The Impact of Gender on Mid-Career Labour Income: The Case of Bulgaria

The impact assessment of education and gender on mid-career labour income in a transitional economy could provide for better understanding of the influence of the labour market dynamics over individuals with different characteristics. Here, we attempt to find an answer to the question: How education and gender determine mid-career labour income? We estimate the returns to education depending on gender using Mincerian equations and regressions. The data set we use is from the Structure of Earnings Survey conducted by the National Statistical Institute in 2002 and 2006. The analysis covers over 130,000 employees between 35 and 49 years old. The impact assessment allows conclusions about the wage gap between men and women, working in different economic sectors incl. the division of public and private sector, services and industry. The access to managerial position and gender differences in the type of the labour contract have been investigated for their contribution to the persistence of a gender pay gap among the individuals with a tertiary education

Regional and Ethnic Disparities of School-to-Work Transitions in Bulgaria

Bulgaria’s educational and economic landscapes are marked by substantial regional disparities that are interlaced with ethnic inequalities in school-to-work transitions. Young adults from Roma and Turkish origins particularly suffer from disadvantages with respect to education and labour market participation. We ask how ethnicity affects labour market entry in Bulgaria once educational resources of different ethnic groups are accounted for, and how regional contexts impact ethnic disparities in employment insecurities. Building on comparative school-to-work transition (STWT) concepts and on the labour queueing approach, we assume that ethnic disparities in the STWTs of youths in Bulgaria depend on the degree of urbanisation and the strength and structure of the regional economy. The study draws on data from the Bulgarian School Leaver Survey 2014 of 2103 young adults who had left education in the five years preceding the survey. Descriptive analysis and multilevel logistic regression models were applied to analyse STWT patterns with a special focus on education, regional contexts, and ethnicity. The results highlight that STWT risks differ considerably across the Bulgarian regions. The strength of the local economy thereby moderates ethnic disparities. Young people from Roma and Turkish origins are much less disadvantaged to transition towards employment compared to ethnic Bulgarians the stronger the local economy gets. Our study has several policy implications. In addition to the development of public and private employment opportunities for disadvantaged young people, special attention should also be paid to the development of quality vocational education at the national and regional leve

The Impact of Gender on Mid-Career Labour Income: The Case of Bulgaria

The impact assessment of education and gender on mid-career labour income in a transitional economy could provide for better understanding of the influence of the labour market dynamics over individuals with different characteristics. Here, we attempt to find an answer to the question: How education and gender determine mid-career labour income? We estimate the returns to education depending on gender using Mincerian equations and regressions. The data set we use is from the Structure of Earnings Survey conducted by the National Statistical Institute in 2002 and 2006. The analysis covers over 130,000 employees between 35 and 49 years old. The impact assessment allows conclusions about the wage gap between men and women, working in different economic sectors incl. the division of public and private sector, services and industry. The access to managerial position and gender differences in the type of the labour contract have been investigated for their contribution to the persistence of a gender pay gap among the individuals with a tertiary education

Gender gaps in participation in adult education in Europe: examining factors and barriers

This chapter asks how barriers to equal participation in adult education play out differently between (a) men and women and (b) women from different class and ethnic backgrounds. European Social Survey and Adult Education Survey data analyses confirm that low social origin is a significant barrier. Other socio-economic and socio-demographic characteristics can also act as barriers. The chapter draws attention to intersectionality: multiple simultaneous disadvantages, including gender (for women), social origin (for adults whose parents have basic or lower levels of education), and having an ethnic minority or migrant background. Women are less likely to receive financial support from their employer, though more likely to do so from public institutions. Ethnic minority status has a stronger negative effect for women than for men. Mediterranean and post-socialist welfare regimes reduce the effects of intersectionality less than social-democratic regimes

