article "ICTs usage and skills matching at work: some evidence from Spain" published by International Journal of Manpower (Vol. 42 No. 6, pp. 1064-1083).This article focuses on the Spanish labour market, and its primary objectives are to analyse the factors determining the ICTs usage at workplace, and examine how the workers’ e-skills match with the job tasks requiring ICTs. Furthermore, it will explore whether doing ICTs training activities has a positive effect on the probability of carrying out appropriately the ICTs at work. The methodology applied is an ordered response model analysing how the workers’ e-skills match with the knowledge required to the ICTs usage at the job. This econometric specification will control by the selection bias generated because not all employees use ICTs to perform the job tasks. Data are obtained from the Survey on Equipment and Use of ICTs in Households (ICTS-H Survey). Educational attainment and the type of ICTs training are the most relevant variables to explain the ICTs usage and the quality of the job match. Data used are cross-sectional, and it excludes the possibility of observing how the workers’ careers evolve depending on their ICTs training. The methodology applied allows us to obtain the marginal effects to the variables explaining the probability of using ICTs at job, and how the workers’ knowledge match with the e-skill required by the employers. The results are a source of information to policymakers about how workers face the introduction of ICTs in the labour market. To the best of our knowledge, the article’s topic and its methodology are unprecedented in the economic literature and, specially, in the Spanish case

Time to the doctorate and research career: some evidence from Spain

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in the review Research in Higher Education (Vol. 60(1), pp. 111-133). The final authenticated version is available online at: “https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-018-9506-2”.Education and research are considered as the cornerstones of the economic growth and the job creation for the Lisbon Strategy proposed by the European Union. Therefore, understanding the transmission channels of the educational investments to the society is important to inform policymakers and students about the benefits and opportunities associated with the acquisition of human capital. In this context, PhD programs play a significant role to reach the European research goals. The current study contributes to shed empirical evidence about the determinants of the time to the doctorate in Spain and its influence on the probability of carrying out an innovate activity (for example, working as a researcher), in both cases the PhD program’s academic field is included as regressors. One of the main hypothesis to verify is whether a prolonged time to complete the doctoral studies is a negative signal about the individual’s capacity to develop research skills. If this is the case, longer time to doctorate would imply less probability of working as a researcher. The methodology applied consists in estimating a Cox model to analyse the determinants of the time to the doctorate, and a probit model to examine the probability of being a researcher considering time to the doctorate as an endogenous regressor. Data used in this study come from the 2009 Survey on Human Resources in Science and Technology, provided by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE in 2009 survey on human resources in science and technology, INE, Madrid, 2010)

Wage Premium and Master’s Degrees: Some Empirical Evidence from Spain

This research is a pre-print version of the article titled "Wage Premium and Master's Degrees: Some Empirical Evidence from Spain" published by the review International Journal of Manpower Vol. 44 Issue 8.The current expansion of the knowledge economy and its requirements of highly educated workers make interesting to analyse the effects on the labour market outcomes of completing a master’s degree. This study examines the factors determining the probability of pursuing a postgraduate programme, and observes whether workers reaching this educational attainment reap the benefits of their human capital investment through better paid jobs compared to college-only degree holders. On the other hand, it analyses whether individuals with a master’s degree are more prone to upward wage mobility. The study relies on data obtained from the second Survey on the Labour Insertion of University Graduates conducted by INE (2019). This survey allows us to observe labour market transitions of the first group of Spanish university graduates under the European Higher Education Area and their earnings. The methodological procedure consists of the estimation of wage models controlling for the unobservable differences between workers who have or have not completed a master’s degree. The results indicate a significant positive impact of master’s degree on salaries. Furthermore, individuals with postgraduate studies are more prone to upward wage mobility in comparison to college-only degree holders. The econometric specification applied allows us to compute the direct effect of a master’s degree on wages, and predict the average probability that an individual is in a determined wage interval according to the knowledge area and controlling by the rest of characteristics. The findings are helpful to diagnose and understand how the knowledge acquired through postgraduate studies are rewarded by the labour market, which is essential to evaluate the return on educational investments when making decisions about whether or not to continue postgraduate studies. This research addresses novelty aspects on tertiary education in Spain and its effects on workers’ careers

Social Capital, Labour Market Status and Wages: Some Evidence from Spain.

