Country Performance at the International Mathematical Olympiad

This study seeks to explain country differences in the performance at the International Mathematical Olympiad. Hypotheses on the relationship between, on one hand, performance at the Olympiads and, on the other, population size and dynamics, economic resources, human capital, schooling quantity and quality, and the political regime are tested with a panel dataset of 97 countries over the period 1993-2006. The analysis distinguishes between crosscountry differences and intra-country differences. Results indicate that macro-conditions explain cross-country differences well but fail to predict changes in performance over time. Thus, long-term differences in country characteristics are associated with the average performance of Olympians.Science Olympiads, Talent in mathematics, Country panel, PISA

Against the Grain? Assessing Graduate Labour Market Trends in Germany Through a Task-Based Indicator of Graduate Jobs

Applying work by Green and Henseke (in IZA J Labor Policy 5(1):14, 2016a), this study examines changes in the German graduate labour market in the twenty-first century. To do so, it deploys a new statistically derived indicator of graduate jobs, based on job skill requirements obtained from worker-reported task data in the German Employment Surveys 2006 and 2012. As in previous work, the resulting classifier explains differences in graduate labour market outcomes better than existing methods and can be applied in a range of contexts where intelligence on graduate destinations is desired. It is supplied in the appendix of this study. Despite the expansion of higher educational attainment between 1999 and 2012, my analysis indicates a rising excess demand for graduate labour. Following key findings emerge: Graduate skills are required beyond the narrow range of professions. Work tasks associated with cognitive skills use are key determinants of higher education requirements on the job. The proportion of graduates in the age bracket 25-34 has risen among men from 14.7 to 18.9% and from 13.3 to 22.5% among women between 1999 and 2012. Young women have become the group with greatest level of higher education in the labour market. The growing supply of graduate labour in the age bracket 25-34 was surpassed by the expansion of employment in graduate jobs. The employment share of graduate jobs shifted by 17 percentage points to almost 30% among young women and by 11 percentage points to 28% among young men. Among young female graduates, the incidence of underemployment fell to 22% between 1999 and 2012; roughly comparable to the level among males at the same ages. Prime aged female graduates, however, experience above average rates of underemployment. A sharp rise of the pay premium associated with higher education among men contrasts with stagnating wage differentials among women. The pay penalty associated with underemployment has not changed statistically significantly

Demographic change and industry-specific innovation patterns in Germany

In Germany, a thread to growth is perceived from demographic change. Demographic change means that a population is aging with the perspective of shrinking. The key question is whether an aging and shrinking population has enough talents to sustain the innovation process that is at the basis of our prosperity. In this paper we deal with the age distributions of inventivity. Specifically, we confirm past conjectures that inventive productivity is age dependent and unequally distributed among inventors. Additionally, we advance the new hypothesis that any age-bias in innovation activity should show up as industry-specific. The reason is that creative productivity is depending on the rate of technological change that on its part is industry specific. We test this hypothesis with European patent data for Germany.innovation, patents, age-dependent productivity, demographics, sectors

Age, Occupations, and Opportunities for Older Workers in Germany

Improvement of the labor market situation for the elderly is a declared target in the EU. In this study we derive a model of occupational age structure, its determinants and their impact on employment and re-employment opportunities for older workers. The empirical analysis is based on data from German microcensus and conducted on the level of occupations. We show firstly that education, skills, training requirements and the compensation structure affect employment and re-employment of workers aged 50 and above, though detailed impact differs by gender. And secondly, working conditions and arrangements exert a clear-cut influence on employment and re-employment at older ages. Our findings suggest that future labor market policies should focus on working conditions and arrangement to improve opportunities for older workers.labor force aging, employment, re-employment, gender

Retirement effects of heavy job demands

This study focuses on the influence of heavy job demands on retirement, using the available SHARE waves. Heavy job demands may have a direct and health mediated effect on individual retirement. An econometric challenge is the dynamic self-selection of workers into jobs. The main findings indicate: the frequency of heavy job demands is higher among workers with low levels of socioeconomic status. Heavy job demands are associated with on average higher retirement probabilities, once workers become eligible to pension benefits. The effect is driven by long-term exposure to heavy job demands during the career. There are overall no retirement effects in the age bracket 50–58 and thus no indication for strong adverse health effects. A change in the level of current job demands does not influence the subsequent probability of retirement.Health, job demands, selection bias

Social Inequalities in Young People's Mental Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Do Psychosocial Resource Factors Matter?