Familienpolitische Maßnahmen in Österreich, Bulgarien und Ungarn

'Die Familienpolitik Österreichs, Bulgariens und Ungarns orientiert sich vor dem Hintergrund unterschiedlicher sozioökonomischer Rahmenbedingungen und politischer Kulturmuster an primär auf die Familie als Einheit und nicht auf das Individuum ausgerichteten Konzepten. Diese verweisen einzelne Familienmitglieder auf unterschiedliche gesellschaftliche Positionen, tragen zu einer konservativen Restaurierung der Rollen von Frauen und Männern bei und stabilisieren traditionelle Geschlechterhierarchien. Soziale Sparmaßnahmen und die Privatisierung von Dienstleistungen wirken in den Transformationsstaaten, die zusätzlich mit den volkswirtschaftlichen und sozialen Kosten des Systemwechsels konfrontiert sind, noch prekärer als in Österreich. In keinem der drei Staaten sind jedoch sozial- und familienpolitische Rahmenbedingungen für eine Vereinbarkeit von Beruf und Familie in ausreichendem Ausmaß gegeben. Unzureichende Versorgung mit öffentlichen Kinderbetreuungseinrichtungen ist dabei ein wesentliches strukturelles Hindernis. Familialisierung von Frauen, verbunden mit einer Idealisierung der Mutterrolle und der privaten Kinderbetreuung, ist tendenziell die Folge. Erfahrungen aus unterschiedlichen Staaten zeigen, dass nicht die Höhe der Transferleistungen, sondern die Möglichkeit eines eigenen Erwerbseinkommens für Frauen kombiniert mit qualifizierter öffentlicher Kinderbetreuung sowie partnerschaftlich orientierten Familienmodellen ausschlaggebend für höhere Geburtenzahlen sind. Von Lösungsansätzen, wie sie etwa skandinavische familien- und sozialpolitische Konzepte formulieren, sind Österreich, Bulgarien und Ungarn weit entfernt.' (Autorenreferat)'Family policies in Austria, Bulgaria and Hungary - when viewed against the background of their different socioeconomic framework conditions - are based on concepts that are primarily geared to the family as a unity and not to the individual person. These concepts assign individual family members to different societal positions, contribute to a conservative restoration of the roles of women and men, and stabilize traditional gender hierarchies. Social spending cuts and the privatisation of services are even more precarious in the transformation countries, which are additionally burdened with the economic and social costs of system change, than in Austria. In none of the three countries, though, the social and family policy prerequisites for reconciling job and family obligations are satisfactorily fulfilled. An insufficient supply of public child care facilities is an important structural obstacle in this regard. A familialisation of women, in association with an idealisation of the mother role and private child care, tends to be one of the consequences. It should be noted that experiences from various countries show that it is not the amount of transfer benefits, but the opportunity for women to earn their own income in combination with a qualified public child care scheme and partnership-based family models that account for higher birth rates. Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria are still far away from any such solutions as formulated in Scandinavian family and social policy concepts.' (author's abstract

The Impact of Gender on Mid-Career Labour Income: The Case of Bulgaria

The impact assessment of education and gender on mid-career labour income in a transitional economy could provide for better understanding of the influence of the labour market dynamics over individuals with different characteristics. Here, we attempt to find an answer to the question: How education and gender determine mid-career labour income? We estimate the returns to education depending on gender using Mincerian equations and regressions. The data set we use is from the Structure of Earnings Survey conducted by the National Statistical Institute in 2002 and 2006. The analysis covers over 130,000 employees between 35 and 49 years old. The impact assessment allows conclusions about the wage gap between men and women, working in different economic sectors incl. the division of public and private sector, services and industry. The access to managerial position and gender differences in the type of the labour contract have been investigated for their contribution to the persistence of a gender pay gap among the individuals with a tertiary education

Explaining employers’ hiring decisions: A comparative study of employers’ risk assessment

In order to investigate the scarring effect of early job insecurity on future employment chances we have implemented a factorial survey experiment with recruiters based on real vacancies in Bulgaria, Greece, Norway and Switzerland. We contribute to recruitment research at least in three ways: First, the multinational design allows us to run comparative analysis across countries, which are carried out along the national dimensions youth unemployment rate, employment protection regulation and type of educational system. Second, we differentiate between two different forms of early job insecurity – unemployment and work experience in deskilling jobs, and we demonstrate that the sole focus on unemployment, as it is the case in the prevalent labour market research, is not sufficient in order to fully understand labour market outcomes caused by different forms of job insecurities. Third, since our sample consists of real recruiters who were hiring for current jobs at the time when the study was carried out, we provide a unique cross-country data set of high external validity. Our findings suggest that scarring effects of early job insecurity vary across countries and across occupational fields, and while scarring caused by work experience in deskilling jobs seems to be enforced by strong employment protection regulations, unemployment scarring seems to stronger where national unemployment is low. Further, the differences in recruiter’s evaluation across occupational fields indicate that signalling value of education may vary depending on specific sectors. Not at least, we contribute to debates around active labour market policies, arguing that measures aiming at quick labour market reintegration without consideration of job quality may not be the most sustainable solution, as work experience in a deskilling job does not lead to better recruiter’s evaluation

Understanding unemployment scars: A vignette Experiment of employers' decisions in Bulgaria, Greece, Norway and Switzerland

