The evolution of Local Labour Market Areas in contrasting region

In many European local labour markets, a growing minority of workers are making longer commuting trips. One consequence for research into journey-to-work flows, which usually seeks to identify the boundaries of local labour market areas (LLMAs), is that these boundaries represent a ¡¥snap shot¡¦ of an increasingly volatile pattern. The challenge for regional science is how best to represent the way LLMAs evolve. «Is it sufficient to simply update maps, using a consistent method which is applied to successive ¡¥snap-shot¡¦ datasets? This approach will be illustrated in contrasting regions. «Is it possible to produce new approaches to analysis which can better draw attention to those areas where change has been rather more, or less, strong? The paper will end with some explorations in pursuit of this aim.

La evolución de la estructura salarial, 2002-2010

El artículo examina la evolución de la estructura salarial de los hombres en España en el período 2002-2010 sobre la base de los microdatos de la Encuesta de Estructura Salarial y de la metodología econométrica de descomposición desarrollada por Fortin, Lemieux y Firpo (2011). Se constata que mientras que los salarios reales crecieron moderadamente a lo largo de todo el período, con independencia del ciclo económico, la desigualdad salarial presentó, por el contrario, una evolución contracíclica. Se observan también cambios notables en los determinantes de la evolución de la estructura salarial, ya que mientras que en el período expansivo anterior a la crisis tuvieron un papel protagonista los cambios en los rendimientos salariales, con posterioridad se observan también efectos significativos asociados a las modificaciones en la composición del empleo.The article examines the evolution of the wage structure for men in Spain between 2002 and 2010 on the basis of microdata from the Encuesta de Estructura Salarial and a decomposition econometric methodology developed by Fortin, Lemieux and Firpo (2011). It is observed that real wages grew moderately over the entire period, regardless of the economic cycle, and wage inequality presented a counter-cyclical evolution, increasing significantly after the onset of the economic crisis. Significant changes in the determinants of the evolution of the wage structure are also observed over the period: while changes in wage returns were the most prominent determinants of the evolution of the wage structure during the boom, significant effects are observed during the crisis resulting from changes both in the composition of employment and in wage returns.Este trabajo se ha beneficiado de la financiación del proyecto CSO2011-29943-C03-02 del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad

How profitable is to study in Spain? An empirical insight using a new source of information

This paper presents empirical evidence on the returns to education in Spain using the Survey on the Quality of Life in the Workplace. Five waves (1999-2003) of the survey have been pooled to build a dataset for which Mincer-type earning functions are estimated. Unlike other analyses experience is computed as actual and not potential experience, and a variable capturing periods of unemployment is also included. We calculate the returns to education for male workers following the simplest Mincer’s specification estimated by (a) OLS and (b) instrumental variables (IV) techniques as a means to deal with endogeneity concerns regarding schooling and find that returns to education for male salaried workers are 5.68 (OLS) and 7.37 (IV with a family background instrument) giving evidence of a slightly declining trend in the rate of return to education in Spain. Evidence against Mincer’s underlying hypothesis of linearity of the returns to education in schooling is found when schooling attainment is taken as qualifications. Concerning the parallelism of log-earnings experience profiles across schooling levels, the inclusion of interaction terms between variables experience and education casts some doubts on the plausibility of this assumption in the private sector, although public sector’s earning-experience profiles are more coherent with it. Moreover unlike previous international and Spanish studies the results provide evidence of larger returns among public employees. The empirical analysis is finally extended by focusing on regional differences, which are found to be large

Individual returns to education in the Spanish tourism sector during the economic crisis

This paper analyses individual returns to education in the Spanish tourism sector. The results, which are robust to different specifications of Mincer earnings regressions, show that the earnings returns to schooling for tourism workers are only half those for all other sectors, and that the difference in returns between these two groups has increased significantly during the economic crisis. This has happened at a time when the earnings range between those with lower and higher qualifications has narrowed in tourism while it has remained stable in other sectors, and when tourism has been capable of retaining most of its workforce while the rest of the economy has experienced a sharp decrease in employment

Delineating zones to increase geographical detail in individual response data files: An application to the Spanish 2011 Census of population