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected young people aged 16–25 years and has brought about a major increase in mental health problems. Although there is persisting evidence regarding SES differences in mental health status, there is still little knowledge of the processes linking SES to young people's mental health, in particular during the current pandemic. Guided by a stress process model this study examines the role of different psychosocial resource factors in mitigating the vulnerability to mental distress among disadvantaged young people and specifies a range of possible mediating pathways. The research draws on a nationally representative longitudinal sample of 16–25 year-olds who participated in the Youth Economic Activity and Health (YEAH) online survey conducted in the UK between February and October 2021. Mental health was measured using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist for anxiety and depression. Socio-economic disadvantage was indicated by parental education and receipt of free school meals. Experience of stress was indicated by financial strain. Psychosocial resource factors included indicators of optimism, self-efficacy, and social support. We controlled for age, gender, living arrangements, and economic activity of the young person (being in education, employment or NEET). The findings suggest sequential mediating processes where SES influences are partially mediated via financial strain and the psychosocial resource factors. In addition, the psychosocial resource factors showed independent effects supporting mental health in the face of socio-economic adversity. Moreover, social support played a significant role in boosting self-efficacy and optimism, which in turn reduce mental distress. The findings highlighting the importance of specifying the assumed mediating processes, and to consider multiple resource factors instead of single aspects to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the processes linking SES to young people's mental health

Aging in German Industries and Selected Professions (Alterung der Erwerbspersonen in Deutschland)

Population aging translates into aging of the labor force. However, the impact of the former on the latter is neither straightforward nor uniform over specific groups. The reason is that economic decisions concerning, for example, duration of schooling or labor-market participation of women and those aged 60+ as well as industry-specific requirements on the demand side affect age-specific employment rates and thus the age structure of labor. In this paper we describe and use different measures of aging to obtain a picture of the aging process in selected German industries and professions between 1980 and 2000. Our results reveal pronounced differences in the age structure, timing and dynamics of aging. However, we find that aging is, in general, subject to convergence towards a homogenous age composition: Subgroups that were relatively young in 1980 aged faster, and vice versa.

Europe’s evolving graduate labour markets: supply, demand, underemployment and pay

For most students the aspiration to gain employment in a graduate job is the main motivation for going to university. Whether they fulfil this aspiration depends considerably on national graduate labour markets. We analyse the comparative evolution of these markets across Europe over the decade leading up to 2015, focusing on supply, graduate/high-skilled jobs, underemployment, wages, the graduate wage premium and the penalty for underemployment. The supply of tertiary graduates increased everywhere and converged, and this upward convergence is forecast to persist. In contrast the growth of graduate jobs was slower, not ubiquitous and nonconvergent. Underemployment was spreading, though at a modest rate; this rise was convergent but not ubiquitous. The rise was most substantial in Slovenia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy and Greece. Graduates’ real wages trended predominantly downward, but varied a great deal between countries. The graduate wage premium declined by more than one percentage point in seven countries. Inferences are drawn for the formation of education policy, for the broader discourse on HE, and for research on graduate futures

The changing graduate labour market: analysis using a new indicator of graduate jobs

This paper examines differentiation in the recent evolving graduate labour market in Britain. Using a novel statistically derived indicator of graduate jobs, based on job skill requirements in three-digit occupations obtained from the British Skills and Employment Survey series, we analyse trends in the labour market between 1997/2001 and 2006/2012. The indicator performs better than other indicators in validation tests, could be applied flexibly in other contexts, and is available in the Additional file 1. We find that the massive influx of graduates into the labour force has been absorbed with no increase in overeducation. However, the returns to graduation have become more dispersed, with those at the upper quartile of the residual distribution increasing, while those at the lowest quartile have fallen. The wage gap between matched and overeducated graduates increased by 11 log points. Using the British Household Panel Study, we find that the persistence of overeducation status did not change but for non-employed male graduates moving into employment, the chances of entering a graduate job decreased

Assessing the growth of remote working and its consequences for effort, well-being and work-life balance

This paper critically assesses the assumption that more and more work is being detached from place and that this is a ‘win-win’ for both employers and employees. Based on an analysis of official labour market data, it finds that only one-third of the increase in remote working can be explained by compositional factors such as movement to the knowledge economy, the growth in flexible employment and organisational responses to the changing demographic make-up of the employed labour force. This suggests that the detachment of work from place is a growing trend. The paper also shows that while remote working is associated with higher organisational commitment, job satisfaction and job-related well-being, these benefits come at the cost of work intensification and a greater inability to switch off