This article analyses the social capital’s influence on the Spanish labour market. In particular, this study examines to what extent the social capital increases the likelihood of being employed, taking into account different labour market status, and diverse dimensions of the social capital. Focusing on wage earners, it is also analysed whether network structures in Spain influence on the wage earnings. The methodology applied to analyse the labour market status is a multinomial logit model. For the analysis of wages, it is specified a wage model with sample selection bias. In both cases, social capital indicators are included as regressors. The results show that social participation exerts a positive influence on the probability of being self-employed, and lowers the likelihood of being unemployed. Moreover, it is verified that the interaction with family members or close friends influences positively on wages. Further research should emphasise how employers assess the workers’ competences associated with the social capital. The findings provide knowledge to policymakers useful to increase the role of social participation in the labour market. The importance of social network as an instrument for the job search must be enhanced. This article overcomes some drawbacks associated with the analysis of social capital from an aggregate perspective. Furthermore, social capital indicators are obtained using the Categorical Principal Components Analysis (CATPCA), which is unprecedented in the economic literature

Doctorate holders’ careers in Spain: Does international mobility matter?

This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: “Caparrós-Ruiz, A. (2019). Doctorate holders’ careers in Spain: Does international mobility matter? European Journal of Education Vol. 54(1), pp. 117-136”, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12326PhD programmes are considered as transmission channels to provide specialisation and skills to students who will be employed as highly-qualified workers or researchers. Focusing on the Spanish case, they are exerting a positive influence on workers’ careers since doctorate holders have a privileged situation in the labour market. This article analyses international mobility's effects on some aspects associated with doctorate holders’ careers such as their wages and how their current employment is related to their doctoral studies. The methodology applied consists in developing, on the one hand, a wage econometric specification and, on the other, a probit model, taking into account the possible mismatch between the training acquired in the doctoral studies and the educational requirements of the current job. In both cases, the dependent variables are explained by a set of regressors and a dummy variable showing whether doctorate holders have spent time in another country once completed their doctoral studies

Factors affecting quits and layoffs in Spain

During the last decade, unemployment rates in the European Union have been higher than in other regions, e.g., the United States, and these are even higher in Spain. It has been argued that the different degrees of labour mobility between the European and the American labour markets can account for the differences in the pattern observed. This paper follows the McLaughlin's model (1991) and provides empirical evidence regarding the factors determining quits and layoffs due to contract termination and non-renewal in Spain, following the efficient-turnover theory and wage flexibility. The data was obtained from the Spanish Household Panel Survey (PHOGUE) conducted by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE 1995). Our evidence, on the one hand, indicates that workers' characteristics influence on the probability of changing job. On the other hand, the influency of the factors affecting labour mobility is different depending on whether job separation was triggered by quits or layoffs.quit, layoff, wage revision and bivariate probit.

Capital humano y primera ocupación de los inmigrantes en Andalucía

La convergencia de los inmigrantes hacia los trabajadores españoles se ha abordado desde diversos puntos de vista en la literatura económica. En este trabajo se desea arrojar evidencia empírica para Andalucía sobre diversos aspectos de interés relacionados con dicho tema. En particular, el principal objetivo es el análisis de los determinantes de la primera ocupación en Andalucía de los trabajadores extranjeros, con el fin de estudiar si transfieren sus conocimientos desde sus países de origen al mercado de trabajo andaluz. Para la realización de este trabajo, se estiman diversos modelos de elección discreta, en base a la Encuesta Nacional de Inmigrantes (INE, 2007).Immigrants, human capital, first occupation

Incidencia de la contratación indefinida según nacionalidad en Andalucía y en el resto de Europa

Como resultado de las reformas laborales en nuestro país desde 1997, el conjunto de relaciones laborales indefinidas se puede fragmentar en tres grandes grupos: contratos indefinidos ordinarios, indefinidos bonificados procedentes de la transformación de contratos temporales e indefinidos iniciales bonificados. El objetivo principal de este trabajo es analizar la incidencia de los diversos tipos de contratación indefinida sobre la población inmigrante en comparación con la nacional. Para este fin, la metodología utilizada consiste en la estimación de modelos logit multinomial donde la variable dependiente muestra si el trabajador está situado en alguna de las anteriores modalidades de contratación o tiene un contrato temporal.Reforma laboral, contratos indefinidos, bonificación,inmigración

Efectos de la temporalidad sobre la formación recibida durante el empleo

En un mercado de trabajo como el español donde existe una gran temporalidad, puede surgir un conflicto sobre el nivel socialmente óptimo de formación específica que sería necesario que recibieran los trabajadores y el que de hecho obtienen, en un mercado laboral con esas características. En este estudio se pretende verificar esta posible relación negativa entre capital humano específico y grado de flexibilidad externa del mercado laboral en España. Concretamente, se analiza la influencia del tipo de contrato sobre la decisión, que toman conjuntamente trabajadores y empleadores, de financiar y adquirir formación útil para el empleo, usando esta última variable como una proxy del capital humano específico. Para lograr este objetivo se estiman modelos de elección discreta, utilizando la información estadística proveniente del Panel de Hogares de la Unión Europea para España (PHOGUE) elaborado por el INE. La estructura de panel de dichos datos nos permite considerar en las estimaciones la posible existencia de heterogeneidad individual inobservada, mediante la especificación de un modelo probit con efectos aleatorios