Due to confidentiality considerations, the microdata available from the 2011 Spanish Census have been codified at a provincial (NUTS 3) level except when the municipal (LAU 2) population exceeds 20,000 inhabitants (a requirement that is met by less than 5% of all municipalities). For the remainder of the municipalities within a given province, information is only provided for their classification in wide population intervals. These limitations, hampering territorially-focused socio-economic analyses, and more specifically, those related to the labour market, are observed in many other countries. This article proposes and demonstrates an automatic procedure aimed at delineating a set of areas that meet such population requirements and that may be used to re-codify the geographic reference in these cases, thereby increasing the territorial detail at which individual information is available. The method aggregates municipalities into clusters based on the optimisation of a relevant objective function subject to a number of statistical constraints, and is implemented using evolutionary computation techniques. Clusters are defined to fit outer boundaries at the level of labour market areas.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant number CSO2014-55780-C3-2-P, National R&D&i Plan 2013-2016)

Exploring the relationship between educational mismatch, earnings and job satisfaction in the tourism industry

This article analyses the interrelationship between educational mismatch, wages and job satisfaction in the Spanish tourism sector in the first years of the global economic crisis. It is shown that there is a much higher incidence of over-education among workers in the Spanish tourism sector than in the rest of the economy despite this sector recording lower educational levels. This study estimates two models to analyse the influence of the educational mismatch on wages and job satisfaction for workers in the tourism industry and for the Spanish economy as a whole. The first model shows that in the tourism sector, the wage penalty associated with over-education is approximately 10%. The second reveals that in the tourism sector the levels of satisfaction of over-educated workers are considerably lower than those corresponding to workers well assigned. With respect to the differences between tourism and the overall economy in both aspects, the wage penalty is substantially lower in the case of tourism industries and the effect of over-education on job satisfaction is very similar to that of the economy as a whole in a context where both wages and the private returns to education are considerably lower in the tourism sector.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under Grant CSO2011-29943-C03-02 (National R&D&I Plan)

Commuting and education-job mismatch in Spanish labour market

En este trabajo se analiza cómo el tiempo de trayecto y las características de los mercados laborales locales influyen en el desajuste puesto de trabajo- nivel educativo del individuo, basado en la hipótesis de que los individuos que tienen un mayor tiempo de trayecto al trabajo y mejores condiciones en mercado laboral se asocian a una menor incidencia de la sobreeducación. La sobreeducación afecta a 17 % de los trabajadores en España, y se eleva al 22,4 % para los trabajadores menores de 35 años. El análisis se basa en los datos individuales de los trabajadores españoles que se refiere al período inicial de la crisis económica mundial (2007-2010). La variable dependiente, desajuste educativo-puesto se mide mediante el método subjetivo, basado en las respuestas del individuo a la pregunta de cómo ajusta su nivel de educación a las necesidades del trabajo que actualmente ocupan. La variable de interés son: (a) el tiempo de trayecto, es decir, el tiempo que tarda el individuo en llegar a su trabajo, y (b) dos variables que tienen en cuenta de las condiciones del mercado local: la tasa regional de desempleo (esta variable se refieren a la división territorial de España a nivel NUTS 2 y desglose por sexo y nivel de educación de cada Comunidad Autónoma sobre la base de las cifras medias anuales de la Encuesta de Población Activa española (EPA) para el período 2007-2010) y el tamaño del municipio. Se incluyen las variables de control habituales relativas al puesto de trabajo y variables dummy de los años de la muestra. Los resultados sugieren que las difíciles condiciones de trabajo regionales en términos de altas tasas de desempleo pueden actuar contra el efecto hipotético de la movilidad en la reducción del desajuste educativo, por lo tanto, se obtiene a una conclusión opuesta a la planteada en algunos trabajos anteriores.This paper analyses how commuting time and local labour markets’ characteristics influence individual’s job-education mismatch, based on the hypothesis that both higher commuting times and better labour market conditions are associated with a lower incidence of over-education. Over-education affects 17% of employed workers in Spain, and it rises to 22,4% for workers under 35. The analysis is based on Spanish workers’ individual data referred to the initial period of the global economic crisis (2007-2010). The dependent variable, education-job mismatch is measured through the subjective method, based on the individual’s responses to the question of how well does his/her education level fit the needs of the job they currently occupied. The variable of interest are (a) commuting time, i.e., the time spend by the individual on his/her typical one-way travel-to-work, and (b) two variables that account for local market conditions: the regional unemployment level (this variables is referred to the NUTS 2 division of Spain and disaggregated by sex and level of education for each autonomous community based on the average yearly figures from the Spanish Labour Force Survey (EPA) for period 2007-2010) and the size of town. The usual set of individual and job-related variables, and controls for sample years are also considered. The results suggest that difficult regional working conditions in terms of both high unemployment rates and job densities might act against the hypothesized effect of mobility on the reduction of educational mismatch, therefore leading to a conclusion that opposes some precedent works.We thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (R&D&I National Program project CSO2011-29943-C03-02) for financial support

