The gap between male and female pay in the Spanish tourism industry

This paper analyzes wage differentials between male and female workers in the Spanish tourism industry, using a large, administratively matched employer-employee data set obtained from a representative sample of companies. This allows us to control for unobserved firm-specific factors likely to affect the magnitude of the gender wage gap. Our findings indicate that male workers earn on average 6.7% higher monthly wages than their socially comparable female counterparts. In particular, the type of contract held, the qualifications required for the job and the specific sub-sector of employment are very important variables in explaining this gender wage difference. We also find that only around 12% of the mean wage difference in the tourism industry cannot be explained by differences in observable characteristics, which is well below the average for the rest of the industries in Spain (87%). Our interpretation is that minimum wage legislation provides a particularly effective protection to women in the tourism industry, which is characterized by a large number of low-wage earners

Training provision and regulation: an analysis of the temporary help industry

This paper studies from an economic viewpoint the juridical rationality of mandatory training provisions on Temporary Help Agencies through the Spanish Law 14/94. No positive relationship is found between the improvement in Temporary Help Agencies' added value levels and their investments in temps' training. In analyzing this specific provision of Spanish Labor Law we adopt a positive focus with the aim of finding economic causes for its adoption and of explaining its effect on the functioning of the labour intermediation sector. The application of the non-market failure theory leads us to conclude that an efficient use of this legal prescription is limited. The investigated issue is of relevance in order to understand the economic effects of regulation from a Law and Economics perspective

Who downsizes for longer? A longitudinal analysis

This contribution investigates why firms keep on downsizing once they have started to do so. From a theoretical standpoint, we develop economic and institutional explanations for explaining corporate downsizing duration. The empirical work is carried out applying event history techniques to a sample of manufacturing firms drawn from the Spanish Survey on Business Strategies from 1994 to 2005. Although results show support for persistence in downsizing over time, repeated personnel reductions is not a widespread tool in managing the workforce in this country. In addition, we find certain key corporate parameters such as profitability, temporality rate, size and employment termination costs (as well as market demand trends) to be important determinants of the continuation of on-going downsizing experiences. This is the first study on this issue using corporate-level data for Spain and multivariate methods

TRAINING PROVISION AND REGULATION: AN ANALYSIS OF THE TEMPORARY HELP INDUSTRY

This paper studies from an economic viewpoint the juridical rationality of mandatory training provisions on Temporary Help Agencies through the Spanish Law 14/94. No positive relationship is found between the improvement in Temporary Help Agencies’ added value levels and their investments in temps’ training. In analyzing this specific provision of Spanish Labor Law we adopt a positive focus with the aim of finding economic causes for its adoption and of explaining its effect on the functioning of the labour intermediation sector. The application of the non-market failure theory leads us to conclude that an efficient use of this legal prescription is limited. The investigated issue is of relevance in order to understand the economic effects of regulation from a Law and Economics perspective.

Long-term effects of involuntary job separations on labour careers

In this article, we analyse whether involuntary job separations present long-term effects upon individuals' careers, and the magnitude of such effects. For this purpose, the impact of involuntary job separations on three measures of occupational prestige is examined, using the British Household Panel Survey. Involuntary job separations are found to show a negative effect upon those occupational prestige scales. In particular, when additional involuntary job separations are suffered, this negative impact is persistent and cumulative. Moreover, this observed decrease in prestige levels is enhanced by the length of job separations. Our results help to explain why displaced workers suffer persistent earnings losses compared to non-displaced workers along their work-life history

Career breaks of women due to family reasons: a long-term perspective using retrospective data

In this article, we analyse whether family-related quits present long-term effects upon women's careers, and the magnitude of such effects. For this purpose, the impact of family-related breaks in the first ten years of their labour careers on three measures of occupational prestige is examined, using the British Household Panel Survey. Women who are intermittently attached to the labour market are found to work, on average, in occupations associated to significantly lower prestige levels. In particular, additional family-related interruptions have a negative impact that becomes persistent and cumulative. Moreover, the observed decrease in prestige levels is enhanced by the length of job separations

Breaks in women's careers due to family reasons: a long-term perspective

We analyse whether family-related quits present long-term effects upon women s careers, which are summarized in three measures of occupational prestige. There is an association between intermittent attachment to the labour market and being engaged in occupations with lower prestige levels. In causal terms, we find that women choose jobs with lower occupational prestige anticipating future family-related quits. The database consists of the retrospective information of the British Household Panel Surve

Job matching quality effects of employment promotion measures for people with disabilities

In this article, we evaluate the influence that employment promotion measures designed for disabled people have on the latter's job matching quality through the use of matching analysis. We focus on two aspects of quality: the type of contract held (either permanent or temporary) and whether or not the individual is searching for another job. We find that employment promotion measures do not improve the match's job quality. Furthermore, the use of specialized labour market intermediation services by disabled individuals does not affect their job matching quality. As an additional contribution, our definition of disability eludes the self-justification bias

Working career progress in the tourism industry : temp-to perm transitions in Spain

In this article, we analyze the dynamics of temporary workers’ transitions into permanent contracts for workers related to the tourism industry. For this purpose, we use an administrative retrospective dataset from Spanish Social security records. Results show that while individuals with a weaker attachment to the tourism industry achieve open-ended contracts sooner than in most other industries, on the contrary, it takes more time to those with a greater attachment to the tourism industry to exit from the temporary status. In addition, we find that for workers substantially engaged in the tourism industry, it takes more time to reach an open-ended contract when they have held between six and ten contracts in the past (as opposed to holding only one previous contract). On the contrary, for individuals with a weaker attachment to the tourism industry, holding between two and ten previous contracts implies a quicker exit from temporality

The sustainability of start-up firms among formerly wage workers

In this paper we analyse the survival of start-up firms among formerly wage workers in Spain. In particular, we address the question of how long do these workers remain self-employed before entering into unemployment or returning to a new paid-employment, using well-known duration model techniques. Results show that a higher survival rate in self-employment is associated to men, prime-age workers and individuals with higher previous labour turnover. Moreover, longer unemployment spells are found to speed up the rate of transition to non-employment and to reduce that to paid employment. Finally, the probability of exiting decreases with duration in self-employment