The Part-Time Wage Gap in Norway: How Large is It "Really"?

Norwegian working-life legislation has strict rules against discrimination between full-time and part-time work. Partly as a consequence of this, a large proportion of Norwegian women work part-time. The purpose of this paper is to establish whether there are systematic differences between part-time and full-time workers regarding the selection process and earnings capacity. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2006.

Childcare cash benefits and fertility timing in Norway

In 1998 a new cash benefit for parents with young children was introduced in Norway. Its purpose was to provide a cash payment to parents who either preferred to care for their children at home or to compensate those who were not offered external childcare provision. It has been argued that the new policy encouraged women to stay at home with their children, possibly reducing labour supply. The policy was consequently considered gender-biased, creating reduced incentives for women to participate in the labour market and therefore encouraging a more traditional division of labour of husbands and wives. Given this background of the policy, we undertake an analysis in two parts. We ask first the question “who takes the cash benefit?” Second, by applying simple matching techniques, we ask the question “Do couples taking the benefit behave differently in terms of their fertility timing?” Using information from Norwegian registers we find that more traditional households (in a broad sense) are more likely to take the cash benefit. Those taking the benefit accelerate childbearing significantly, though the reasons why they do so varies by socio-economic groups

Effects of training on employee suggestions and promotions: Evidence from personnel records

We evaluate the effects of employer-provided formal training on employee suggestions for productivity improvements and on promotions among male blue-collar workers. Using more than 20 years of personnel data of four entry cohorts in a German company, we address issues such as unobserved heterogeneity and the length of potential training effects. Our main finding is that workers are more likely to make suggestions and to be promoted after they have received formal training. However, the effect on suggestions is only short term. Promotion probabilities are greatest directly after training, but also seem to be affected in the long term

New technologies, new work practices and the age structure of the workers

Older workers, Technological change, New work practices, J23, L23, O33,