Testing Transferability: Quantitative Evaluation of Labor Market Area Definition Methods in Three Contrasting Countries

Sub-national economic policies increasingly use labor market areas (LMAs) rather than administrative areas for analysis and implementation. How a set of LMAs was defined influences the results of such analyses, and so accurate policy delivery needs appropriately defined LMAs. Multinational bodies need comparable LMA definitions in many countries, calling for a definition method that is transferable across national boundaries. This article applies quantitative metrics to evaluate LMAs defined in three contrasting countries by three methods that represent the main methodological approaches. The deductive approach—based on a center and hinterland—is too inflexible to deal with differing geographical circumstances and cannot cope with statistical zones that are very small, or do not respect settlement structure. The alternative inductive methods tested define appropriate LMAs in each country, with the newer method performing slightly better in statistical terms. The article also exemplifies the usefulness of the metrics for comparisons of alternative regionalizations.Funding for related Spanish analyses was via Project PID2020-114896RB-100/Agencia Estatal de Investigación, AEI/10.13039/501100011033, Spanish State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research, and Innovation 2017–2020, and Project AICO/2021/062, Generalitat Valenciana, Department of Innovation, Universities, Science and Digital Society

Reassessing the commuting penalty for immigrants: new evidence from Spain

This article examines the differences in commuting length between native and immigrant employees in Spain, a relevant issue since immigrants' longer commuting times may, among other factors, reflect an imperfect spatial matching of their labour supply and demand with negative implications for their relative labour outcomes and their individual well-being. The research differentiates immigrants according to their origin and is based on a rich, nationally representative database. A novel contribution of the research is the use of decomposition econometric techniques that allow quantifying the joint and individual influence of a wide range of explanatory factors. The evidence obtained shows that, although a relevant part of the explanation of the greater commuting observed for immigrants is related to observed elements such as a different use of modes of transport, they make overall significantly longer journeys when comparing with observationally similar natives. This commuting penalty occurs yet only in the case of immigrants from emerging countries as it does not exist for those from advanced economies. Although the penalty is overall rather similar along several sociodemographic and occupational lines, it is much more pronounced for individuals living in large municipalities, which implies that previous analyses focusing on specific densely populated territories could not be nationally representative. To conclude, we offer additional novel evidence about the potential explanations of the commuting penalty of immigrants showing that it does not seem to derive from a hypothetically greater tolerance to commuting.This work is part of the project CSO2017-86474-R (Spanish State Program of R&D&i), funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Agencia Estatal de Investigación, AEI) and the ERDF-EU. Raquel Simón-Albert thanks the funding received from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, AEI and the ESF-EU (PRE2018-085908)

Exploring the effects of commuting on workers’ satisfaction: evidence for Spain

This paper examines the relationship between commuting time and satisfaction with different life domains. Based on data for Spain, the results show that commuting time exerts a negative impact on all areas of satisfaction for male and female workers, and that longer commutes affect women’s satisfaction disproportionally. Using public transport and walking/cycling worsen this effect, as do higher degrees of urbanization and population density. According to the evidence, whose robustness is tested in several ways, the negative effect of commuting time on satisfaction is greater for lower income workers, although for them the Great Recession moderated this effect.This work was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) [grant numbers CSO2017-86474-R and CSO2014-55780-C3-2-P (National Plan for Research, Development and Innovation, Spain) (MINECO/AEI/ERDF, EU)]