Do as the Neighbors Do: The Impact of Social Networks on Immigrant Employees

Substantial immigrant segregation in the United States, combined with the increase in the share of the U.S. foreign-born population, have led to great interest in the causes and consequences of immigrant concentration, including those related to the functioning of labor markets. This paper provides robust evidence that both the size and the quality of an immigrant enclave affects the labor market outcomes of new immigrants. We develop new measures of the quality, or information value, of immigrant networks by exploiting data based on worker earnings records matched to firm and Census information. We demonstrate the importance of immigrant employment links: network members are much more likely than other immigrants to be employed in the same firm as their geographic neighbors. Immigrants living with large numbers of employed neighbors are more likely to have jobs than immigrants in areas with fewer employed neighbors. The effects are quantitatively important and robust under alternative specifications. For example, in a high value network – one with an average employment rate in the 90th percentile – a one standard deviation increase in the log of the number of contacts in the network is associated with almost a 5% increase in the employment rate. Earnings, conditional on employment, increase by about 0.7%.Social networks, immigrant enclaves, labor market intermediaries

Jobs, Workers and Changes in Earnings Dispersion

The 'fractal' nature of the rise in earnings dispersion is one of its key features and remains a puzzle. In this paper, we offer a new perspective on the causes of changes in earnings dispersion, focusing on the role of labour reallocation. Once we drop the assumption that all firms pay a given worker the same, the allocation of workers to firms matters for the dispersion of earnings. This perspective highlights two new factors that can affect the dispersion of earnings: rates of job and worker reallocation, and the nature of the process allocating workers to jobs. We set out a framework capturing this idea and quantify the impact of reallocation on earnings dispersion, using a dataset that comprises almost the universe of workers and the universe of employers in Maryland. We show that these factors have potentially large effects in general on earnings dispersion. In the case of Maryland over the period 1985-1994, the changing allocation of workers to jobs played a significant role in explaining movements in the dispersion of earnings.Earnings inequality, labour reallocation, matched worker and firm panels

Do as the Neighbors Do: The Impact of Social Networks on Immigrant Employment

Substantial immigrant segregation in the United States, combined with the increase in the share of the U.S. foreign-born population, have led to great interest in the causes and consequences of immigrant concentration, including those related to the functioning of labor markets. This paper provides robust evidence that both the size and the quality of an immigrant enclave affects the labor market outcomes of new immigrants. We develop new measures of the quality, or information value, of immigrant networks by exploiting data based on worker earnings records matched to firm and Census information. We demonstrate the importance of immigrant employment links: network members are much more likely than other immigrants to be employed in the same firm as their geographic neighbors. Immigrants living with large numbers of employed neighbors are more likely to have jobs than immigrants in areas with fewer employed neighbors. The effects are quantitatively important and robust under alternative specifications. For example, in a high value network – one with an average employment rate in the 90th percentile – a one standard deviation increase in the log of the number of contacts in the network is associated with almost a 5% increase in the employment rate. Earnings, conditional on employment, increase by about 0.7%.social networks, immigrant enclaves, labor market intermediaries

Cities, Matching and the Productivity Gains of Agglomeration

The striking geographical concentration of economic activities suggests that there are substantial benefits toagglomeration. However, the nature of those benefits remains unclear. In this paper we take advantage of a newdataset to quantify the role of one of the main contenders - the matching of workers and jobs. Using individuallevel data for two large US states we show that thicker urban labour markets are associated with moreassortative matching between workers and firms. Another critical condition is required for this to generatehigher productivity: complementarity of worker and firm quality in the production function. Usingestablishment level productivity regressions, we show that such complementarity is found in our data. Puttingtogether the production and matching relationships, we show that production complementarity and assortativematching is an important source of the urban productivity premium.Urban Productivity, Matching, Agglomeration

Meiotic spindle assembly checkpoint and aneuploidy in males versus females

The production of gametes (sperm and eggs in mammals) involves two sequential cell divisions, meiosis I and meiosis II. In meiosis I, homologous chromosomes segregate to different daughter cells, and meiosis II resembles mitotic divisions in that sister chromatids separate. While in principle the process is identical in males and females, the time frame and susceptibility to chromosomal defects, including achiasmy and cohesion weakening, and the response to mis-segregating chromosomes are not. In this review, we compare and contrast meiotic spindle assembly checkpoint function and aneuploidy in the two sexes.Peer reviewe

Carbon-13 in groundwater from English and Norwegian crystalline rock aquifers: a tool for deducing the origin of alkalinity?