In an effort to broaden the understanding of how early job insecurity can affect an individual’s future career from an employer’s perspective NEGOTIATE conducted an employer‐sided survey with an integrated multidimensional vignette experiment in Bulgaria, Greece, Norway and Switzerland. This report documents the sampling and data‐collection in the four countries. In addition we present some basic descriptive results from the survey. Data from the survey will be available for public use, following a quarantine period after the end of the project, through the data repository at the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD). Theoretical considerations underpinning the survey, state of research and a further description of the methodological approach is previously published in the NEGOTIATE Working paper D7.1 Studying employer’s risk assessment and the role of institutions: An experimental design (Shi, L.P, C. Imdorf and R. Samuel 2016)

Social Policy Facing the Problems of Youth Employment

Rumiana Stoilova (Bulgaria). Social Policy Facing the Problems of Youth Employment. Ms. Stoilova is a researcher in the Institute of Sociology in Sofia and worked on this project from October 1996 to September 1998. This project involved collecting both statistical and empirical data on the state of youth employment in Bulgaria, which was then compared with similar data from other European countries. One significant aspect was the parallel investigation of employment and unemployment, which took as a premise the continuity of professional experience where unemployment is just a temporary condition caused by external and internal factors. These need to be studied and changed on a systematic basis so as to create a more favourable market situation and to improve individuals' resources for improving their market opportunities. A second important aspect of the project was an analysis of the various entities active on the labour market, including government and private institutions, associations of unemployed persons, of employers or of trade unions, all with their specific legal powers and interests, and of the problems in communication between these. The major trends in youth unemployment during the period studied include a high proportion of the registered unemployed who are not eligible for social assistance, a lengthening of the average period of unemployment, an increase in the percentage of people who are unemployed for the first time and an increasing percentage of these who are not eligible for assistance, particularly among newly registered young people. At the same time the percentage of those for who work has been found is rising and during the last three years an increasing number of the unemployed have started some independent economic activity. Regional differences are also considerable and in the case of the Haskovo region represent a danger of losing the youngest generation, with resulting negative demographic effects. One major weakness of the existing institutional structure is the large scale of the black labour market, with clear negative implications for the young people drawn into it. The role of non-governmental organisations in providing support and information for the unemployed is growing and the government has recently introduced special preferences for organisations offering jobs to unemployed persons. Social policy in the labour market has however been largely restricted to passive measures, mostly because of the risk that poverty poses to people continuously excluded from the labour market. Among the active measures taken, well over half are concerned with providing jobs for the unemployed and there are very limited programmes for providing or improving qualifications. The nature of youth employment in Bulgaria can be seen in the influence of sustained structures (generation) and institutions (family and school). Ms. Stoilova studied the situation of the modern generation through a series of profiles, mostly those of continuously unemployed and self-employed persons, but also distinguishing between students and the unemployed, and between high school and university students. The different categories of young people were studied in separate mini-studies and the survey was carried out in five town in order to gather objective and subjective information on the state of the labour market in the different regions. She conducted interviews with several hundred young people covering questions of family background, career plans, attitudes to the labour situation and government measures to deal with it, and such questions as independence, mobility, attitude to work, etc. The interviews with young people unemployed for a long period of time show the risk involved in starting work and its link with dynamics of economic development. Their approval of structural reforms, of the financial restrictions connected with the introduction of a currency board and the inevitability of unemployment was largely declarative. The findings indicate that the continuously unemployed need practical knowledge and skills to "translate" the macroeconomic realities in concrete alternatives of individual work and initiative. The unemployed experience their exclusion from the labour market not only as a professional problem but also as an existential threat, of poverty, forced mobility and dependence on their parents' generation. The exclusion from the market of goods and services means more than just exercising restraint in their consumption, as it places restrictions on their personal development. Ms. Stoilova suggests that more efficient ways of providing financial aid and mobilisation are needed to counteract the social disintegration and marginalisation of the continuously unemployed. In measuring the speed of reform, university students took both employment opportunities and the implementation of the meritocratic principle in employment into account. When offered a hypothetical choice between a well-paid job and work in one's own profession, 62% would prefer opt for the well-paid job and for working for a company that offered career opportunities rather than employment in a family or own company. While most see the information gained during their studies as useful and interesting, relatively few see their education as competitive on a wider level and many were pessimistic about employment opportunities based on their qualifications. Very similar attitudes were found among high school students, with differences being due rather to family and personal situations. The unemployed, on the other hand, placed greater emphasis on possibilities of gaining or improving qualifications on a job and for the opportunities it would offer for personal contacts. High school students tend to attribute more significance to opportunities for personal accomplishment. A significant difference that five times fewer high school students were willing to work for state-owned companies, and many fewer expected to find permanent employment or to find a job in the area where they lived, Within the family situation, actual support for children seems to be higher than the feelings of confidence expressed in interviews. The attitudes of the families towards past experience seems to be linked with their ability to cope with the difficulties of the present, with those families which show an optimistic and active attitude towards the future having a greater respect for parents experience and tolerance in communication between parents and children