Technology and job retention among young adults, 1980-98

Although many studies have examined whether job stability and security have declined over time, the role of technology in job turnover has received little attention. This analysis examines the relationship between the likelihood that a worker remains at the same job for two years and various measures of technology usage across industries. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth over 1980-98, the results indicate that the relationship between job retention and technology varies across measures of technology. Almost all of the relationship between job retention likelihoods and technology is due to quits, not to involuntary job loss. The results suggest that the relationship between technology, quits, and involuntary job loss differs between college graduates and less-educated workers.Labor turnover ; Technology ; Employment (Economic theory) ; Demography

Welfare and the locational choices of new immigrants

The 1996 welfare law ends most noncitizens' eligibility for federally funded public assistance programs and allows states to cut off payments under other welfare programs to noncitizens. If some states choose to continue extending benefits while others terminate payments to immigrants, interstate differentials in welfare generosity will widen. Potential policy differences create concern that states that continue to offer benefits to immigrants will become welfare magnets. ; In this article, Madeline Zavodny examines whether welfare generosity is correlated with the number of new immigrants arriving in a state in 1982 and 1992. The data indicate that welfare payments are not correlated with immigration levels; rather, the presence of earlier immigrants is the primary determinant of the locational choices of new immigrants.Emigration and immigration ; Welfare

Determinants of recent immigrants' locational choices

High levels of immigration to the United States have caused the size of the foreign-born population to increase dramatically in recent years. Recent immigrants are concentrated in several states, particularly California. This paper examines the determinants of the intended state of residence of new recipients of legal permanent-resident status and new refugees over the 1989-94 period. The presence of other foreign-born people is the primary determinant of the locational choices of new legal permanent residents, but there are some differences among immigrant groups by admission category and by country of origin. Only refugees' locations appear to be sensitive to welfare generosity.Emigration and immigration ; Labor mobility

The effect of the minimum wage on hours of work

Employment (Economic theory) ; Minimum wage

Race, wages, and assimilation among Cuban immigrants

This study uses data from the 1980 and 1990 Census and the 1994-2000 Current Population Survey to examine the determinants of earnings among male Cuban immigrants in the United States by race. Nonwhite Cuban immigrants earn about 15 percent less than whites, on average. Much of the racial wage gap is due to differences in educational attainment, age at migration, and years in the United States, but the gap remains at almost 4 percent after controlling for such factors. Nonwhite Cuban immigrants also have lower returns to education than whites. A comparison to white, non-Hispanic U.S. natives indicates that nonwhite Cubans not only earn less initially than white Cubans on arrival in the United States but also do not significantly close the racial earnings gap over time.Immigrants ; Employment (Economic theory) ; Discrimination in employment

The effect of Medicaid eligibility expansions on births

In an effort to increase the use of prenatal care by pregnant women and the utilization of medical care by children, eligibility for Medicaid was expanded dramatically for pregnant women and children during the 1980s and early 1990s. By lowering the costs of prenatal care, delivery, and child health care for some individuals, Medicaid expansions may prompt some women to give birth who otherwise would not have children or lead some women to have more children than they otherwise would have. This study uses natality data from 1983 to 1996 to examine the relationship between a state's eligibility threshold for Medicaid and birth rates among various groups. The results suggest that expansions have significant and sizable effects on births. A 10 percentage point increase in the eligibility threshold is associated with a 1.4 percent increase in the birth rate among nonblack women and a 1.0 percent increase among black women. Between 1983 and 1996, the expansions appear to have led to an average increase in the birth rate of about 10 percent.Demography ; Welfare ; Public policy ; Medicaid

Gender and the Internet

This article examines whether there are differences in men’s and women’s use of the Internet and whether any such gender gaps have changed in recent years. The authors use data from several surveys during the period 1997 to 2001 to show trends in Internet usage and to estimate regression models of Internet usage that control for individuals’ socioeconomic characteristics. They find that women were significantly less likely than men to use the Internet at all in the mid-1990s, but the gender gap in usage disappeared by 2000. However, women continue to be less frequent and less intense users of the Internet. The results suggest that there is little reason for concern about sex inequalities in Internet access and usage now, but gender differences in frequency and intensity of Internet usage remain.Internet ; Computers

Race, Internet usage, and E-commerce

The authors examine racial and ethnic differences in computer ownership and Internet usage using data from a survey conducted by the Nomura Research Institute in 2000. They focus on on-line shopping because few studies have examined racial and ethnic differences in e-commerce. The results indicate that blacks and Hispanics are less likely to own or use a computer than are non-Hispanic whites but are not less likely to shop on-line. Indeed, blacks appear to shop on-line more frequently and to spend more than non-Hispanic whites do.Internet ; Electronic commerce ; Consumer behavior

Immigrants’ employment outcomes over the business cycle

Immigrants have figured prominently in U.S. economic growth for decades, but the recent recession hit them hard. Immigrants’ labor market outcomes began deteriorating even before the recession was officially under way, largely as a result of the housing bust. An analysis of employment and unemployment rates over the past fifteen years shows that immigrants’ labor market outcomes are more cyclical than those of natives. The greater cyclicality of immigrants’ employment and unemployment is concentrated among less-educated immigrants, but college-educated immigrants nonetheless have more-cyclically sensitive employment outcomes than college-educated natives.Labor market ; Unemployment ; Education - Economic aspects

Explaining changes in the age distribution of displaced workers

Using Displaced Worker Survey data, this paper examines changes in the age distribution of displaced workers during the 1983–87 and 1993–97 periods. Older workers comprised a significantly larger fraction of displaced workers during the later period. Potential explanations for this phenomenon include demographic shifts in the labor force, changes in technology, and industry and occupational shifts. Kernel density estimates indicate that the aging of the labor force accounts for the majority of the shift in the age distribution of displaced workers. Changes in technology also appear to have contributed to the shift in the age distribution of displaced workers by increasing the likelihood of displacement among older workers relative to younger workers. Differential changes across age groups between goods-producing and service-producing jobs and between blue-collar and white-collar jobs appear to have had little effect on the change in the age distribution of displaced workers.Labor turnover ; Demography ; Labor supply