The 13C signature is evaluated for various environmental compartments (vegetation, soils, soil gas, rock and groundwater) for three crystalline rock terrains in England and Norway. The data are used to evaluate the extent to which stable carbon isotopic data can be applied to deduce whether the alkalinity in crystalline bedrock groundwaters has its origin in hydrolysis of carbonate or silicate minerals by CO2. The resolution of this issue has profound implications for the role of weathering of crystalline rocks as a global sink for CO2. In the investigated English terrain (Isles of Scilly), groundwaters are hydrochemically immature and DIC is predominantly in the form of carbonic acid with a soil gas signature. In the Norwegian terrains, the evidence is not conclusive but is consistent with a significant fraction of the groundwater DIC being derived from silicate hydrolysis by CO2. A combined consideration of pH, alkalinity and carbon isotope data, plotted alongside theoretical evolutionary pathways on bivariate diagrams, strongly suggests real evolutionary pathways are likely to be hybrid, potentially involving both open and closed CO2 conditions

Do as the neighbors do: the impact of social networks on immigrant employment

Substantial immigrant segregation in the United States, combined with the increase in the share of the U.S. foreign-born population, have led to great interest in the causes and consequences of immigrant concentration, including those related to the functioning of labor markets. This paper provides robust evidence that both the size and the quality of an immigrant enclave affects the labor market outcomes of new immigrants. We develop new measures of the quality, or information value, of immigrant networks by exploiting data based on worker earnings records matched to firm and Census information. We demonstrate the importance of immigrant employment links: network members are much more likely than other immigrants to be employed in the same firm as their geographic neighbors. Immigrants living with large numbers of employed neighbors are more likely to have jobs than immigrants in areas with fewer employed neighbors. The effects are quantitatively important and robust under alternative specifications. For example, in a high value network - one with an average employment rate in the 90th percentile - a one standard deviation increase in the log of the number of contacts in the network is associated with almost a 5% increase in the employment rate. Earnings, conditional on employment, increase by about 0.7%

The sensitivity of the DNA damage checkpoint prevents oocyte maturation in endometriosis

Mouse oocytes respond to DNA damage by arresting in meiosis I through activity of the Spindle Assembly Checkpoint (SAC) and DNA Damage Response (DDR) pathways. It is currently not known if DNA damage is the primary trigger for arrest, or if the pathway is sensitive to levels of DNA damage experienced physiologically. Here, using follicular fluid from patients with the disease endometriosis, which affects 10% of women and is associated with reduced fertility, we find raised levels of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), which generate DNA damage and turn on the DDR-SAC pathway. Only follicular fluid from patients with endometriosis, and not controls, produced ROS and damaged DNA in the oocyte. This activated ATM kinase, leading to SAC mediated metaphase I arrest. Completion of meiosis I could be restored by ROS scavengers, showing this is the primary trigger for arrest and offering a novel clinical therapeutic treatment. This study establishes a clinical relevance to the DDR induced SAC in oocytes. It helps explain how oocytes respond to a highly prevalent human disease and the reduced fertility associated with endometriosis

A pilot of the Patient Concerns Inventory – Ward Discharge in patients following major reconstructive surgery for head and neck cancer

Planning discharge from hospital following microvascular free-tissue surgery can be complex and challenging. Planning involves the patient, carers, and multiple health professionals. Poor communication and expectations can delay discharge or give a suboptimal discharge process. It was hypothesised that prompt-list modelled along the principals of the Patient Concerns Inventory (PCI) could be help in discharge planning. The aim of this study was to define the items and format of a PCI-Ward Discharge (PCI-WD) and undertake a small pilot. Items appropriate for the PCI-WD were formulated through discussion with patients, carers, ward staff, Head and Neck Clinical Nurse Specialists, and clinicians. The pilot took place over three months from December 2019 through to February 2020. Audit approval was given by the hospital Audit Department. The PCI-WD comprises 43 items. Items from existing PCIs for use at diagnosis and follow-up consultations were reduced in number and 38 new or modified items added; six treatment related, five social care and social well-being, four psychological, emotional, and spiritual well-being, seven physical and functional well-being, and 16 discharge related. The pilot involved 14 free-tissue transfer patients, seven male, seven female, with an age range of 57 to 87 and a mean age of 72. Eight PCI-WD were returned. PCI-WD items identified most frequently were 'surgery site other than head/neck', 'when do I come back to hospital', 'dental check-up/oral health care' and 'diet/eating'. Early findings suggest that PCI-WD could be a useful tool in aiding the discharge process. Further evaluation is required