El papel del capital humano en el sector turístico: algunas reflexiones y propuestas

This paper reflects on the role of human capital as a strategic factor in achieving competitive differentiation in tourism organisations. It also highlights the need to establish different levels of scope in tourism training aimed at identifying possible areas for action in terms of education policies and the promotion of research in tourism. Thus, in order to increase the level of education and training of workers in the sector, proposals are suggested which attempt to bring tourism training in line with the real needs of the productive network to improve the quality and value of human capital in the sector as well as increasing educational returns. This is an essential factor to allow the development of a robust and sustainable sector, capable of competing in a global environment and adapting to changing situations.En este trabajo se reflexiona sobre el papel del capital humano como factor estratégico para el logro de objetivos de competitividad y diferenciación en las organizaciones turísticas. Asimismo, se plantea la necesidad de establecer distintas escalas de alcance en la formación turística para poder determinar las posibles líneas de actuación en las políticas educativas y en el fomento de la investigación en turismo. Así, con el fin de incrementar el nivel de educación y la preparación de los trabajadores del sector, se plantean propuestas para tratar de acercar la formación turística a las necesidades reales de su tejido productivo para mejorar tanto la calidad de su capital humano como la valoración del mismo y su rendimiento educativo. Es este un factor indispensable para permitir el desarrollo de un sector sólido y sostenible, capaz de competir en un entorno global y ante situaciones cambiantes

Smoothed bootstrap Malmquist index based on DEA model to compute productivity of tax offices

This paper analyses the productivity growth of the SUMA tax offices located in Spain evolved between 2004 and 2006 by using Malmquist Index based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models. It goes a step forward by smoothed bootstrap procedure which improves the quality of the results by generalising the samples, so that the conclusions obtained from them can be applied in order to increase productivity levels. Additionally, the productivity effect is divided into two different components, efficiency and technological change, with the objective of helping to clarify the role played by either the managers or the level of technology in the final performance figures

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)

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

Ofshoring de servicios en la economía española en el periodo 2000-2007

La literatura económica ha centrado la atención en el offshoring de servicios y en su efecto sobre el nivel de empleo nacional, unido a importantes críticas en relación al impacto negativo que esta estrategia provoca en términos de destrucción de empleos nacionales. En este trabajo se analiza la relevancia que tiene el offshoring de servicios en la economía española y, en concreto, en las ramas de servicios y se estudia su efecto sobre el nivel de empleo de este sector. El análisis empírico se lleva a cabo estimando una función de demanda de trabajo con elasticidad de sustitución constante (CES), incluyendo en la misma el efecto de offshoring. Este estudio se realiza para el periodo previo a la crisis, 2000-2007, a partir de los datos contenidos en las Tablas Input-Output de la Contabilidad Nacional del INE.The economic literature has focused attention on the offshoring of services and its effect on national employment, coupled with substantial criticism regarding the negative impact that this strategy results in terms of national job losses. This paper discusses the relevance of offshoring of services in Spanish economy and, in particular, in the fields of services and studied its effect on the level of employment in this sector. The empirical analysis is conducted by estimating a function of demand for labor with constant elasticity of substitution (CES), including the effect of offshoring. This study is conducted for the pre-crisis period 2000-2007, source from the Input-Output Tables of INE's National Accounts

Reshoring of services and employment

Reshoring of services emerged in advanced economies barely a decade ago. It has hardly been analysed and there are no academic studies on its possible effects. This study addresses two objectives: The measurement of the reshoring of services in Spain for 2008 to 2010; and its impact on employment. The results reveal that there is a percentage reduction of imported services inputs per unit of product of over 29% in manufacturing sectors and of over 23% in service sectors. Its impact on employment for manufacturing and services is not significant

The effects of service offshoring on employment

This study analyzes for the first time for Spain the impact of the service offshoring on the employment of the service sector; The data drawn from the Input-Output Tables of Spain’s National Accounts; The empirical analysis is carried out by estimating a labour demand function with constant elasticity of substitution (CES), with panel data methods; The results show that the impact on employment of offshoring services by service industries is not significant and the values obtained are very small in all cases

Does Reshoring Generate Employment? A Study on Services Reshoring and Its Intra- and Inter-Sectoral Components

The aim of this paper is to deepen the analysis of services reshoring in the Spanish services sector, both as a whole and for its constituent elements, examining both intra- and inter-sectoral components. Likewise, it analyzes the impact of this strategy on employment in the services sector, also differentiating between broad reshoring, intra-sectoral reshoring and inter-sectoral reshoring. The data used come from the Input-Output Tables of the Spanish National Accounts published since 2000. The results show Spanish service companies significantly reduced their contracting of activities abroad between 2008 and 2010, substituting foreign intermediate services for domestic services. This process of reshoring is observed with greater intensity in inputs of the same sector. However, since 2010 Spanish service companies have slightly increased their contracting of foreign services per unit of output, adopting new services offshoring strategies, although to a lesser extent than in the period prior to the recession. In the analysis of the effect of reshoring on services employment can be concluded that services reshoring has not generated employment in the Spanish service sector

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)]